Members gone underground ??

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback.

There are a number of points to be made, and I’ll attempt to make a few of them here:

1. Forum functionality.

The simple fact is that this site has far more users than any other, so many in fact, that we recently had to completely reengineer the site in response to the speed becoming so slow.

An executive decision was made to leave Snitz – the forum software that we had used for many years in favour of another version that could facilitate multiple users easily.

We can do all that was previously done with Snitz – and more – however it takes time to customise the new software to our exact needs.

2. Major redevelopment

Furthermore, another decision was made that involves some degree of short term pain. Back in January I commissioned a major revision to the site that will mean that much of the site as it is now will change.

The outworkings of this are that the look / feel / functionality of these forums is temporary – a step if you like in a new direction but much less than the finished product.

3. Workflow

It’s a shame that what you see does not reflect at this point the extensive amount of work done behind the scenes. Nevertheless, rather than just tarting up the site, we made the decision to fix it once and for all (nearly there) and then make cosmetic upgrades (starting soon).

4. Sign In

I was frustrated with the need to sign in everytime I came back to the site too. This has been fixed so that when you log in now, you should not need to log back in again unless you don’t visit the site for (I think) it is 8 days or so.

5. Always Upgrading

Despite what I have written above, in response to the feedback I have asked David (Goldie) to go back and take a look at the Snitz forum and replicate the Active Topics functionality that it seems so many people were used to.

6. Number of Users

These figures can be misleading because the science to count the number of people on the site is inaccurate. This is not my area of expertise, but when I quizzed Goldie about it he mentioned something about session times. I will find out more and get back to you.

Once again though, at least in the short term, the decision was made to improve the speed first, and to add increased functionality over time.

All the best,

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the update.

A few suggestion for the next upgrade.
1) If the system is slow then upgrade the server first.
2) Make the new site first and beta test it before just switching sites.
3) Don't change sites and try to upgrade as you go along.

As with anything, sites change over time and members come and go.  Its up to the new members also to contribute with up to date info and not just rely on the old hands.  When the site first started a lot of new ideas were being bounced along but after a while the same questions were repeated over and over again.  As life has it, this repetition annoyed some of the members and they basically ceased answering the same questions over and over again.   As for myself a family illness didn't allow me the time I had previously to keep posting and offerring advice.  My advice is not about number crunching (hopeless at maths) but generally about negotiating and thinking out side the square

Hello All

My first comment is that it's easier to criticise (and cheaper) than to create and offer such a site for others to use.

Steve, thank you for offering this site. It's certainly faster and remembers me. Two positives.   

Since you wanted suggestions I am contrubuting this list of some of the things that I really miss. Will add more when I come across anything else.

1. A member profile with at least as much information as on the the old site. It was very handy to see who you were talking to and at least where they are from.

2. The list of your own and other members last posts, in the member profile area as before.   

3. All the posts since you last logged in. I prefer them seperated into the different areas, as before, and not just one list.

4. The search function is not as good as on the last site.

5. It was very handy to be able to see if a PM you sent had been read.

6. After you post you get taken back to the first post in the thread rather than to the place you were at when you posted.

Hope this helps
Elka

Steve,

You are defiantly now heading in the right direction with the web site.
Thank you.

Is it possible to click on a post and jump straight to the "first unread" like on Somersoft? I realise that function may already be available, but I don't know how to do it.

Also, it would be good to have the state where the poster lives show in the heading somewhere to assist with answering questions as each state has different rules, eg. rental tenancy rules, etc.

Wylie

Yes I'm also guilty on not visiting for some weeks as I found the new forum hard to use.  Thanks to Steve he's listened to our comments and has made some great changes recently.  Thanks for bringing back the sections, time/name of last post & I love the new feature where you can mouse over the thread to read the topic.  Well done Steve and many thanks for providing us with this great forum free!!

Steve / Admin,

Any chance of adding a “spell check” function in the post replies section?

It annoys me to have to type in ms word and them cut & paste in to the response section.

Cheers

Great improvements. Love the new features and the look of the site. Love the spell check.

One suggestion.

I wonder whether it is possible to limit the use of an avatar to one member only . 
I have no idea how difficult or possible it is technically but maybe you could remove it from the list offered as soon as someone uses it.

I seem to be seeing 3 Steves and at one stage 2 Qlds007.

Elka

elkam wrote:

Great improvements. Love the new features and the look of the site. Love the spell check.

One suggestion.

I wonder whether it is possible to limit the use of an avatar to one member only .
I have no idea how difficult or possible it is technically but maybe you could remove it from the list offered as soon as someone uses it.

I seem to be seeing 3 Steves and at one stage 2 Qlds007.

Elka

Unfortunately Elka, we're keeping those avatars available for public use as they're just a way to generally make a distinction between members (and there are a lot to select from). However, you should find underneath the avatar selection box a place where you can upload your own avatar. It's marked as "Upload your own avatar", and you just select an image off your hard drive which is less than 30kb in size. Ideally the image should already be 85×85 pixels or under so that this site doesn't have to resize it and potentially lower it's quality.

If people want an avatar outside of what we offer and don't really have an image on their computer that they would like to use, there are plenty of ones available on the internet. By just searching for avatars on Google, you'll find many websites dedicated to this

David