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what have you noticed about the new forums?


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9 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

Does anyone else get automatically logged off every day or two? It doesn't keep me logged into the site either on the laptop or mobile.

If you asked yesterday I would have said no, but it happened to me earlier today and had me scratching my head as to why.

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10 hours ago, hornblower said:

Are you not seeing the Unread Content at the top too? On my web browser it's at the bottom and at the top, on the right hand side,  underneath the search bar. 

Also - you can access “unread content” through the tab labeled “Activity”. You can set some default preferences too ... and possibly set your personal streams. I haven’t played around with that ... yet. 

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I wasn't getting automatically signed out before, but starting sometime this week, I am now logged out every time I leave the site.  Then when I log in it takes me to the main WTM page, and then I have to go to the forum from there.  Super annoying.  

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4 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

I'm having trouble finding the LIKE button. I can't see it on my screen, so I have to hover my cursor over the general area, and a box of choices will pop up. Sometimes. Sometimes I can't make it appear. Is this true for everyone?

Not true for me.  There is a white heart in a grey circle on the right hand side of my screen.  If I click that, the box of choices will pop up. 

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Something it has taken a couple weeks for me to be sure of - there isn’t as much activity on the Education boards.  I know it waxed and wanes, and that it’s nothing like it was 8-10 years ago when there was three or four PAGES of new content daily, but doesn’t it seem there’s less posting on those boards?

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4 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Not true for me.  There is a white heart in a grey circle on the right hand side of my screen.  If I click that, the box of choices will pop up. 

For me, the white heart in the circle seems to only appear on posts that have already been liked by someone else. And when I click on the heart, I only see the message "see who reacted." That heart does not give me the option to add a like of my own. Sometimes I can hover in that general area -- it seems to be slightly above where the white heart is -- and make a box appear that has reaction smilies to choose from. But sometimes I cannot make that box appear at all. And I am hovering over nothing -- no icons or buttons are there.

Jean and Targhee's posts right above this one, for example, show no heart icons for me (at this point, anyway -- I suppose it might appear if someone likes their posts).

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3 hours ago, Targhee said:

Something it has taken a couple weeks for me to be sure of - there isn’t as much activity on the Education boards.  I know it waxed and wanes, and that it’s nothing like it was 8-10 years ago when there was three or four PAGES of new content daily, but doesn’t it seem there’s less posting on those boards?

Yes. The boards seem dead.

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On 4/9/2018 at 8:15 AM, Lanny said:

The replies in the threads don't have numbers. So, if I want to refer to something in reply #17, I have no idea that it is reply 17.  There is also no way for me to Preview what I write, to check for typos, etc., before I post.

 

I really hate that the posts are not numbered.  This is especially difficult on long threads.  

I also miss having the pages of threads numbered, rather than having what I call "the never-ending page," meaning you hit the "load more content" button.  I think this is the worst feature of this software.  I really think people end up participating less, because there doesn't seem to be an end.  In the past, if there were 7 pages of new posts, I would usually try to get through all of them.

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8 hours ago, StellaM said:

The boards seem very quiet overall. 

 

I believe that this new style of software discourages participation.  For me, anyhow, it is hard to wrap my arms around the full content without having numbered pages and numbered posts.  The Sonlight forums switched to this software, too, and it really hurt participation, IMO.

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On my phone I seem to have pages.  The never ending page thing would throw me off.

The board doesn't feel familiar yet and I'm having trouble "recognizing" everyone given name changes and different/missing profile pictures.  I find I'm reluctant to post.  Hopefully things will pick up when it's all more familiar.

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10 hours ago, StellaM said:

The boards seem very quiet overall. 

I for one can't spend any significant amount of time with this background, even with computer glasses and all the adaptations I use on a daily basis.  It's been five minutes, maybe, and I'm done.  I'll keep trying in the hopes that we can change the themes/background/colors sometime in the near future.  I miss being able to participate. 

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2 hours ago, Serenade said:

 

I really hate that the posts are not numbered.  This is especially difficult on long threads.  

I also miss having the pages of threads numbered, rather than having what I call "the never-ending page," meaning you hit the "load more content" button.  I think this is the worst feature of this software.  I really think people end up participating less, because there doesn't seem to be an end.  In the past, if there were 7 pages of new posts, I would usually try to get through all of them.

The pages are numbered for me. For example, I am posting on page 8 of this thread. And I can move back and forth between pages by clicking on the page number boxes, which appear at the bottom, after the last post on each page, and also at the top of the thread. It was the same for me in the old format.

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32 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

The pages are numbered for me. For example, I am posting on page 8 of this thread. And I can move back and forth between pages by clicking on the page number boxes, which appear at the bottom, after the last post on each page, and also at the top of the thread. It was the same for me in the old format.

They are numbered for me as well. 

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20 hours ago, Storygirl said:

The pages are numbered for me. For example, I am posting on page 8 of this thread. And I can move back and forth between pages by clicking on the page number boxes, which appear at the bottom, after the last post on each page, and also at the top of the thread. It was the same for me in the old format.

 

20 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

They are numbered for me as well. 

 

Yes, I don't think I explained myself right.  The pages within a thread are numbered, but not the individual posts.  What drives me crazy, though, is the organization of the threads themselves.  If I hit "unread posts" for instance, only 25 threads or so will appear.  If I want to see more threads, I have to load more contact, and another 25 will load, but each group of 25 threads is not organized into a page that has a number -- I just have to keep scrolling down and loading more content, that presumably goes on forever, or at least further than I ever care to scroll...If I knew how many "pages" there were, maybe I would keep reading.

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On 4/19/2018 at 11:05 PM, Storygirl said:

For me, the white heart in the circle seems to only appear on posts that have already been liked by someone else. And when I click on the heart, I only see the message "see who reacted." That heart does not give me the option to add a like of my own. Sometimes I can hover in that general area -- it seems to be slightly above where the white heart is -- and make a box appear that has reaction smilies to choose from. But sometimes I cannot make that box appear at all. And I am hovering over nothing -- no icons or buttons are there.

Jean and Targhee's posts right above this one, for example, show no heart icons for me (at this point, anyway -- I suppose it might appear if someone likes their posts).

 

Are you sure you're logged in when this is happening? I noticed the same thing the other day and was really confused until I realized I wasn't logged in. It seems this format logs you out every couple of days? I know I hadn't logged myself out, because I never do. And IIRC the board looked the same--unlike how the old boards looked different depending on whether you were logged in--which is why I didn't know I was logged out.

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5 hours ago, Serenade said:

Yes, I don't think I explained myself right.  The pages within a thread are numbered, but not the individual posts.  What drives me crazy, though, is the organization of the threads themselves.  If I hit "unread posts" for instance, only 25 threads or so will appear.  If I want to see more threads, I have to load more contact, and another 25 will load, but each group of 25 threads is not organized into a page that has a number -- I just have to keep scrolling down and loading more content, that presumably goes on forever, or at least further than I ever care to scroll...If I knew how many "pages" there were, maybe I would keep reading.

If you wanted a finite number of pages, you could filter the "unread content" to a different "time period".  I'm guessing the default is "365 days", but there's an option for "since last visit".  It still doesn't number the pages, but the end of the list is sooner.

 

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31 minutes ago, Robin M said:

Neat feature. How do we tag people? 

Type the at sign @  and the person's username. Don't put a space after the at. I had to because it kept trying to suggest people for me to tag. :)

As you start typing the name several will come up, kind of like when you start googling and it tries to finish for you. I''m going to tag you. @Robin M 

As I typed Rob I got Rob, Rob13 and more. As I finished your name I got a lot of Robin with a letter choices. If the one you're tagging comes up, just click on it. Otherwise keep typing until you finish the person's name.

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There are three things that are impossible in this world:

1.coming back from the dead

2. Growing younger instead of older

3. Getting a photo on my avatar

I cannot do it. Nothing works. I have been trying for an hour. I cannot make it my avatar through Gravatar. I cannot do it through Flickr. Photobucket? Nope. I can’t pull one off my phone, iPad or laptop. I can’t take a new picture and make it become my avi. 

Please, pretty please, if someone has the magical fairy dust that will make it possible to resize and use a photo in my profile, please enlighten me. Or else I have to come to like being a pink Q for ever and ever and ever. 

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12 hours ago, Cinder said:

 

Are you sure you're logged in when this is happening? I noticed the same thing the other day and was really confused until I realized I wasn't logged in. It seems this format logs you out every couple of days? I know I hadn't logged myself out, because I never do. And IIRC the board looked the same--unlike how the old boards looked different depending on whether you were logged in--which is why I didn't know I was logged out.

Yes, I checked that specifically. I'm logged in right now and cannot see a Like button on posts that have not yet been liked. I discovered that after I like a post, a small black x appears in the spot where the invisible Like button must have been previously.

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On 4/21/2018 at 9:46 AM, Serenade said:

 

 

Yes, I don't think I explained myself right.  The pages within a thread are numbered, but not the individual posts.  What drives me crazy, though, is the organization of the threads themselves.  If I hit "unread posts" for instance, only 25 threads or so will appear.  If I want to see more threads, I have to load more contact, and another 25 will load, but each group of 25 threads is not organized into a page that has a number -- I just have to keep scrolling down and loading more content, that presumably goes on forever, or at least further than I ever care to scroll...If I knew how many "pages" there were, maybe I would keep reading.

Do you need to select "unread posts" if that format bothers you? I never do that. I just choose Chat or another board from the main menu and look at the threads that are listed. From there, I can go to page two or three or whatever.

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9 hours ago, Storygirl said:

Do you need to selecte "unread posts" if that format bothers you? I never do that. I just choose Chat or another board from the main menu and look at the threads that are listed. From there, I can go to page two or three or whatever.

 

I've always liked to get all the new posts, but, yeah, I guess I could read forum by forum instead.

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18 hours ago, domestic_engineer said:

If you wanted a finite number of pages, you could filter the "unread content" to a different "time period".  I'm guessing the default is "365 days", but there's an option for "since last visit".  It still doesn't number the pages, but the end of the list is sooner.

 

 

Thanks for the idea.  I will look into this!

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On 4/21/2018 at 5:26 PM, Quill said:

 

I cannot do it. Nothing works. I have been trying for an hour. I cannot make it my avatar through Gravatar. I cannot do it through Flickr. Photobucket? Nope. I can’t pull one off my phone, iPad or laptop. I can’t take a new picture and make it become my avi. 

Please, pretty please, if someone has the magical fairy dust that will make it possible to resize and use a photo in my profile, please enlighten me. Or else I have to come to like being a pink Q for ever and ever and ever. 


Is it uploading it to the site that is the problem or making it in the first place? The file does have to be very small; I see the limit is .05MB so you may need to run it through a compressor like this http://resizeimage.net/ until the file size is small enough.

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3 hours ago, hornblower said:


Is it uploading it to the site that is the problem or making it in the first place? The file does have to be very small; I see the limit is .05MB so you may need to run it through a compressor like this http://resizeimage.net/ until the file size is small enough.

It is both. I will try resizeimage. My previous image was from Gravatar but it won’t accept url anymore. When I tried on photobucket, I dont see any way of resizing it on there, so that didnt work either. Maybe this way will work; I’ll try it when I have a chance. 

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On 4/25/2018 at 10:26 AM, hornblower said:


Is it uploading it to the site that is the problem or making it in the first place? The file does have to be very small; I see the limit is .05MB so you may need to run it through a compressor like this http://resizeimage.net/ until the file size is small enough.

I still cannot make this happen. I can resize the image just fine, but if I try to upload it from URL it says this isn’t the right file type. I managed to get a photo into my profile in the About Me section, but I cannot get one on my avatar. I can’t imagine why other people have no problem with this and I have zero ability to do it. 

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8 hours ago, Quill said:

I still cannot make this happen. I can resize the image just fine, but if I try to upload it from URL it says this isn’t the right file type. I managed to get a photo into my profile in the About Me section, but I cannot get one on my avatar. I can’t imagine why other people have no problem with this and I have zero ability to do it. 

 

Well, I've got to admit I didn't have to do anything. Mine came over with my profile automatically. 

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Way back when SL changed their forums to this format, I had recently broken my thumb and was bored out of my mind.  Tweaking the forum to suit me filled some time with a much-needed activity that I could do one-handed.  Someone mentioned that I could share over here how to make your own "New Posts" button to help navigate the forums.  So here that is, step by step:

Your Own "New Posts" Button

First step- click on the Activity tab.

Where it says "My Activity Streams" there is a little triangle arrow, click on that and it brings up a menu.

The bottom selection is Create New Stream- select that, which brings up a new page.

Give your stream a title. I called mine New Posts. 

Look at all the different sub-headings and options and choose the ones you like.  Under the section titled "Read Status" you want to select "Everything" to keep posts from disappearing after you've read them.  Also, check the time period- mine is set to Any Time, but feel free to select a date range or whatever floats your boat.  (Right now it's obvious the forums are still in the progress of migrating to the new software, given some time, I'm sure more posts will be there.)  Also, in the section titled " Show Me" we have found that you probably want to select "content items only" instead of "content items, comments and reviews" - this action shows threads as threads, where if you select the other option it breaks it down to individual posts and comments which are very difficult to follow. 

Click on Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.

Now, you'll want to set your New Posts button to be your default.

Go back to the Activity tab and click on the little triangle by Activity Streams.  Towards the bottom should be your New Posts stream that you've made.  Click on that to bring up the page.

Now.  Underneath that  bar that says The Search Index is Currently processing... There is a heading of New Posts (or whatever you titled it) followed by three little circles.  There's a little pencil, a trash can, and a check mark.  Click on the check mark- it will turn green, and you have now made this your default stream.

Now when you pull up the forums you will have a New Posts button right below the search bar at the top right corner.  

I don't know if that helps anyone out, but there it is in case anyone needed it.  Also, if the white of the forum is too glaring, you can always download one of the dark browsers or dark themes for your browser- depending on what you are using. 

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This is user error, but i keep leaving a thread and then thinking "oh, I wanted to 'respond' to some posts, (or follow that link)" and then I can't find the thread. I have to guess the sub-forum, browse over, remember the title...

In the old forum it would stay in the list where i had found it, just now be in light gray to show I had looked at it.

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10 hours ago, SusanC said:

This is user error, but i keep leaving a thread and then thinking "oh, I wanted to 'respond' to some posts, (or follow that link)" and then I can't find the thread. I have to guess the sub-forum, browse over, remember the title...

In the old forum it would stay in the list where i had found it, just now be in light gray to show I had looked at it.

I've started opening links in a new tab a lot more with the new format.  So, I'll be reading through my list and right clicking & opening in new tabs all the threads of interest.  Then once I'm at the bottom of the list, I tackle my newly opened tabs.

 

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Here are several workarounds, I've recently discovered ....

.... too much whitespace?  I've found that "zooming out" is easier on my eyes and keeps the text closer together.  (You can do this by going to the Browser menu bar and selecting "view", "zoom out".). It also helps with lists of thread titles so that more are on a screen at a time and I don't have to scroll as much.

.... numbered posts?  While posts are not visibly numbered, they are uniquely numbered.  You can get a link to a specific, individual post by clicking on the symbol in the top right hand corner of each posts or by saving the link that's behind the post's "timestamp."  It won't help you get a feel for where you are in the thread, but if you wanted to save a specific post or refer to a specific post, this will help that situation.

 

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The past few days when I tried to log in I could not log in. Now of course I do not remember what message was on the screen. Perhaps it was You are not allowed to access this website. I don't think that was it exactly, but for several days I was excluded.

Sometimes I can get right in, other times I log in and it tells me that my user name is my email name, then it jumps to forums page and, PRESTO! I am logged in with my user name.

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20 hours ago, SusanC said:

This is user error, but i keep leaving a thread and then thinking "oh, I wanted to 'respond' to some posts, (or follow that link)" and then I can't find the thread. I have to guess the sub-forum, browse over, remember the title...

In the old forum it would stay in the list where i had found it, just now be in light gray to show I had looked at it.

@SusanC  I just found the filter setting "Read Status" at the top of an activity stream page.  Choose the "Everything" option instead of "unread".  I think that will make it like the old forums?!?!?!

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