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Aguarancher · September 2015

WoW.. it brought me to the last post instead of 3 pages having to go through. I see "system" is online, I think the Cavalry has arrived. lol

Mountain Don · September 2015

BB. said:

Note to Posters... It looks like a few of our posts (including mine) are ending up in the Spam queue (I had three links in mine)--I will leave them there until our support person has a look at them (hopefully on Monday).

-Bill "moderator" B.

Ah! That explains what I ran into in another topic, where what I wanted to post "evaporated" when clicking the Post Comment button.

Anti spam measures are appreciated by those who moderate the forum I am certain. It seems that some fine tuning or whatever is required tho'. All in all a good job.

BB. · September 2015

I don't think we need an automatic spam filter for posters with more than a few posts.

-Bill

Mountain Don · September 2015

Agreed. I think it would be great for newly registered members. But it would be nice if a popup occurred notifying the person posting that their message will be moderated.

littleharbor2 · September 2015

Kind of annoying how when you click onto a discussion thread it takes you to the end of the discussion instead of the beginning. Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

rick · September 2015

Vic said:

Have asked this before, and will ask again;
1. How does one EDIT one's own Post ... it seems to NOT do anything at all.
2.   Personally, I like to highlight text, Right-Click and Cut it. This does not work, will it ever?
3. When quoting, and placing the Quote above text that am entering, often, it seems impossible to create a definite break between the Quote, and the text, added by another person. How does one do this?   Customarily, Quotes are well-defined in a box, or similar feature.
4.This is the only Forum software that seems to double-space on 'Enter".   Can one turn this function? Consistence, to some degree between Forums is a useful function for Forum Trolls, like me.
Thanks, Vic

To edit your post, you have to click on the small gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the comment box. Posts may be edited for up to 1 week after being posted.

If I'm editing or creating a post, I have no problem highlighting text and using the cut and paste function, so I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing.

When I quote another person, just as I have in this post, your original post was placed inside its own area as seen above. I didn't have to do anything special to format it that way.

When I hit the enter key, it does a single space for me, so again, I'm not sure what I'm missing but I feel like we're talking about different things.

rick · September 2015

Wheelman55 said:

Rick. I'm finding the new site awkward at best. Here's a link to the Alfa Romeo BB. It's so much easier to navigate than this site. The AlfaBB got redone in recent history...very clear and easy to navigate.

http://alfabb.com

PS. You'll find the member list in the "Tools" tab, "Quick Links"

While I appreciate your feedback, we will not be converting our software again. One of the main reasons we went with Vanilla is because they were able to bring over our entire vBulletin forum into the Vanilla platform. We were not willing to make a change that scrapped years of valuable information and user data.

Also with Vanilla, we had the option of purchasing a license that comes with an account success manager. This person is our own tech support contact. This is part of the reason that all the issues being reported are being taken care of so quickly instead of waiting for months in hope that vBulleting fixes something. I think we need to give Vanilla a try for a while before forming opinions. They are one of the most highly rated forum companies out there and they will work with us to improve our community.

rick · September 2015

Wheelman55 said:

One more site that I frequent...clear, easy to navigate and has a members list

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php

Vanilla doesn't have a members list, but you can use the search function to look up members if you need to find someone.

rick · September 2015

Roger Thoms said:

Lack of post numbers is frustrating. I can't figure out how to delete my drafts. Could care less about badges so if those went away that would be great. I did turn of the notifications for badges which was really annoying so I'm happy about that. Otherwise things seem fine, just very different, but I'm sure I'll adapt.

I'm sure it's a lot of work to migrate a forum to a new platform. Thanks for all the effort.

Roger

To delete a draft, it's actually so simple that it seems difficult. Just use the backspace key to delete everything in the comment box or you can use your mouse to highlight all the text and then delete it.

BB. · September 2015

Note, I did get a Moderation warning--But it was a small black box on the lower right of the browser screen on only stayed up for 1 second or so... Very easy to miss (I missed it at least once).

Our Vanilla support person is looking at the spam stuff--It does need to be reconfigured.

-Bill

rick · September 2015

vtmaps said:

This thread is now three pages long, but it is hard for me to know what page I am on. Not only are the comments not numbered, but the pages don't appear to be either. Am I missing something?

--vtMaps

I agree that it's not completely obvious which page of the discussion we are on. I spoke to our Vanilla rep about getting the posts numbered. He passed that along to the developers. I'm also going to mention the page issue. I feel like that's kind of important for organization. But until we get the page issue sorted out, you can usually look at your address bar and see what page you're on. For example, my address bar shows the following URL:

http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/349832/new-forum-software-is-live-report-any-errors-bugs-or-issues-here/p3

at the end of the URL you will notice a /p3 which means I'm on page 3 of the comments. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Also, once we get the important bugs and errors addressed, we can work on having our theme customized by a professional Vanilla designer. That way we can request customized formats and maybe even some custom features. But I want to get the forum running as best as it can before we start looking at customizations.

rick · September 2015

littleharbor2 said:

Kind of annoying how when you click onto a discussion thread it takes you to the end of the discussion instead of the beginning. Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

I'm not sure why it's doing that. To be honest, I've been so busy trying to fix errors, that I haven't even noticed it. I'm still learning this software and it's functions, so I'm not sure if that's a settings issue or not. I'll keep an eye out for anything that may change how that works.

Mountain Don · September 2015

rick said:

littleharbor2 said:

Kind of annoying how when you click onto a discussion thread it takes you to the end of the discussion instead of the beginning. Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

I'm not sure why it's doing that. To be honest, I've been so busy trying to fix errors, that I haven't even noticed it. I'm still learning this software and it's functions, so I'm not sure if that's a settings issue or not. I'll keep an eye out for anything that may change how that works.

What I see happening depends on whether or not I have visted the topic before or not.

For a thread I have not visited clicking on the topic takes me to the first post.

With a thread I have visited before the same action takes me to the last place I have viewed.

Seems logical to me.

And pressing the Enter key inserts one line space for me.

vtmaps · September 2015

I really like how easy it is to quote multiple authors in a thread.

Can you explain to me how to generate the url for a particular comment?

--vtMaps

BB. · September 2015

vtMaps,

There is the date/time just to the lower right of your Avatar... You can click on the time (or time/date for older posts?) and it will put the post URL in the main browser link:

http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/comment/350201/#Comment_350201

Or if I right click on the time/date, and copy the link, I get:

http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/comment/350201/#Comment_350201

Same thing--So that does work OK.

-Bill

vtmaps · September 2015

BB. said:
There is the date/time just to the lower right of your Avatar... You can click on the time (or time/date for older posts?) and it will put the post URL in the main browser link:

Thanks! Very Nice! Maybe I will surf over to Vanilla and see if there is a user manual... I don't see any sort of help functions as I use the forum.

--vtMaps

Vic · September 2015

rick said:

Vic said:

Have asked this before, and will ask again;
1. How does one EDIT one's own Post ... it seems to NOT do anything at all.
2.   Personally, I like to highlight text, Right-Click and Cut it. This does not work, will it ever?
3. When quoting, and placing the Quote above text that am entering, often, it seems impossible to create a definite break between the Quote, and the text, added by another person. How does one do this?   Customarily, Quotes are well-defined in a box, or similar feature.
4.This is the only Forum software that seems to double-space on 'Enter".   Can one turn this function? Consistence, to some degree between Forums is a useful function for Forum Trolls, like me.
Thanks, Vic

To edit your post, you have to click on the small gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the comment box. Posts may be edited for up to 1 week after being posted.

If I'm editing or creating a post, I have no problem highlighting text and using the cut and paste function, so I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing.

When I quote another person, just as I have in this post, your original post was placed inside its own area as seen above. I didn't have to do anything special to format it that way.

When I hit the enter key, it does a single space for me, so again, I'm not sure what I'm missing but I feel like we're talking about different things.

First, Thanks rick for the reply.

Yes, I did finally find the little gear in the upper right of the Post Comment box. Nifty Mystery Icon, however, one just beginning to use this Vanilla software, might THINK that the Edit function was actually the one at the bottom of the page, labeled, ' Edit '. But those folks might also think, that it must be that the Edit function has not yet been implemented, because, when clicking this inviting Button, absolutely NOTHING happens at all whatsoever. All of the other Forums that I troll have an Edit or Modify Button, so did not look for a secret different way ... just assumed that Edit had not been implemented, yet.

Regarding Editing, highlighting, cutting pasting, was referring to trying to Edit a QUOTE. On my computer (with IE 10 or 11), If I try to Edit a QUOTE, by placing the Cursor in the Quote box, Highlight some text, Right Click to cut it, bizarre and unpredictable things happen. AND, forever after, there is only a light blue-grey line at the left of the quote area that then defines the Quote, as a quote, AND all of the text that I type, looks like it is part of the Quote.

The appearance of the Quote box that I was referring to, above, is shown in my previous post, (the one that is in the Quote that you have in this reply). If you go back to that Post (I will not try to count the Post number), you will see that it appears to really be two different Quotes. I did try to separate my text from the real Quote, by drawing a dashed-line. The text that I entered has that light vertical line because, I tried, yet again, to Edit a Quote, in an attempt to focus on the part of that Quote that my reply attempted to respond to.

It is quite possible that my Win 7 HPE Laptop sees this Forum differently than all other users in the Universe, and also, that it interacts with Vanilla differently than for others with a different configuration and operating environment.

Regarding the Double-Spacing ... When I type text that Wraps, there is only a single space. BUT, if I use the Enter key to create a single space between lines, it really is double-spaced, with a large white horizontal void separating lines ... for example, here is what happens when Enter is hit, once;

that is one Enter. All other text editing functions, in my experience simply insert one line space. On my computer, this looks like double spacing on enter. Not a biggie, just completely different than with any system that I have ever used in my entire existence.

Some programmers seem to be leaving Right Clicking in the dust, in favor of keyboard commands, but I am still a right-clicker for Cut and Paste.

Forgot, that Highlighting, and right clicking un-highlights the text, so one simply cannot use right click, at all ... was going to try to move up, the above paragraph, to be in better context ...

All FWIW. Thank you Rick, BB Bill, David, and all those working to make this Forum even better. Vic

inetdog · September 2015

rick said:

vtmaps said:

This thread is now three pages long, but it is hard for me to know what page I am on. Not only are the comments not numbered, but the pages don't appear to be either. Am I missing something?

--vtMaps

I agree that it's not completely obvious which page of the discussion we are on. I spoke to our Vanilla rep about getting the posts numbered. He passed that along to the developers. I'm also going to mention the page issue. I feel like that's kind of important for organization. But until we get the page issue sorted out, you can usually look at your address bar and see what page you're on. For example, my address bar shows the following URL:

http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/349832/new-forum-software-is-live-report-any-errors-bugs-or-issues-here/p3

at the end of the URL you will notice a /p3 which means I'm on page 3 of the comments. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Unless of course you go to the list by just clicking on the thread title in Recent Discussions. If you do that you will see "#latest" at the end of the URL instead, with no idea how far from the actual end you are or whether there will be more posts if you go the the last (highest numbered) page.

inetdog · September 2015

Regarding Editing, highlighting, cutting pasting, was referring to trying to Edit a QUOTE. On my computer (with IE 10 or 11), If I try to Edit a QUOTE, by placing the Cursor in the Quote box, Highlight some text, Right Click to cut it, bizarre and unpredictable things happen. AND, forever after, there is only a light blue-grey line at the left of the quote area that then defines the Quote, as a quote, AND all of the text that I type, looks like it is part of the Quote.
The appearance of the Quote box that I was referring to, above, is shown in my previous post, (the one that is in the Quote that you have in this reply). If you go back to that Post (I will not try to count the Post number), you will see that it appears to really be two different Quotes. I did try to separate my text from the real Quote, by drawing a dashed-line. The text that I entered has that light vertical line because, I tried, yet again, to Edit a Quote, in an attempt to focus on the part of that Quote that my reply attempted to respond to.
It is quite possible that my Win 7 HPE Laptop sees this Forum differently than all other users in the Universe, and also, that it interacts with Vanilla different...
...
All FWIW. Thank you Rick, BB Bill, David, and all those working to make this Forum even better. Vic

I suspect that what you are seeing is the same problem that comes when trying to highlight and copy from some formatted and later edited PDFs.
The highlighting will pick up a linear section of the underlying character stream, but the formatting is based on tag or entire content sections which are outside the linear text string that you see.
If you use the Toggle HTML button, you will see the actual characters with the inline formatting tags. You should be able to edit/cut/paste nested quotes much more successfully that way. Just not WYSIWYG.

Vic · September 2015

Hi inetdog,

Thanks for the analysis. Will play with the HTML ... perhaps will just not try to Edit Quotes. Thanks, Vic

rick · September 2015

I want to update you on the issue of page numbering. I spoke with our Vanilla rep and he said that it seems to be an issue with the custom theme code we've implemented. Apparently our custom code has overridden the functionality that displays the current page. We only had our developer make some basic changes to the theme so that the forum looks better than the out of the box version. I have a feeling that we will most likely end up changing a lot more of the theme as we discover new issues or need a new layout. But since this is a fairly minor issue, I don't want to have my developer work on it just yet. I'd like to wait a week or two before contacting him because I have a feeling we will want multiple changes made. But rest assured, the page numbering issue will be fixed.

rick · September 2015

One more update concerning the spam queue issue. As BB pointed out in a previous post, the forum software is erroneously flagging some of our messages as spam. This can cause some of our posts to disappear. The Vanilla developers are currently working on this issue and hopefully it will be resolved very soon.

Vic · September 2015

Hi Mt. Don,

Did just reply to your observation about single vs double spacing at the end of a post above,

It did disappear, and may be in the Spam bin.

As an aside, this is the first disappearing post for me with Vanilla ... I had made one post, and this other one, within several minutes of each other, without even viewing a different page, perhaps this might be detected as a Spammer ... just FYI

Thanks again rick, Vic

inetdog · September 2015

rick said:

One more update concerning the spam queue issue. As BB pointed out in a previous post, the forum software is erroneously flagging some of our messages as spam. This can cause some of our posts to disappear. The Vanilla developers are currently working on this issue and hopefully it will be resolved very soon.

There have been similar problems (in the past and currently) with the vBulletin software's automatic flagging of posts for Moderation.
Since I do not have access to the relevant Control Panel on the other Forum, I can only observe that there:
1. Posts to individual topics (such as Forum Announcements) can be globally flagged for Moderation.
2. Presence of clickable link is a large part of the decision, but not all of it.
3. Status (number of posts) of the poster can be a factor too, but does not appear to be dominant unless selected as mandatory below a certain post level. (Moderated Member status).
4. Some of the decisions appear to be more or less random, since I cannot see the innards to tell what the factors were.
5. I doubt that other board activity near the time of the post has any influence, but ....
Just some things to think about/ask about when checking out the same functionality in Vanilla.

westbranch · September 2015

What does the little gear on the right hand side of this threads listing in recent posts do?? It is labeled DISMISS

inetdog · September 2015

westbranch said:

What does the little gear on the right hand side of this threads listing in recent posts do?? It is labeled DISMISS

I suspect that it is the equivalent of Mark As Read in that it might either:
1. Remove just the thread with the gear from your view of the Recent Discussions list, at least until there is a new post.
2. Remove all threads from the list.
3. Remove only those threads which have been selected (star?)

It sure would be nice to know.

AHA! If affects only the thread where the gear is located, I think. And it may only appear for threads that are identified as "Announcements".

Nope that was not right either. Oh well.....

Vic · September 2015

Mountain Don said:

rick said:

littleharbor2 said:

Kind of annoying how when you click onto a discussion thread it takes you to the end of the discussion instead of the beginning. Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

I'm not sure why it's doing that. To be honest, I've been so busy trying to fix errors, that I haven't even noticed it. I'm still learning this software and it's functions, so I'm not sure if that's a settings issue or not. I'll keep an eye out for anything that may change how that works.

What I see happening depends on whether or not I have visted the topic before or not.

For a thread I have not visited clicking on the topic takes me to the first post.

With a thread I have visited before the same action takes me to the last place I have viewed.

Seems logical to me.

And pressing the Enter key inserts one line space for me.

Hi Don, Thanks, and we may be seeing the same thing -- when pressing Enter once, there is a vacant space below the line just typed, that a line of new text could fit into. To me, this is Double Spacing. All of the other text editing functions that I use, and have ever uset, will not leave a vacant space below a line of text, just typed upon a single strike of the Enter key.

The way that I see your text in the Quote above, is that each line is double spaced, except the space between your fourth line, and the fifth line looks to be quadruple spaced.

Just my view of the world, from the very center of nowhere. Thanks, Vic

Vic · September 2015

Mountain Don said:

rick said:

littleharbor2 said:

Kind of annoying how when you click onto a discussion thread it takes you to the end of the discussion instead of the beginning. Is there a good reason for this that I'm missing?

I'm not sure why it's doing that. To be honest, I've been so busy trying to fix errors, that I haven't even noticed it. I'm still learning this software and it's functions, so I'm not sure if that's a settings issue or not. I'll keep an eye out for anything that may change how that works.

What I see happening depends on whether or not I have visted the topic before or not.

For a thread I have not visited clicking on the topic takes me to the first post.

With a thread I have visited before the same action takes me to the last place I have viewed.

Seems logical to me.

And pressing the Enter key inserts one line space for me.

Hi Don, Thanks, and we may be seeing the same thing -- when pressing Enter once, there is a vacant space below the line just typed, that a line of new text could fit into. To me, this is Double Spacing. All of the other text editing functions that I use, and have ever uset, will not leave a vacant space below a line of text, just typed upon a single strike of the Enter key.

The way that I see your text in the Quote above, is that each line is double spaced, except the space between your fourth line, and the fifth line looks to be quadruple spaced.

Just my view of the world, from the very center of nowhere. Thanks, Vic

rick · September 2015

Vic, your message did end up in the spam queue. I unflagged it as spam and set you to a verified user, which should allow you to bypass all the spam filtering for now. I've also verified some of the other regulars on the forums to try and avoid as much spam flagging as possible until the problem gets fixed.

It also looks like when your message was removed from the spam queue, it got posted twice. I'm going to leave both messages up for now because I'm going to notify our Vanilla rep about the double posting issue. He may need to see both posts in order to investigate it.

Thanks for all your patience everyone. Moving the forums to a new platform is a big job and we will keep working until we get all the errors fixed. Vanilla support has been great so far in fixing the errors we've found, so I'm confident that it won't be too long before we have the forums working just how we want.

inetdog · September 2015

The double spacing issue may relate to whether your Enter key is inserting just a CR, just an LF (newline) or a CR/LF pair.

New forum software is live - report any errors, bugs, or issues here.

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