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I'm used to holding my breath until I'm blue in the face, Michelle;I'm a parent.
I think you and Oldgoat have worked above and beyond the call of the duty on this issue.
I think a few others further up the food chain did not adequately think through the re-launch.
Agreed Boom. Caissa I doubt that the powers that be would ever go back even if it is better.
Hard to admit you are wrong and of course the money that was spent.
I really expected that the change would be a Forum pleasing to the eyes. Thinking of course of the other two Forums. Not the content but the look.
Alas, Babble is much worse than it was. Too bad.
There is no "My Inbox" on the right side menu. Not on my computer, anyway.
The babble program should include "Cut" and "Copy" in the context menu that appears when you right-click on the highlighted text you wish to cut or copy. Right now it doesn't, in the rich-text format.
"Active Topics" indicates that this thread has a post by Michelle replying to the OP. But when I click on the link all I find is the OP.
Either Michelle's closing the thread registers as a "post" on "Active Topics" or Michelle actually made a post, then deleted it, but it still remains registered on "Active Topics". Either way, the software should be fixed to prevent this.
Or maybe Michelle's post is there but I can't see it, in which case there are much bigger problems.
Hey, that one above got through, so don't give up yet. I'm getting mixed results with high speed as well, but I noticed it's not confined solely to Rabble. With the unprecedented heavy online activity at other sites in recent days, including the mainstream network online message boards, things can hang for awhile there as well. Also, with the 100 post limit not being as strictly observed as before, there's bound to be time to get your posts through before the thread is closed.
I'm not exactly sure, but perhaps things like loading twitter feed widgets, combined with the number of people online at Babble these days is having a bottleneck effect on the bandwidth. Anyways, off to make my toast.
How do you edit an the first post of a new thread?
____________________________________________________________
There's another old saying, Senator: Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.
You can edit it as often as like - before you post it. After that, unfortunately, history is stuck with your thoughts.
That really really sucks.
It's just not giving me soft ice cream sprinkled with bits of dried Danish back bacon like I was expecting. Can somebody fix this asap?
The html window is particularly frustrating.
It doesn't simply insert html code as written, it 'interprets', ignoring and erasing what it doesn't like (forget a bit of syntax? Start over), and inserting formatting it thinks should exist. It can take three or four passes at each post to produce a legible result.
Okay, here's the update from the meeting oldgoat and I had with one of the tech guys yesterday...the notes are pretty rough. Feel free to ask for clarification. :)
Notes from meeting
People being booted from babble after posting thread
· Seems like some sort of glitch - we will keep track of this and tell tech folks about it before reinstating the user the next time it happens.
· Give their username, e-mail address, type of browser, description of what happened, and have the user do screen shots if possible.
Links
· Site-wide issue regarding links/style throughout all of rabble - meeting to happen to plan a style consistent change throughout.
· If no decision within a week or so, then an interim solution will be put in. It absolutely will be changed, however.
Smiley-face online/offline tracker
· Will be tossed - he's getting rid of it asap.
Profiles and privacy
· Need to talk about this further, about what information should go in the profile and what information should remain private.
· Will likely be resolved after Christmas
Taglines
· Getting rid of them until we can format them like our old "from" lines.
· Will be done before Christmas
A new WYSIWYG editor will be put together in order to make editing more user-friendly. Trying to get this done before Christmas. A lot of issues will be addressed with this new editor.
· Quote function will be part of a package of a new editor
. Aiming for before Christmas barring any major complications.
· Right now, use the "paste" function to format text properly
· Problem with reply window and switching between rich text and disable rich text is part of this fix
· Some stuff you can do on preview doesn't show up in real posts - this will change with new editor
Truncated usernames
· This one might take a bit of time, some functionality stuff needs to take precedence. But if it turns out not to be too complicated a fix, then they'll do it sooner.
Lines for TAT
· It's a complicated fix needing custom work.
· top priority, next on the list, but might take some time.
Thread titles with code junk in them
· High priority issue, and they're working on it - has to do with transferring stuff from old site to new site. Shouldn't be happening with new posts. We're to let tech people know if new posts get the code junk in them in place of quotes, punctuation, dashes, etc. Can happen sometimes with pasting from other sources.
· Now that mods can edit old threads, we can fix old thread titles with junk in them.
Editing threads from old babble (moderators)
· Can do it now.
Tiny Font
· Site-wide design issue - design consulting to happen to make consistent throughout site
· It will get there - this is an after-Christmas thing.
Text back-ups for images
· Will look into that. Going to do consistent image buttons, and will have text back-up. Part of new WYSIWG editor
Sidescroll
· Site's columns don't collapse - it's based on 1000 pixel width
· Unless you have a really, really old monitor, you should be able to change your screen resolution width to over 1000 (usually 1024 or above)
· This cannot be changed.
Alternating grey and white - done, although not consistent throughout babble. Mods will send examples of threads where it is not alternating to tech folks.
Old archive of babble threads - in process
Open links in new windows
· Can set that as default - if not a complicated fix, then it'll be done soon.
· Currently people who post links using the URL feature can choose "open in new window" from drop-down menu.
Copying text from reply window to clipboard
· Can do it from the menu, or using CTRL C
· This is only a problem in Internet Explorer. You can right-click and copy in Firefox.
Sending private messages through babble
· People can send private message through their inbox.
· Only administrators can see private message icons now on posts (even mods can't see them) - they're working on this fix.
· Envelopes for e-mails are staying for now, most likely will get rid of them eventually but they have to do other stuff first.
· People can change their settings in their contact information in order to not allow other babblers (not including site administrators and moderators) to e-mail them through the site. Default setting is to not allow it.
More info about formatting - blank page
· Will fix after Christmas, and working on new editor anyhow.
Profiles
· Coming, after Christmas, privacy issues to be worked out
Users editing opening posts
· Should be able to fix this - they'll take a look at this - hopefully before Christmas
Way to move large number of threads to a different forum at the same time
· Creating administrative pages that will make admin easier for us
· Mods will send suggestions for things we'd like to be able to do.
Backspaces go too slow in reply window
· Okay now - resolved
Changing screen names
· Make it so people can't do it - done now.
· Make it so mods can change anyone's username - done now, we think.
Text-wrapping in the reply box when people are cutting and pasting URLs
· Also will be resolved with the new editor
Quotes within quotes within quotes
· Might need to write a new module for it, which is a large amount of work. They'll get back to us on that. Keeping it on the list.
Link to most recently-read post should go down the page rather than starting a new page from that post
· They're working on it.
Could we have an indication on TAT whether a thread is closed or not
· On the list - not a high priority but will get done eventually.
Link on every page to babble policy statement
-links to be put in
· Content issue - rabble will re-write and integrate policies, etc.
Most recent posts page
· After Christmas
· The function of the "most recent posts" page was supposed to be to let individual users know which of the threads they've posted in have been most active recently.
Avatar feature
· Not being turned off profiles because used in different parts of site. People can change their picture. No avatars on babble.
- 65px X 65px dimensions, 100kb max.
Skipping lines in reply window when hitting enter
· New editor will deal with this.
Feedback feature has been removed.
Recent-rabble-rouser - how does this work?
· Posted less than 30 times on the new site. Only counts forum topics, not replies currently. Might be something buggy, has to look into it. Low priority.
Pruning and Grafting
· Feature is for moderators to move posts from one thread to the other. Might be a bit wonky right now. Mods will play with feature and figure it out.
Can I suggest a font that doesn't overap on two consecutive lines? It's a little hard on the eyes.
Also, a comments section immediately tagged onto articles?
Here's a serious tech issue:
Remember the thread on the Old Babble called "Alice Klein's Rhetorical Vapidity"?
It got migrated to the "New Babble" in two bleeding chunks:
http://rabble.ca/babble/rabble-news-features/alice-kleins-rhetorical-vapidity
http://rabble.ca/babble/rabble-news-features/alice-kleins-rhetorical-vapidity-0
How many other threads got this treatment? Why did it happen? Can the threads be merged to repair the breach?
As René Magritte would say, "This is not a tag line". Only he'd say it in French. You may find it rather annoying to have to discipline yourself to ignore parts of certain other people's posts - but not everyone's. Wouldn't it be better to abolish them?
Why has the "Quote" button disappeared from all but the Opening Post in each thread?
I opened a thread and thought it had been "closed" by the mods because the quote buttons were all gone. The only clue I had that the thread was still open was that there was the usual tiny, inadequate "Comment Box" at the bottom of the page.
So how do I quote someone's post???
Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true. - Homer Simpson
That's weird. I see "quote" in every post. I just used it now to quote your post. Is that just because I have moderator permissions?
How about others? Do you see the "quote" button in people's posts?
I'm eyeballing quote buttons a-okay. Roger that. But it's still not giving me soft ice cream sprinkled with bits of dried Danish blue cheese. Why is that? And I'm running IE v7.0. Cap-com this is Apollo 13, do you read? over.
Well, I'm still not getting quote buttons. I am getting Edit buttons for posts I have made, but no quote buttons except in the OP.
And I'm running the same operating system and browser I have been using for the past three years.
Here's a partial screenshot showing the right hand side of the first three posts in this thread:
Note that there is a quote button on the OP, but not the next two posts.
Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true. - Homer Simpson
And you can quote me on that - if you can find the frikkin' quote button.
Try rotating your game controller until you get more than 70° yaw at Gimbal lock. You'll have to fire all three stabilizer rockets in unison or youll veer off and miss the earth entirely. You should see quote button on horizon there somewhere. I'll ask cap-com for a procedure in the mean time.
Well, now I'm getting SOME Quote buttons, but NOT OTHERS!
The following is part of my screenshot of the first three posts in THIS THREAD:
I can quote my own OP; I can't quote Unionist's reply; but I can quote George Victor's follow-up.
NOTE also that the "link" button is missing from Unionist's post, but not GV's.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??
Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true. - Homer Simpson
Now I'm not seeing quote buttons. Just edit buttons
Now I'm not seeing quote buttons. Just edit buttons
Now I'm not seeing quote buttons. Just edit buttons