Forums Software Upgrade

[rivercao]

Cool, I'll add my avatar and write my signature right now.

And happy to see there is a quote function. ;)

[roddy]

Adrian, at the moment I can't figure out a decent way to get what you want. The closest I can get at the moment is this page

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?app=core&module=usercp&tab=forums&area=topicsubs

and narrowing the time down at the bottom. I'll take another look at a later point and see if I can figure anything out - it's obviously not a great solution.

[roddy]

Oh, and a couple of things which aren't fixed - searching for Chinese content is still as unreliable as it was, and the bug that makes it impossible to post particularly obscure characters still exists - these are database issues rather than software.

[adrianlondon]

Thanks, Roddy! The feature must be there somewhere; we just need to discover it ;) I'll see what I can find.

OH well. I found this so I guess I'll just have to make do.

Thing is, I loved coming on this site, easily seeing which threads I'd posted to had updates, and then would click "new posts" to read new stuff. I haven't even found that button yet ;)

[Lu]

I think the 'View New Content' button in the upper right corner should do that. Although I'm not entirely sure it's working correctly... one of the new posts it shows me is one in which I am the last poster, so it's not really new content to me.

[roddy]

IPB are picking up a lot of bored VB users, along with plenty of feature requests. I'll be taking a closer look at this tomorrow - there is a watched forums / topics block (forums page, scroll down, right hand side. Can't blame you for missing it) but it doesn't seem much good. If I can knock something up I will, as I realize how useful it is.

Also on the agenda is sprucing up the home page a bit.

As Lu says the new content link may be what you want - see also the advice earlier about how to restrict that to unread, rather than just new, content.

[adrianlondon]

Seems many of us are techies at heart - here I am reading and posting to this thread and ignoring all the other ones related to China or Chinese ;)

I'm using this as my entry point now:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=new_posts

Does the job. I clicked "mark all as read" and currently it shows nothing ... when a thread appears (my post here might make that happen) I wonder if clicking on the forum title will take me to the latest (unread) post or to the beginning of the topic. I know when I went to the home page and clicked this thread it went to page 1 right at the first post. Grr.

Random netizen opinion seems to be that IP.Board provides a "community space" whereas vBulletin was a "forum". I guess I prefer forums at the moment. No doubt as soon as I send out friend requests, link with people, post a profile intro full of HTML, link it to Facebook, post comments on other members' profiles etc. then I'll be happy that this is a "community". I predict that date will never come. I'm so cynical.

EDIT: Cool! This thread appeared in my list. I clicked on it and ... it opened at my post.

EDIT2: I was so impressed by this post of mine I clicked on the green "+" and it allowed me to rate my own post. Excellent (as Mr. Burns would say)

[jbradfor]

EDIT2: I was so impressed by this post of mine I clicked on the green "+" and it allowed me to rate my own post. Excellent (as Mr. Burns would say)

And I am soooooo tempted to click on the red "-" just to restore the cosmic balance.....

[roddy]

Those pluses and minuses add up to your reputation - this is something I haven't looked at in detail, but I'd like to use it to get a better feel for which posts users do and don't appreciate. Could be a bit of a minefield though.

RSS users - any feedback?

[skylee]

As Lu says the new content link may be what you want - see also the advice earlier about how to restrict that to unread, rather than just new, content.

No it doesn't work.

And could you we sign in without clicking sign in? That step seems quite unnecessary.

PS - I find it difficult to navigate here and I feel very frustrated.

[jbradfor]

At the very least, one should not be able to rate one's own posts..... Or, at least, adrianlondon shouldn't be able to ;)

It does seem to be a bit of a minefield. Is there a way you can enable it only for certain areas, e.g. the "Learning Chinese" forums? Or maybe only have the + ratings? It does seem useful for the more "factual" threads, but seems like it could get nasty for some of the more "cultural" discussions (e.g. the current TCM thread that I am, perhaps unfortunately, involved in).

[chrix]

Anyone who figures out how to set up a global unread posts function and explains it here in a way I can follow, gets a plus from me B)

OTOH, I do like the new layout!

EDIT: also a "new today" function would be nice...

[jbradfor]

@chrix, this worked for me:

1. Click on "view new content". I assume this will show you all the threads, sorted by time of last post. Read all the threads that are of interest to you and have new posts since the last time you read them.
   
2. Click on "Mark Board As Read" at the bottom of the main page.
   
3. Change your default settings as Roddy says here: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/25328-forums-software-upgrade/page__view__findpost__p__212103
   
4. Click on "view new content". This will likely be empty, due to step 2. Wait a bit. Click on "view new content" again. See the new posts and only the new posts!
   

Is this close to what you wanted?

Remember, you own me a '+'! :blink:

What is missing, compared to the previous version, is an indication of "these threads contain unread posts but nothing new since your last time" (or however it was phrased).

[chrix]

Change your default settings as Roddy says here: http://www.chinese-f...post__p__212103

This is what isn't working for me... I can't find that setting anywhere...

[jbradfor]

It should be towards the bottom, next to "View New Content Method". It's not a check-box, it's a two-choice whatever-it's-called. I'm trying to attach a picture. Opps, I can't attach a picture, I'll edit this when Roddy fixes the following problem;

Complaint #4: Only 500 kB global upload quota !!!! It says for me "Used 1.27MB of your 500K global upload quota". Roddy, could I get that increased a bit?

Later edit: tried to add this, let's see if this works....

[adrianlondon]

In vBulletin, when I click on a thread (I can still test this as another forum I use have - thankfully - stuck with vB for now) it remembers where I read up to and takes me there.

Here, using the new threads list it takes me to whatever post is at the end, or near the end. I assume it remembers the time I last logged in (how it does that when I have "remember me?" ticked I don't know...) and shows me posts since then, regardless of whether I've actually looked at that thread recently.

I'm sure it'll sort itself out but at the moment I'm not finding it the friendliest bit of forum software.

[roddy]

Just passing through on my way to bed - I've fixed the attachment limit (he hopes) so you should be able to upload that photo. Will be spending quite a bit of time on the site tomorrow, will hopefully be able to delight you all. And look, I got blog comments! (I think the blog function should be ready to use, although again there may be a bit of hunt-the-setting to play).

[chrix]

Thanks, got it. I tried to give you a plus, but the system said I had reached my quota for today :huh:

[jbradfor]

Oddly enough, this thread is still being shown as "Read 0 times" from the Forum Home. Something tells me that is not correct....

[jbradfor]

Thanks, got it. I tried to give you a plus, but the system said I had reached my quota for today :huh:

No worries, I gave myself a plus! :blink: