I have to agree with the previous posts. I prefer the white background / dark text. I also find the grey text on grey background a bit tough to read, especially the "quotes" in a message. My initial perception of the switch is good, just going to take a little getting used to.
We seem to have lost the ability to have a signature in our posts. It was particularly helpful when someone was asking about changes to their smugmug site if they had a link to their site automatically placed in their post.
There is a spot in the profile to add a profile URL but I don't see that it is visible anywhere.
@Cygnus Studios said:
I have to agree with the previous posts. I prefer the white background / dark text. I also find the grey text on grey background a bit tough to read, especially the "quotes" in a message. My initial perception of the switch is good, just going to take a little getting used to.
The quotes block is definitely going to be fixed. Just plugging away at all the little CSS corners right now, but don't worry... nobody thinks that one is the right styling.
@denisegoldberg said:
We seem to have lost the ability to have a signature in our posts. It was particularly helpful when someone was asking about changes to their smugmug site if they had a link to their site automatically placed in their post.
There is a spot in the profile to add a profile URL but I don't see that it is visible anywhere.
@denisegoldberg said:
We seem to have lost the ability to have a signature in our posts. It was particularly helpful when someone was asking about changes to their smugmug site if they had a link to their site automatically placed in their post.
There is a spot in the profile to add a profile URL but I don't see that it is visible anywhere.
It's definitely possible on Vanilla. It was discussed at length with the mods, and we decided to leave them off to start and see how it goes. It's a super common vector for spam, and our poor mods were spending an unreasonable amount of time fighting spam.
This one is definitely a soft decision, we'll evaluate as we go.
@Allen said:
I have always used a browser bookmark directly to the Support forum. Now seems like I can only go to entire site.
None of the homepage section heads are now a link.
They all still have a landing page, the links have just been removed for simplifying navigation. You can still easily bookmark any you want though, like: Support
or Shots
How did you bookmark something that shows on the screen as only text? I must be missing something, don't see how to create those bookmarks.
@Allen said:
I have always used a browser bookmark directly to the Support forum. Now seems like I can only go to entire site.
None of the homepage section heads are now a link.
They all still have a landing page, the links have just been removed for simplifying navigation. You can still easily bookmark any you want though, like: Support
or Shots
How did you bookmark something that shows on the screen as only text? I must be missing something, don't see how to create those bookmarks.
For those particular categories, I just typed in the URL manually from the normal URL structure.
@denisegoldberg said:
We seem to have lost the ability to have a signature in our posts. It was particularly helpful when someone was asking about changes to their smugmug site if they had a link to their site automatically placed in their post.
There is a spot in the profile to add a profile URL but I don't see that it is visible anywhere.
It's definitely possible on Vanilla. It was discussed at length with the mods, and we decided to leave them off to start and see how it goes. It's a super common vector for spam, and our poor mods were spending an unreasonable amount of time fighting spam.
This one is definitely a soft decision, we'll evaluate as we go.
In addition to helping me find sites when I am trying to help someone, I like folks to be able to find my site. I don't think that allowing a signature with a link to our sites is going to contribute to spam any more than someone simply including links in their posts.
@denisegoldberg said:
We seem to have lost the ability to have a signature in our posts. It was particularly helpful when someone was asking about changes to their smugmug site if they had a link to their site automatically placed in their post.
There is a spot in the profile to add a profile URL but I don't see that it is visible anywhere.
It's definitely possible on Vanilla. It was discussed at length with the mods, and we decided to leave them off to start and see how it goes. It's a super common vector for spam, and our poor mods were spending an unreasonable amount of time fighting spam.
This one is definitely a soft decision, we'll evaluate as we go.
In addition to helping me find sites when I am trying to help someone, I like folks to be able to find my site. I don't think that allowing a signature with a link to our sites is going to contribute to spam any more than someone simply including links in their posts.
We've definitely restricted links in posts as well, but only to super new members. We'll be watching that one closely too, because it fights spam but makes it more annoying for customers to get immediate help. Mods can toggle their ability to post links, so it will mostly just be watching to see if we are helping or hurting here.
The signature issue is a bigger one, I'm going to move it to a separate voting thread to not clutter this one up too much.
@Ben said:
It's definitely possible on Vanilla. It was discussed at length with the mods, and we decided to leave them off to start and see how it goes. It's a super common vector for spam, and our poor mods were spending an unreasonable amount of time fighting spam.
Here I thought fighting the spammers was one of the perks
Some forums require X number of posts before allowing signatures. Not sure if Vanilla offers that option or not. Denise is right though, the customization section is where it is needed most.
@Ben said:
It's definitely possible on Vanilla. It was discussed at length with the mods, and we decided to leave them off to start and see how it goes. It's a super common vector for spam, and our poor mods were spending an unreasonable amount of time fighting spam.
Here I thought fighting the spammers was one of the perks
Some forums require X number of posts before allowing signatures. Not sure if Vanilla offers that option or not. Denise is right though, the customization section is where it is needed most.
Yeah, we definitely have some tools for configuring when and how you get signatures. Head over here to vote.
When I land on the Support page there is no indication where new posts are so I have to click into every forum?
I see no indication anywhere that a post is read or not.
Question: Did not the old version of the forum list the name of the original poster in addition to the name of the last post? I used that feature to quick track some of my favorite photographers. (I know that I could search for them, but that is far more clunky than scanning a list of posts for some of my favorite people.) Is that a feature that I can enable on my end somehow?
@StueveShots said:
Question: Did not the old version of the forum list the name of the original poster in addition to the name of the last post? I used that feature to quick track some of my favorite photographers. (I know that I could search for them, but that is far more clunky than scanning a list of posts for some of my favorite people.) Is that a feature that I can enable on my end somehow?
That's not something you can configure on your own, but is possible through the design. I'd like to see that, it was just SUPER cluttered so I want to figure out how to add more information without the entire thing devolving into a mess. This one specifically is on my investigation list.
@Allen said:
When I land on the Support page there is no indication where new posts are so I have to click into every forum?
I see no indication anywhere that a post is read or not.
Hmm. I know there are "unread" indicators built into the platform, hence the big "mark all as read" link right at the top. I wonder if we lost them while trying to simplify the design.
When we first landed over here, the amount of stuff on the page was overwhelming. We might have gone too far stripping stuff out, but we'll keep tweaking.
@StueveShots said:
Question: Did not the old version of the forum list the name of the original poster in addition to the name of the last post? I used that feature to quick track some of my favorite photographers. (I know that I could search for them, but that is far more clunky than scanning a list of posts for some of my favorite people.) Is that a feature that I can enable on my end somehow?
That's not something you can configure on your own, but is possible through the design. I'd like to see that, it was just SUPER cluttered so I want to figure out how to add more information without the entire thing devolving into a mess. This one specifically is on my investigation list.
I appreciate that! I hope it happens. If I had a vote, I'd say that the name of the OP is far more important than the name of the last poster--especially on a forum like this, where expertise and experimentation is valued and most of us are learning from one another!
I used to be able to see the threads of a section and could click on "jump to first unread".
That's the only way I ever used this site. Completely useless now not knowing the status of anything.
If I post a question and don't get an answer in a reasonable time, we used to "bump" the post and it
would show at the top. What happens to it now?
@Allen said:
If I post a question and don't get an answer in a reasonable time, we used to "bump" the post and it
would show at the top. What happens to it now?
The post would still jump to the top of the forum it is in, that wouldn't change.
I think we need these entries to be recovered given that they link to site rules and the FAQ. Although the FAQ will be at least partially not useful because entries like how to post photos will be wrong. I believe there is information in the old entries that would still be useful.
I think we need these entries to be recovered given that they link to site rules and the FAQ. Although the FAQ will be at least partially not useful because entries like how to post photos will be wrong. I believe there is information in the old entries that would still be useful.
All of this content needs to be rebuilt. We should probably kill/hide the post until that happens. I'll get that on the list.
I think we need these entries to be recovered given that they link to site rules and the FAQ. Although the FAQ will be at least partially not useful because entries like how to post photos will be wrong. I believe there is information in the old entries that would still be useful.
Actually, I just updated the links and removed the FAQ for now. The other 3 are still super helpful.
Actually, I just updated the links and removed the FAQ for now. The other 3 are still super helpful.
Thank you!
Unfortunately the links on the pages that are now linked are also broken. It looks like there is some editing work that needs to be done there as well.
@Allen said:
We need to be able to collapse all the unwanted homepage categories.
It's simply unrealistic to expect this new platform to behave the same way the extremely ancient platform behaved. Vanilla is undeniably more advanced, powerful, and modern. But it is also undeniably not identical, nor should it be.
Think about all the things that were absolutely horrible on vBulletin. We didn't complain about them on a daily basis, because we got used to them.
There's plenty of stuff we'd like to change or improve here, that we'll live with. And plenty of stuff that we can work around or improve ourselves. They'll also continue to improve this platform, as opposed to vBulletin which hadn't significantly changed in a decade.
One of my favorite interview questions for people who are looking for a job as an expert in some platform, language, or software is to ask them their least favorite things about it. That shows real expertise. I bet you could all list your absolutely least favorite things about vBulletin, gmail, SmugMug, iOS, Android, etc.
There are no perfect platforms. I'm already enjoying this interface dramatically more. Notifications are robust. Actions are quick and modern. Spam controls are lightyears ahead of vBulletin.
I wish we had custom emojis. I am not totally satisfied with image display (though it's better in many ways than vBulletin). I could go on and on... but overall it's a huge improvement over what we had.
Actually, I just updated the links and removed the FAQ for now. The other 3 are still super helpful.
Thank you!
Unfortunately the links on the pages that are now linked are also broken. It looks like there is some editing work that needs to be done there as well.
It'll take a bit of time to unwind all the broken links. For those reading this (hi mods!) who can make a change, it turns out to be pretty easy. The ID for the thread is the same, but the format for the URL is different.
@Ben
Thank you for the work that went into moving us to a new platform but still keeping the content from the old platform. I'm sure that was a huge effort; it's definitely appreciated.
@denisegoldberg said: @Ben
Thank you for the work that went into moving us to a new platform but still keeping the content from the old platform. I'm sure that was a huge effort; it's definitely appreciated.
Here's where I get a little mushy. It's been a lot of work, absolutely. I've given up a LOT of my time even though this wasn't technically my project. (I'm looking at you @leftquark)
I don't have a ton of posts here, because I'm much more a lurker than a poster. But I've been here right from the very beginning, one of the first 5 or so people involved in this project. Perhaps more importantly, I've found some of my best friends through Dgrin... and many of my very very best coworkers.
I love this place, and wanted it to have a great home so it can continue to grow and thrive, not slowly die on an ancient platform.
@Allen said:
When I land on the Support page there is no indication where new posts are so I have to click into every forum?
I see no indication anywhere that a post is read or not.
Hmm. I know there are "unread" indicators built into the platform, hence the big "mark all as read" link right at the top. I wonder if we lost them while trying to simplify the design.
When we first landed over here, the amount of stuff on the page was overwhelming. We might have gone too far stripping stuff out, but we'll keep tweaking.
I've got to agree. Identifying which forums have new posts (and which don't) at the top forum list level is mighty basic forum functionality.
Comments
I have to agree with the previous posts. I prefer the white background / dark text. I also find the grey text on grey background a bit tough to read, especially the "quotes" in a message. My initial perception of the switch is good, just going to take a little getting used to.
Website
We seem to have lost the ability to have a signature in our posts. It was particularly helpful when someone was asking about changes to their smugmug site if they had a link to their site automatically placed in their post.
There is a spot in the profile to add a profile URL but I don't see that it is visible anywhere.
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
The quotes block is definitely going to be fixed. Just plugging away at all the little CSS corners right now, but don't worry... nobody thinks that one is the right styling.
Good catch. That is an important one.
Website
It's definitely possible on Vanilla. It was discussed at length with the mods, and we decided to leave them off to start and see how it goes. It's a super common vector for spam, and our poor mods were spending an unreasonable amount of time fighting spam.
This one is definitely a soft decision, we'll evaluate as we go.
How did you bookmark something that shows on the screen as only text? I must be missing something, don't see how to create those bookmarks.
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
For those particular categories, I just typed in the URL manually from the normal URL structure.
In addition to helping me find sites when I am trying to help someone, I like folks to be able to find my site. I don't think that allowing a signature with a link to our sites is going to contribute to spam any more than someone simply including links in their posts.
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
We've definitely restricted links in posts as well, but only to super new members. We'll be watching that one closely too, because it fights spam but makes it more annoying for customers to get immediate help. Mods can toggle their ability to post links, so it will mostly just be watching to see if we are helping or hurting here.
The signature issue is a bigger one, I'm going to move it to a separate voting thread to not clutter this one up too much.
Here I thought fighting the spammers was one of the perks
Some forums require X number of posts before allowing signatures. Not sure if Vanilla offers that option or not. Denise is right though, the customization section is where it is needed most.
Website
Yeah, we definitely have some tools for configuring when and how you get signatures. Head over here to vote.
When I land on the Support page there is no indication where new posts are so I have to click into every forum?
I see no indication anywhere that a post is read or not.
My Website index | My Blog
Question: Did not the old version of the forum list the name of the original poster in addition to the name of the last post? I used that feature to quick track some of my favorite photographers. (I know that I could search for them, but that is far more clunky than scanning a list of posts for some of my favorite people.) Is that a feature that I can enable on my end somehow?
stueveshots.smugmug.com
That's not something you can configure on your own, but is possible through the design. I'd like to see that, it was just SUPER cluttered so I want to figure out how to add more information without the entire thing devolving into a mess. This one specifically is on my investigation list.
Hmm. I know there are "unread" indicators built into the platform, hence the big "mark all as read" link right at the top. I wonder if we lost them while trying to simplify the design.
When we first landed over here, the amount of stuff on the page was overwhelming. We might have gone too far stripping stuff out, but we'll keep tweaking.
I appreciate that! I hope it happens. If I had a vote, I'd say that the name of the OP is far more important than the name of the last poster--especially on a forum like this, where expertise and experimentation is valued and most of us are learning from one another!
stueveshots.smugmug.com
I used to be able to see the threads of a section and could click on "jump to first unread".
That's the only way I ever used this site. Completely useless now not knowing the status of anything.
If I post a question and don't get an answer in a reasonable time, we used to "bump" the post and it
would show at the top. What happens to it now?
My Website index | My Blog
The post would still jump to the top of the forum it is in, that wouldn't change.
The links from the first post of "START HERE -- Site Rules -- FAQ -- Requests to Mods -- The Suggestion Box --" at
http://dgrin.com/discussion/210564/start-here-site-rules-faq-requests-to-mods-the-suggestion-box#latest are missing. (Clicking on a link takes you to Page Not Found.)
I think we need these entries to be recovered given that they link to site rules and the FAQ. Although the FAQ will be at least partially not useful because entries like how to post photos will be wrong. I believe there is information in the old entries that would still be useful.
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
All of this content needs to be rebuilt. We should probably kill/hide the post until that happens. I'll get that on the list.
We need to be able to collapse all the unwanted homepage categories.
My Website index | My Blog
Actually, I just updated the links and removed the FAQ for now. The other 3 are still super helpful.
Thank you!
Unfortunately the links on the pages that are now linked are also broken. It looks like there is some editing work that needs to be done there as well.
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
It's simply unrealistic to expect this new platform to behave the same way the extremely ancient platform behaved. Vanilla is undeniably more advanced, powerful, and modern. But it is also undeniably not identical, nor should it be.
Think about all the things that were absolutely horrible on vBulletin. We didn't complain about them on a daily basis, because we got used to them.
There's plenty of stuff we'd like to change or improve here, that we'll live with. And plenty of stuff that we can work around or improve ourselves. They'll also continue to improve this platform, as opposed to vBulletin which hadn't significantly changed in a decade.
One of my favorite interview questions for people who are looking for a job as an expert in some platform, language, or software is to ask them their least favorite things about it. That shows real expertise. I bet you could all list your absolutely least favorite things about vBulletin, gmail, SmugMug, iOS, Android, etc.
There are no perfect platforms. I'm already enjoying this interface dramatically more. Notifications are robust. Actions are quick and modern. Spam controls are lightyears ahead of vBulletin.
I wish we had custom emojis. I am not totally satisfied with image display (though it's better in many ways than vBulletin). I could go on and on... but overall it's a huge improvement over what we had.
It'll take a bit of time to unwind all the broken links. For those reading this (hi mods!) who can make a change, it turns out to be pretty easy. The ID for the thread is the same, but the format for the URL is different.
For instance, this link is old and dead:
http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=156116
But this works:
http://dgrin.com/discussion/156116
@Ben
Thank you for the work that went into moving us to a new platform but still keeping the content from the old platform. I'm sure that was a huge effort; it's definitely appreciated.
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I not not find how to delete above post?
My Website index | My Blog
Here's where I get a little mushy. It's been a lot of work, absolutely. I've given up a LOT of my time even though this wasn't technically my project. (I'm looking at you @leftquark)
I don't have a ton of posts here, because I'm much more a lurker than a poster. But I've been here right from the very beginning, one of the first 5 or so people involved in this project. Perhaps more importantly, I've found some of my best friends through Dgrin... and many of my very very best coworkers.
I love this place, and wanted it to have a great home so it can continue to grow and thrive, not slowly die on an ancient platform.
Long live Dgrin.
I'm with you on that! I'm going to bug them weekly until they let me have custom emojis!
I've got to agree. Identifying which forums have new posts (and which don't) at the top forum list level is mighty basic forum functionality.