Forum Update - March

BooJewels

I haven't seen a comment in this thread about it, but the posting window is much harder to use here, without BB code - I can edit HTML, but many can't and it's significantly more tedious to use - multi-quoting and editing quotes is much more of a faff and very easy to get wrong - hence many posts with very long and unnecessary quotes.  Vanilla does allow BB code as an add-on, so it should be easy to implement.  Certainly on a forum I set up a few years ago, you could simply choose which codes you'd allow the forum posters to use through an admin tickbox - and then you could further set up which individual tags to allow.

I also noticed a related problem when posting using a tablet, sometimes when quoting and replying, the cursor gets stuck inside the quote code and you just cannot get out of it.  More than once, I've had to abandon a post and start over, at which time it then works properly.  Which probably explains why we see so many replies within the quotes.

There are also other posting issues - when previewing your post, you can't see any new posts added whilst you've been typing, which might duplicate what you're about to add or change it.  Plus, once posted, your post initially appears where the thread was when you started your reply, you have to refresh the page to see it appear in the correct chronological place and any intermediate posts.  The old forum did both of those useful things automatically.

On a personal level, I'd love to see the dark blue band above posts with the time on to be made paler - or generally less contrast on the page, as when scrolling a full page, those bands cause a flashing as they go past and this triggers a migraine for me.  I'm having to use a browser add on to darken the page to a muddy colour just to be able to visit here at all.

I'd also still love the [new posts] button on every page, as I use that page a lot to see what's happening.  And another vote for the hover/post summary too, please.  That must, in itself, cut down on forum resources with reducing the amount of unnecessary clicks to see if you're interested in a thread.

BooJewels

And to prove my point, there were 7 posts made whilst I was typing, several of which made the same comments about the colours that I did - which also explains why you see the same answer posted twice by different people - the second clearly hasn't see that someone else already answered the same thing.  These are major functionality issues, not just personal preferences.

MovingForwards

I've somehow got logged out typing a post, had to copy what I had written, refresh the page and paste in what I had put.

Never had that happen before, either on the new or old forum.

(Mobile access)

kuratowski

On mobile (iOS - Safari), it's very hard to access the profile menu - the submenus appear behind the header and buttons at the top - you can see one item at a time if you scroll, but it's like looking through a letterbox.

Pyxis

kuratowski said:

On mobile (iOS - Safari), it's very hard to access the profile menu - the submenus appear behind the header and buttons at the top - you can see one item at a time if you scroll, but it's like looking through a letterbox.

If you are on an iPad, use landscape mode, then you can see those menus.

If on an iPhone 7, like mine, even landscape mode doesn’t work, which means that trying to log out was awful, and almost impossible, and is the reason why I won’t use this site on my phone.

Humdinger1

I hope it's ok to repost a question I recently started a thread on, but haven't got any replies yet?

Understand what a huge job this migration is and certainly - in common with everyone else on this board  - don't want the MSE team to feel unappreciated.  The number of posts I've made since starting is showing, but the thanks haven't migrated.  I had nearly 500; as this is such an important way of showing that you're trustworthy (might well play a part in building up traffic again,  if newbies and regulars can see who they're dealing with) could this please happen? Or is it that it's work in progress? It would be great to know when it's likely to finish, thanks again.  Humdinger 

[Deleted User]

thanks were thanks were never going to be moved over. Start fresh on the new server 

Humdinger1

_shel said:

thanks were thanks were never going to be moved over. Start fresh on the new server 

Shel, thanks for that.  I think some people have carried over, will check as maybe I'm misreading.  I also seem to remember a thread which said that the number of thanks per poster on the old forum would be visible here

[Deleted User]

See I remember the opposite lol that they wouldn't show. Maybe dig up those old MSE posts about the new forum 

J_B

MSE_Tine said:

But we’re sad and disappointed to say that some of the posts on the snagging thread, as well as direct messages sent to the MSE Team, haven’t been constructive. Some have been rude, aggressive and unhelpful.

OK - I will pass comments on the new forum as best I can:-

I'm just a simple country boy who comes on here for fun and advice.

I have no interest in competitions and only use my W10 PC to access the forum using Firefox.

You said from the outset that everything would be so much better, but as in many walks of modern life, we were quite happy with the way things were and so, we're reluctant to embrace change. I know that the old forum was becoming unsustainable, but an improvement, it sadly isn't according to most of the comments I have read, so, maybe just maybe you ought to accept that some folks were a little p'd off with everything. The snagging thread reached 1300 messages in a few days.

Anyway ... constructive ..... erm .....

I quite like the fact that you can 'mark a category as viewed' but otherwise I'm at a loss to see any "improvements"

I would like to see what the thread is about when hovering over the message title (like we used to be able to).

I would like the messages to be numbered (like we used to be able to) so we can refer back to one simply

I would like messages that I have commented on flagged (like we used to be able to) so that I know that I have commented (or not)

I would prefer the colours to not all be 50 shades of blue

I would like a few more emojis

I would like the 'label' to the side of the posters message to say how many times they had been thanked (like it used to be) and nothing else

I know that you are working hard behind the scenes to get all this sorted, but maybe much of this could have been averted by listening to folks concerns on the 'old board' before the changeover?

Onwards and upwards ...................