Why is it so quiet here?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I have no means of quantifying what I mean by quiet, but going by the number of email notifications I was getting each week (100’s) compared to the number I have received in the last few days (maybe 10) it feels that something is not quite right.

I have been and still am, subscribed to the same threads but the emails have dropped off a cliff, maybe the forum software is working so well that everybody is happy and dont feel the need to voice comments and complaints?

TBH I dont think its worth anybody spending time making suggestions, I will admit that for the first time I am beginning to see some slight improvement, it is still painfully slow (logged in) and at the current rate of change it will be Christmas before this is a usable forum.

My main complaint it the almost complete lack of feedback from the development team, OK we have had posts asking us to be patient but nothing useful that would give something to look forward to.

Most if not all of the forum update information is posted here by the long suffering and hard working moderators for which I am very appreciative. In a reply I received from a moderator I learned that there is some ‘update’ software that (I assume) the development team and the moderators share which must act as a bridge between the forum participants and the developers. From that I deduce the moderators act as the triage nurses handling our groans and complaints in an effort to reduce the workload on the software team.

Is there any chance of light at the end of the tunnel, and if so when?

Ian P

Edit
The above took nearly 2 minutes ‘submitting’ and further 50 seconds for the edit window to appear

 

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Ian I share your comments however I think your comment about it being Christmas before a usable forum optimistic I see it going well into the new year, why there doesn’t seem to be any rush to get it fixed and to be fair there is no insensitive to do so. I do thank the mods for their efforts pity Mortons do put the same effort in they have !

After how many days I can’t post or reply on my windows or Linux machines the only way is via my Samsung table but even then its painfully slow to the point I really don’t know why I bother habit with possibly

H

[VicParticipant @vic]

It took 20 seconds for the home page to load, and then another 5 seconds for this thread to load.

I only pop in once in a while to see if the site has improved. At the rate it’s going it could take months to fix? The pop up adverts are also really irritating if I forget to turn the add blocker on!

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I think a lot of the guys are waiting for the forum to get slicker and more user friendly

It’s still pretty clunky

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Out of interest I have just counted how many notification emails I have received recently.

Between 20th October and today I had just over 400, nearly all relate to the forum upgrade and only about 25 of them on engineering topics. (most of the 400 were generated from just three threads)

There have been days in the last month when I did not have have access to my PC and on checking my mail sometimes found 50 or more notification emails, I followed the links studiously at first but soon realised that it might take me hours to go through them all as many links did not work as they should. Up until this quiet period I have taken to deleting all the notifications unread (bar the 2 or 3 most recent that take me to the website and I then look at latest activity (in whatever incarnation it happens to be).

Ian P

 

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I find it has improved a lot in the last few days/week and there are a quite a lot of new topics being started, like it used to be. If the OP is only checking by waiting for emails on a few old topics then he will miss all the new stuff.
Have you noticed two great new features a) the ‘latest replies’ are now listed in short form on the right of every page so easy to click a few, and b) if you keep scrolling down they are listed again in more detail below the thread you read, so no need to ‘back arrow’ after reading each one.

I am getting back to my old habit of popping in during my coffee breaks during the day.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Yes it has improved over the last few days but its from a very low starting point, and I did acknowledge it was better in my post. I also said that when I visited the forum (from an email link) I then kept up to date by looking at latest activity and latest replies.

I suppose we all use computer and browsers in different ways and I rarely have a need for the ‘back’ button. I much prefer to right click every item in the list that is new or looks interesting then ‘open in new tab’ so that each one is loaded and I can then move between tabs.

A big improvement would be to replace the ‘two great new features’ you mention with a single properly formatted list with all the ‘more details’ so the second list was not needed.

Ian P

[Ian P]

On 12 November 2023 at 21:16 Ian P Said:

…

Is there any chance of light at the end of the tunnel …

Only if there is a train coming .. in which case, get out of the way

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If your notifications were mostly from topics about the change then I can expect them to drop off, for example once a couple of people have reported or commented on something you are less likely to get it repeated Or like latest posts that is now fixed so you won’t get all th ecomments asking for that

There is a move back to the more usual content but I do feel traffic is down on what it was before the old forum shut down. What would be interesting to see is the Google analytics for the site now compered with say 2 months ago, this shows actual traffic.

I don’t expect much more change in the general layout and usability but hopefully speed will get dealt with as it was painfully slow yesterday.

What I have not seen is anyone comment on the darkening of the white background that everybody seemed to complain about and it ha sonly been accidentally noticed by one member apart from me.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

…

What I have not seen is anyone comment on the darkening of the white background that everybody seemed to complain about and it ha sonly been accidentally noticed by one member apart from me.

These subtle but very welcome changes have been noticed, Jason … but as they are

(a) very simple to implement, and

(b) a response to the widespread outcry,

I for one did not feel the need to comment.

Sorry if that offends the team

MichaelG.

[Old SchoolParticipant @oldschool]

It is a little better but painfully slow, sometimes I loose the will to live and give up with it. Then move onto something else that interests me and works at reasonable speeds.

[modeng2000Participant @modeng2000]

I find that selecting a posting and then doing something else while it loads is much less frustrating.

As I have posted before, why not use a similar layout to most other fora, perhaps still in the development stage.

John

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Hi Jason,

I did mention in one of the original threads last Friday that there had been improvements. However when I log-in the screen background is still mostly white, luckily I don’t have to dwell there long on a good day.

As regards posts I have to admit this Forum has lost its appeal to me. I used to look in 2 or 3 times a day, but I am starting to look in 2 or 3 times a week, so I guess Ian’s observation is relevant. The change was something I had serious reservations about and I seem to have had my finger on the pulse.

I hope that it soon picks up for all our sakes.

Regards

Gray,

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

………….Or like latest posts that is now fixed so you won’t get all the comments asking for that

….

On Old School Said:

It is a little better but painfully slow, sometimes I loose the will to live and give up with it. Then move onto something else that interests me and works at reasonable speeds.

On modeng2000 Said:

I find that selecting a posting and then doing something else while it loads is much less frustrating.

…………..

John

Except that I’d suggest that Latest Replies isn’t fixed; it exists in a more useable format certainly, and is more informative, with more options for topic navigation.

The following is something I’ve discussed before, with timed screenshots, so I’ll not repeat them here.

”Latest Replies” doesn’t seem to work (currently) the way some people think; The “Blue Button” operates differently in this new implementation to the original temporary offering.

When you refresh a page, whilst viewing something on the forum, a new Latest Replies list is generated, and displayed below whatever topic you were viewing.
It’s in a similar format to “Forums”, but date ordered and works well, depending on where you click; I’m ignoring the right hand Latest replies banner/ list for the time being.

The Latest Replies Blue Button, does not seem to re-generate a new list; It just auto scrolls down the page to the list you already had open, which I think is why it appears to work quickly.

This is easy to demonstrate, leave a topic open in a tab, spend a couple of hours in the workshop, re-press Blue Latest Replies Blue Button Button, without doing anything to cause a screen refresh; immediate response down to the already displayed list, but it’s two hours out of date.

Refresh the screen, by whatever means, a long delay, 30 seconds currently, and a re-compiled current Latest Replies list, in time order, appears below what you were viewing.
Anything that forces a screen refresh, back button, edit, comment, Control F5, select different topic/post etc, seems to generate a new Latest Replies list when logged on, along with the inherent delay.

N.B. Log out of forum, Latest Replies list is not always current, and may not update for ages; navigating around the forum is fast, perhaps because the list is not updating with each screen refresh.

Log back in, wade through treacle with every screen refresh, whilst waiting for the list to re-compile.

I may be barking up the wrong tree entirely, but I’ve tried to explain this several times, with timed screenshots, but no replies from Admin/Developers to this potential bottleneck, which only seems to occur when a user is logged in.
I can imagine that when several users are logged in, and accessing the forum simultaneously, re-generating the list for each of their screen refreshes might be a higher load on the server.
Currently the time delay for a screen refresh, when viewing forums with Latest Replies, is about 30 seconds; other occasions have been almost a full minute.

If we had a display of the number of logged in users, that might give further indication.

It only seems to be when Latest Replies is implemented for a logged in user, that the refresh rate is slow.
The rest of the site is speedy enough whether logged in or out.

Bill

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Although it can be slow it is not as bad as the Youtube videos stretching 30 seconds of material to half an hour. If you can stand watching them maybe have one running at the same time on a second screen. Bother, now I’m going to have to test that and get messed up when I keep hitting the fast forward.

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

I think the forum is improving, but very slowly. I don’t know why this improvement is so slow, I just don’t know enough about the IT, so I have to assume everyone is doing their best to fix things.

But if this was a commercial site that needed paying customers and cash flow I think there is a good chance it would have gone bust by now. Other sites and fora seem to be able to make changes “overnight” without the time this one is taking.

I agree with Bill above that the “Latest Replies” thread is very slow for me as a logged in user. I suspect this is the thread that most casual readers go to first and I can easily imagine them getting fed up waiting and giving up, and leaving the forum without trying other parts of the site. If this is not fixed soon I expect we will lose many users altogether.

Also, it may be just me, but I find the lack of contrast between the text and the background on many parts of the site makes for difficult reading. Darker grey on lighter grey is very trying. While I am typing this note, my text is black but when it’s posted I expect it to go to grey – is this a feature, and if so, why?

I do hope the forum can be improved but it has a long way to go to be as usable as the old one, which I admit did have some problems of its own.

Rod

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

………………..

What I have not seen is anyone comment on the darkening of the white background that everybody seemed to complain about and it ha sonly been accidentally noticed by one member apart from me.

Yes I noticed it as well as Michael, but didn’t want to comment, as again it can easily become a longer reply, and the developers don’t seem to be reading forum member’s responses to some of the issues raised.

There is more than one “background”.
e.g. I’m viewing on a wide screen monitor, where the forum only takes up the central portion of the screen, about the centre 3/4 with 1/8 unused space either side.

That surplus 1/8 + 1/8  section now seems darker (RGB 221:221;221) and makes it easier on the eyes overall.

The actual forum background, i.e. outside the posting window, but below the adverts, is a bit lighter (RGB 238:238:238), so still quite bright.

The background behind the text in a topic/reply varies depending on which reply you’re viewing, as they seem to alternate for easier distinction between replies, (RGB 225:225:225)-white, (RGB 247:249;255).

Quoted text in a reply (RGB 245:246;250)

Many of these differences are fairly subtle, so since it appears that some folk are still struggling, maybe future proposed colour schemes, and maybe even screen layouts, should be tested on users with poorer eyesight.
e.g. in the latest replies list at the bottom of this page, trying to read small blue text an a pale blue background can be quite difficult for those with poor eyesight.

The above RGB numbers are taken using a Windows Powertoys colour picker, though I’m sure they could be read by from the HTML etc.

Edit, for what it’s worth, I’ve just visited a random page on Archive.org

The background in a post pane, such as this one was  (RGB 238:238:238) so darker than here, though the wasted/surplus screen space either side of the forum content was (RGB 250:250:250) so lighter than this new one is now

Bill

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

I don’t know how many noticed the greyed out RH panel but I did say it was an improvement in a reply on the 11th, #post-689719
Mentioned in the post to show appreciation for IMO an improvement, hopefully speed when logged in is high on the list of work to be done.

Emgee

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

I used to love coming and going on this forum but by god it’s hard work now, so so slow and clunky! I’m looking at other options atm which may be more user friendly. At least the poxy spell checker works now!

Tony

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

Totally agree with Tony Pratt1.

Also agree with those who say its painfully slow. My broadband speed is ~ 10 ish.

On a more positive note, thanks to everyone who worked on it.

I’m sure it will get quicker, goggles at the ready.

Bear…….

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Clearly I’m not the only one disappointed with the new forum/software.  Yes, it’s painfully slow and not overly intuitive to use, but the plethora of adverts is driving me bonkers.  OK, so adverts help pay for the forum, but do they need to be so “in your face”.  For me, the only improvement is the spell checker.  No more excuses for poor postings.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Used to come in, scoot about and know exactly what was going on in 2-3 minutes, and scoot out

Can’t really do that yet, don’t really have a clue what’s going on unless you spend quite a while to stumble about in here

edit: and once you log in things really go to pot, it takes about 30 seconds for each page view lol

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

I agree with Ady1 its so slow and i have full fibre to the House so plenty of download speed, still takes 30 seconds plus to load a/this post.  I too used to have a quick look around a couple of times a day but now feel pretty frustrated !  I do however see some improvements in the look of the site.

Another thing I am disappointed with is any posts you had “saved” on the old platform seem to have disappeared ?  unless they are hiding somewhere ?

John

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I would think that the old saved stuff can be bolted on once they’ve sorted out the day to day forum activity

So there’s a good chance it will come and go while the tech guys do their thing

It’s just a millstone of data at the moment, until the basics are properly sorted out

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I’ve just been pondering about very slow progress in improvements to the usability of the website and forum.

My ponders led me to troubling train of thought……

We were told that the old forum and website software was hard to maintain and had security risks (might have been other reasons mentioned too but I’ve forgotten). Upgrading or changing the software had been mooted quite a long time ago. maybe more than a year.

When Morton’s (the management presumably) decided to create a new website they had plenty of time to develop a site that suited their purpose by carrying adverts, hosting the forum, being an information base for ME, MEW and whatever else a website was suppose to do.

For whatever reason, Morton’s decide to change to the new website and we can only assume that some event must have triggered it being introduced long before it was ready.

The troubling thought I have is this. If the same team that found the old website hard to maintain are the same team that developed the new website, and this same team is the one now struggling to manage the site they created then maybe the old original website could have been repaired.

Ian P

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