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We're baaaaackkkk......!

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  • Member since
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  • From: Lewiston ID
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Posted by reklein on Friday, October 17, 2008 8:30 PM

I'm likin' this new format.Slicker'n grease on the track.

In Lewiston Idaho,where they filmed Breakheart pass.
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Posted by Texas Zepher on Friday, October 17, 2008 6:57 PM

jeffrey-wimberly
twhite
just noticed--I've got 6 out of 8 little green Thingies filled in below my Avatar.  Does this mean anything?
That means you're a top 50 contributor.

Well, that is debatable.  It means one has made a lot of posts.  Whether those can be considered "contributor" worthy or not the forum software is unable to judge. Mischief

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Posted by trainfan1221 on Friday, October 17, 2008 2:58 PM

SteamFreak

I like the new look, and I find it easier on the eyes. The beige expanse is gone, and the built-in Firefox spellchecker works with this software. Thumbs Up

I'm not crazy about the thread/ad space ratio though, and I notice there's no additional sub-categories, like a tutorial section. Oh well. Sigh

In reference to your link to the pics of 385, I just wanted to add that these two engines are safely at the Whippany Museum, saw them both and it was good to see 385 back home so to speak.  The other engine is interesting too.
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Posted by yankee flyer on Friday, October 17, 2008 9:42 AM

Scott
I have the same concerns. the (active topics and my discussion) showed if I had any response were ones I used every time I logged on. Also in my discussions you could go directly to the page you wanted.  Sigh  Why are some of the pages larger than others? The text runs off the right of the screen.
Aside from being lost all the time, those are my biggest complaints.

 we're baaaackkk........Pirate  MischiefHappy railroading

Lee

scottychaos

After playing around with the new forum for a bit, I think it works fine..but there is one feature that makes it "worse" than the old forum..

Yes, "active topics" and "my discussions" show up..but there is no way to tell when new posts have been made in any of them! I always used this forum (old version) with the "active topics" feature..which show all topics with activity since the last time I logged on..that way I knew there was new discussion I could check out if I wanted to..

 now, with the new forum, there is no way to tell if threads have new posts without opening up each one individually..much less convienient..

Is there any way to bring the "new posts since you last visited" feature back?

thanks,

Scot

 

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Posted by shawnee on Friday, October 17, 2008 8:42 AM

I wonder why they changed it?

It seems odd that they buried some stuff that was useful.  It's still there, but you have to fish.  In the olld site, the forums button was to the top of the page, clear and distinct and one push you went there and had all the forums - including the trains.com one there.  Now, towards bottom and side of pages.  Just odd and a nuisance.

The ads on the side are just baffling.  I can't imagine that anyone will pay attention to that white noise.  I'm guessing that since they appear on the message writing page as well they get extra impresssions, but what a mess on the side.  Guess that's why they buried our profile infor among those ads.  But if they like their advertisers, why did they get rid of the premium banner spot at the top?  I generally think it's a more modern but busier and not better design.

I don't really see anything that is markedly better, though maybe they just had to switch because of a operating platform issue.  Or a new web master who needed to leave his mark, sometimes these tech changes happen for entirely internal reasons.

Shawnee
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Posted by jackn2mpu on Friday, October 17, 2008 7:51 AM

Texas Zepher

Well now I am getting this error on several of the threads:--->    

Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

I see no way to report it to the system operators.  When I choose "contact us",  I either get the magazines contacts or another error --> "The system cannot find the path specified."

 

Another issue.
It seems that the "read" counter is not working on all the threads.  Some like this one show high counts.  Many others seem stuck at zero.  ???

 

 

Noticed that too. Mega replies, but no views?

de N2MPU Jack

Proud NRA Life Member and supporter of the 2nd. Amendment

God, guns, and rock and roll!

Modeling the NYC/NYNH&H in HO and CPRail/D&H in N

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Posted by jackn2mpu on Friday, October 17, 2008 7:44 AM

vsmith

I dont like the new layout at all, but then I dont own it. Wink

Too much wasted space, between the big clump on the right and the name block on the left there sure aint much room left to type in.

Its VERY hard on the eyes.

I think there will a bit of tweeking in the weeks to come

 

I hope so. 2 steps to do if you want to quote a post, whereas the old version had a Quote button on the original page. I seem to remember ads on the old version - weren't they interspersed horizontally between posts?

As to being hard on the eyes - yep! It's like watching High-def TV on a small screen. Can be done, but gives one a headache. As I said in another post, the loading speed for me isn't too much of a problem since I just upgraded from 3 MBPS dsl to 10 to 20 MBPS Verizon FIOS. Killer web access, HD TV (which I had to go to since my old analog non-hd set quit on me last week), and clear phone, and all on 1 bill. Now I just hope my laptop's screen doesn't totally go south - getting color bars down the left side, and Mac monitors aren't cheap.

de N2MPU Jack

Proud NRA Life Member and supporter of the 2nd. Amendment

God, guns, and rock and roll!

Modeling the NYC/NYNH&H in HO and CPRail/D&H in N

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  • From: Rochester NY
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Posted by scottychaos on Friday, October 17, 2008 6:43 AM

After playing around with the new forum for a bit, I think it works fine..but there is one feature that makes it "worse" than the old forum..

Yes, "active topics" and "my discussions" show up..but there is no way to tell when new posts have been made in any of them! I always used this forum (old version) with the "active topics" feature..which show all topics with activity since the last time I logged on..that way I knew there was new discussion I could check out if I wanted to..

 now, with the new forum, there is no way to tell if threads have new posts without opening up each one individually..much less convienient..

Is there any way to bring the "new posts since you last visited" feature back?

thanks,

Scot

 

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  • From: Frisco, TX
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Posted by cordon on Friday, October 17, 2008 2:38 AM

Two complaints I have so far:

    It goes back to the top of the thread list when I exit a thread, instead of to where I was in the list before selecting the thread.

    It apparently will not preview a post.

In general, I don't see any improvement. 

Here is a test photo.

OK, that works, at least until AOL tears down its web hosting service.

And the insert photo function works, too.

Smile

 

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Friday, October 17, 2008 1:29 AM

Hello, everybody,

I've waited until I had a chance to play around with the new forum before posting.  So far, I think I've got it about as well figured out as I did before the change.

As for my previous posts, I see a few more of them every time I go to look.  At the rate that they're showing up, all of my archived 'wisdom' should be available some time in 2010...

So be it!

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

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  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
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Posted by selector on Friday, October 17, 2008 12:08 AM

Stein, thank you very much for helping out...I appreciate it, and so does Bergie and the other mods.

All those who have "issues", if you post them here, Bergie and his staff will read this thread and act on what they understand are common problems, and will probaly have answers for your unique one, which are no doubt very frustrating.  Please be patient while they diagnose the problems and correct them...I'm still getting the text running to the right border, while what I have typed wants to run off to the left out of site. 

-Crandell

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  • From: Sorumsand, Norway
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Posted by steinjr on Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:54 PM

da_kraut

 Hello,

thank you Stein for your great information.  Still all I can look at is 10 of my previous posts.  That is not as good as the old site on which one could see the very first post one had.  This function I find quite useful for keeping track of responses from other forum members and also when doing some research.  So here is hoping that this will be changed to what it was on the old site.

 Click on your screenname (in the right hand margin, under the "My profile" heading). Then click on your underlined post count. That gets you all of your previous posts (or at least all that have been indexed thus far - for me currently about 34 out of some 900+ posts - guess it takes quite a while to index everything from the old forum).

 Smile,
 Stein

 

 

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Posted by steinjr on Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:47 PM

Texas Zepher

Well now I am getting this error on several of the threads:--->    

Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

I see no way to report it to the system operators.  When I choose "contact us",  I either get the magazines contacts or another error --> "The system cannot find the path specified."

 I don't work for Kalmbach and have no inside information on how they do things, but I do work with troubleshooting computer problems.

  I think that as a general principle you can safely assume that sql timeout errors will not need to be reported as bug reports - that is likely to be some temporary problem - maybe a database is responding slowly during database backup or database reindexing or some such thing.

 If you experience other errors at the same time, it is highly likely to be related to the same temporary problem.

 In my experience, those kinds of situations are likely around 7-8 am in my timezone, which would correspond to about midnight-1am or thereabouts in Wisconsin - a typical time for database maintenance jobs.

 Of course - if the problem accessing those same threads persists over more than 24 hours during the work week, it probably should be reported. Then it might very well be a data error or a functional error.

Smile,
Stein

 

 

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Posted by Milwhiawatha on Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:46 PM

I judged this site last night. And I still stick with what I said about busy. It does look nice other than all the ads. I will have to investigate more on the site when I'm ready.

Owner & Operator of Midwest & Northern RR and Midwest Intermodal (freelanced HO)
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Posted by D&RGWRR476 on Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:24 PM

 Ooowwww, my brain. A new MMR forum look and a new Comcast/Firefox email look all in one day.

 

Yours In Model Railroading,

John

Littleton, CO

 

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    April 2007
  • From: Ontario
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Posted by da_kraut on Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:23 PM

 Hello,

thank you Stein for your great information.  Still all I can look at is 10 of my previous posts.  That is not as good as the old site on which one could see the very first post one had.  This function I find quite useful for keeping track of responses from other forum members and also when doing some research.  So here is hoping that this will be changed to what it was on the old site.

Frank

"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."

  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Big Blackfoot River
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Posted by Geared Steam on Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:02 PM

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Thursday, October 16, 2008 9:36 PM

Well now I am getting this error on several of the threads:--->    

Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

I see no way to report it to the system operators.  When I choose "contact us",  I either get the magazines contacts or another error --> "The system cannot find the path specified."

 

Another issue.
It seems that the "read" counter is not working on all the threads.  Some like this one show high counts.  Many others seem stuck at zero.  ???

 

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Carmichael, CA
  • 8,055 posts
Posted by twhite on Thursday, October 16, 2008 8:07 PM

Loathar: 

Hmm, you re-posted George with the hot ashes in a wooden gondola, and it's back again.  Full page.  I must have done something different with the last picture.  Okay, I'll try again.  I think it's MY computer, unless this is doing the same thing one everyone else's.  Let me try something--

Uh-uh, but my computer just decided to freeze up.  Okay, another try:

Let's see what happens with this one.

Well, it's more sorta/kinda, but it's still taking a lot of bandwidth, at least on my computer. 

Tom

 

Tags: MY
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Posted by loathar on Thursday, October 16, 2008 7:39 PM

twhite

Okay, another try:

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg

Okay, I've got it.  Evidently instead of the Direct Link, I have to use the IMG code at the bottom of the photo.  At least on my computer. 

Tom

I've always had to use the img code line. IE 6, IE 7 AND Firefox.

Looks like they fixed the problem of it jumping back to page one after you post.Thumbs Up

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Posted by twhite on Thursday, October 16, 2008 7:38 PM

selector

Yeah, yer down a couple quarts, Tom. Laugh

-Crandell

Crandell--

TELL me about it, buddy, LOL!  Been down a couple of quarts since I made that tackle through my coffee table in August! 

Hey, talking about the bandwidth widening when I posted a picture, just posted another one on the Layouts and Layout Building thread, and it came out 'normal.'  I must have done something RIGHT, for once!  Either that or my computer has given up trying to 're-Train' me!

Tom Tongue

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Posted by pennsy-gg1 on Thursday, October 16, 2008 7:26 PM

Selector:

I posed this question on another thread and have not heard back yet. Maybe you or someone here can enlighten us on a feature that appears to be missing or maybe it is not yet enabled.Sad That feature is the subject line in the e-mail notification. The old forums had the thread topic displayed and I observed that this is now missing in the new notification.

This feature is important to some us who have tight timetables -- in other words, I look very quickly at the subject line to see if there are a number of e-mails about one topic -- If time is short, I pick the few -- If I have large block of time, I pick the most posts -- like WPF!

By the way, at the risk of getting flamed by a number of forum members Evil, I will say that I like the Ads. As Model Railroaders we are always shopping for something -- The ads do help the cause -- ours, yours, and the advertiser!! Smile,Wink, & Grin

The Tabs in the "Reply to an Existing Message" are really great!!

Oh, yes! I wasn't able to find the "Spell Checker". I had to copy and paste to Word, spell check and then back again! Don't tell me!! I have to learn and grow Big Smile. I'll find it or how Laugh -- I really will Whistling.

Pennsy

A Model Railroader's Credo: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Thursday, October 16, 2008 7:12 PM

twhite
just noticed--I've got 6 out of 8 little green Thingies filled in below my Avatar.  Does this mean anything?

That means you're a top 50 contributor.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by selector on Thursday, October 16, 2008 6:53 PM

Yeah, yer down a couple quarts, Tom. Laugh

-Crandell

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Posted by twhite on Thursday, October 16, 2008 6:35 PM

I just noticed the same thing that R.T. did--when I posted my photo (finally)on the previous page, it came out ENORMOUS--even bigger than it is on my Photobucket account 'full size', and the page spread out like crazy.  However this page, with no photos (as yet) is normal, with the ads taking up their usual band at the edge.  I wonder if it's just my computer (which tends to do whatever it wants, no matter how much I try to 'civilize' it, LOL!) or if anyone else has this problem.  I'd be interested. 

Tom

Hmm, just noticed--I've got 6 out of 8 little green Thingies filled in below my Avatar.  Does this mean anything?

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Posted by R. T. POTEET on Thursday, October 16, 2008 6:33 PM

Makes sense but I sure didn 't think of it.

I once coded a program which not only updated but completely replaced a prior program. We ran an extensive test on the new program; we encountered one problem which we could not immediately solve so we put a page in the immediate front of the operator's manual warning of this problem. Forty-eight hours after the program went operational we got a trouble call on this problem. I responded. The operator told me what had happened; I opened the book and right there in the front was a warning against executing this particular procedure without executing a particular procedute aforehand. I grabbed the book and waved it under the nose of the operator and demanded he read it while I ran a diagnostic routine to clear the problem.

Operators are not dumb; they do, however, tend to get a little lazy when it comes to paying attention to instructions. I guess in this regard I too became just a little bit lazy and got a little bit lazy myself.

From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet

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Posted by arkansasrailfan on Thursday, October 16, 2008 5:07 PM
yeah, i was about to say....
-Michael It's baaaacccckkkk!!!!!! www.youtube.com/user/wyomingrailfan
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Posted by Flashwave on Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:57 PM

New evolution, I;m getting e-mails about MY posts. Confused

-Morgan

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Posted by mmartian22 on Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:53 PM

it's a  great new  looooooook i like it

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