Forum problem discussion

[SeanInVa]

A test thread for Dan, Diane, and Sean to discuss some issues with the forum display and interactions

[dfollett]

It seems that in order to really figure out how things work, we need to have threads in the different section that have content so we can get a better feel for how to navigate. I can open a thread by clicking on the title of the thread (in red) or on the little blue arrow under the Last Post section. If the thread were several pages long, would clicking on the title take me to the first page and post and clicking on the blue arrow take me to the last page and post?

[dfollett]

Also, someone's clock is off. I assume the clock in your server? The post I just posted show it was posted today at 4:53 AM.

[SeanInVa]

It seems that in order to really figure out how things work, we need to have threads in the different section that have content so we can get a better feel for how to navigate. I can open a thread by clicking on the title of the thread (in red) or on the little blue arrow under the Last Post section. If the thread were several pages long, would clicking on the title take me to the first page and post and clicking on the blue arrow take me to the last page and post?

This is correct. Clicking the title takes you to page 1, so you can read from the beginning. The little blue arrow takes you to the last post in the thread.

Also, someone's clock is off. I assume the clock in your server? The post I just posted show it was posted today at 4:53 AM.

The server is set to GMT/UTC time. Each user can set their own timezone. Yours is currently set to GMT. You can change this by clicking on your name at the top right in the bar, selecting User Settings, and then the "Account" tab

It sounds like we definitely need a few posts in the general section which point how to do some common things - and it sounds like we need these before we send people in.

[Diane Whitehead]

Oh now I saw all the messages, and I have a place to write without clicking anything extra. Did you change anything?

[dfollett]

And setting the time zone fixed the time issue. There ought to be something that tells a new member to adjust some basic settings - would there be a way to simply ask a couple of basic questions when they join to adjust those settings from the get-go? Most of the stuff in the settings I don't care about - at least initially.

Also, what is the difference between a member and a subscriber? Or does subscriber refer to the blogs?

[SeanInVa]

Oh now I saw all the messages, and I have a place to write without clicking anything extra. Did you change anything?

Diane, I've not changed anything last night. If you ever experience that again, can you please take a few screenshots and post them so I can see what you are seeing? If that is not possible, then perhaps a description of how you got to the point where things went wacky?

And setting the time zone fixed the time issue. There ought to be something that tells a new member to adjust some basic settings - would there be a way to simply ask a couple of basic questions when they join to adjust those settings from the get-go? Most of the stuff in the settings I don't care about - at least initially.

Right now, the signup stuff is the "default" of what vBulletin comes setup with. I should be able to adjust some of that - I will take a look.

Also, what is the difference between a member and a subscriber? Or does subscriber refer to the blogs?

In that context, it's just for the blogs.

However, in context of the general forum threads, a registered user can "subscribe" to a thread so that they get notifications when new replies are made to the thread.

Additionally, if you subscribe to Blog A, but not any other blog - you are only a "subscriber" to Blog A, but to any other blog you are not considered a "subscriber".

Finally, in this particular context, "subscriber" does NOT refer to any form of "paid membership" or "subscription" to Tomato-Talk.

I just tested this out and I did find one behavior that I was not expecting. If you click on "Blogs" in the top red banner under the "Tomato Talk" logo, and then click on "Member Blogs" on the page that is displayed, I would expect to see all blogs to which I have access. This seems to be the case except for when the blog is set to "Subscriber" access level and my test user IS a subscriber. Even though my test user is a registered user and a subscriber, while I can view posts to the blog in my "blog posts" tab, and I can access the blog directly if click the name from one of those posts, it does not appear in the list of member blogs.

[SeanInVa]

Also, there is a help page that has textual descriptions of many features of the forums here:

https://www.tomato-talk.com/help

This is linked from the bottom of the forum page in the footer area. Not a very conspicuous place, I admit. While this is fairly comprehensive, I think many forum members would benefit from a more visual help section that includes some screenshots. I am working on putting together something that combines what already exists with some new visual how-tos.

[SeanInVa]

OK, I've made some changes this morning - have some more to do yet but need to get some seeds sown!

• added a new "HELP!" Menu item to the red navigation bar at the top of the forum. This links to the built-in help system. This help system is fully editable, so I may look to expand that some. This section provides some basic textual help on how to do things in the forum - but it doesn't have any pictures/images.
• re-organized the forums a little bit
  • Created a new Help and Support forum in the General category. I've also moved this thread there if you haven't noticed.
  • I created a new "Howtos and Tutorials" forum which is a sub-forum to the above mentioned "Help and Support" forum.
• Created a new top-level category "General Tomato Talk"
  • Moved General Chatter to this new category
  • Moved Product Sources to this new category
  • Moved Tomato Bootcamp to this new category
  • Created a new forum under this category named "Tomato Varieties and Cultivars"
• Created two new how-to topics in the new "Howtos and Tutorials" sub forum
  • One to show how to register for the forum
  • Another to walk through some of the settings that users can change
  • Both have some visuals to help guide the user along

[Diane Whitehead]

How about adding a delete option, rather than just 'edit'? It looks as though I can discard a message immediately, but I might want to do so later. Of course, this could mess up a thread and make nonsense of any replies that had been made to my deleted post.

HELP is very useful. And I love the filter to sort messages. I don't know of any other forum with that option. Of course, there aren't any messages to sort yet.

[Diane Whitehead]

I clicked Remember Me when I checked in this morning. I just quit Safari, started it again, opened TomatoTalk and Yes! was remembered. I didn't have to log in again.

[SeanInVa]

How about adding a delete option, rather than just 'edit'? It looks as though I can discard a message immediately, but I might want to do so later. Of course, this could mess up a thread and make nonsense of any replies that had been made to my deleted post.

Diane, you can "delete" a post by first clicking "Edit". Once you are on the edit screen, there is a button towards the bottom that lets you delete the post.

HELP is very useful. And I love the filter to sort messages. I don't know of any other forum with that option. Of course, there aren't any messages to sort yet.

Glad to see both of these are helpful!

[SeanInVa]

Diane, if the forum width gets larger and smaller, it's because I'm tinkering with that setting at the moment

[SeanInVa]

OK, expanded the width of the forums. Not sure if I like it better like this, but it allows for more content in the post before wrapping - and accomadates larger images better. thoughts? Does it look better how it was before, more narrow?

[Diane Whitehead]

Some time I'm going to check out all those possibilities above where I am writing. The first one made everything pale.

Hmm - my sentence reverted to normal when I posted it.

Oh, I must have been in Advanced Editor without knowing it. All those choices about font, size, etc, have now disappeared.