Since everyone seems to have a lot of questions about the new board, I though I would try and create a single "go to" thread to ask questions.  I think Lindsay must be very busy answering questions right now, so perhaps this might help.

Please, lets keep this simply to a question and answer thread, no commenting, no whining, just simple questions the Hosts can answer for us.

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Talk Is Cheap - Well I Outta Know!!!!!!
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Did we lose the group PM function?  If so, can we get it back?

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Talk Is Cheap - Well I Outta Know!!!!!!
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I can't say that I've had very many issues so far with the new board. I've just been taking my time to familiarize myself with the new format and functions. It will take some getting used to, just like anything that's new and unfamiliar.  I would like to see the group PM feature return and would also like to have the choice of whether or not I show as online. Other than that, I'll try to reserve my comments - negative or positive - until I've given the new board a fair chance.

Seriously, what I'm finding the most annoying and confusing right now is how people are starting new threads for every single complaint they have. How do you expect the administrators/moderators to resolve the issues you're complaining about if your gripes are scattered all over the board? Wouldn't it make more sense to confine your concerns to one thread? I can understand the frustration that's being felt right now, and I'm not suggesting that we can't voice our concerns, but I don't think that br.com purposely tried to tick off the members of this community. I'm sure they're working hard behind the scenes to fix all the glitches and accomodate our requests. Let's try to cut them a bit of slack, ok?

Many thanks to everyone at the Official Community for a new toy to play with. In my experience, you've always had a very open and responsive ear to the members of this discussion board community.

Given that this is a new and as of yet incomplete transition from old to new, and everyone is adjusting, I thought I'd try to make a master list of things that have been mentioned in various threads, as well as things I've stumbled upon as I've played with this shiny new toy.

I'm a web geek/tech dork, so when I saw a new board, I instantly thought, "neato! new playground!". But I know that there are those with a life, who may not feel the same.

I hope others will add their thoughts here so both users and administrators can work together to break in the new board and help one another with the ongoing polish.

What to bring from old board

1. Signatures, avatars, private messages and buddy lists need to be saved from the old board by each person who wants to keep these things.

 

Log-in

1. Trouble for Board Members who used certain characters like "* ! ? / ". In trying to log in initially, they have encountered weirdness.
2. Don't fergit to delete old Bluerodeo.com cookies
3. The old board had both username and display name. The new board only has the name you use to log in. This has made many new names show up. For instance, when I sign in, I've always used "Daneane2", but my "display name", the one on all my posts, was "Daneane".
4. The date of joining board is not correct.
5. The amount of posts is off.

Board Appearance

Many opinions on the new appearance of the site, and this is mostly a subjective thing. Some will like it, some will not. Points mentioned below have to do with elements of the design that affect usage of the site.

1. Each message being framed so separately from one another. Takes more scrolling down as you read, and loses the flow of an ongoing thread. Appears more like a collection of various pages.
2. No exact "post count" in view, requires three clicks to see.
3. Reply to buttons on each post instead of to the whole thread.
4. [post number] in reply to [post number] at the top of each message in a thread, is this really necessary?
5. Uneven distribution of posting tools. There are big icons along the top right of each message as options, but the "quick reply" is in a small light color font at the bottom, and not easily seen.
6. Lack of "titles" on links to tell you what that link is about when you put your mouse over it
7. Small default font
8. Too light of link color
9. Many images and links do not change in any way when you mouse over them to see they are links and what they do. For instance, clicking on the little guitar picks, takes you to a search of that person's messages. But that is not clear when you put your mouse over them (lacking "title" on href) .
10. For the most part, text is over a white background, but there are instance when it is not. It appears over the brown background - in search results for one. This is difficult to read.
11. At the bottom of the edit post page, the bottom links (events, music, read...) are just empty brackets.
12. Messages say posted how ever long ago instead of just putting the time.
    

Board Navigation

1. The sidebar on the main forum page has lots of good and useful links. But in a single thread view, that sidebar disappears. This is distracting since the page changes, and we lose those navigation options.
2. "New since last visit" goes on for days and days.
   
3. There are no navigation links at the bottom of the thread, only the top.
4. When going in to see someones profile, the only way back is a not very visible link that goes to the main forum page, rather than the page you were on previously.
5. The "Previous" and "Next" buttons just below the page options are confusing as to their purpose. Looks like it could mean going from page to page, rather than next whole thread.
6. The little image of stars at the top of a thread page to rate it is not very clear.
   

Composing Messages

1. Using either "reply" or "quick reply" it is difficult to also be able to view thread your are replying to. The quick reply window sticks, so can't be moved aside.
2. Lack of emoticons/smileys!
3. The emoticon selections sometimes dont's show up in firefox until you move your mouse over them.
   
4. Behaviour in input box a little weird. For instance, there are times I cannot delete an empty space between two words.
5. Font size options are only in "pt".
6. No options to add headings (h1, h2).
7. Has an "HTML" option, but unclear what is allowed and what is not.
8. Don't see a way to add html code to a message for display.
9. Sometimes a long delay after hitting submit before anything happens.
10. Double space when you hit return when composing a message.

Editing Messages

1. Strange glitches that sometimes say you cannot edit something you just posted.
2. What are the two boxes underneath the main message in the edit screen?
   

Private Messages

1. Private messages cannot be shared among multiple members.
2. New private message cannot be started from inbox.
   

Profile

1. Instructions here - regarding avatar, picks, sig.
2. Hard to see that a person's name is linked to a profile page. Link color doesn't change once it has been visited.
3. No titles for volunteer staff and administrators.
4. Unclear what kind of formatting is allowed in various input lines like signature and location - what HTML is allowed.
   

Overall Observations Good

• design is pretty and more integrated with whole site
• ability to use more fonts and colors in posting
• more ways to see latest posts
• easier to subscribe to forums
• more customization in profile options
• RSS feeds
• addition of red picks for people with fewer posts to still get one
• ability to add own avatars
  
• all the responses and assistance from volunteer crew and admin
  

Overall Observations Not So Good

• tough learning curve
  
• change is hard
• loss of some functionality
• disorienting
• loss of features that were frequently used
• lack of communication between admin and users regarding preferred features

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I tried to collect everything up in on place. 

That thread is here.

 

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Testing

Forgot to mention,  if you click on you own profile link, you can send yourself a private message.  Worked nicely to test out various editing options without worrying about it appearing publically.

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Ah Lori! The voice of reason! The calm in the storm...How right you are! I had a very bad week and I think that  I let the proverbial sh** hit the fan here on the board. So, while I am frustrated by some of the changes and just the whole newness. I am a little set in my ways apparently and my new attitude is to ride it out and ajust my way of thinking. Breath in, breath out!! I have gotten out the scissors and am cutting slack as I type!

I've been called a lot of things in my life... but the voice of reason?!! Nope!  LOL! The storm itself maybe, but never the calm in...

Hey there Darlin' there's always a first time! You are like a breath of fresh air, cooling people down!

I thought it would be easier if all comments/suggestions were in one thread so I've combined the two. Hope this is helpful!

Donna

redletter:

I thought it would be easier if all comments/suggestions were in one thread so I've combined the two. Hope this is helpful!

Donna

 

Definitely - thanks Donna!

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Talk Is Cheap - Well I Outta Know!!!!!!
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I was just posting a set-list and encountered problems due to the double spacing when you hit enter. The only way that I found to list the songs was to use the 'unordered list' function (or ordered list). Even that was difficult at first as it would only allow a certain width of column so I thought I would have to abbreviate every song. Then part way down, it allowed me to go wider and when I went back to the top, I was able to go full page width and when hit enter, it still single spaced. Is there any other way to get around the double spaces when posting things in lists or point form?

The other thing that I've noticed and I'm not sure if it's just my computer or if anyone else is experiencing this but there seems to be a bit of a delay at times between what I'm typing and what is coming up on the screen. It seems especially slow when you backspace which I seem to be having to do a lot of.  When one already has a tendency to be dyslexic, it makes for lots of fun when you don't see what your mind is expecting. Does that make sense? Has anyone else noticed this?

I also wanted to say that I did notice the NSLV function is back altho' it doesn't seem to work quite the same way. I'll have to play with it a bit first to see if it meets my approval. Hehe. Thank you Donna Re: clearing up all those unread posts. I will try that some time when I have some to spare.

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" The power of gift is the beauty of choice" Off The Wall 2006

I don't think it's just your computer, FDB. I've had similar issues with the delay in the text appearing after typing it...

Bluegirl:

I don't think it's just your computer, FDB. I've had similar issues with the delay in the text appearing after typing it...

So have I (and I was wondering if it was my connection too).  Ditto on the dyslexic thingy - or dys"type"ic.  There are certain words that NEVER come out right.  The guy who invented Backspace and Delete was a dog god.

Testing the double-space thingy.
Testing.
Testing.
Testing.

OK, I was able to get around it by editing the html code.  I replaced the default paragraph tags with break tags.  Does that help?