Anomalies

[french frank]

I wonder if the search feature is now more powerful than before. I gave up trying to navigate to a post I wanted to comment on, but slightly to my surprise, a carefully tailored search found it very quickly.

Your second point first (endearingly the drag and drop feature didn't work to reverse the paragraphs). I understand the search feature IS more powerful, but as yet I don't fully understand how it works.

Is it possible to get threads shown with the most recent items first? Also for quick navigation to the first and last posts in each thread, as in the previous incarnation of this site? At the moment threads seem to come up with the most inconvenient options. Also there is a way [supposedly] of setting the filters so that last week's posts come up - but that doesn't help if the most recent post was 3 weeks ago.

This has come up several times and hasn't fully been answered (there will be an investigation of how codes can be altered in various ways, but we're all being a bit cautious about making changes atm). Howerver, a solution that (sometimes) works for me: Click on your User Settings (top right dropdown next to your name), then select the Account tab, scroll down to Conversation Detail Options and check that Display Mode is set to Latest Activity (not Post). My technique is to click on the Channel link e.g. Announcements (left hand column of home page) not Anomalies in the right hand column, and then thread title e.g. Anomalies, not Latest Post, which should take you to the latest post at the top (although some people seem to be more used to Latest Posts at the bottom ). How many clicks that takes depends where you're starting from in the first place. Hope this helps!

[Pulcinella]

How often does the Forum itself refresh/update?
I spotted a Message alert: Bryn had quoted one of mine in a reply.
But his post was nowhere to be seen for quite a while.

[oddoneout]

This has come up several times and hasn't fully been answered (there will be an investigation of how codes can be altered in various ways, but we're all being a bit cautious about making changes atm). Howerver, a solution that (sometimes) works for me: Click on your User Settings (top right dropdown next to your name), then select the Account tab, scroll down to Conversation Detail Options and check that Display Mode is set to Latest Activity (not Post). My technique is to click on the Channel link e.g. Announcements (left hand column of home page) not Anomalies in the right hand column, and then thread title e.g. Anomalies, not Latest Post, which should take you to the latest post at the top (although some people seem to be more used to Latest Posts at the bottom ). How many clicks that takes depends where you're starting from in the first place. Hope this helps!

Changing the user setting as described has made life easier I have found. However there are some circumstances where it doesn't work and this was one such. I didn't login first then start reading posts, but went straight to your post, showing as the latest on the Announcements thread on the Forum listing. As I wanted to reply I then logged in, which then gave me the Anomalies thread in reverse order, and using the latest activity link doesn't work, as I've previously mentioned. The page tally comes up in the wrong order as well i.e 16 as the opening page (an all too frequent glitch), so then it's click to the most recent page(1 in this case...) to finally access this post. What I didn't note, but I think did happen, was whether changing the page number kicked the user setting into action, or whether I had to scroll to find the post.
I do now mostly login regardless of whether I intend posting, as a precautionary measure to try and reduce such inconsistencies, but sometimes I just want to do a quick overview of what's happened so don't bother, see something I want to engage with, login and then have to remember the various clicks and scrolls and reverse orders, and different page display of What's New rather than the opening Forum list.

[Pulcinella]

Changing the user setting as described has made life easier I have found. However there are some circumstances where it doesn't work and this was one such. I didn't login first then start reading posts, but went straight to your post, showing as the latest on the Announcements thread on the Forum listing. As I wanted to reply I then logged in, which then gave me the Anomalies thread in reverse order, and using the latest activity link doesn't work, as I've previously mentioned. The page tally comes up in the wrong order as well i.e 16 as the opening page (an all too frequent glitch), so then it's click to the most recent page(1 in this case...) to finally access this post. What I didn't note, but I think did happen, was whether changing the page number kicked the user setting into action, or whether I had to scroll to find the post.
I do now mostly login regardless of whether I intend posting, as a precautionary measure to try and reduce such inconsistencies, but sometimes I just want to do a quick overview of what's happened so don't bother, see something I want to engage with, login and then have to remember the various clicks and scrolls and reverse orders, and different page display of What's New rather than the opening Forum list.

Indeed: and all this combined with disappearing posts that are then hard to track down does make one wonder what the designers think they're playing at.
They surely aren't themselves users of what they've created!
No blame attaches to our doughty Three Musketeers though, as they fight their way through all these oddities on our behalf.

[french frank]

Indeed: and all this combined with disappearing posts that are then hard to track down does make one wonder what the designers think they're playing at.

I just answered on the Grumble Thread and - as I would have predicted - the entire thread had disappeared from What's New? (because I'd already ready the thread, dontcha know). But by going back to Forums, there is my post listed as the Latest Post on The Grumble Thread. I do not, of course, click on The Grumble Thread, in the right hand column, I click on Platform 3 and scroll down to The Grumble Thread, with my post showing as the Latest Post. But I do not click on anything in that right-hand column, I click on The Grumble Thread in the left hand column - and there is my post. Easy peasy

[french frank]

Changing the user setting as described has made life easier I have found. However there are some circumstances where it doesn't work and this was one such. I didn't login first then start reading posts, but went straight to your post, showing as the latest on the Announcements thread on the Forum listing. As I wanted to reply I then logged in

I think it's a whole different situation if you start viewing while not logged in and then you subsequently log in. I'm tempted to add "Obviously" but nothing seems obvious these days

[Pulcinella]

Another observation that I don't think has been mentioned but might be related to the moving post syndrome: Stickies might be stuck but they don't stick to the top of the page any more, as they used to.

[french frank]

Another observation that I don't think has been mentioned but might be related to the moving post syndrome: Stickies might be stuck but they don't stick to the top of the page any more, as they used to.

? I accessed Platorm 3 and there were four Stickies at the top of the list. I was thinking of unsticking Alphabet Associations 1 & 2 as no one has replied for more than 6 months.

[Pulcinella]

? I accessed Platorm 3 and there were four Stickies at the top of the list. I was thinking of unsticking Alphabet Associations 1 & 2 as no one has replied for more than 6 months.

Ah! I think I was looking at a composite Forum view rather than something like Platform (sic!) 3, so perhaps no surprise: the latest activity just happened to include a post on a sticky thread but it wasn't the most recent post so wasn't at the top.

[oddoneout]

I think it's a whole different situation if you start viewing while not logged in and then you subsequently log in. I'm tempted to add "Obviously" but nothing seems obvious these days

It's not a problem I had with the old version, nor on other platforms I use/have used, which is why it's taking a while to remember this one's different!

[Jonathan]

I don't know if anyone else has this issue but the digest emails from the threads that i've posted on come through in some weird text format - they are perfectly readable, it's just not how it used to be! Not fussed about it, just thought I'd point it out. Tomorrow I might have the presence of mind to post what one looks like!

[DracoM]

The Choir:
Baffled as to why The Choir has ceased to be a named forum as it always was on the old Forum opening page?

[french frank]

The Choir:
Baffled as to why The Choir has ceased to be a named forum as it always was on the old Forum opening page?

It still is, as previously. It's the 7th board down (sub-forum The Organ) counting down from Announcements. Is that what you mean?

https://www.for3.org/forums/

[edashtav]

Thanks to everyone who has worked at pace and with signal success to reinvent our ‘threadmill’.
I , a full member, now seem to be denied access to who is on-line yet I can interrogate the membershipl list.

Is this by design, a flaw, being banned, or due to my own insufficiency?

[french frank]

Thanks to everyone who has worked at pace and with signal success to reinvent our ‘threadmill’.
I , a full member, now seem to be denied access to who is on-line yet I can interrogate the membershipl list.

Is this by design, a flaw, being banned, or due to my own insufficiency?

I wonder if, lacking the old Msg# numbers I can find an alternative link. The major point is that you couldn't see the Who's Online list but didn't realise because there was no visible way to ccess it. This may link to my full answer, but my hopes are not high (post is back on page 2 atm). Furthermore, on the old 'Preview' you could test your links before posting: now you can't.

No, it doesn't work. I'll copy that reply here: watch this space.

"Yes, it has been raised. It's a bit embarrassing because under the old system this was turned off to hide bits of information for privacy reasons. When you clicked on the Quick Links button Who's Online was not offered. On the new system the button is visible and very rudely says "Keep Out"; and as an alternative all those online used to be listed as names in the What's Going On section at the bottom of the page. The names have been replaced by avatars - which most people haven't customised. You can hover over each avatar to get the names but, I ask myself, is this more or less convenient than it was? "

<sigh>