The New Forum Software!

Well here you go, your prayers have been answered (or left flaming by the wayside).

The new forum software is here with the forum still intact. In an effort to create a much more user-friendly look I will be shifting and editing Posts around (stickies and others) in order to bring this albatross back down to the ground. Any comments about the new software/look please keep them to this thread.

[Demosthenes]

Whoa!

[Arralen]

Any possibility to turn down font size (besides setting it in the browser) ?

I'm running 1152x864 on a 19", and the forum font very much looks like 14pt to me ...

[Oyzmandias]

I had to reregister to logon again. Is there a chance I could go back to using my original email address with this board? However the new Boards do look much nicer. I was always looking at print_topic before.

Edit: I just realized why i could not logon
I feel very foolish

[msew]

WOO WOO Posts are in the "correct" order now. yes yes yes I love you bboard upgraders

The stickies have been resurrected from their crypt deep in the forum. I will also be making massive revamping changes specifically to the Game Faq and Newbie lov'ns as well as "Current Community Projects" and "Wishlist" stickies once I have these under control. I will, for now take suggestions for any stickies/ideas that are placed in this thread.

I would also like to point out one minor point. For those of you who are browserly challenged and do not like the current setup (I'm not saying it won't change) try using Firefox.

Find it here! (http://texturizer.net/firefox/)

[DeathDaemon]

Any way of getting the old forum links within Posts to work w/o having to edit them by hand?

Links? You mean in the sticky threads how they are all broken ? Yes I will have to redo them in order to make them work, unfortunately.

[DeathDaemon]

A lot of new threads have already been covered in detail. Moderators or other forum trolls respond with links to previous Posts. These links take you to the shrapnel forum index.

Yes, they are all broken. Like the AAR's and such, I will have to relink them when I have a chance. It may be a little slower, since there are quite a few links within the frame of the forum.

[NTJedi]

Nice the Posts are in the correct order finally... just have to get familiar with the new design

Linky times

[Arryn]

It appears that no Posts made prior to the upgrade may be edited by Users, so any of our postings that have bad URLs are going to be stuck that way. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[rabelais]

Oh my. This is ... surprising.

Dammit, I *liked* the reverse post order... and the new interface is beyond hideous.

Oh well, maybe there is a silver lining. I'm sure the shrapnel admins wouldn't go to such trouble, merely to afflict the regulars. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Hope so, otherwise I suspect we are going to lose major traffic on the Boards. Is there an old-board skin I can apply? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif


Rabe, in HIDing

[Boron]

hm i don't like the changes so far . i have to fully agree with rabe . the old forum had flair . this looks really like a step backwards http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif.

shrapnel could have done a poll if we want this . the old forum had a kinda unique look this looks so far not good .

[Karacan]

Me likes it. Just add a few edit options, like choosing the fontsize, which is way too big.

Otherwise, it's going to be some pain in remembering to start reading from the top again, but it is a good thing all in all.

[Kel]

Me likey. Third the opinion on font size but if it can't be helped, reading Posts in order is still worth it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

- Kel

[Gandalf Parker]

There was a poll done. It was in Shrapnel General forum for ages.

Also, most of the changes you dont like are not changes. They are now user options in your profile.

Be nice people. The shrapnel color scheme converted (so at least we dont have the shouts about new colors too much), upload/downloads are back (one of the reasons we shelled out for this. please use the mod forum for mods and probably maps also), the accounts came across (beta's still need some tweaking), the avatars work, the forums came across, the threads survived (THANK GOD), the server is happy with switching to a php/mysql format (knock on virtual wood). All in all, as conVersions go, and sysadmin can tell you this is sweet.

[Vynd]

Yay! Thank you Shrapnel! Now let's see how long it takes me to adjust to reading Posts in the correct order...

[Mindi]

Hey guys,

I fixed the editing problem, you should be able to go back and edit any Posts you made in the Dom 2 forum. Richard is going to try to find a solution this week to convert the links from the old board into the new board format but this may take several days and we can't give any guarantees that it will work. For now though, you can edit the links to your hearts content! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Arryn]

Hey guys,

I fixed the editing problem, you should be able to go back and edit any Posts you made in the Dom 2 forum. For now though, you can edit the links to your hearts content! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Thanks, Mindi!

However, the in-post HTML/UBB code is broken:

<div align="right">
<bold>Bold</bold>
<large>Large</large>
</div>


<center>This line should be centered, but isn't.</center>
<font size=1>This line should be small, but isn't.</font>
<font color="darkblue">This line should be blue, but isn't.</font>

The odd thing is that the Posts that were imported when the forum was upgraded display fine (example: post #252172), yet any that I edit get ruined (example: post #252184).

[Arryn]

As my next suggestion, you might want to significantly raise the number of post views that a thread needs to qualify as a "hot topic". Pretty much most/every thread in the Dom 2 area is now "hot". Personally, IMO, "hot topics" should be based strictly on replies and not how many times they're viewed. Tracking only replies more accurately reflects forum activity, and not just what threads the lurkers are looking at.


Sincerely,

Arryn

Alright, yes http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

There are still some bugs to be worked out and as you can see Mindi and Richard are more than willing to work them out as they can. Though there are certainly going to be some pains in the change.

As for the forum sorting issue. Boron and others, there was a poll, there was not a small fraction of people who wanted the ability to choose the sorting method and this is the step to do so. As of *right* exactly now, there is no way to view the forums like they were (With reversed order), but Richard is over the next few days going to be coding that into the forum so it will be availiable, just when is the question http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

I would ask a little paitence with the forum until it can be manhandled (or mindihandled!) into something like it's former glory, but if you find something that doesn't work, please go ahead and post and if it's fixable I will try to alert the people who fix such things http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Mindi]

Actually, I think we are going to get rid of the hot topic notation all together, Richard just hasn't gotten around to deleting that stuff. As the week, and probably even the next whole month progresses, you will be seeing changes to the forum. Please send Richard any suggestions and we are going to try to accomodate as many as we can provided they make sense for the community and are workable. The most important part of the upgrade was that we will now have file downloads/uploads available again(!) and the board got transferred with basically all the information still intact. Everything else will be straightened out in the next few weeks or so!

Mindi

[Esben Mose Hansen]

Beyond cool! Kudos to whoever made this. A few points,good and bad:

1. As for the font size, please be a good citizen and use the default browser size --- that is, after all, the one the user has declared he wanted. If that is not possible, please use a relative (e.g, font-size: small; or font-size: 0.8ex;) instead of absolute sizes (font-size: 10pt or font-size: 12px). The latter sucks for those of us running a reasonable large resolution or those who have actually set the correct DPI-size for our monitor.

2. It appears that one cannot view this forum with the threaded+expanded mode. It just hangs there with "Waiting for reply..."

3. I really love the "all" button on the subjects. Cool!

[Fyron]

As for the forum sorting issue. Boron and others, there was a poll, there was not a small fraction of people who wanted the ability to choose the sorting method and this is the step to do so. As of *right* exactly now, there is no way to view the forums like they were (With reversed order), but Richard is over the next few days going to be coding that into the forum so it will be availiable, just when is the question http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

That poll is largely irrelevant because it was _not_ properly promoted to all of the Shrapnel forums. It is a very biased reflection of the forum membership. Not to mention the poor wording chosen on the options in it...

That hardly matters now, does it? They bought the software, they installed it and now we have these forums which have the possiblity of making the options of choosing how you'd like it as opposed to having it one way without any options along with a feature that has been missing in downloading.

[Gandalf Parker]

That poll is largely irrelevant because it was _not_ properly promoted to all of the Shrapnel forums. It is a very biased reflection of the forum membership. Not to mention the poor wording chosen on the options in it...



The fact that forums are often posted as links, and Users come &amp; go without seeing the other forums or shrapnels main page is a subject being worked on.

[Fyron]

That hardly matters now, does it? They bought the software, they installed it and now we have these forums which have the possiblity of making the options of choosing how you'd like it as opposed to having it one way without any options along with a feature that has been missing in downloading.

It matters in that it can not validly be used as a representation of what the majority of the forumers want.

We do NOT have the option to display Posts how we would like it. They are forced in the oldest to newest order.

As of right now you don't, but Richard has already said he's going to be working on coding that particular feature. As of right now, you can also do alot of things that you couldn't previously.

Validity has nothing to do with something that has already happened. Justification doesn't really matter at the point that they decided to upgrade the forums (for any number of reasons, not the least of which would be because newer, non SEIV gamers had a hard time using them) and that the possibility of having the option is there, whereas with the old way there was not even the possibility.

There are quirks with any new software that have to be worked out, but whining about it doesn't solve the problem, yeah?

[PrinzMegaherz]

So, what options do I have to take if I want to use the old style forum (or at least the newest - oldest order)

[Fyron]

So, what options do I have to take if I want to use the old style forum (or at least the newest - oldest order)

There is nothing you can do. Richard has mentioned that he might modify the forums to allow us to choose the newest to oldest post order. The list of topics can be displayed in any order, but the topics themselves are always displayed oldest post to newest post.

[Fyron]

There are quirks with any new software that have to be worked out, but whining about it doesn't solve the problem, yeah?

Who is whining? I have simply repeated what I have said from day one of that polls existence. There is a huge difference between discussing the validity of a sample of data and whining about a forum upgrade. I was doing the former.

If that's the case and what you've been doing since day one, I'm sure you could have posted a link to the poll or made a new one if you felt it was biased or innaccurate. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I liked the former style as well and this forum upgrade has caused it's share of headaches for me, but I doubt discussing (instead of arguing) the validity of the reasoning *why* the forum change happened is going to do much of anything. I don't think Shrapnel made it's decision based on any one aspect, considering their official stance has been "Sorry if you don't like it, we'd love your business but if you can't handle it, then you don't have to." roughly summed up.

[Richard]

If that's the case and what you've been doing since day one, I'm sure you could have posted a link to the poll or made a new one if you felt it was biased or innaccurate. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I liked the former style as well and this forum upgrade has caused it's share of headaches for me, but I doubt discussing (instead of arguing) the validity of the reasoning *why* the forum change happened is going to do much of anything. I don't think Shrapnel made it's decision based on any one aspect, considering their official stance has been "Sorry if you don't like it, we'd love your business but if you can't handle it, then you don't have to." roughly summed up.



Well I wouldn't go that far. I think we have been more than helpful in working through issues that have been brought up. No matter what forum software we chose, a move from a non database (ie, flat file) forum that is ancient to a modern database based one is going to be painful. I am actually quite please at how most of it went off without a hitch. As we run into issues we will make decisions as to how to balance out everyone's desires. Remember what one person hates on a board, another person loves.

This wasn't aimed at you Zen, but I wanted to clarify things a bit. Thanks for your help so far, and suggestions.

[Gandalf Parker]

It matters in that it can not validly be used as a representation of what the majority of the forumers want.




Hmmm Im not sure it was meant to be a poll of what the forumers want. The forumers automatically represent the Users to whom the format wasnt a problem. Being in the "ask Shrapnel questions" forum meant it was placed well to catch people who were first timers, and often Last timers.


We do NOT have the option to display Posts how we would like it. They are forced in the oldest to newest order.



I admit that when I looked at the software we were getting it did seem that the order would be user choice. The community-chat sequence that many newer web Users preferred, or the customer-support sequence that I preferred. We will see if it can be achieved. If not then I guess Im out of luck.

Maybe I should have more accurately said "When the issue of the forum sorting method, reasons for and reasons why it is not (your) prefered way" is brought up, the general response is:"

I never ment to say that Shrapnel didn't do it's best to be helpful and accomidating. With the amount of instant changes that have already happened, it should be obvious that you are more than willing to be both http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Annette]

The new forums will take some getting used to for us all. Personally, I preferred the old style. That may be because it's what I'm used to and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks...

I'd like to stress, though, that the main problem we had with the old software was the inability to offer you all uploading and downloading files. We saw that as a very real problem, and this is our solution. It's been a long time coming, and we apologize for the delay. We were concerned we would lose the wealth of information you all have shared here and that there would be a great deal of downtime in the conVersion. Hats off to Mindi and Richard for not allowing those things to happen!

We've taken a great deal of criticism over the years for the sorting order of the old style. I know you all have seen the debates. If it were a matter of sorting only, we probably would have left things alone. We preferred to read the new Posts first. We're aware that the only way we may please everyone is to be able to offer the option to sort whichever way the individual reader prefers, and we're working to be able to bring that to you.

Meanwhile, we truly appreciate your patience and your willingness to hang in there with us while we finish up the project. Be sure to go into your user preferences - you'll find many more options than were there previously. I found that my ability to recieve email notifications for private Messages had been turned off. Others may want to check that in their preferences.

Soon we hope you will all find the benefits of the new options a big improvement overall.

[Fyron]

Hmmm Im not sure it was meant to be a poll of what the forumers want.



If that's the case and what you've been doing since day one, I'm sure you could have posted a link to the poll or made a new one if you felt it was biased or innaccurate. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

It wasn't really relevant, just a place for a few people to ***** before leaving the forums. Not something I would want to support.

[Boron]

how can i increase the letter size ?

[Gandalf Parker]

It wasn't really relevant, just a place for a few people to ***** before leaving the forums. Not something I would want to support.



Oh come on. You really arent getting it? The forums are full of people who were not TOO bothered by the sequence. And the "place for a few people to ***** before leaving the forums" represents some of the people who left because of it. You say they arent representative, but neither is the forum membership.

Yes the overall numbers (when added together) dont show a huge majority in favor of change but it was enough to make it part of the consideration.

It wasn't really relevant, just a place for a few people to ***** before leaving the forums. Not something I would want to support.



I'd say that is a untrue statement. It has been said before and reiterated that people who did not like the forum, and/or did not get used to it and still did not like it, even for SEIV and other games of Shrapnel did not leave, but suffered through that which they did not enjoy and kept a presence (however limited) on the forum.

Maybe not the people you consider important that you talk to on a regular basis, but there are other games here than you particular favorite or mine. Which may have an impact with the option to choose their sorting method. I would hate to have people not get the customer support they feel they need because of such limited vision if it's feasible to avoid it.

[Saxon]

Funny, every time some one expressed a dislike of the forum order, they were directed to the poll and asked to vote. Seemed pretty open, fair and relevant to me. I liked the reverse order, so I took the time to go over to the thread and voice my opinion. It was available to all and it was used by a fair number of people on both sides of the issue. Seems to me that calling it irrelevant is sour grapes. We voted, we lost, we live in a democracy. Well, actually, I don&amp;#8217;t really live in a democracy and I am not allowed to vote where I live, so I am particuarly appreciative when someone like Shrapnel gives me a chance to voice my views.

I don't think anyone "lost" per say. Richard hasn't given the word that "I can't allow this other sorting method! It won't work" and it may, in all reality, be possible and implemented in a timely manner. It's far to early to tell.

Regardless, the fact that the poll was there and it did at least give thought (plus the years of critisms, Emails and various other comments Shrapnel has recieved, no doubt) to allowing both methods instead of picking a forum software that only needed reverse order. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Thilock_Dominus]

I like the new forum style. It was confusing reading the post backwards.
Especially when you are used to read forums forwards. It was the first time I've discovered a forum board was "upside down" and I never got used to it.
So from my point of view it's an improvement. Also the new look makes it more easier to browsing.

best regards
Thilock

[Lepakko]

Thx!!

it looking 3xbetter what Last Forum software

now i can see first post... not the Last one.. it realy help in reading of forum

[tinkthank]

All of the new "features" are good, I think Shrapnel did a great job. Only thing I sort of miss but I am sure will get used to is the old "flavor" and look/feel.

One oddity -- I used to have an awful rating, I suppose people thought (think?) I am an annoying idiot. I was away for a few days (wedding anniversary and other RL stuff) and see my rating is "good". So either people suddenly read all of my Posts in my absence and thought, hey, he is actually trying to be helpful often and isn't such a jerk after all, or this forum has totally randomized the Ratings. Not that I care, just thought I'd say that.

[Graeme Dice]

One thing that would be nice is if the window that we type into could be made a bit larger. It's a little hard to see what you've written sometimes with the small one.

[Gandalf Parker]

One thing that would be nice is if the window that we type into could be made a bit larger. It's a little hard to see what you've written sometimes with the small one.



The settings for that are in your profile

[Thilock_Dominus]

I don't know if this was intended by the admins:

http://69.56.133.54:81/threads/images/hottopic.gif Topic with over 100000 replies or 100000 views

It seems a bit high IMHO http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Arryn]

I don't know if this was intended by the admins:

http://69.56.133.54:81/threads/images/hottopic.gif Topic with over 100000 replies or 100000 views

It seems a bit high IMHO http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

I've been informed that the admins were considering removing the hot-topic feature completely, so setting it very high (like 100k) is an easy way to accomplish that. I'm fairly sure it's intentional.

[Kel]

Note: Not that it's high priority but Ratings do seem a bit odd, maybe ? I have been a 4 for quite a while, I was a 2 when I logged on today and by the time I finished my first post, I was a 1 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif My dominion is weak !

- Kel

[Karacan]

The riddle's solution is a simple one: The original Ratings did not survive the forum transition. So all Ratings are new and fresh, and I think we have a joker going around rating everyone 1 star. (At least that's my explanation.:D)

[Arryn]

To whomever changed the font size (Richard?), making it smaller, I have but one thing to say: THANK YOU !!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Karacan]

Yes, a heartfelt thank you from me, too.

[The_Tauren13]

i really like being able to see who posted the Last post on a thread, especially for sticky threads.

overall, i like the new look alot http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Arryn]

BTW, in case folks hadn't noticed: contrary to the notice that was originally on the forum (and has since been removed/rewritten), you do NOT need to log off and log in again to get notification of PMs. A simple refresh (just like before the forum upgrade) is sufficient. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Once again, a heartfelt thanks to the good folks at Shrapnel for all their hard work in providing this upgrade, and for their ongoing task of ironing out all the kinks in the new code.

Cheers!

[tinkthank]

I love the fact that people can post attachments now -- this is also great!

[tinkthank]

Here's a question about something that seems to be more difficult in the new Version: searching.
It seems that the search results are printed listing each and every *post* which contains the terms required in the field. Thus my seach in the subject only for "magic duel" was spammed to kingdom come, and even "duel" alone was pages and pages. Is there a way to ask for a search in which it lists only one "hit" per *thread* (instead of: per post)?
thank you

[Esben Mose Hansen]

To whomever changed the font size (Richard?), making it smaller, I have but one thing to say: THANK YOU !!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


Yes, the font is now 2mm high :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( An no wonder, look at this EVIL stylesheet:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>BODY,P,TABLE,TD,TR {
font-size: 11px;
font-family: sans-serif, arial, verdana;
color: 000000;
}</pre><hr />
Ouch! Never, ever, under any condition, specify font sizes in px. It is the only totally surefire way of making the pages unreadable for somebody. Could you please kill that line? Or replace it with font-size: small; or something like that.

Thank you.

Alternatively, could we use some of the other stylesheets in the directory (threads//stylesheets)? I notice you can set this from the preferences, only the choice is non-existent. I don't care if something breaks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[liga]

Aaargh ... I miss almost 2 days of forum ... I was thinking it was out ... the problem is that the new forum use an 81 port and it was closed by a firewall! ... now I'm back again

Liga

[rabelais]

Thanks for restoring the "newest first" functionality... seems like the upgrade is indeed going to be a HUGE improvment!

Rabe the Relieved

[Fyron]

To whomever changed the font size (Richard?), making it smaller, I have but one thing to say: THANK YOU !!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


Yes, the font is now 2mm high :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( An no wonder, look at this EVIL stylesheet:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>BODY,P,TABLE,TD,TR {
font-size: 11px;
font-family: sans-serif, arial, verdana;
color: 000000;
}</pre><hr />
Ouch! Never, ever, under any condition, specify font sizes in px. It is the only totally surefire way of making the pages unreadable for somebody. Could you please kill that line? Or replace it with font-size: small; or something like that.

Thank you.

Actually, specifying font sizes in px is the best way to do it, because it guarantees that the fonts will be the same size in all browsers accross all platforms. pt is a very arbitrary measurement that varies from OS to OS and even browser to browser. You can still increase the text size in the View menu, however.


Alternatively, could we use some of the other stylesheets in the directory (threads//stylesheets)? I notice you can set this from the preferences, only the choice is non-existent. I don't care if something breaks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Richard has stated that there is a possibility he will use this new forum capability to allow a range of font sizes to be selected from. He just has to make some extra style sheets. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Smauler]

I really appreciate what's been done with the forums. Previously, they were not intuitive to use. Personally, I'd suggest fonts being bigger. Too big may look a little silly on small screens, but too small is illegible on large. I run 1280*1024 and the fonts are very small, and I'm not old and blind either.

Also, I am a relatively experienced programmer with php, especially in bulletin board / forum conditions. I would be happy to help, ben@isbd.biz is me.

[Esben Mose Hansen]

Ouch! Never, ever, under any condition, specify font sizes in px. It is the only totally surefire way of making the pages unreadable for somebody. Could you please kill that line? Or replace it with font-size: small; or something like that.


Actually, specifying font sizes in px is the best way to do it, because it guarantees that the fonts will be the same size in all browsers across all platforms. pt is a very arbitrary measurement that varies from OS to OS and even browser to browser. You can still increase the text size in the View menu, however.


Oh man, that is so wrong, as pixel-size is different from screen to screen(!). The font is unreadable for me; as I said about 2mm high. I've studied HTML rendering to some depth, even contributed to Mozilla in a small way, so I do now a little.

Let me summarize each font-sizing specification method, and the individual pro/cons.

px. The font is chosen to be as close to the specified height in pixels as possible. Most browsers forces a minimum size on fonts, though, so it is no guarantee. The advantage is that you can mix images and fonts in a (semi)-predictable way; the disadvantage is that the font will be unreadable for some people and/or too large for other people.
pt, mm, in, etc. In theory the font is chosen some the font height is the length specified. However, at the very least this requires the DPI-setting to be correct. This is usually true for linuxboxes, but in general this setting is wrong (usually 72DPI; for comparison mine is about 112.) From this is can be calculated that 11px~2.5mm for my monitor; and 3.9mm for a 72 DPI monitor. Even if these problems are ignored, this is almost never the best option, as it doesn't take into account such aspects as the user's eyesight, distance to the monitor, personal preference and so on.
em, ex, xx% Relative to the parent (element's) font. Used right, this works well, but requires skilled stylesheet author to use correctly --- e.g. the main text should be exactly the size specified as normal from the browser's (or system's) settings. Another con is that the user has to configure his preferred size correctly.
small, normal, +1, -1 etc Absolute sizes with reference point to the user's preferences. Usually the best option by far. The con is that the user has to configure his preferred size correctly, but the style sheet author only needs to know that the main text should be set with font-size: normal.


And yes, I can zoom in on the text, and do, but it is wildly annoying thing to do every time I visit the forums. Why not just do it correctly? It can't be that difficult to replace "font-size: 11px" with "font-size: normal". Or at least make a style-sheet which is not broken in this regard.

Sorry for being so brash. We all have sensitive spots; this is one of mine http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[tinkthank]

Hm, anyone have any suggestions on how to search better under the new software? Please?
Also, can it be that the polls have been removed? I can't find mine -- but then again, I think the search function isn't working as it should. Any help or suggestions appreciated, thanks!

[Mark the Merciful]

Is there a way to see Private Messages that I've written? The old board presented PM conversations as threads, so it was easy to review what I'd written and which part of my replies were being responded to. Now I can see a long list of received PMs, and the ones I've replied to are marked as such, but I can't see a way to review the actual replies.

There is a heading for a list of PMs I've sent, but that list is empty.

What am I missing?

Mark

[Mindi]

I believe when you PM you have to click the option at the bottom of the page that says "I want to keep a copy of my message".

[Sheap]

The new forum seems to be prone to brief, temporary outages. I've had it happen a couple of times today, where the web page is generated with a message saying it cannot connect to the MySQL server. Sorry for not having the exact message available, but of course I cannot post to the forum when the problem is occuring http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Esben Mose Hansen]

The first part of error message is here, but I would guess that the server logs shows them clearly:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Warning: mysql_connect(): Can't connect to MySQL server on 'localhost' (10055) in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 35
SQL ERROR: Wed, Aug 11 2004 13:11:47 -0500 Database error only visible to forum administrators
</pre><hr />
Well, it's Windows, what did you expect? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Agrajag]

Warning: mysql_connect(): Can't connect to MySQL server on 'localhost' (10055) in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 35
SQL ERROR: Wed, Aug 11 2004 17:34:13 -0500 Database error only visible to forum administrators

Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 45

Warning: mysql_query(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 107
SQL ERROR: Wed, Aug 11 2004 17:34:13 -0500 Database error only visible to forum administrators

Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 133

Warning: mysql_query(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 107
SQL ERROR: Wed, Aug 11 2004 17:34:13 -0500 Database error only visible to forum administrators

Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 133

Warning: mysql_query(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 107
SQL ERROR: Wed, Aug 11 2004 17:34:13 -0500 Database error only visible to forum administrators

Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php on line 133

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\mysql.inc.php:35 ) in C:\apache2\Apache2\htdocs\threads\ubbt.inc.php on line 270


This is the full error I got, it happened when I tried posting a message.
Do with it what you will...

[Thufir]

Hm, anyone have any suggestions on how to search better under the new software? Please?
Also, can it be that the polls have been removed? I can't find mine -- but then again, I think the search function isn't working as it should. Any help or suggestions appreciated, thanks!




I'd say searching has taken a step backward under the new forum software. It's really *bad* that all the Posts for a given thread that fit the search show up in your results - IMO, this cripples the search functionality for this forum. At the most, this should exist as an option, that is turned off by default.

Also, it would be very nice to have the search options be saveable (I've seen this in other forums). How many people actually use the default of searching Messages &lt;= 1 week old?! Also, maybe it's just me, but I usually search on subject only, and if we can't get saveable options, it'd be nice (from my point of view) to have that made default.

I've also found that it no longer defaults to the DOM2 forum when I go into search (although I know it did a few days ago). I'm not sure if there's been a server side change that's made this happen, or if I've changed my behavior in some subtle way.

Finally, would it be possible to make a few Dom2 sub-forums? The bug thread needs this badly, and there are a couple of other stickies that deserve to be a subforums, as well (namely AARs and Modding).

If anyone is looking for an example, my second favorite game shop (after Illwinter/Shrapnel, of course http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ), Paradox, has done an outstanding job on their forum setup, check out:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=79

Also, Esben is dead on in his comments about setting fonts - I would appreciate it if the fix he suggests is implemented.

Hope this didn't come off as a rant - I'm really finding this forum very useful all in all, but I am frustrated by the current state of search functionality.

- Thufir

[archaeolept]

yeah, mysql is currently blowing chunks. almost half the time i load a page i get a results like what agrajag just posted.

[JJ_Colorado]

Hi,

A friend is having problems accessing the forum since the new forum software was installed. Here is what he wrote. Can someone help?

Thanks,
John

----------------------------------------
I tried to access the forum with 3 different PCs, which were in no way
related to each other (one at work, one at home, one at a friends
house). I
can access the board as long as I don't try to login. After I login
however
I get a "The document contains no data" error and a blank window. From
this
moment on, every time I try to load the page, I get this message, even
if I
restart the pc.
As said above, this happened three times with different PCs. What do I
do
wrong?

[Sheap]

I'd say searching has taken a step backward under the new forum software. It's really *bad* that all the Posts for a given thread that fit the search show up in your results - IMO, this cripples the search functionality for this forum. At the most, this should exist as an option, that is turned off by default.



I have to agree that searching is a little clunkier now than before.

1) I prefer to search for "all" words vs. "any" words so I have to specify a search as for instance "+immortal +affliction" to find Posts pertaining to immortal healing. Which is OK, but if you don't know to do it, you will turn up hundreds of unrelated Posts.

2) I usually flip the search to "less than 1 year" instead of "less than 1 week." This requires a minimum of clicking, but still didn't have to be done before.


I've also found that it no longer defaults to the DOM2 forum when I go into search (although I know it did a few days ago).



I've never had it automatically search the DOM2 forum since the new software was installed. I would like it to. But the old software, while it *usually* searched in the DOM2 forum, sometimes defaulted to search all forums. I've never used any forums other than DOM2 on this server, though.

[Esben Mose Hansen]

A friend is having problems accessing the forum since the new forum software was installed. Here is what he wrote. Can someone help?



Yeah, I ran into this, it's in this thread somewhere. You have to turn of the "Expand Threads" (or was it threaded mode?) in your profile, and it will work again.

[tinkthank]

Thanks for seconding there.

I believe the "search" functionality is the single most important functional aspect of a forum like this. I say this not to want to rant or criticize unneedingly (since the folks here are doing a GREAT job!), but because it is important, especially for "newbies". How many times have we written something to the effect like "use the search function to search for XYZ, your questions will be answered very well there!" -- this is no longer a real option. I have still been unsuccessful in finding particular threads which I *know* are out there, imagine how this must be for someone who doesnt know they are there.
Sorry for the criticism, otherwise a GREAT job here, I just wish that the search functionality could be optimized (or simply reverted to the old forum type, that worked well).

[PrinzMegaherz]

Yeah, I ran into this, it's in this thread somewhere. You have to turn of the "Expand Threads" (or was it threaded mode?) in your profile, and it will work again.



Thanks, you are my saviour http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Arryn]

Do one of the admins have a rough guesstimate as to when support for embedded HTML/UBBCODE in Posts will be fixed? Reason I ask is that (at some point) I need to edit all the now-invalid links in my AAR thread and I cannot do that until it's fixed else I'll corrupt each post I edit. I understand Richard et. al. have been real busy thus far fixing the more important DB-related and font issues. I'm just curious (and bumping the issue so it's not overlooked). Thanks.

[Cainehill]

Previously, you could either reply to an individual post in a thread, or simply post a reply to the thread - this seems to no longer be the case.

(Edit : As you can see, this post said, "Re: Arryn" even though it had nothing to do with Arryn's post, simply that I was clicking 'Reply' on a post of hers because there isn't a global reply.)

Also, quoting someone used to say who you were quoting; now there's a separate line/block that says "Quote:" but not who is being quoted, which is rather a waste of space. Is there a way to have that information included, rather than wasting another line to say it yourself?

Finally - there used to be icons for sending email or for sending a private message to someone, and now the icon for email seems to be for forwarding that post to someone via email.

Is there a trick to sending private Messages now, or not implemented yet?

Gracias.

[Truper]

You can still send PMs. Just click on the person's name, and at the bottom of the screen that comes up you'll see an option to send new private message.

[Arryn]

I thought I'd recap some of the issues that remain outstanding after the forum upgrade:

When replying to Posts, having the person's name to whom you're replying to listed after the word "quote" in the quote block. {fixed}
An option to automatically have all quoted text shown in boldface (as it was before the upgrade). {fixed, sorta ("whosit said" is now bolded)}
The ability to post to a thread without using the "reply" button, which is another (convenient) old feature that has not carried over. Oftentimes you may wish to inject a comment or add info that is not directly in response to a particular person's post (or perhaps in response to more than one post or to the thread in general).
<font color="red">In new Posts, or when editing old Posts</font>, embedded HTML code does not work.
The ability to seperately thread PMs without also having to thread the main forum (so that PMs work they same way they used to prior to the upgrade).
The ability for Users to select the font size they wish to display forum Posts in. (I happen to like the current tiny type, which allows me to see more text onscreen, but other folk have monitors or eyeballs with poor resolution.) {fixed, but buggy: selecting "Shrapnel Small" fails to display boldface text like this}
Have the forum SEARCH feature work the way it used to (which was very good). The current search system is all but useless.

If I've omitted any other issues, feel free to speak up.