Author Topic: Forum Upgraded August 30, 2015 - Report issues here (Read 222939 times)

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #100 on:** August 31, 2015, 05:13 PM »

rj, can you elaborate a little bit -- since i don't often view the pages that show replies to my posts, i'm not familiar with what used to be shown/possible from there.

or to put it a different way -- im not sure if you are saying that there was a page of replies that used to behave differently, or use to have additional options, or if you are saying just that you used to be able to ignore topics on a one by one basis -- and if the latter -- can someone tell me how this option to ignore a topic was presented -- i.e. where the choice to do that was.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 05:01 PM)

Explained on IRC since I didn't notice you asking this here and I want the same thing...but to clarify for others:

On this page: https://www.donation...action=unreadreplies there used to be an option that allowed you to select which posts you wanted to never hear from again - sometimes we post in things and the discussion becomes irrelevant to us and we lose interest - on DC2 we can only mark as read which is a pain when you comment on a lot of different topics that you lose interest in so being able to "Ignore Selected Topics In The Future" is a pretty nice thing to have (Which we did on the old server)

mouser · « **Reply #101 on:** August 31, 2015, 05:17 PM »

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement with the upgrade.. I know sometimes change can be unnerving, and I know it can take some time to adjust to changes.

The new forum code is 100x cleaner and easier to maintain than the old codebase, which was my main motivation for the upgrade -- so I'm thrilled with the results in that respect. And I feel 100x better about customizing stuff now.

So if there are still parts of the site that continue to rub people the wrong way after a week or two, or just feel less efficient than on the old forum, we'll fix them.

rjbull · « **Reply #102 on:** August 31, 2015, 05:32 PM »

rj, can you elaborate a little bit
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 05:01 PM)

Competently explained by Stephen66515, to whom my thanks

mouser · « **Reply #103 on:** August 31, 2015, 05:33 PM »

Ok I think i see now the old code for ignoring threads to keep them off those pages of recent posts..
Im going to look into adding that back, just give me a bit -- the feature was provided by non-trivial modifications that we made on the original forum that was tied into the ability to mark threads in a variety of ways (to ignore, to bookmark, to rate), etc., and so it's non-trivial to add back.

There is a good chance i will port in the old code and we will get back the ability to ignore and bookmark topics like before, but i want to make sure it's done right.

ewemoa · « **Reply #104 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:05 PM »

The new forum code is 100x cleaner and easier to maintain than the old codebase, which was my main motivation for the upgrade -- so I'm thrilled with the results in that respect.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 05:17 PM)

Now I like the upgrade so much more

And I feel 100x better about customizing stuff now.

If not already using some sort of revision control, please consider

ewemoa · « **Reply #105 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:07 PM »

Is there any way I can hide the social media buttons and the translate drop down box at the bottom of each page? I don't need them and they bother me.
-phitsc (August 31, 2015, 04:42 AM)

I'd like that too.

May be there might be something one can do locally about this sort of thing with a GreaseMonkey-ish or add-on type of thing...

mouser · « **Reply #106 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:09 PM »

I'd like that too.

i knew you would. See above, i already implemented the solution.

ewemoa · « **Reply #107 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:11 PM »

I tried the '-nosocial' thing and it seems to work, thanks.

But may be we can call it 'antisocial' or '-social' instead?

On a related note, is there a way to view the content of a thread in a way such that one can see reply to a particular post appearing immediately after the post-being-replied to? I think this is sometimes referred to as a "threaded" view (e.g. one of gmane.org's views is like this). May be there's other ways, but with that type of view, it might be easier to follow some of the "contained" sub-discussions...

mouser · « **Reply #108 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:31 PM »

On a related note, is there a way to view the content of a thread in a way such that one can see reply to a particular post appearing immediately after the post-being-replied to? I think this is sometimes referred to as a "threaded" view (e.g. one of gmane.org's views is like this). May be there's other ways, but with that type of view, it might be easier to follow some of the "contained" sub-discussions...

there isn't. i've given this some thought over the years -- there are pros and cons to threaded and non-threaded views on forums.

the conclusion i came to is that the threaded views are more logical and indeed easier to follow when things branch off into different sub-discussions (exactly as you say), but that there is a heavy price to be paid for facilitating that kind of workflow, in terms of having threads be focused, coherent, digestable chunks of information. by providing a threaded view one essentially facilitates and encourages each thread to be a giant forest of sub-discussions. the sub-discussions become parseable, but the larger whole suffers. my 2 cents.

JavaJones · « **Reply #109 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:52 PM »

I agree with mouser on threaded discussion. Have tried it several times, it works OK for some forums, but it brings as many (or more) problems as it resolves.

Regarding anti-spam (because I just saw another spam message, hehe), mouser I'm pretty sure I mentioned to you the two plugins I use which are highly effective. I would definitely recommend trying them before you implement anything custom because they'll save you time. Plus they're both focused on stopping spam *before* it happens, while your systems seem to more get rid of it quickly *after* it happens. So they'd be complementary in the end.

- Oshyan

mouser · « **Reply #110 on:** August 31, 2015, 06:56 PM »

JJ, yes i will be looking into those forum mods tonight -- seems the spammers are swarming us like mosquitos!

ewemoa · « **Reply #111 on:** August 31, 2015, 08:51 PM »

Concerning the translate box: harmless, yes, a distraction non the less.
-phitsc (August 31, 2015, 03:41 PM)

For Firefox, the Remove It Permanently add-on seems to work toward this end.

For Chrome, I tried Page Eraser, but didn't figure out how to get it to work across an entire site.

Just tried Stylebot with some success -- right click on element, choose 'Stylebot', choose 'Style Element', look for the 'Layout & Visibility' section, and click on the 'Hide' button. Not ideal perhaps and may not work specific elements only, but at least it can hide the 'Translate' pop-up...

Don't know about other browsers / platforms.

wraith808 · « **Reply #112 on:** August 31, 2015, 08:54 PM »

I've modified the Image button to explain better how to use the inline attachment feature, and removed the button from the Quick Reply bbc editor, since there is no way to attach files from the quick reply editor.
As has been discussed above, my intent for this button is largely to serve as help for those who don't yet know how our inline attached images work -- and therefore it is mainly about explaining to the user how to attach an image and refer to it.
As deozaan pointed out above, if you want to quickly insert an inline image you can use the new button down by the Attach Choose File buttons. So there are solutions both for newbies and advanced users.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 04:59 PM)

There is a good reason to use offsite images - gifs and animated images. Those take up a not insignificant amount of space, at very little gain in a lot of cases.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #113 on:** August 31, 2015, 09:24 PM »

Ok, so a couple of thoughts:
...
ACTUALLY: You know i'm thinking that this option is maybe just worded poorly -- the default option may mean to send emails on all replies *AND* "Moderation only if i started topic" -- which would mean that the default IS a reasonable default setting. That is, the default should be sending you notifications on new replies, as i understand it.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 08:49 AM)

If so, it *really* is poor wording! I can't recall any/many topics that have been moderated, but I've been mildly annoyed at getting emails that replies are in threads, so I turned this off. I am watching the board enough every day if a new reply came through, those "thread aggregator" options will show me.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #114 on:** August 31, 2015, 09:34 PM »

Is there any way I can hide the social media buttons and the translate drop down box at the bottom of each page? I don't need them and they bother me.

If you go to the Forum Profile page of your profile, you will now see a new "Custom options:" item. I will now use that for supporting miscelaneous advanced/custom options. If you put -nosocial in that box, it will no longer add the social bookmarking items to your forum pages, or google analytitcs code, protecting you from any privacy concerns. Translate box still shows because it is completely harmless.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 11:55 AM)

Nice! I just did this! I was "tolerating" them but I'm so not into those services and I've been a bit dismayed at how everyone is doing stuff even more (not here) like "Log into ___ from your Facebook account".
Uh ... if you want to join a forum, you ... register, right? But the Zuckerberg Empire seems to be building Web 3.11 (or something!)

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #115 on:** August 31, 2015, 09:36 PM »

Anand said:
...
2. The guest image, if temporary then ok, else I will suggest some blank face type image there.
im happy to get a replacement!
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 12:01 PM)

Cody!

mouser · « **Reply #116 on:** August 31, 2015, 09:45 PM »

There is a good reason to use offsite images -

offsite images definitely have their place, and you can still use them on dc by manually using the [img][/img] tags, but we don't show a button for that in order to reduce use of it to a minimum and only by more advanced users.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #117 on:** August 31, 2015, 10:04 PM »

I've modified the Image button to explain better how to use the inline attachment feature, and removed the button from the Quick Reply bbc editor, since there is no way to attach files from the quick reply editor.
As has been discussed above, my intent for this button is largely to serve as help for those who don't yet know how our inline attached images work -- and therefore it is mainly about explaining to the user how to attach an image and refer to it.
As deozaan pointed out above, if you want to quickly insert an inline image you can use the new button down by the Attach Choose File buttons. So there are solutions both for newbies and advanced users.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 04:59 PM)

Sorry, at least for me, it's just not enough!
It took me ten minutes to create this post in the basement comparable to the older system. (And even then there could be a couple of tweaks I'm sure!)

https://www.donation....msg387977#msg387977

I had to make my own sig to remind me of the syntax and even then the order of the images kept getting scrambled, or the bottom of the post, or stuff.

rgdot · « **Reply #118 on:** August 31, 2015, 10:44 PM »

mouser when you quote a post there is no 'from:..." is it by design or?

mouser · « **Reply #119 on:** August 31, 2015, 10:45 PM »

its only because i am failing to use the quote button due to bad habits -- and instead doing a manual "select -> copy -> paste".
i'll try to do it properly from here on out and select then hit Quote button.

rgdot · « **Reply #120 on:** August 31, 2015, 11:23 PM »

Didn't mean to say you are doing it improperly, just curious with small things I notice

mouser · « **Reply #121 on:** September 01, 2015, 12:41 AM »

I've added some initial, minor anti-spam tricks.

Let's see how we do against spammers now. And how bad the false positives are..

phitsc · « **Reply #122 on:** September 01, 2015, 01:15 AM »

I tried the '-nosocial' thing and it seems to work, thanks.

But may be we can call it 'antisocial' or '-social' instead?

On a related note, is there a way to view the content of a thread in a way such that one can see reply to a particular post appearing immediately after the post-being-replied to? I think this is sometimes referred to as a "threaded" view (e.g. one of gmane.org's views is like this). May be there's other ways, but with that type of view, it might be easier to follow some of the "contained" sub-discussions...
-ewemoa (August 31, 2015, 06:11 PM)

Now I have this in my head: https://www.youtube..../watch?v=7n5xJPaFIRM

Ok, could be worse I guess

phitsc · « **Reply #123 on:** September 01, 2015, 01:19 AM »

Concerning the translate box: harmless, yes, a distraction non the less.
-phitsc (August 31, 2015, 03:41 PM)

For Firefox, the Remove It Permanently add-on seems to work toward this end.

For Chrome, I tried Page Eraser, but didn't figure out how to get it to work across an entire site.

Just tried Stylebot with some success -- right click on element, choose 'Stylebot', choose 'Style Element', look for the 'Layout & Visibility' section, and click on the 'Hide' button. Not ideal perhaps and may not work specific elements only, but at least it can hide the 'Translate' pop-up...

Don't know about other browsers / platforms.
-ewemoa (August 31, 2015, 08:51 PM)

Thanks for the suggestions ewemoa!

Nevertheless, @mouser, I would prefer '-translate', if it's easy to do.

Ath · « **Reply #124 on:** September 01, 2015, 01:51 AM »

In the "Info Center - Active Topics" section would it be possible to re-enable the feature where it shows "Re:" at the start of the title for posts that are replies (as opposed to brand new threads without any replies)? This made it possible to distinguish at first sight between a new post without replies, and an older discussion with new replies.

fixed -- and discovered a substantial inefficiency in the code making that list, so forum should be a little faster to load now too.
-mouser (August 31, 2015, 09:42 AM)

Now there is only one thing missing from the Active Topics list: (1) I can't recognize the links that I've read from the ones I haven't read; On old DC the link-color changed after visiting he link, but on DC2 the link color stays exactly the same

This may be due to the color-scheme in the theme, I can't tell, but it is a nuisance hunting down the unread links from the Active Topics list.
Unlike mouser, I also look at this list when returning to the DC browser-tab, press refresh and see a couple of new/updated messages.
From that same workflow comes the request (of others, but I'm joining) (2) to have an Unread Replies button/link at the bottom of the forum frontpage, like old DC had

it also has the list of active users, including buddies (not yet (3) highlighted like old DC had, hope that's returning too, like (4) buddy management in the profile that I couldn't find yet) and the latest new member that I try to recognize for palindrome- and other nice numbers

So that's 4 issues/requests...