A Message from Mortons, Publishers of ME and MEW

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A Message from Mortons, Publishers of ME and MEW

This topic has 31 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 4 November 2023 at 17:28 by SillyOldDuffer.

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2 November 2023 at 21:09 #686188
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Dear Valued Forum Members,

We hope this message finds you well and that you’ve been able to enjoy the forum despite the recent challenges. We understand that the last few weeks have been a little troublesome, and we sincerely appreciate your patience during this time.

Our dedicated team has been working tirelessly around the clock to address the issues and stabilise the forum. With a user community in the tens of thousands and millions of valuable pieces of information, transitioning to a new platform was no small feat. The decision to migrate was driven by the fact that the software supporting our old system is no longer supported, posing a real risk that if it went down, it might never come back up.

We’ve carefully reviewed the feedback you’ve provided, and we acknowledge that there have been a variety of issues, some related to functionality and others more focused on personal preferences. While we can confidently say that the forum is functional, allowing you to perform many of the tasks you could on the old platform, there are certain features that were not feasible to replicate in the new format.

We are currently prioritising:

Speed: We recognise that the speed of the forum has been a concern for some users. Our IT team is hard at work to enhance the performance and make your forum experience as smooth and responsive as possible.

Latest Activity: We understand the importance of keeping up with the latest discussions and posts. We’re currently exploring ways to ensure that up to 100 of the most active and newest posts are prominently featured.

Your patience and support have been invaluable during this transitional period. We are committed to providing you with the best forum experience, and we will continue to make improvements to address the remaining issues.

Thank you for being a part of our community and for your understanding as we work through these challenges. We look forward to delivering a better and more responsive forum experience for you in the days to come.

Sincerely,

Steven O’Hara

Publisher
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2 November 2023 at 21:56 #686199
Mark Rand
Participant
@markrand96270
Please ask Mr O’hara to sue the IT contractors who used WordPress to build a forum on for breach of contract, then find someone who can configure dedicated forum software (paid for or FOSS).
2 November 2023 at 22:29 #686221
bernard towers
Participant
@bernardtowers37738
For goodness sake changing pages is like watching paint dry, if you want people to use and get use out of this forum and the info it holds make it work at a reasonable speed.
2 November 2023 at 22:43 #686226
JA
Participant
@ja
Thank you.

Please keep us up to date on the progress in getting a good working forum.

JA
3 November 2023 at 07:07 #686252
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
… and may I be so bold as to bump a previous post of mine ?

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/thanks-for-your-patience-as-the-website-is-being-worked-on/#post-683451

… this was, and remains, a serious suggestion … even though it appears work is now being done in-house.

MichaelG.
3 November 2023 at 07:12 #686253
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
On 3 November 2023 at 07:07 Michael Gilligan Said:

… and may I be so bold as to………………………………….

… this was, and remains a serious suggestion.

MichaelG.

That one failed at the last two words of the first sentence.
3 November 2023 at 07:25 #686258
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
My thoughts

In Summary this website generates very little income for Mortons. The transition for various reasons has been far more costly in both time and money than expected. In the current climate it does not make good business sense to put more money into something that won’t give a suitable return.

Therefore don’t expect to see much except the speed and Latest posts being worked on and hopefully improved, at least not in the near future. It’s a case of making do with what we now have and if that does not suit you then it is upto the individual member if they wish to carry on using the forum as lets face it that is the only part of the site we all really look at.
3 November 2023 at 07:55 #686270
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
On 3 November 2023 at 07:12 JasonB Said:

That one failed at the last two words of the first sentence.

If true, then I am disappointed in Mortons

… the open forum is probably not the place to discuss such matters, but I believe it would be extremely cost-effective.

Going out for my walk now … I need a breath of fresh air.

MichaelG.
3 November 2023 at 09:54 #686302
Oldiron
Participant
@oldiron
Very disapointed that the forum is so slow, clunky and pain in the butx to navigate. I used to really enjoy popping in and instantly seeing all the latest posts etc. The only thing wrong with the old site was posting of pictures in my mind That was easy once you learned how to do it. Now we are “participants” not menbers. No idea how many posts people have made. This is now the worst looking and performing forum I that I am a memeber of (and there are many). Who ever designed this forum should be sacked imho. I can understand new forum software might take a week or so to settle down but this is painfull. So many very basic mistakes have been made setting out the new software. Much more testing should have been done from the getgo. I am sure anybody finding the forum for the first time will take one look and say no thanks. I hope things do improve but for the time being I am out of here.
3 November 2023 at 09:57 #686306
Howi
Participant
@howi
The new software/Forum is what it is, there is no going back for reasons stated.

The site is slower than it should be but not to the extent some seem to imply and I am sure this will improve.

We have all become used to the old site and for obvious reasons most/all don’;t like the new one, however, I am sure in time it will become an irrevelance.

The forum is there for us to exchange ideas/knowledge in many interelated subjects to increase our individual understanding.

To this end the layout/usabillity of the site is of secondary importance to the content.

If you don’t like it then move, I doubt you will find a better forum for our needs otherwise we would already have moved.

It is never an easy task to change what was a reasonably good site to begin with but the need to change was obvious, so give Morton’s a break, give them time to sort the problems.

As far as I am concerned the site is usable if a little slow, I can get to the content I need without too much trouble and NO I do not prefer this layout to the previous but it is what it is and we must learn to use it as it is.

Those who have never attempted a product change like this can never appreciate the effort that goes into it – all brickbats no praise.

So! to all those who have put blood swaet and tears into gedtting the new forum up and running, I say thank you, keep up the good work, at least one person appreciates your efforts.
3 November 2023 at 10:33 #686314
duncan webster 1
Participant
@duncanwebster1
So like it or lump it. I don’t so I probably wont
3 November 2023 at 11:16 #686338
Werner Schleidt
Participant
@wernerschleidt45161
In these days all have to be optimised and have to be better as the old trash, but in reality it is then slower with less performance and so on. And after sometime there is a great unbelieveable step in to the future, with many blood and tears it is as fast as it was before. This you can see at many works nowadays.

For me the turquise colour signs and writing and grey on grey white is such a step in the future, it remebers me to the words of the comedian Otto ” the East Frisian Naional Flag is white eagle on white ground for better contrast”. But this is modern!
3 November 2023 at 11:20 #686342
noel shelley
Participant
@noelshelley55608
I had often wondered why the dutch ME site was so little used compared to ours ? NOW I KNOW ! It ‘s based on word press and they had alsorts of problems. I’m a stuborn fellow and I don’t like to be beaten so I will persevere with both – for a while ! To those who have tried so hard to get it to work I say thank you – again ! Noel.
3 November 2023 at 11:20 #686346
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
Beautifully expressed, Werner

MichaelG.
3 November 2023 at 15:56 #686433
duncan webster 1
Participant
@duncanwebster1
On 3 November 2023 at 11:16 Werner Schleidt Said:

In these days all have to be optimised and have to be better as the old trash, but in reality it is then slower with less performance and so on. And after sometime there is a great unbelieveable step in to the future, with many blood and tears it is as fast as it was before. This you can see at many works nowadays.

For me the turquise colour signs and writing and grey on grey white is such a step in the future, it remebers me to the words of the comedian Otto ” the East Frisian Naional Flag is white eagle on white ground for better contrast”. But this is modern!

Actually, if they fix the limited number of latest posts issue, which they’ve promised to do, it’s OK. It seems to have stopped kicking me out when I clicked latest posts button, which was really winding me up.
3 November 2023 at 16:13 #686439
Craig Brown
Participant
@craigbrown60096
Well Latest Activity appears to have changed to Latest Replies with a list of the 20 most recent threads with replies. So things are changing and this change is a step in the right direction
3 November 2023 at 16:18 #686441
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
Darren has also put the time of the latest replies rather than Xhrs ago which should make it a bit easier as most people will know when they last visited and don’t want to work out how many hours ago that was.

Not sure if he will get much more done this week but hopefully the layout more across the page can be done next week.
3 November 2023 at 16:25 #686443
Craig Brown
Participant
@craigbrown60096
Also, it appears to me like pages are loading slightly faster. Yet another step in the right direction
3 November 2023 at 17:14 #686446
Anonymous
On 3 November 2023 at 16:18 JasonB Said:

Darren has also put the time of the latest replies rather than Xhrs ago which should make it a bit easier as most people will know when they last visited and don’t want to work out how many hours ago that was.

Which reminds me I did hope that the new site would allow the member to put his own time-zone into his profile and then have site times converted to that reference. It wasn’t possible on the old site but many, many other forums do this.

Still not here though (afaik).
3 November 2023 at 21:02 #686470
Benedict White
Participant
@benedictwhite51126
On 2 November 2023 at 21:56 Mark Rand Said:

Please ask Mr O’hara to sue the IT contractors who used WordPress to build a forum on for breach of contract, then find someone who can configure dedicated forum software (paid for or FOSS).

The forum is not WordPress. It is BBPress, albeit by the same group of people. See the BBPress website here.

It need not be BBPress. The fact that the website is WordPress does not mean all sub pages need to be including the forum though that does make it easier to copy the site style and themes.

So, they already have a dedicated forum software as you suggest and could change to another one without changing the rest of their site.
4 November 2023 at 09:56 #686594
Howi
Participant
@howi
On 3 November 2023 at 10:33 duncan webster 1 Said:

So like it or lump it. I don’t so I probably wont

your choice, your loss!
4 November 2023 at 10:05 #686608
Anonymous
On 3 November 2023 at 09:57 Howi Said:

If you don’t like it then move, I doubt you will find a better forum for our needs otherwise we would already have moved.

Thing is you can’t leave, the “Delete Account” in your profile doesn’t work either.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/deleting-site-account/
4 November 2023 at 10:08 #686635
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
On 3 November 2023 at 21:02 Benedict White Said:

… See the BBPress website here. …

As suggested; I did that ^^^ and subsequently found this:

https://bbpress.org/about/

Now I don’t know whether to laugh or cry

MichaelG.
4 November 2023 at 10:14 #686639
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
Michael, the home page has their own “latest topics” now that is a reasonable layout and just about identical to the old forum
4 November 2023 at 10:22 #686643
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
I know, Jason … that’s where I landed when I followed Benedict’s link.

My further exploration was what prompted my comment.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: __ for linguistic clarity, I have just edited my previous post.
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