Err Have I missed something, what nit picking?[:^)]
To be honest I didn’t take to the new forum when it was first opened but, after a lot of help and tweaking by the “experts” who set it all up I have now got quite used to it. Sure there are bits of the old forum that I would like to see incorporated onto this one. Getting used to anything that is new takes a while to get used to so try and look on the bright side, there are more worse things to complain about than this forum, but for goodness sake don’t start doing it here.( this is the bit where I would put some of the old forum Emoticons)[:)][H][8-|]
Well said Pollyana!
My apologies been one of those days, am sure new forum will be much better all round, getting more of us to meet up and have a good time together[:$]
will engage brain before send button.
I’ve only been a member of the MX5 OC for a short time and found it to be helpfull and entertaining not seen any nit picking ?[:^)]
To be fair, Grumps, the implication is that you joined the OC community after the move to the new forum. Those of us who were lucky enough to have experienced the old one are the ones who realise what a second-rate alternative this new one actually is (in terms of functionality, I hasten to add - definitely not content). But as I’ve said before, there’s no point flogging an obviously-deceased horse, so …
While there are still bits of this
forum which are being worked on (like the line inclusion of the line
at the top of this post). I think that many of the improvements over
the old forum are the back office parts. Just because we cannot see
them does not mean that they are not real.
Just renewed my membership (now a two-year old newbie) and only a recent convert to the whole ‘forum’ thing (I thought it was a semi-mucky mag my Dad used to get!) but IMHO it’s great to be able to ‘talk’ to other people with a common interest.
Tick VG from me!
I get were your comming from Gareth, the horse is dead, long live the horse[Y]
I’m with you on this one gareth - this new “forum” is more about OC administration that acting as a forum.
Proper forums don’t have a stupid grey border, don’t require you to “Sign In” on every new browser visit, don’t have a non-forum based spell-checker, have a proper range of emoticons, don’t crop pictures that are too large, etc…
I know I’ve mentioned these before, but it really gets my goat when the stock reply seems to be “we’re dealing with it / we’re awaiting an upgrade from the developers / we have no “Help” to refer to / etc…”.
A forum should be a simple tool for all to use easily and without complications - quite frankly this one is ■■■■ - apart from the content.
None of the admin team on this forum use “stock replies” - each piece of feedback/advice is written for the question/statement, and if the answer is the same, then that’s how it is - the alternative option is that we lie - something that would be a heck of a lot easier for us.
When I first started helping out with the forum back in January, I was more than happy to put in every minute that I could to develop new code, research what could be done, and test out solutions. You are not guilty of this Goof, but I’m sure you have noticed that some people reply to almost every thread such as this, in what I can only assume is an attempt to create waves.
A couple of months on, I’ve got hours of work sitting in the hands of the developers, and hours worth of half completed solutions on my server, but at the moment we simply cannot afford to implement them just now.
If you find the current situation annoying, try to see it from the admin’s point of view - please - we devote our free time to try to get things sorted, and due to circumstances beyond our control, things get delayed and our efforts do not get implemented. Then, when we try to solve some MX5 related problems, we come on and read that we use “stock replies”, or don’t listen to what members are saying, or whatever else.
The software backbone that has been used for this forum is excellent from an admin, and a user’s point of view. It offers features at both ends that cannot be met by other pieces of software. Yes, at the moment some things can be improved, but the general consensus, and feedback that I’ve recieved from members is that the advantages out weigh the disadvantages.
As you have experienced Goof, I will follow up on member’s comments through PMs where I feel appropriate - I try me best to keep everybody informed as to what is going on - I always help out when people have problems with the forum, and strive to find the answers that I do not know.
I’ve spent about 50 minutes replying to this thread, carefully choosing my words to ensure I don’t mislead or offend people, or have my words twisted to land me (or worse, the admin team) in a hole.
It is quite ironic that I’ve now effectively lost the only time slot that I’ve got for the next couple of weeks to work on the forum, to posting a reply that I don’t think I should have needed to post.
Sorry to have wasted your time then Ramsay.
Basically, if there is so much wrong with the forum that still requires so much work (either by yourself, the admin team, or by the software supplier), then why on earth are we using it?
Apparently this “new” forum has had 3 years of planning - if that’s so, then I’m stunned that it still has some elementary issues!
It’s been proven that a better performing forum can be setup within 30 minutes…
Ok, I know that the main features are to do with membership admin, but it’s the elemental funcionality that needs to be competent for users to enjoy a problem-free forum without having to employ 3rd-party add-ons, clearing caches, and other work-arounds let alone having to attend a PC Tech Day!
I’m not decrying your efforts, quite the opposite - I’m wondering just why it takes so much of your time? - Surely these issues should not be your (or OC) problems? - I understand that you cannot buy a complete MX5 OC forum straight off the shelf, and that work has to be done to theme it etc, but if I understand correct the OC has paid for this software? - If so, then I’d be thinking about what has been bought, and if it’s fit for purpose.
Your support has been commendable! - but it shouldn’t be needed in such depth.
[:)]
Just as a question - have you investigated this as a width/full page solution?:-
“You really only need to alter one value in the Common.css file. This
is located at /Themes/default/Style/Common.css. Once you open this
file with notepad or your standard stylesheet editor look at the second
entry for CommonOuter, you will notice that the width is set to 956px.
You can simply change this to 100% and then i would remove the
margin-left and margin-right entries.”
i second pollyanas thread, to me as a non pc geak = it has started to give me what i require from the club,
a bit of nowledge, a bit of help (if needed),and a bit of light hearted banter, job done
er hm one thing, the old forum used to let ya know how many hits had come up since last visit, rather than trawling though untill ya say, i think ive seen this one before, am i doin something wrong regards to all happy easter
Ok so having read my post again perhaps
it did not come over as positive as I intended, so I will have
another go.
I have been involved at a fairly basic
level in software development and bug fixing. This means that I know
fixing something that appears fairly basic can take much longer than
anticipated, it is also not uncommon that fixing one problem will
introduce others.
Given the added complexity that this is
a live system, and the security issues with this being an on-line
system, (something that I have never had to deal with) I think those
giving there time to improve things are doing an admirable job.
I would certainty like to give everyone
involved with this forum my thanks.
There is a is a link for unread posts
on main page, on the unread posts page there is a dropdown that can
be change to since last visit. This should give you what you are
looking for.
Sorry if this seems a little harsh and rather blunt, Ramsay, but that statement is 50% wrong. Just plain wrong. This software is NOT ‘excellent’ from the point of view of a forum user. I’m a forum user (on this site, and many other discussion forums), and I can promise you that this software is some way from being excellent.
I know it’s not what you want to hear, and it may well not be what you believe, but I (and, I’m sure, many other forum users) can assure you beyond doubt that that’s just the way it is. This software might be the best solution from the point of view of the forum admins, but it’s far from the best solution from the point of view of the rank-and-file user.
I just want to reiterate, so as not to upset those who staunchly defend the forum no matter what, that my gripe is not with those who look after it - they obviously put in a lot of time and effort, and it’s appreciated. But, to be frank, when it comes to making this forum software work in a way which is as pleasing and functional as the old forum, they are attempting to polish a ■■■■. And we all know that that simply can’t be done.
I think this is the general opinion - it’s not the admins, it’s the **** software.
I’ve been thinking about how I use this forum, compared to others.
The reason I spend less time on this forum than its predecessor is because it’s less easy to browse for interesting threads.
On arrival, I click the “My Discussions” tab, to find new comments in threads I’ve previously posted in, then I click on the “Active” tab to see what’s new. But I find that after scanning just a page or two of Active threads and clicking on very few, I give up (and typically navigate away to another forum).
The problem is that each of those tabs presents a list with comparatively limited information (the thread title - often obscure or ambiguous without context - the number of replies and the author & time of the last post). It would be very helpful to add the forum section name and original author to provide context, and number of views helps too - it can show that an unlikely-looking thread is generating a lot of interest. Make it faster for me to find stuff I’m interested by and I expect I’d use this forum as much as its predecessor.