Forum has been upgraded (was: Scheduled Forum Maintenance tonight)

[Opus4]

This is a little short notice, but the forum will be closing for maintence sometime after 12 AM Eastern time tonight (9 PM Pacific, or 5:00 GMT & you adjust from there), and will remain closed for an hour or two.

- Andy
11,000

[Opus4]

OK... maintenance is done & the forum has been upgraded.

Let me know if there are any problems using the forum.

- Andy

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Opus4

OK... maintenance is done & the forum has been upgraded.

Let me know if there are any problems using the forum.

- Andy

Any new features worth mentioning ?


Edit: I found at least one: marking a forum as 'read' does not kick you back to the forum index any more.

Dirk

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Any new features worth mentioning ?

I'll try to come up with a list... a few things are:

• Click on the Multi-Quote button to quote multiple posts in a single reply. You can use multi-quote with posts from different threads, as long as all the selections are done in the same browser window.
• The email notification for new PMs includes the PM contents. (Just don't try replying to the email notification.)
• There is a flashing icon when you have unread PMs. Hopefully, receiving a new PM is more noticeable now.
• You can choose to show results as threads or posts when doing a quick search from the navigation bar's pull-down search item.
• Quotes contain a link back to the quoted post.
• Support to set signature limits so we don't have any more 20-line sigs.
• New forum announcements are listed when viewing the list of New Posts.
• Use more accurate markers for what you have read -- enabled marking what was actually read w/o clearing all read markers after a period of inactivity.

There are probably others, so I'll add to the list when they are found.

- Andy

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I'll try to come up with a list... a few things are:

• Click on the Multi-Quote button to quote multiple posts in a single reply.
• The email notification for new PMs includes the PM contents.

Now this is sweet...


Dirk

[Opus4]

The above list has been updated, again.


We're trying a new setting... instead of marking the entire forum as read after you log out or after a period of inactivity, the forum now tracks what you have actually read and should be able to show older unread content the next time you return to the forum.

The downside to changing this setting is that it looks like it shows that you haven't read anything lately, because the feature wasn't in use for all those old posts. After catching up on the latest posts, you can choose "Mark Forums Read" from the Quick Links pull down menu on the navigation bar at the top of every page. It should work normally after that.

This is a bit experimental -- if it doesn't end up using too much cpu time on the forum server, we'll keep it turned on.

- Andy

[hemicuda]

caught me off guard. thought something was messed up on my end.

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Opus4

The above list has been updated, again.


We're trying a new setting... instead of marking the entire forum as read after you log out or after a period of inactivity, the forum now tracks what you have actually read and should be able to show older unread content the next time you return to the forum.

The downside to changing this setting is that it looks like it shows that you haven't read anything lately, because the feature wasn't in use for all those old posts. After catching up on the latest posts, you can choose "Mark Forums Read" from the Quick Links pull down menu on the navigation bar at the top of every page. It should work normally after that.

This is a bit experimental -- if it doesn't end up using too much cpu time on the forum server, we'll keep it turned on.

- Andy

It gets better and better...
Hope you are able to leave this feature on, this is so much better than before

Edit: did you also update the server hardware ? I dunno, but everything also feels a little faster than usual


Dirk

[Goodspike]

Is anyone else having an issue where this forum is not showing you correctly which posts are new since your last visit?

It shows me logged in, and I can post, but unless a thread is really old, it shows as being new.

* merged *

[nielm]

As menitoned above,
you need to do: QuickLinks/Mark Forums Read to mark unread posts as not-new

Personally I prefer this method, rather than use the 'last visit' time as an indicator, but it should really be a per-user option

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by nielm

As menitoned above,
you need to do: QuickLinks/Mark Forums Read to mark unread posts as not-new

Personally I prefer this method, rather than use the 'last visit' time as an indicator, but it should really be a per-user option

Oh, I hate forums that use this new system. Seems like a step back about 10 years to me.

How do you mark the forum as read? I'm not seeing anything that does that.

[GKusnick]

Use the Forum Tools or Quick Links dropdown at the top of the forum, depending on whether you want to mark just that forum or all forums.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Edit: did you also update the server hardware ? I dunno, but everything also feels a little faster than usual

I don't know what happened, but it does seem to run more stably lately. Well... at least until I said that.

Originally Posted by nielm

you need to do: QuickLinks/Mark Forums Read to mark unread posts as not-new

Personally I prefer this method, rather than use the 'last visit' time as an indicator, but it should really be a per-user option

It is a forum-wide setting, so it doesn't have the ability to be a user option.

I like it because it is easier to check stuff on the forum w/o having to catch up on ALL new posts before leaving the forum.

Originally Posted by Goodspike

How do you mark the forum as read? I'm not seeing anything that does that.

This was already answered, but once I have time (i.e.: the weekend is over), I plan on trying out adding another navbar above the whole section at the top & have it include such options as: Mark Forum as Read, Today's Posts, My Posts, My Threads... and maybe some other items. That way, those options are more easily found.

- Andy

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Opus4

This was already answered, but once I have time (i.e.: the weekend is over), I plan on trying out adding another navbar above the whole section at the top & have it include such options as: Mark Forum as Read, Today's Posts, My Posts, My Threads... and maybe some other items. That way, those options are more easily found.

- Andy

Great, because the existing system is rather inconvenient.

Too bad this can't be a User CP setting because I greatly prefer the old automatic system.

[Opus4]

Another experimental change:

There is a 2nd navigation bar at the top of each page with these options when you are logged in:

• Home - Go to the forum index
• Mark Forums Read - Marks everything as read
• My Topics - Lists the threads you have started
• My Posts - Lists your posts
• Subscribed Threads - Lists your subscribed threads
• Today's Posts - Lists today's posts
• My Profile - Displays your profile

- Andy

[nielm]

Another suggestion... As there is a bit more space, can the SageTV FAQ be put on the Nav Bar?

This forums' sage FAQ should also be merged with the FAQ on the Sage website as well...

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Another experimental change:

There is a 2nd navigation bar at the top of each page with these options when you are logged in:

• Home - Go to the forum index
• Mark Forums Read - Marks everything as read
• My Topics - Lists the threads you have started
• My Posts - Lists your posts
• Subscribed Threads - Lists your subscribed threads
• Today's Posts - Lists today's posts
• My Profile - Displays your profile

- Andy

If the Mark Forums Read could be changed to Mark Forum Read, that would be better (although still not as good as the old system).

I can't imagine why someone would ever want to mark all the forums as read at one time. It's not like you can track them individually.

[cslatt]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

I can't imagine why someone would ever want to mark all the forums as read at one time. It's not like you can track them individually.

I use it every day My method of reading the forums: Middle-click on each updated forum to open it in a new tab. Wait for all the tabs to be done loading and then "Mark All Forums as Read". Close that tab. Now go through each of the forum-specific tabs. Middle click on any interesting looking discussion to open it in a new tab. Close each forum specific tab once I get to the bottom of the list of new/updated threads. Now I have a tab open for every thread I could possibly want to read. I read it and close the tab after reading or replying. What can I say? I'm thorough.

[nielm]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

If the Mark Forums Read could be changed to Mark Forum Read, that would be better.

When viewing a forum, in the Forum tools menu, there is 'Mark Forum Read' which only marks the threads in this forum read.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

I can't imagine why someone would ever want to mark all the forums as read at one time.

I just look at "New Posts", go through and read things of interest, which shows new stuff from all forums. Then do the same again to see if there's anything new. If nothing new, I mark all forums read, then next time New Posts shows me the stuff since.