John_S_in_Penna Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 I noticed that the POSTING NUMBERS are missing. At the last update, a year or two ago, they disappeared, and then after members pointed it out, they were brought back. They are very useful for long threads. It is helpful to be able to refer to "Jack's idea in Posting #29." Can they be brought back again? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moskowitz Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 As I stated in a previous thread....maybe not! Apparently most forums are not using a numbering system and as such that was deleted from the newest software version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) The jalopy journal/hamb uses a numbering system. As does Team Buick. Ben Edited July 28, 2017 by Ben Bruce aka First Born (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 All of the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums use a number system also. Hopefully this upgrade will get a mod to allow the numbers. It's not that hard of a program change to accomplish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) I like the post numbers but they were phased out in the last update by the forum software manufacture. Instead of post numbers they have moved to "sharing a post" like the social media sites. If you want to "Share" or refer to a previous post you click on the "Share icon" where the post number use to be. When you click on the share icon you will see a link pop up that can be copied and posted into the post you are making. When you paste the link into your post it will change to look like the box you see below. To go back to that post click the "arrow icon" in the upper right corner of the box you see below and you will be taken to that post. Give it a try. I know this is not like the post numbers that we all want. We are going have to adapt new ways of doing things as this forum, and all other forums, move toward the format of social media sites like f...book. Maybe later someone will come up with a way to bring back forum numbers but right now what I have outlined abpve is the way the forum software designers intended the forum to work to replace the forum post numbers. Edited July 28, 2017 by Ronnie (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Even the moderator(s) have mentioned previously that the numbers were helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Just checked six other forums. All have post numbers. Personally often use to refer to something in an earlier post. Have gotten used to the missing icons on some machines but is annoying. At least we have a heart now. Perhaps if I knew the construct the mouseover is using it would make more sense but when I try to look at the source code I just get this: (suspect where the missing goto icon is: <div class='ipsDataItem_icon ipsPos_top'> <a href='http://forums.aaca.org/topic/289676-aaca-tires/?do=getNewComment' title='Go to first unread post' data-ipsTooltip> <span class='ipsItemStatus'><i class="fa fa-star"></i></span> </a> </div> and suspect the problem is with rendering the "fa fa-star" but what is "ipsItemStatus" & "i class" ? Is there a manual somewhere ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vermontboy Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 I suppose if we were all 14 again it would make sense to make this forum "just like F...book" or other social media. This forum is NOT like social media in form or function. Today it's all about revenue generating "clicks" (why it takes 10 minutes to click through a story that takes 20 seconds to read when condensed to one page).It is a huge waste of time. This 68 year old would like to see post numbers back. And dump the heart logo and bring back our nice simple "Like" instead of "responded to"........ Just my two cents. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 2 minutes ago, vermontboy said: I suppose if we were all 14 again it would make sense to make this forum "just like F...book" or other social media. This forum is NOT like social media in form or function. Today it's all about revenue generating "clicks" (why it takes 10 minutes to click through a story that takes 20 seconds to read when condensed to one page).It is a huge waste of time. This 68 year old would like to see post numbers back. And dump the heart logo and bring back our nice simple "Like" instead of "responded to"........ Just my two cents. It is our 2 cents that matter. The software people ALWAYS want to do it their way because they thiink they are the experts. In my 40+ years of owning a service bureau it always came down to me (the owner) geting to a point that I would say -- "I don't give a damn what you programmers want, we will do what the CUSTOMER wants and that is why I have you doing these upgrades! Now do what I said to do, not what you want to do." Some how that worked and we were the second largest publication circulation service bureau in the Chicago metro area. We are still the oldest one still around. That way of doing things "the customer" wants works. That is the only thing that guarantees sucess in the long term. We the forum users are the customer - if the powers to be can't give us what "we - the customer" want as opposed to what softwre programmers want to do, we will find other forums to go to. Moderators, owners, head kahuna -- don't take this as a threat, please take it as a reality of life. That's my 2 cents. Lets all see if our 2 cents mean anything. Dave Sweeney 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) 33 minutes ago, vermontboy said: I suppose if we were all 14 again it would make sense to make this forum "just like F...book" or other social media. This forum is NOT like social media in form or function. Today it's all about revenue generating "clicks" (why it takes 10 minutes to click through a story that takes 20 seconds to read when condensed to one page).It is a huge waste of time. This 68 year old would like to see post numbers back. And dump the heart logo and bring back our nice simple "Like" instead of "responded to"........ Just my two cents. I agree with you. I rarely look at f...book for the reasons you state. On the other hand ithere are other people who love it rarely read forums. I prefer the forums. I think the posts are easier to follow and it is easy to scroll through the stuff you don't like. The post numbers were left out of the new updates to our forum software. I don't think it is something our moderators will be able to easily fix. I read that a plugin is being made that can be added to the forum software that will bring the post numbers back. It may take a while to get it implemented. Edited July 28, 2017 by Ronnie (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 45 minutes ago, padgett said: Just checked six other forums. All have post numbers. Personally often use to refer to something in an earlier post. Have gotten used to the missing icons on some machines but is annoying. At least we have a heart now. Perhaps if I knew the construct the mouseover is using it would make more sense but when I try to look at the source code I just get this: (suspect where the missing goto icon is: <div class='ipsDataItem_icon ipsPos_top'> <a href='http://forums.aaca.org/topic/289676-aaca-tires/?do=getNewComment' title='Go to first unread post' data-ipsTooltip> <span class='ipsItemStatus'><i class="fa fa-star"></i></span> </a> </div> and suspect the problem is with rendering the "fa fa-star" but what is "ipsItemStatus" & "i class" ? Is there a manual somewhere ? Here is how it was implemented before the update: Quote <span class="postdetails"> Post <a title="Show the link to this post" href="http://www.xxxxxxxxxx.com/index.php?showtopic=7099&view=findpost&p=179666" onclick="link_to_post(179666); return false;">#2</a> </span> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moskowitz Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Ronnie, thanks for adding some rationality to all of this. We spend a small fortune to provide this service to members and non-members alike. IPS is one of the top leaders in providing forums. We pay for their software and make sure updates are installed. Beyond that we will continue to express to them the features and lack of features that forum members want but until they offer a fix there is nothing we can do about it. This is not custom software folks, it is a package we purchase and again it is free to all. Forum members have little idea how much time it takes to moderate these forums or to work with our host and our forum host. It is no small task and we do listen but we cannot give everyone what they want all the time...that is a reality as well. In the meantime both Peter and I have sent this thread to IPS so they understand issues as YOU folks see them. We always listen but can't always deliver. Here is the latest form IPS: Maybe you can point out that the time stamp (Posted 12 hours ago) at the top of the post is actually a clickable link. Someone used an example of wanting to say "I like Bob's idea in post #12". It would be just as easy to copy and paste that link and say "I like Bob's idea here {paste link}". If they pasted the link in a new line, it will actually embed a nice preview of that comment so others can see the comment text. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 This isn't the only IPS powered forum that is complaining about the missing numbers. I'm sure the numbers will be back, at least as an option, but we might have to wait until the next update to get them back... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moskowitz Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Well, in the world of software things can change in a nanosecond. Just got word that there is now a plug-in to bring back the numbering system. Give us some time to get it installed. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) I sorta vaguely remember being 14 (didn't care for the '60 Ford styling), also was programing before there was a Darpa/Arpanet, mostly machine code and assembly language for flight and engine control computers but can come up to a HLL if necessary. I agree the user is the important part of the equation for a forum (I went beyond "User Friendly" to "User Stupid" but often got chided for spending more time on error handling than the in-line code. How you code is different when if you make a mistake, someone else makes a large smoking hole in the ground.) So the post number should be a simple calculation. Would take a while to figure out but my post with "div class='ipsDataItem_icon" was topic 296034 comment 1629403. That might be enough or might need an algorithm with more information (again, is a programming manual available ? Can't do much without the dash-1) update: my posts usually take time, often about an hour or two. I see a lot of hopeful comments since I began this post. However if I can help with programming, just let me know. Edited July 28, 2017 by padgett (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Steve- your work and the work of other moderators is appreciated and I'm sure we do not express that often enough. One of the things I like about this forum is you allow us to express ourselves in open discussions and rarely stop that interaction. Expressing how we feel about what is happening TO the forum is a good thing as long as we understand you are NOT the cause of some of the things we do not like happening. Taking time to implement some things is fine. Reading some of these other comments about the number system, it has been commented on a number of times but your last post telling us about the time stamp is the first positive answer to accomplish this I've seen. I may have missed a reply and if so I apologize but from experience I know a simple number system is easy to do. Most if not all response type systems have an internal numbering system so they can be easily caterogized within the system anyhow. I hope our comments in the future help you and not just drive you nuts. Again I apologize if you though I was saying you were not doing a good job. You all are very good for doing this type of work. Dave S 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike6024 Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, Steve Moskowitz said: Here is the latest form IPS: Maybe you can point out that the time stamp (Posted 12 hours ago) at the top of the post is actually a clickable link. Someone used an example of wanting to say "I like Bob's idea in post #12". It would be just as easy to copy and paste that link and say "I like Bob's idea here {paste link}". If they pasted the link in a new line, it will actually embed a nice preview of that comment so others can see the comment text. That does work, if you copy and paste the link address, once you figure out how to do that by right clicking on the "time posted" message and choosing copy link address then pasting it. It will "embed a nice preview" like shown above. Not sure I'd ever want to actually use that, since copy and paste only the comment you really want to highlight or respond to seems more direct. (Actually it gives you the same thing, or preview box, as the share post copy and paste as was shown earlier, just two different ways of doing the same thing ) Edited July 28, 2017 by mike6024 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cahartley Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 For those who have never seen a screen shot of an administrator panel.........it would scare you to death. It makes the cockpit of a 747 look like child's play. Give the administrators time to sort through the endless options. Sometimes if the option wanted doesn't exist code might even need to be modified........ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 Steve, Thanks for continuing to work on resolving the minor issues remaining. (Is there any way we can get rid of that heart symbol for likes? I realize it is a minor thing but I really hate that symbol. Certainly there has to be another icon available...) Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) 23 minutes ago, MCHinson said: (Is there any way we can get rid of that heart symbol for likes? I realize it is a minor thing but I really hate that symbol. Certainly there has to be another icon available...) I agree. A heart seems to be out of place on this forum. I like the thumbs up icon better - like the one below. There is an option to change the icon in the forum software. Edited July 28, 2017 by Ronnie (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 1 minute ago, Ronnie said: I agree. A heart seems to be out of place on this forum. I like the thumbs up icon better - like the one below. There is an option to change the icon in the forum software. I "Like" your post but I don't "Love" or Heart it...althought that is the only option I currently have available. I would certainly prefer to give it a thumbs up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike6024 Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 Some of us are just not that comfortable handing out hearts to other dudes. We are just not that secure in our own masculinity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 2 hours ago, mike6024 said: Some of us are just not that comfortable handing out hearts to other dudes. We are just not that secure in our own masculinity. LIKE!............ I'm secure in my masculinity but hearts and hugs are out..........Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luv2Wrench Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 12 hours ago, Bhigdog said: LIKE!............ I'm secure in my masculinity but hearts and hugs are out..........Bob Agreed!! Please bring back the like icon. That said, and now that it is working, the new look of the forum is fantastic. A big LIKE to all involved in the change over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 Is anyone else had the forum go nuts this morning. The whole layout has changed and is almost unusable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 11 minutes ago, SC38DLS said: Is anyone else had the forum go nuts this morning. The whole layout has changed and is almost unusable Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 Thank you. I thought it was something I did or because I posted something they didn't like. I hope it is just part of this upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_a Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 13 minutes ago, SC38DLS said: Is anyone else had the forum go nuts this morning. The whole layout has changed and is almost unusable Yes, me too. The site appears only as an outline; a little hard to navigate. I assume an update is going on, or North Korean/Russian/Chinese hackers. Remember the Korean hacking we had on this site a couple of years ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Carl Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 I almost had another heart attack ! By the time I got back on , things were great again. Whew !!! - Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curti Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 The post numbers still have not returned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlier Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 21 hours ago, SC38DLS said: Is anyone else had the forum go nuts this morning. The whole layout has changed and is almost unusable This happened to me last night around 11 pm. It was totally unuseable. I tried reloading the forum pages a couple of times then I gave up. Looks like it is back to normal now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 For those having problems with the forum after the last update, you may wish to read this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 Good to see the post numbers back. Now if we can just get rid of that heart icon... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 The post numbers might be back, but I can hardly see them, they are grayed out, along with the weird sideways V with an x, whatever that is. And then next to that might be something else, waaaayyyyy tooo grayed out to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike6024 Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Yes it is very faint but if I "mouse over" it becomes easy to read, darkens considerably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vermontboy Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 4 hours ago, mike6024 said: Yes it is very faint but if I "mouse over" it becomes easy to read, darkens considerably. What is the purpose of making things invisible unless you know to "mouse over" them. Have any of these designers taken a basic graphics course? Perhaps we are supposed to see all white space and move the mouse around to "reveal" what is hidden? Just show me ALL of what is available to see rather than have me guessing - tired of playng games with these so called modern "developers". And I've been around computers since the 70's when mainframes filled up a very large room. Since I am sure that we are paying for this they are supposed to give us what we need. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 The mouseover is not that much of a problem for me. The design is such that it makes unimportant items less obvious and less distracting. The time of a post, the report button and the post number are faint but as long as your mouse has the cursor anywhere on a post, those items darken for that post. If you put your mouse about anywhere near the middle of your screen and scroll down the page as you read posts, your mouse will be typicaly be on the post that you are reading and those items will be clearly visible. You don't have to put your mouse on those individual items to make them darker, it only needs to be anywhere on that post. I would agree that those items are not important except potentially on the post you are reading at a particular time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 I usually write my web pages using Notepad and typically avoid "cutes" but then started with them in the last century. Did like Microsoft Front Page but stopped working after one of the ugrades so went back to Notepad. Played with mouseovers for a while but just enlarged the selection to be certain what you were clicking, find it better to just have a floating toolbar at the top of the page. HTML 5 is kind of neat particularly with the ability to adjust the format to the screen size but has only been around for a few years. However with both Microsoft and Apple forcing upgrades on people the residual penetration of XP users is probably small (though Apple now refuses to upgrade my '08 MacBook and M$ won't upgrade my Clover Trail tablets). Guess the bottom line is I write my web pages to convey information to the least well equipped user and not to exploit the latest gee-whiz constructs available only on some platforms. OTOH back when I was deep into AV it was the malware writer's mistakes (usually from thinking every PC was just like theirs, was a good thing - knew of a few viruses/worms that would have been much harder to detect with a one byte change - used to tell AV developers at conferences that the hardest thing to do was to NOT fix them...) that made them easy to detect/remove. But that was another lifetime. Particularly for a non-computer forum webpage, simple is good. Complexity just slows it down and annoys people. Nearly 4,000 lines of code (many blank) including style and function lines that make other calls for the first page of the General Discussion seems a bit much. (Just looked and my opening page - click on sig). Has 37 lines. Does call two other pages, one with 24 lines and the other with 82 lines. Of course I find it a challenge to write a program with the least possible code (once took a programming course at Eagle Signal - coldest week of my life, got up to zero F on the last day - final test was to make a light flash. Passing was 11 lines, their people had done in 9, mine needed 7. They chided me for not initializing the code. Said the purpose was to make flash, never said where it had to start...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 And now the Like button icon has been changed. I am not aware of any other issues. If there are any additional issues please post them in the Forum Software Questions forum. Thanks. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylormade Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 I always used to stay signed in, but now I have to sign back in every time I return to the site even if I leave it open in the browser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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