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November 19, 2010 - 9:34am
#1
Important Announcement: Site Changes
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Heh, this is going to be interesting. lol
I am lost. How do I get to see only the new posts in all the forums without opening each one?
Kal
Thanks for the help, Stephen. The new password works
Yes, the forums with new posts are, indeed, flagged with a star. However, it is tedious and time-consuming to have to open each such forum to see what is posted. I just want to see the titles and IDs in order to determine whether I wanted to read the post.
In the past, there was a button to evoke a listing of the new posts for the past 24hours or other intervals. Will this be instituted?
Also, how do I avoid having to preview each post?
Kal
test test test
thanks for your patience!
Thanks for the help Stephen. Your login instructions worked!
Now...where's the, and why's the, and why can't, and.... :-)
I'm so confused!!!
Elk
~ wandering around aimlessly in the forum field . . .
I'd really like to be able to collapse threads like old Stereophile volumes (like years past etc.) which the old format could do. Also the forum seems unnecessarily narrow especially with todays wider screens. Can we adjust any of this?
What happened to our signatures?
The Post Preview is pretty screwy too--- overlaps user info etc.
Thanks
When you could...
Before they sold out...
90% of this forum is...
Apparrently this is not as easy as one would suspect...
I miss the music...
:-)
RG
Sorry, but my first impulse is to complain. I really miss the one-click "all new posts in the past 24 hours" link. Also, I can't find the user profiles. I liked the "show all posts" link in the profiles. Other than that, so far, so good. Thanks to everyone involved in keeping this forum going.
Can't seem to find them.
Underneath all that damn advertising!
I echo the above comments. Seems like we have gone from a nicely organized forum front page with color to reading a black and white newspaper. This may be an improvement on your end (server thing), but it doesn't work for us.
All of these concerns and more were brought up in yesterday's meeting. We are working on getting the new forum to work as much as possible like the old.
There are some things that cannot be changed, however: The width of the forum will remain as it is because the forum now exists on a single platform with the rest of the content on our site. Note that editorial content -- reviews, equipment reports, blogs, etc. -- is much wider than before (600 pixels vs 450), making it all easier to read and more attractive. I know that the forum suffers somewhat, but the overall experience of our site should be enhanced.
Also, at this time, we are unable to collapse forum containers. I reorganized the containers and threads in a way I thought would be easiest for viewing, but I understand there's a lot to scroll through.
We are, however, working to reinstate user preferences, signatures, the quote feature, automated subject lines, breadcrumb trails (those links that get you to and from threads and screens), the ability to e-mail posts, PMs, etc. -- basically, the goal is to make this forum work as much as possible like the old, and improve upon it.
It's going to take some time, however, because we have to prioritize our goals and we are working on concerns throughout the entire website. We all feel confident that the new site will far exceed the old -- for us, yes, but more importantly for the reader.
Let me know if that works for you, please.
Hey I don't mind change provided of course that it's change for the better but man do these "new" Stereophile really and truly suck. It was bad enough that the old forums were a couple of years behind the times but now they're back in the stone age.
Tell you what, how about once the forum staff gets their act together and provides the forum members with a usable forum, the staff sends all the forum members an email telling them the forum is once again usable. Until that happens I'm out of here.
just as i'm sure you all are, SM and I are constantly making discoveries on how to make this new forum more user friendly, so we'll be sure to share them along the way.
Here's a little helpful nugget:
Currently if you respond to a post made earlier in a thread (earlier than the latest reply to that post in question), your response will appear threaded below the earlier post but above the later reply.
If you find this confusing and wish to view posts in sequential order (by the date/time they are posted), look at the bottom of the thread for the different "settings" and change to view forum in "Flat List - Expanded" mode. This will order posts as it did on our previous server.
Feel free to test out the different options provided and share any other insights that could help other members.
I'm thinkin' that should be the default setting!
RG
Why does the subject change for each and every post? It's sort of weird- yes the topics stray but it's better to at least see what the original topic was when you glance down a page.
Where is the ribbon containing links to the forum, galleries, etc. that used to run along the top of the page? Now the page loads and I have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the links.
How do I know if I am logged in? The 'Welcome so and so' message seems to have gone away.
You should have had 2 pages for the forum with the forum proper on the second page, the last issue and stuff on the first
There is no way to post images, such as in the "listening to" threads. I know that some of us like to be able to post the album art of a particular artists we are listening to.
Thanks
Hear, hear!
Also, whatever became of the signature line? Did the industry affiliation rule go bye bye?
Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
Thanks Stephen.
The current inability to post images is a real deal-breaker for me....this is a basic functionality of every forum-based web site that I use or even know of.
Hope that one gets top priority.
Frankly, how this new web design is better escapes me...it's looks different is the only difference that I can tell, but I don't see any meaningful improvements. In fact, it doesn't work as well as the old one. Why "go live" until it's really ready?
testing 1,2,3.
Really? "Deal-breaker?" Why?
The new format is dreadful and will likely kill the forum.
However not being able to post an image seems minor.
A picture can be worth a thousand words and cuts down on all the verbosity.
Geoff Kait
Machina Exotica
If used demonstratively.
Unfortunately images have been used primarily to ridicule and to interject irrelevant non sequiturs; the lack of images will certainly cramp the style of certain poster(s).
Now if we could only get rid of copy/paste . . .
The layout of the new forum is so bad that it significantly interferes with its function. If someone wishes to read a thread then what should be visible and easy to follow is the content of the posts with some metadata about the post present but slightly out of the way. This layout is the opposite with intrusive and relatively unimportant metadata and difficult to find content.
Looking at my current screen, on the left and right I have two black columns with no content, the centre right column is a white with no content except for adverts at the top, with only the centre left column having something to read. For short message of one line length, one page will only show 3 lines of fairly difficult to locate content with all the rest being metadata or blank.
Obviously those behind the forum must know the layout is a problem and significantly worse than any other competing forum of significant size. It is difficult to make positive suggestions without understanding the constraints that have lead to putting up something quite like this.
I am currently visiting this forum occasionally to observe the development of the layout but have largely stopped attempting to browse the content. I am more of a casual user than a regular user of the site but suspect my reaction is not wholly unrepresentative.
Ouch. Very ouch!
Thank you Ariel for straightening me out on log-in.
Boy can I agree with that...this change is dung...Just because the magazine is enraptured with 78's does not mean the forum needs go back too the dark ages of digital. Hard to read, hard to navigate...heck, the only thing that is better is the advertising for the advertisers.
Yes, beyond dreadful.
I sincerely hope that the other changes to the website are of substantial benefit to [i]Stereophile[/i] and worth the loss of the forum.
I am astounded that forum software this bad is still available. Seriously. 1980's BBS software was better.
The readily available free software is also much better.
edit: not even italics is available.
It would be hard to imagine a worse format than this.
And it seems like there are far fewer postings now.
I find myself hesitating to check in each time b/c the format is so horrible.
Sadly Elk, you may be right in predicting the death of the forum.
I must echo others who are dissatisfied with the new style. Did someone fresh out of school design it? Maybe you should redesign it. Then shut down for a few days and reintroduce the forum.
It's nice to see I have my avatar. Now, if I could only change my password!
It seems this is blogging software rather than forum software. I guess somebody thought blogging software could be substituted and nobody would notice?
Perhaps the link on the main site to "forums" could load separate stand-alone software.
One almost needs to bookmark each thread just to get around on this one.
Welcome! - You'll find everyone here is very friendly, well most of them are good.
Why has the links pages been removed from all the magazine pages. With all the work that went into over the years. It's a shame it's gone. http://cgi.stereophile.com/cgi-bin/lm.cgi/ep?
COuld you be more specific?
Its possible that the link you are looking for can be found at the bottom of our website.
let me know if this helps...
This was a page of links to various AV websites. Manufacturers, retailers and other sites of interest. This links button was on the top of the pages of Stereophile.com,Hometheater.com,Ulitimateavmag.com and AVInteriors.com. It slowly disappeared from each site. You can see this page here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20100421213720/http://cgi.stereophile.com/cgi-bin/lm.cgi/ep?
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