Comments (constructive) on the New Forum Software

[peak4Participant @peak4]

No Keith, 692509 is a unique identifying number for that post

i.e. it may be the 692509th post since the forum began, though I guess some of the numbers may have been used, or skipped, for other reasons.

It’s in blue and underlined, as a hyperlink, so it can be used as a shortcut as well

This is the URL behind it

Edit; just been to check the very earliest “Latest Reply” on Page 1631 where the post numbering seems to start around 41000ish
Earlier numbers may refer just to the start of each thread, before the import; so it might be just a number for an individual piece of data that was transferred into this new forum and used for indexing etc.,  which subsequently increments as more posts are added.

 

Bill

[KEITH BEAUMONTParticipant @keithbeaumont45476]

And people wanted that information when there are so many other things to get right? I am amazed.

Also I have found out that the lack of e-mail follow up is at my end. Had a Win 10 update 2 days ago and it wiped the connection, now all sorted.

Keith

[KEITH BEAUMONT]

On KEITH BEAUMONT Said:

And people wanted that information when there are so many other things to get right? I am amazed.

[…]

No … people wanted that information before they found-out that there would be so many other things to get right !

Not in my wildest imaginings did I foresee the shambles we have now.

MichaelG.

[KEITH BEAUMONT]

On KEITH BEAUMONT Said:

Michael,

I still do not understand your explanation. Are you saying that 692,509 people have tuned in to this post?

[…]

No, Keith … I was saying it was post number 692471 in the site’s long history

# is taken to mean ‘number’ in these circumstances

MichaelG.

.

Edit: __ 692509 was the number of my post, made in reply to yours

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

The ‘software’ isn’t really the main problem (since fixing latest posts). The hosting is terrible. I am not convinced Cloudflare is adding any value.

You should never see stuff like this  

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

… But jaCK

Cloudflare generally suggests that the blame lies with the database-handling load at the site’s server

… can you see the error message that goes with the diagram you posted ?

MichaelG.

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

Of course it is never the fault of Cloudflare!

Cargo cult. Lots of boxes available so use em all. No need to pay attention to how they join together.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I am in no position to comment.

MichaelG.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

why when posting images does it just put them any old place?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

It puts them where your cursor was just before you clicked the “insert image” icon. If you leave the cursor in any old place in the reply box your image will end up there too.

Place cursor where you want the image and THEN insert the image.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Can we not have a preview button so we can see what we’re posting first, most forums seem to have this feature.

The pop up advert is now more than just irritating, it has now several times interrupted, and effectively cancelled edits I’ve been making. This is unconscionable.

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

So, I’ve just spent well over an hour trying to do an update on the Chester Super Lux write up I’ve been doing.

Clicked on ‘Submit’

Waited almost 2 mins before a grey screen appeared telling me that Access was Forbidden.

Seriously annoyed as everything had disappeared into the ether, so much so I didn’t even get a screen shot.

All it was was some text, a couple of pics and an attempt to embed a short video clip

What’s that all about?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I sympathise Taf, the only good thing I can say is that you would have been even more annoyed if you had waited 20 rather than just 2 mins.

If I make any posts on the forum, from now on I will create the text in Notepad and then paste it.

Ian P

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Taf, see my reply to your other post, it was the way you put the video into the reply that was the problem.

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Thanks Jason, I obviously missed that in the test thread..

I’ll have another go later. Cheers

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Test Message. Please ignore.

[Ed Dinning 1Participant @eddinning1]

In an attempt to constructively analyse the long running Forum problems I have given my analysis below.

These are from a retired Electrical/ Electronic  graduate/ chartered engineer who was a  manager/ director of Engineering Depts at a range of large and small companies and where various products were developed that used large amounts of software.

Most of my engineers were engineers first, who were then trained on software. Similar people were employed in accounts and other areas. These guys were usually good and reliable. The problem people were those who had vast amounts of IT qualifications but no business/ engineering experience. They were very difficult to train.

I can fully understand the new publisher wanting to integrate his forums, but different systems are very difficult to integrate without lots of “patches” as well as many trial runs.

I am not aware of the other magazines in the group, but this is primarily a technical forum; I do appreciate that the money men like to maximise the revenue from a forum due to adverts, BUT the excessive amount of adverts at present slows the forum to an unacceptable degree. A reduction of about 60% would make the speed more acceptable. It should be at least as fast as the original.

Note that this poor speed and annoying “pop-ups” will decrease the hits on the forum and the advertisers will see this and not then pay premium rates. Extrapolated further this will lead to it’s decline and failure, something no one wants.

Please get your software consultants to look at professional forums such as IMechE, IET ; they will see that advertising is minimised, response is much faster and the look much more professional.

 

Ed Dinning

 

Mods please feel free to move this to the Tea Room if necessary

[Ed Dinning 1]

On Ed Dinning 1 Said:

 

Please get your software consultants to look at professional forums such as IMechE, IET ; they will see that advertising is minimised, response is much faster and the look much more professional.

 

Ed Dinning

 

Mods please feel free to move this to the Tea Room if necessary

Ed, a good try and well meant, but I fear there is no chance of the management people at Mortons either looking at an exemplary site or changing the way they want the site to be.

I have no website construction skills but my gut feeling is that the adverts are not the major culprit as regards to the slow page response. Others here have put it down to WordPress being a poor choice for a large forum platform.

Ian P

 

 

 

 

[Ed Dinning 1Participant @eddinning1]

I think the suppression of advert refreshes at each change of post would go a long way to help speed increasing. This should be a simple code change that needs to be tried.

All adverts should also be static, without animation.

 

GO on, give it a try!

 

Ed

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

At the rate that this forum and website is going downhill the adverts are probably not likely to be much of a problem.

Advertisers look to have all but abandoned the site!

For what its worth Mortons may as well remove (at least temporarily) their adverts so that A, the remaining forum members and any returning or newcomers will have a better experience, and B it will test Ed’s speedup theory.

Ian P

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Sorry to say, Ian … I think all those Mortons adverts are probably considered “essential place-holders” to maintain the specified page layout.

.

You don’t like it, and I don’t like it … but I’m sure the forum is really intended as an  an advertisement billboard.

I will avoid using the elegant French expression which so neatly encapsulates that.

MichaelG.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Until I tried another browser I never noticed the advert inserted between the original post and the first reply.

H

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, So why can’t I access my old posts past page 1, when using engagements in my profile, does anyone else have this problem? I’ve mentioned this two or three times before.

Regards Nick.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Not sure what this ‘engagements’ is. Could be a problem if the wife finds out. When I go into Profile I get a list of posts and at the bottom is a button for ‘load more’. Kind of slow since it loads the full text rather than titles but how often does one need to go back. Search might get you there sooner.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Bazyle, in your profile click on forums and you will see Engagements, this is all the postings that you’ve made from the time you first started. Searching may get you there if you can remember exactly which topic and the post you made. Most things I often want to refer back to, would contain one or more photos, so I can use the date of the photos to find the date of any posts I’ve made, but the page is stuck on number 1.

Regards Nick.

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