Welcome to the New Server! (Please Read)

[raindog]

Well, as I expected, I really dislike the forums under IPB. As with all other IPB's, there's no egosearch function, as previously noted here, and you can't even bookmark searches as each one is assigned a one-time-only ID and searches are done using POST forms. The IPB guys have hemmed and hawed and suggested partial workarounds (like the "last 10 posts" link in My Assistant, or "Find member's posts" from a user's profile) when former users of other boards have asked for this feature, so I'm guessing something they did to make it faster than anything else also made it harder to do something as basic as getting a list of threads you've participated in.

 

I stopped in because I got an email notification of a PM, and maybe in another couple months I'll stop in again to see if you guys have done any customization work to make it as functional (as opposed to merely feature-filled) as phpBB. In the meantime, I wish you the best of luck.

[StanJr]

yeah, everything is all fancy now, and nothing is simple any more. I get a private message and I get this BIG thing at the top of the forums when I log in. Replying to a post is a totally crazy big thing now rather than a simple field for typing in.

 

I still have NO idea what is going on in the "My Controls " and "My Assistant" pages, best I avoid those.

 

This new forum stuff is just TOO much for a simpleton like myself. I'll probaby not be around as much as I used to, I don't really have time to try and relearn all this stuff. It works for you youngins, but us old and set-in-our-ways types prefer simple and straightforward.

 

What was this thread about?

[Albert]

yeah, everything is all fancy now, and nothing is simple any more.  I get a private message and I get this BIG thing at the top of the forums when I log in.

I personally like the way you see the new message notification at the top of the page when a new private message arrives, and there are two links that let you go straight into that PM (either in the same window, or a new window), which is nice and saves you a step.

 

Replying to a post is a totally crazy big thing now rather than a simple field for typing in.

I do not agree with this at all, there in fact is one LESS field for you to deal with--the Subject, which is only relevant if you are starting a new thread. The options presented by phpBB and IPB are nearly identical and the screens are laid out nearly the same (I am looking at them side-by-side right now). The edit box itself is bigger, but I consider that a good thing. Yes, it looks different than phpBB, but the differences are not significant.

 

I still have NO idea what is going on in the "My Controls " and "My Assistant" pages, best I avoid those.

You can ignore "My Assistant", that is a little popup that lets you do searches and other things, which is pretty handy. As for "My Controls", that gives you access to items in the forum that only apply to you: your private messages, your topic/forum subscriptions, your profile settings, and your personalized board settings. That's it. It is not complicated if you take a few moments to look through the items, and they are grouped together by function.

 

This new forum stuff is just TOO much for a simpleton like myself.  I'll probaby not be around as much as I used to, I don't really have time to try and relearn all this stuff.  It works for you youngins, but us old and set-in-our-ways types prefer simple and straightforward.

Some people said the same thing about the transition from UBB to phpBB three years ago. There really is not that much to learn. IPB is more similar to phpBB than UBB was to phpBB. The forums are pretty much laid out the same, lists of topics inside a forum look pretty much the same, and reading individual threads is pretty much the same. Yes, it is not exactly the same as before but I don't see any reason why someone who was using the phpBB forum can't dive right into this forum. If there are features you don't care about (such as the Gallery), then you can ignore them.

 

The old forum software simply wasn't cutting it any longer, and not because of features phpBB didn't provide, but because we were having problems with phpBB causing the forum to be slow, allowing the forum to get hacked, and forcing us to disable some features such as the ability to edit messages. If we hadn't moved to IPB, it probably would have been vBulletin instead, which is very similar to IPB in terms of feature-set (and their default skin is quite a bit more different than what we are using now, so if you think this is bad...) With your mindset, we would still be running the original "wwwscripts" from the original 2600 Nexus years ago.

 

..Al

[CPUWIZ]

yeah, everything is all fancy now, and nothing is simple any more.  I get a private message and I get this BIG thing at the top of the forums when I log in.  Replying to a post is a totally crazy big thing now rather than a simple field for typing in. 

 

I still have NO idea what is going on in the "My Controls " and "My Assistant" pages, best I avoid those.

 

This new forum stuff is just TOO much for a simpleton like myself.  I'll probaby not be around as much as I used to, I don't really have time to try and relearn all this stuff.  It works for you youngins, but us old and set-in-our-ways types prefer simple and straightforward.

 

What was this thread about?

838740[/snapback]

 

Do you use a rotary phone at home?

[sku_u]

This new forum stuff is just TOO much for a simpleton like myself.  I'll probaby not be around as much as I used to, I don't really have time to try and relearn all this stuff.  It works for you youngins, but us old and set-in-our-ways types prefer simple and straightforward.

838740[/snapback]

 

Stan, you're a regular at Gamerzuniverse. Those boards also use IPB. You probably didn't even notice the difference between that board and the old AA forums. There are a few new options otherwise the BBS runs the same. That's all. Even me, who still can't take a good picture of my TV was able to figure it out.

 

What do you do when you have to update your browsers, or are you still using a 400 BAUD modem to access this site through Usenet j/k

Edited April 17, 2005 by sku_u

[Jasoco]

I'm still getting duplicate emails. Is no one else getting duplicate emails for each topic even when you don't visit the thread? It shouldn't do that, and I was hoping it would fix itself.

 

I love the PM's display at the top. But that's the only plus I've seen. Other than that, it's just a watered down phpBB which we were all used to.

 

In the last few months, four forums upgraded themselves.

 

AtariAge changed to Invision.

DigitalPress updated phpBB and added a lot of forum slowing stuff to it.

MacNN changed to a newer version of vBulliten, only one problem happened, but was fixed in less than 24 hours. (Winnar so far.)

MacAddict changed to punBB, which is STILL awkward. Links open in the same window, images in URL's don't work, lots of horrible quirks. Still, they're second place tied with AtariAge.

 

It's taking a lot out of me. Out of all four, three were originally phpBB and had no problems. Except MacAddict which switched in November after a server crash wiped out all of 2004, so they switched to some unknown software that I never heard of before. And they still haven't fixed the quirks. Now only one is still phpBB, still works, but is full of Gaia-like crap.

 

This is a PITA. But hey, multiple emails is much better than having to buy titles and sigs or having to force links to open in a new window like they SHOULD.

[Albert]

I'm still getting duplicate emails. Is no one else getting duplicate emails for each topic even when you don't visit the thread? It shouldn't do that, and I was hoping it would fix itself.

I spent some time looking at this, and when I did, I saw that you were subscribed to 13 threads at the time. After investigating the code, it appears that the forum does send an email for every response in a thread that you have subscribed to. If you subscribe to forums, it only sends one email per post. I have posted a long message on the IPB forums about this in hopes of getting a clearer answer on what it is supposed to be doing. If you feel you are getting too many emails at present, I suggest you either unsubscribe from individual topics, and/or subscribe to forums instead.

 

I love the PM's display at the top. But that's the only plus I've seen. Other than that, it's just a watered down phpBB which we were all used to.

A watered down phpBB? Please, this forum has similarities to phpBB (which is good, as it makes it relatively easy to adjust to if you are already familiar with phpBB boards), but outside of that it far exceeds phpBB in many areas. Does it have its quirks? Yes, but what forum software doesn't? Everyone has their own notions of how the "perfect" forum software would operate, and it's impossible to meet everyone's demands. We will address issues as we have time, and we have already done a considerable amount of tweaking in the past week.

 

It's taking a lot out of me. Out of all four, three were originally phpBB and had no problems. Except MacAddict which switched in November after a server crash wiped out all of 2004, so they switched to some unknown software that I never heard of before. And they still haven't fixed the quirks. Now only one is still phpBB, still works, but is full of Gaia-like crap.

Sites switching away from phpBB should tell you something about phpBB. I have explained on numerous occasions why I was not happy with phpBB and some of the problems it was causing. These were issues that were affecting EVERYONE on the forum, not just a few select individuals. Such as the inability to edit posts because it would greatly slow down the forum. Many searches that returned a large result set would fail. The forum got HACKED recently when yet-another-vulnerability was revealed in phpBB. The larger your phpBB forum is, the slower it gets (which we were definitely experiencing). Heck, we had to hack phpBB just to get attachment support, which is something IPB (and other modern forums) have built-in.

 

This is a PITA. But hey, multiple emails is much better than having to buy titles and sigs or having to force links to open in a new window like they SHOULD.

838798[/snapback]

I'm sorry you feel that this is a "pain in the ass". Just keep in mind that this is not a full-time job for anyone involved, that we are not getting paid to work on the forum, and that we work on it because we enjoy it. We do not charge anyone for any of the functionality in the forums or on the rest of AtariAge. We migrated to IPB because we felt it as a significant improvement over the old phpBB forum, on many levels. We know we can't please everyone, but we have spent a significant amount of time to make this transition as smooth as possible, and as I said above, we will continue tweaking the forum to improve it as we are able.

 

..Al

[BinaryGoddess]

It's taking a lot out of me. Out of all four, three were originally phpBB and had no problems. Except MacAddict which switched in November after a server crash wiped out all of 2004, so they switched to some unknown software that I never heard of before. And they still haven't fixed the quirks. Now only one is still phpBB, still works, but is full of Gaia-like crap.

 

838798[/snapback]

 

 

It's taking a lot out of you? I have to say this is very odd to me that it would wear you out so terribly because a few websites decided to change their forum software.

 

I'm sorry but some of the attitudes here have really surprised me. Fortunately it's not many but when even a few people on the 'intarweb' feel the need to whine and groan because they can't handle change I have to wonder how they manage to deal with the fast changing world of technology in the first place.

 

I would think that the greatly increased speed of the forums and the return of the edit button (at least!) would have made even the most change-resistant person happy. So there are a few new features, and some of the old features don't work in quite the exact same way as they used to (yet). You know that in a few months all this will be second nature anyway.

 

The new forums are a Good Thing and we worked our butts off to get them up and running and to make the transition as smooth as possible. I know we can't please everyone but that doesn't mean it doesn't bug me a bit to see comments like these.

[Jasoco]

Hey, don't get me wrong. I did say you guys were in second place. But changing forum software as with switching to any other software after using a certain one for years is going to bring changes. We're humans. We get used to things. Then all of a sudden have to change our routine. Some people can't adjust that easily.

 

The quirks always outweigh the good things. Fix the quirks, and you make your users happy. In other words, make this forum function like what we're used to, and we'll shut up.

 

That said, you guys already have made this forum function like phpBB. I'm referring to the other forum. Just making conversation. Okay?

 

Also, I can see BinaryGoddess listed above as if she's waiting for me to reply.. well, here I come.

[Haydn Jones]

Do polls become unread when someone votes, or threads when someone edits? topics have become unread for no aparen reason i think.

 

haydn

[sku_u]

For those who are complaining about the new boards being a watered down phpBB, unusable, a piece of garbage and so on... have you tried the edit feature yet? If so, you would notice that it takes less than 3 seconds to edit and refresh, even on a slow computer as opposed to several minutes to 20 minutes on the old boards. I also suggest using the search feature which is much more accurate than the phpBB search function. It's also nice to see a similar threads display at the bottom of threads, being able to quote multiple users at once, being able to store important data, having thumbnailed images instead of oversized attachments, not having to worry about the site being compromised by a hacker as much as would happen on phpBB, etc... The only thing phpBB had that I liked over these new boards was the Outbox. Otherwise, I think these new boards are better in just about every possible way.

[Trey]

some of my comments:

 

i like the gallery feature.

i really don't need the edit feature as it's abcents be taught me to be flawless in my posting.

i suggest in addition to the fast reply button, we have a form reply with things like;

 

- evolution is fact not fiction

- shut up kepone you flaming liberal

- shut up gregorydg you flaming conservative

- shut up chris++

- my butt itches

Edited April 18, 2005 by Trey

[Albert]

The only thing phpBB had that I liked over these new boards was the Outbox.  Otherwise, I think these new boards are better in just about every possible way.

838959[/snapback]

In case you didn't see in another thread, when you send a PM you can check "Track this message?" and then look at the "Message Tracker" in "My Controls" to see if someone has read your message yet. If not, you can delete the message before they see it. You just can't edit the message (but you could always delete it and resend it if you wanted to change it).

 

..Al

[sku_u]

The only thing phpBB had that I liked over these new boards was the Outbox.  Otherwise, I think these new boards are better in just about every possible way.

838959[/snapback]

In case you didn't see in another thread, when you send a PM you can check "Track this message?" and then look at the "Message Tracker" in "My Controls" to see if someone has read your message yet. If not, you can delete the message before they see it. You just can't edit the message (but you could always delete it and resend it if you wanted to change it).

 

..Al

839004[/snapback]

 

I did see the other thread. I liked the setup for PMs on phpBB over IPB. I felt that they were a much better sytem in that regard. That's just one thing though and not worth holding onto what was an otherwise inferior BBS that was never really meant to handle the kind of traffic AA gets on a daily basis.

[Jasoco]

I don't fully agree with the evolution thing. Also, that is off topic. And my arm itches.

[Albert]

I did see the other thread.  I liked the setup for PMs on phpBB over IPB.  I felt that they were a much better sytem in that regard.  That's just one thing though and not worth holding onto what was an otherwise inferior BBS that was never really meant to handle the kind of traffic AA gets on a daily basis.

839008[/snapback]

Not to play devil's advocate here, but the IPB Private Message system has some notable features over the phpBB system:

 

- You can create folders to help organize your PMs.

- You can CC several members when sending PMs.

- You can block people from sending you PMs.

- You can keep a list of "Favorite" members that you PM often.

- You can archive messages as an Excel or HTML file.

- You can sort messages by Subject, Sender, and Date.

- You can select All messages on a page (useful when deleting or moving them).

- You can Save messages to finish writing them later.

 

Those are the obvious things I can see..

 

..Al

[Draikar]

Why is there a "fast reply" ? Do some people need to make that fast of a reply ?

I like the update board, seems some info in my profile was lost but easily put back in like profile photo....

[Albert]

Why is there a "fast reply" ?  Do some people need to make that fast of a reply ?

I like the update board, seems some info in my profile was lost but easily put back in like profile photo....

839029[/snapback]

The Fast Reply is nice, especially if you set the option in "My Controls" to have it open automatically when you open up a forum thread. It lets you respond without having to open another page, which can be good if you are on a dial-up or other slow connection. Also good for the forum, since that's one less page it has to process if someone uses the Fast Reply option. I use it fairly often, myself.

 

As for the profile photo, sorry, we did not import those. That was another hack we did to phpBB, since it does not support profile photos by default. Because we allow larger profile photos in the new forum, because many people were using images that were obviously not of themselves, and because we would have had to further modify the phpBB->IPB convertor to import these images, we decided to forego them.

 

..Al

[Jasoco]

Fast Reply is the best invention to hit a message board since they were invented. If you don't like it, don't use it! There isn't a time when I don't use it.

[Albert]

For some additional insight on our decision to move the forum from phpBB to IPB, please take a look here:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...=blog&blogid=2&

 

 

..Al

[Jasoco]

I have no permission, Al. Al, I have no permission! Al! What do I do? Al!! HELP ME!!

 

Seriously. I have no permission to view them.

 

Edit: Oh, and hey! Page 4!

Edited April 18, 2005 by Jasoco

[sku_u]

- You can create folders to help organize your PMs.

- You can CC several members when sending PMs.

- You can block people from sending you PMs.

- You can keep a list of "Favorite" members that you PM often.

- You can archive messages as an Excel or HTML file.

- You can sort messages by Subject, Sender, and Date.

- You can select All messages on a page (useful when deleting or moving them).

- You can Save messages to finish writing them later.

 

 

Some of those are very nice features. I don't know if I will utilize all of those additional features, but time will tell. You don't have to convince me that the new boards are better. I couldn't stand phpBB and was convinced the boards we're on now were better from the initial beta test.

 

BTW, you were always able to select all messages on a page, even under the "old system."

[Albert]

BTW, you were always able to select all messages on a page, even under the "old system."

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Whoops, my bad, you are correct. I wasn't sure when I wrote that list, so I logged onto the old forum to look. I was looking for the typical way it's done, by putting a checkbox at the top or bottom of the list, the way IPB does it. I didn't see that, and added it to my list. That shows you how often I actually used that particular element on the old forum.

 

..Al

[Albert]

I have no permission, Al. Al, I have no permission! Al! What do I do? Al!! HELP ME!!

 

Seriously. I have no permission to view them.

You should be able to view them now, I hadn't granted anyone access to the Blogs when I posted that message, which I quickly realized and then fixed the permissions.

 

..Al

[kisrael]

I'm ok with the changes for the most part but I really miss egosearch. If it keeps on being missed, maybe I'll see if I can fake the form that does the search, since the search expires after a day or two. For a certain part of the populatino, egosearch is a crucial part of keeping up with the site when you just want a quick hit of conversation rather than a full browse.