New Forum Structure

I’ve tried to upload a new avatar but it wont let me as it is animated but the are other members with animated avs is it a new rule or is it messed up?

 

Yay, self quote!

 

There's a file size limit. I can't be arsed to look what it is, maybe you should.

 

Hey could we get the forum link back in articles on the front page
I'm guessing its more automated now, and there's the comments button, but i prefer the forum over the comments bit under the news

 

rtt - search seems to be working for me now. if you did something, thanks. if not, well, my computer seems to hate me lately, it's likely that it was just screwy.

 

There is a forum link in the articles: at the end of them.

 

i for one absolutely love the new forums. At first i did think that they had been minimized into too few forums but upon discovering the filters i realised that that would not be a problem and i agree as someone else mentioned that this way people are more likely to find threads they wouldn't have otherwise.
I really like the colour scheme a lot better even though, i think, they are similar colours and shades.
Finally, im not sure about this, but i do believe that searching in specific forums is easier than it was in the old forums.
Overall i like the redesign - lots of small changes which add up to make the forums a lot better imo.

 

If you click on the comments tab at the top of the news comments it will take you through to the forums. I know this isn't obvious but I'm had thought about a lack of a link to the forums so I've made sure one was there somewhere.

Thanks for the comments. Good to hear some people are happy with what we've done so far.

 

I've found the search function throws up the three letter minimum query if your search string includes a two letter word ie searching for

attach to spigot

throws up the error. should it be doing this?

 

It doesn't throw up the error for me?

 

Put the term in quotes to stop it throwing a wobbly.

For example, this returns no results

Code:

attach to spigot

But this

Code:

"attach to spigot"

Finds quite a few threads

 

I thought the search function would ignore terms, so

Code:

attach to spigot

should be interpreted as

Code:

attach spigot

 

I'm sick of this idea that we can somehow now find threads that we unavailable to us before... I (and many others) find that now we can't find the kind of threads that we are interested because they are mixed in with all the stuff that we are no interested in.

Threads on modding and photography were not lost to me - they just were not of interest to me. From time to time in the past, I would delve into those (and other) areas, but now I don't even go into the areas that I was interested in because I can't be bothered fighting my way through all the crap to get to bits of interest.

The mods will have access to my posting history, and so it can be measured how much less I browse compared to previously. I'd love to see an similar analysis for the whole member ship.

The only thing making this site usable is the greasemonkey scripts - and it's a bad sign if you need 3rd party support to now use a resource that was fine beforehand.

 

I thought thats what would happen too

Does it really find quite a few threads It only found one for me, this thread, though I actually have no need to find anything to do with spigots attaching them or otherwise, it was an example of the word to. I found the error when searching for "lend to none"

 

You might not like it and that is fine. We can't please everyone - it just isn't possible.

I just can't see how you can argue with the fact threads are more visible now. Threads are being read more. People are contributing where they otherwise would not have.

The changes, for whatever reason, just don't suit you!

Actually we aren't able to do that at all

Who is this 'we'? You and who else? There are not 32,000 people saying they hate the forums. There are at most 20 people who have said they dislike the changes and about 3 who are still insisting they do not like the changes

 

Great work on the new tags/reduced tags in the modding forum. Much better

 

Firstly, let's not pretend I'm part of the Flat-Earth Society - I'm not saying all the changes were bad, or even the majority of changes were bad. But I do think a couple of the more fundamental changes were bad - as do some other people. There are a number things I like that others don't. Like you say, you can't please everybody.

If I genuinely thought I was in a tiny minority, I'd shut my mouth. If you'd care to run some carefully designed polls, we could ascertain which features are great, an improvement, acceptable, bearable, a complete PITA. Then one of us would pipe down.

The fact is that the thing that appeals to most people about BT is the content and the clientèle. Fortunately, that hasn't changed. So most people will accept the changes regardless. The changes haven't been sufficient to drive me away, but they have changed my browsing habits. Other people may be posting more (and wider), but I suspect a significant group (myself included) have been posting less.

And as I have said far too many times already, it is not just the changes that were implemented - it's the way in which they were implemented that irritates me.

So I'll re-iterate - if you want to judge the success of the changes, create a proper survey that gauges which changes were successful and which were less so. If it turns out that the dissenters are in a tiny minority, we'd have to decide either to go with the flow or leave. If it turns out there is a significant group overall that is still unhappy, you have a mandate for change. More importantly, you will have the option to selectively alter the forums to get the best mix of features that will keep the most number of people happy.

Out of all the dissenters, I think there are few (if any) who don't see any worth in any of the changes - so a proper review of the situation can only bring them back closer to the rest.

I'm willing to wager that a majority of members would opt for a greater number of forums, and probably a majority would be critical of the filtering system. A proper survey is the only way I will be proven right or wrong.

CJM

 

That was one thing that came out of the meeting the other day, and that was as a result of seeing the Electronics forum poll in the modding forum. We appreciate the feedback on that front.

 

I honestly can't understand why people are still complaining.
The changes have been made, some tweaks have been made (e.g. colouring stuff), and that's that.
Put up / Shut up / Leave. The intraweb don't owe you nuttin'.

 

That system doesnt allways work, and often there are broken links, some have had no links, and for some reason now they keep opening in a new tab

Can you not put the forum link below the comment link or somthing - where it used to be ?