Site upgrade news

171 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2017-02-16 10:21

MegB

Site upgrade news

Hello babblers,

rabble.ca is going through some major changes in the next few weeks. We're doing a much-needed upgrade on the core software of our site and in the process making quite a few changes. On Friday, February 17 we will have some downtime in the evening as the new system comes online. When it comes back up, the foundations of our new site will be in place.

In the coming weeks there will be a number of issues you might experience with the site as we try to get it running smoothly and implement new developments. While our limited tech staff will be on overtime to get it working, you can expect some features to either not work or be missing entirely. But you can also expect to see some new features that will improve your experience.

Please use the feedback “+” in the bottom right of the screen to let us know about any issues you find, and help us solve them faster.

While not generally advisable to release a beta site with known issues, we are working with a limited budget and an enormous site (15 years of content) -- and need to move forward with it. We hope you bear with us during this period of growth as we pull it together.

The rabble.ca team

Thu, 2017-02-16 11:17

Unionist

Good luck, rabble.ca team! And it just occurred to me that "bear with us" is a great metaphor for ushering in something new.

Thu, 2017-02-16 13:31

NDPP

The site browser is outrageously ridiculous and ineffective in finding just about anything. I hope the improvements will incude this.

Wed, 2017-02-22 17:29

Mr. Magoo

Well, it would appear to more or less work, though quoting seems a little wonky. You can log in, anyway, and if you can see this then I guess we can post, too.

Wed, 2017-02-22 19:41

6079_Smith_W

Just noticed the short leash. That is going to either mean a lot of time, or put a serious cramp in conversation, or both.

Wed, 2017-02-22 20:41

Unionist

So, is it just me, but what happened to the PM function? Where are the mailboxes???

Thu, 2017-02-23 21:37

Mr. Magoo

Well, I take it back. I got to log in yesterday, and to post, but my post was embargoed, "pending approval from the administrators".

I've sent three different messages to the admins over the last six days, using the "[ + ] Feedback" link in the bottom right, each time just asking for some clarification (via Twitter, or on the board somewhere) as to when babble might be functional again but I haven't seen anything. Did anyone else?

As I understood it, this was more an upgrade to "rabble" than to "babble", but even as "rabble" claims they're up and running again, with slick pictures and tweeted blog posts, "babble" is unusable by babblers.

Anyway, I think I'll save a copy of this message in case it just "gets eaten by the upgrade" or something. I seem to recall being told, about a week ago, that rabble might be unavailable for "a short time", but this is no longer a short time, particularly when rabble.ca is saying "YaY!!! We're done!".

Sat, 2017-02-25 09:39

6079_Smith_W

Testing again.

Sat, 2017-02-25 11:14

Unionist

Any ETA on being able to post to babble again?

Sat, 2017-02-25 18:04

#10

oldgoat

From a moderating point of view, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I am truely befuddled.

ETA: It took me a few minutes to even figure out how to post that.

Sat, 2017-02-25 21:24

#11

Unionist

Hi oldgoat! Bet this won't work. Hoping I lose my bet.

Sat, 2017-02-25 21:29

#12

6079_Smith_W

Testing again, to see if the leash is still on.

Sat, 2017-02-25 21:34

#13

lagatta4

I can't for the life of me see why a most uncontroversial post I made about Kevin O'Leary and his refusal to learn French is in some kind of moderation queue.

Sun, 2017-02-26 00:25

#14

Ken Burch

I tried to start two threads in Rabble Reactions asking questions about the site. Both were sent to moderation and, even though I said nothing personal or derogatory about anyone in either thread, both were apparently blocked. Why would that have happened?.

Sun, 2017-02-26 02:55

#15

Pogo

I am just glad I am able to post at all.

Sun, 2017-02-26 03:40

#16

Left Turn

Looks like the rabble tech staff finally decided to re-enable the user accounts.

I'm not convinced myself that this upgrade was 'much-needed' -- was the old software 'failing' in any noticeable way, or did the powers that be at rabble simply want more up-to-date features not available on the previous software? If that's the case, was there any evidence that the lack of these features was causing rabble to lose visitors?

As for releasing a beta site with known issues, no rationale has been provided for doing so. The only one I can think of is if there was not enough money to get hosting space for both versions of the site while the kinks were worked out on the new version. Which I don't find a very good rationale, as rabble could surely have launched a fundraiser to raise the extra money needed, and then do the upgrade, no?

As for these new features, the only one I can see offhand is the header with the dropdown menus that enables users to get to more pages on the site with one click. While this is nice, I doubt people were not coming here becuase of the lack of this feature, and I don't think it justifies releasing a beta version of the site with known issues.

I'll leave aside the issue of pre-upgrade features that are still missing -- the Issues, Podcasts, Toolkit, annd Rabble TV sections -- and the issues regarding the look and style of babble that need to be adjusted from the 'default' on the new software -- and focus instead on the design of the rabble homepage, which I'd currently rate as poor.

The most important thing on the homepage -- apart from Rabble's logo -- is the lead article. Using firefox on my widescreen laptop, only part of the photo for the lead article is visible when the homepage first loads, and I have to scroll up to see the title link for the article. Not to mention that there is no teaser for the lead article as there is with the other articles.

Rabble is first and foremost a news site, and if the post for the lead article doesn't show in it's entirety when the site first loads, that's problematic. That will drive viewers away from the site far more than the lack of any new features will.

Sun, 2017-02-26 06:17

#17

josh

I'm trying to figure out how to get my posts to appear

Sun, 2017-02-26 10:32

(Reply to #17) #18

quizzical

can anyone even post

Sun, 2017-02-26 12:33

#19

oldgoat

Mypost above went through right away.

Sun, 2017-02-26 12:35

#20

GOD

I'm even having a hard time, and I'm omniscient!

Sun, 2017-02-26 12:39

#21

oldgoat

ok, my post by GOD went to moderation, but it only took a minute. I guess having admin powers my posts go right through. I still don'tsee where I can see flagged posts and do other stuff.

Sun, 2017-02-26 14:03

#22

6079_Smith_W

Don't know if you are seeing this oldgoat, but I have run a couple of tests. All of them have been queued for approval, and none have shown up. Also, there is nothing in my profile aside from the name.

Sun, 2017-02-26 14:06

(Reply to #22) #23

6079_Smith_W

Test. Figured I'd run a test on the "reply" route, to see if that is any different. Also, I can't seem to message anyone.

Sun, 2017-02-26 16:14

#24

Ken Burch

Testing to see if my posts are going to go through now.

Sun, 2017-02-26 16:57

#25

Boze

Does EVERY post go through moderation?

Sun, 2017-02-26 19:14

#26

Mr. Magoo

Let me try this again. I have to assume that Oldgoat is NOT one of the administrators who can approve my (or God's) posts, but hopefully there's someone still manning the tiller at babble, who can.

Check, testing, one, two, three. Check! Check!

Sun, 2017-02-26 20:05

#27

Ken Burch

Why are so many posts now being flagged?

Sun, 2017-02-26 20:06

#28

Mr. Magoo

I guess one downside of my post not appearing is that I can't edit it. I'd meant to include a time-stamp so we could get an idea how long it takes for a babble member's post to be approved by admins.

Anyway, I kept a text copy of my post, on the off chance that it could be "swallowed", and the time-stamp on that text file is 7:15pm, ET.

Start your stopwatches, babblers. How long until my post (and the two prior to this) are visible to the world?

Mon, 2017-02-27 13:44

#29

quizzical

until now if this message one of many not to go through i have not been able to see anyone's posts.

my comment box outline is red if this means anything?

Mon, 2017-02-27 14:40

(Reply to #29) #30

josh

I've posted a couple. Still not visible.

Mon, 2017-02-27 14:49

(Reply to #30) #31

Unionist

Well done Magoo! I'm posting this at 2:49 pm Eastern time, Feb. 27.

Mon, 2017-02-27 14:52

#32

Unionist

And I would still like to know where our mailboxes went.

2:51 pm Eastern time.

Mon, 2017-02-27 14:54

#33

Unionist

Mr. Magoo wrote:
Start your stopwatches, babblers.

How do you "start" a "stop"watch??

[size=8]Just testing the quote and size functions, at 2:54 PM Eastern time.[/size]

Mon, 2017-02-27 17:22

#34

Ken Burch

Checking again to see if my posts go through.

Mon, 2017-02-27 18:00

#35

Mr. Magoo

OK, some small steps here. Let's try again, and see if posts are still embargoed. I'm guessing "yes" or else there'd be more of them by now.

Mon, 2017-02-27 19:33

#36

lagatta4

I'm really frustrated. Why on earth is a very non-controversial post of mine being pre-moderated and why is it still not visible? There have been quite a few important things happening in Montréal of late and I haven't been able to shre them with ohter babblers.

Mon, 2017-02-27 19:50

#37

kropotkin1951

This fun
Handy for point form arguments
What do you think?
4:50 PST

Mon, 2017-02-27 19:52

#38

kropotkin1951

If rabble couldn't afford full time moderating before I don't understand how having to vet every post will improve anything.

4:52 PST

Mon, 2017-02-27 21:36

(Reply to #38) #39

oreobw

First post for quite a while, wonder if this will go through, time is about 9:35 Monday night.

At least I was able to log in.

Mon, 2017-02-27 22:41

#40

NorthReport

So when will babble be available again?

Tue, 2017-02-28 08:42

#41

Caissa

This reboot of Babble seems problematic at best.

Tue, 2017-02-28 08:49

#42

mark_alfred

The "My Account" link (rabble.ca/users/username) is lacking a lot of information. Previously you could see a list of past posts, but that information is missing in this new system. As previously mentioned, there seems to be no private messaging aspect here either. And the search function allowed for results to be sorted (news articles, blog posts, babble posts) and that's gone. Granted, the search function was never that great, but it's worse now.

Tue, 2017-02-28 09:21

#43

R.E.Wood

Well, I'll test this out again and see if my post appears or goes into the phantom zone of "moderation". I posted days ago to the NDP Leadership thread and it still hasn't appeared.

At least a bunch of posts have shown up in this thread, albeit some days after being posted... this moderating of all posts is a nightmare.

And why on Earth is there still no update or information from anyone who knows what's going on???

Tue, 2017-02-28 10:18

#44

6079_Smith_W

Let's try this again...

Tue, 2017-02-28 10:19

#45

6079_Smith_W

Now the quick reply, just to see if it is quicker.

Tue, 2017-02-28 15:16

#46

Ken Burch

Testing again to see if my posts will now be allowed through.

Tue, 2017-02-28 20:12

#47

Mr. Magoo

Well, it's been 11 days now, and not much seems to be changing here at babble.

Mods: can we get an update on the status of babble, and whether all posts will need to be approved from now on?

Tue, 2017-02-28 21:07

#48

Mr. Magoo

Another quick question: where are our PMs? I'm pretty sure Drupal 7 supports PMs.

Wed, 2017-03-01 07:10

#49

nicky

test

Wed, 2017-03-01 09:00

#50

6079_Smith_W

Okay, I made two posts this time yesterday morning. One using the so-called "quick reply" tab. Neither has shown up.

And I didn't call anyone a shithead either.

Wed, 2017-03-01 11:11

#51

MegB

Hello again. I'm told that the mailboxes will be up in about a week, and Active Topics is being worked on today. Still working on why so many posts are subject to approval. They shouldn't be.

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