We're baaaaackkkk......!

[reklein]

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

[Texas Zepher]

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.

[trainfan1221]

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.

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.

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.

[yankee flyer]

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.    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........  Happy 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

 

[shawnee]

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.

[jackn2mpu]

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?

[jackn2mpu]

vsmith

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

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.

[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

 

[cordon]

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.

 

[tomikawaTT]

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)

[selector]

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

[steinjr]

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

 

[steinjr]

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

 

[Milwhiawatha]

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.

[D&RGWRR476]

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

 

[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.

Frank

[Geared Steam]

[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.  ???

 

[twhite]

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

 

[loathar]

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.

[twhite]

selector

Yeah, yer down a couple quarts, Tom.

-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

[pennsy-gg1]

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. 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 , 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!!

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 . I'll find it or how  -- I really will .

[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.

[selector]

Yeah, yer down a couple quarts, Tom.

-Crandell

[twhite]

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?

[R. T. POTEET]

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.

[arkansasrailfan]

yeah, i was about to say....

[Flashwave]

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

[mmartian22]

it's a  great new  looooooook i like it

[SteamFreak]

R. T. POTEET

Also, has anyone figured out how to edit after you have previewed; I am perhaps overlooking something but the only way I seem to be able to get back to my response is to post and then edit!

RT, there are three tabs at the top of the page when you're posting: Compose, Options, and Preview. After previewing, just click the Compose tab again to get back to typing or editing.

Edit: When I posted this time, I ended up on the last page where my post is, not the first page of the thread.

[Flashwave]

yeah, I;m sorry about naggin for something free. But, from going Page 7 to Page 8, where the forum was being widened by the pictures and Page 8 wasn't I was realy liking it. Thank we could go to that width instead?

Free or not, The content of the forums should not be skewered. Also, very rearely I get a 404 errro coming straight into a thread from a link.But if I hunt it down through the forums, right there it is, waiting for me.

[R. T. POTEET]

I miss some of the toolbar functions but I should be able to survive their absense. I did read something on MSN.COM this A.M. about reducing stress so maybe I can figure out how to solve my grievance with this turkey without beating my stupid head against the wall.

The old system had an automatic carriage return flagging--that's what such a thing is called in the programmingenvironment--at the end of the line which SHOULD be at the end of the visual page: IT'S NOT! INSTEAD IT IS LOCATED SOMEWHERE IN THE VICINITY OF CHARACTER  #125 WHICH IS LOCATED THREE BLOCKS NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN TIMBUCTOU!!! It makes editing nearly impossible if you run your print out beyond the right margin of the visual page. I am trying this response to do a manual carriage return when my cursor gets at the end of the visual page and the left margin begins to subduct.

Also, has anyone figured out how to edit after you have previewed; I am perhaps overlooking something but the only way I seem to be able to get back to my response is to post and then edit!

NOTE: IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S WORKING!!!!! Would have liked to have put this comment in 36pt type but that's something  which has disappeard from the toolbar! That Law of Unintended Consequences seems to be alive and well and functioning flawlessly in this new whatever-you-call-it!!

[Texas Zepher]

jeffrey-wimberly

For those who haven't yet figured out have to change text color from the toolbar, .... Select 'Enhanced'.

Now that was a useful post!   Whoo hoo,  I can even see the spell check now.  Much easier than dropping into manually editing the HTML.

[tstage]

Thanks for the tip, Jeff.   I missed my color palette.

Tom

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 For those who haven't yet figured out have to change text color from the toolbar, go to Update Profile, click Site Options. Third option on the list is 'Content Editor'. Select 'Enhanced'. Scroll down to the bottom, click 'Save'. You're on your own from there.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

shawnee

Guess got to find out all the bells and whistles on how the new site works.  Hope posting pics is the same.

I see nothing different in the posting of pics, unless of course you're using some method I've never seen done here. I've had no problems with anything on the site thus far except for the glare. I'll just have to get the shades out when I'm reading posts.

[shawnee]

The site looks more contemporary, but the clutter to the right is indeed disconcerting.  Oh well, just don't pay attention.  I actually used the banner ad at the top sometimes to go to a vendor, and it's curious why they eliminated such a premium ad position.

Guess got to find out all the bells and whistles on how the new site works.  Hope posting pics is the same.

[selector]

Mac, I just got it to work for the first time myself.  Funny, but the cursor won't change to the pointy hand icon except in a very few spots.  You'd think just placing the cursor anywhere in the bar would get the desired indication.

-Crandell

[gandydancer19]

Well, I found that if there is no bar above the images, they won't enlarge.  However, if there is a BAR and you click on the bar, they will enlarge for me.  I am using IE7.

I also found that you can quote a message by hitting the quote button that you get after you hit the reply button.  Then it gets copied down into your reply message.

I can't make up my mind if I like the changes or not, but I will live with them.

Now for a photo test.

[selector]

Jarrell posted the first image (and a fine one it is!), but there is no offer of enlargement, and it won't do it if I place my cursor over the image and click it anyway.  Next comes an image that offers to resize (click on the bar above the image), but that fails as well...nothing happens.

In fact, none of the images so far will enlarge for me.

One thing that has been fixed for me...the text when I am typing no longer runs off to the right and out of sight past the right hand border of the text box. Yippee!

-Crandell

[gandydancer19]

OK, I guess that I have arrived back in one piece too.

[BRAKIE]

This is a test..

[fiatfan]

 

fiatfan

 One thing I would like to see changed is that after you post to a thread it would be nice if the software took you back to the same page as your post, not to the first page of the thread.

 

Tom

This appears to be fixed!  Thank you Bergie and co.

 

Tom

[gear-jammer]

I have been locked out.  Does anyone know where the Font button is?

Sue

[twhite]

Don--

Not bad info at all, friend.  I've just got this very strange computer that decides to do things exactly the OPPOSITE of anyone elses, LOL!  Had it for three years and it still scares the Willies out of me.

But thanks for the help, you at least got me going on the right 'track'. 

Tom  

 

[Don Z]

twhite

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,

Sorry if I gave you some bad info....I'm going to try the IMG link now....

Well, that couldn't be any easier...copy the IMG code and paste it into the thread, just like the old software.

Don Z.

[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

[Don Z]

twhite

Okay, Don Z sent me an e-mail about posting photos.  I'm going to give it another try:

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg?t=1224171295

Tom 

Nope, still doesn't work.  Back to the drawing board.  But hey, at least they seem to have fixed the 'being thrown back to page 1' problem. 

Tom,

I see you managed to insert a working link....check your email. I'm going to try another and play with the alignment button....

Don Z.

[howmus]

OK, let me try to post a photo from my Photobucket account.......

Yep works fine.

Tom, all I did was copy the IMG Coded text under the photo (the 3rd. choice) and pasted it here.  Works fine on my end...??????? Exactly as it has in the past here and across the street.

They also seem to have corrected the bug that took you back to the beginning of the entire thread when you post.  This time it showed my edit of this post. 

[arkansasrailfan]

don't you mean square 1 LOL?

[twhite]

Okay, Don Z sent me an e-mail about posting photos.  I'm going to give it another try:

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg?t=1224171295

Tom 

Nope, still doesn't work.  Back to the drawing board.  But hey, at least they seem to have fixed the 'being thrown back to page 1' problem. 

[Tracklayer]

Sorry, but I don't like changes... I'll deal with this mess because I have no choice if I want to continue to be a member of the forum, but I don't support it at all. Tracklayer

[SteamFreak]

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

selector

Gandy Dancer

Yeah but, you're prejudice.

Now, then, Gandy Dancer, you have said that I am prejudiced.  What substantiation would you have for making this claim about me alone, and not about the dozen or so other posters who have stated that they like the change?  Am I the only one who must be biased if I make such a claim, and no other?  Curious.

Shame on you Crandell, selling out to the man like that.

[selector]

Gandy Dancer

Yeah but, you're prejudice.

 

Hey, I like the quote function...I hi-lited the text I wanted to copy, and clicked on "Quote" at the bottom of the yellow text box and here it is!

Now, then, Gandy Dancer, you have said that I am prejudiced.  What substantiation would you have for making this claim about me alone, and not about the dozen or so other posters who have stated that they like the change?  Am I the only one who must be biased if I make such a claim, and no other?  Curious.

[Don Z]

Gandy Dancer

An "enter" still double spaces.

Perhaps you never learned that even on the 'old' Forum, holding the 'Shift" key while hitting 'Enter' produces the
single
spacing
you desire. It also works on the new and improved Forum.

Don Z.

Just a test on the photo.

[PMeyer]

I see a lot of complaining here about something that is free. How sad.

 

[Gandy Dancer]

selector

Wow, quite the difference.  I like it.

Yeah but, you're prejudice.

These comments apply only to the forums pages as I never use anything else on trains.com.  Noisy, noisy, noisy.  Three rows of tabs on the top.  All sorts of options on the enormously wide right hand column at the top and nothing but wasted space on the right at the bottom.  Cluttered with stuff I'll never care about, but I never liked that "advertisement" right below the first message of a thread on the prior version either - caused undue scrolling. All together this makes reading the messages much more difficult.

I don't see the spell check everyone else it talking about.  

Cut and paste do work in this editor now which they did not before. 

Does anyone know what the "tags" is at the bottom of this editor?

I see the search, but have not had a chance to test out the search functionality yet. 

I think I like how the new "quote" function works, maybe now people won't always quote the whole  message all the time.

The ditto emoticon didn't come back.

An "enter" still double spaces.

I don't see any color font however let me try normal html <font color="blue"> text </color>.  Nope I guess not let me try another way... here we go. boy that is a lot of work just for blue!

how about a reference http://www.ask.com

 

[Milwhiawatha]

I just loged on today and not that impressed infact I think its cluttere to much with ads. As a business for the hobby I have been told I had to much clutter. Some like it short and sweet to find what they want etc.. So this is just what I was told not to have. Oh well seems I will be hopefully spending mor etime modeling instead of online anyway.

[DT&Ifan]

Love this new look and the videos now work on a MAC. You'll be seeing me a lot more now.

[twhite]

All right, the first time I tried uploading a Photobucket image on this new forum it tossed me OFF the forum.  Let's see if this works:

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  This is PROGRESS? 

YUCK, BERGIE!!!

AND FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD FIX IT SO THAT WHEN WE POST ON MULTIPLE PAGES WE DON'T GET THROWN BACK TO THE BLOODY FIRST PAGE, ALL THE TIME. 

DANG, GUYS, WE MAY BE YOUR GUESTS, BUT AT LEAST TRY AND BE A HOST!!!

 

Tom

[cudaken]

Hum, a test.

I am OK with change when I see a reason or a benefit from it. We will see in do time. Figures I worked at getting better with my spelling, NOW THERE IS SPELL CHECK!

 Need to look into fire fox as well.

                   Cuda Ken

 

[loathar]

Kenfolk

 I'll have to get used to the new format. Had a little angst trying to get my "identity" back.

 

I feel like someone just broke into my home and rearranged all my furniture and repainted everything.
I'll be bumping into things for weeks...
There's a new Welcome smiley-
Let's try a picture.

I hate change...(Google spell check works fine with it)

Now I need to figure out what the "select tags" and "reply to" buttons are for.
And LOOK at all that extra add space! We'll have to ask Graig how much he's shelling out for that 1/32 page add.
Need to figure out how to post enlargable pictures too. Seems that there is a built in spell check now!

[steinjr]

da_kraut

Seems the Active Topics and My Topics functions do not exist.  A real shame and certainly do hope that they get added

"My topics" (now called "My Discussions") and "Active Topics" (now called "Active") can now be found in the right hand margin on the forum front page (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/).

 Smile,
 Stein

 

[da_kraut]

 Hello,

trying out this new look of the forum pages.  Spend a while trying to look for all the posts I participated in but no luck.  Seems the Active Topics and My Topics functions do not exist.  A real shame and certainly do hope that they get added. 

Change is supposed to be good and it is in our human nature to resist change.  It will take a while to get used to the new look of the site but certainly hope that over the next few months the rest of the kinks will be worked out.

Glad to see it back up and running.

Frank

 

[jacon12]

Well, it's sure different.  I think I'll like it ok though.  Gotta try posting a photo.

Jarrell

[secondhandmodeler]

I'm sure the reason I don't like it is the fact that I'm not use to it.  I do miss the color of the thread changing colors after I've read it.  I also don't like how little the actual dialogue area is.  There has got to be something that they can do to use more of the screen.  I may actually have to use my new 52 inch TV as a computer screen.  Here I thought that I would never want to do that!

[luvadj]

 Wow...go away for a day and look what happens... It's quite buzy looking but it shows up fine in Firefox 3...It's going to take some getting used to...the jury is out on this one....

[Kenfolk]

 I'll have to get used to the new format. Had a little angst trying to get my "identity" back.

 

[howmus]

What Stein said.....  I have spent a couple hours figuring out where things are and how they work, and all I have managed to do is get lost a few times.  If you leave this part of the forum there doesn't seem to be anyway to get back here.  The simplest thing for me to do is go to my bookmarks and come back into the page I have bookmarked (which is the Model railroad forum as I don't care to scroll down and click several times to get here).  I am sure I will get used to it but I can't see anything that has been added that is anything I would use.  I also bugs me that the page can't be resized.  At most forums if I make the window larger, the text uses that new size and makes less scrolling to read the posts.  This format is a step backward as far as I can see.

[steinjr]

rs2mike

Also How do I find my past posts I have some good stuff i want to go back and reference it.

 Looks like Kalmbach's computer staff better check if old posts need to be reindexed or some such thing to be searchable - I only get posts from the last couple of days when searching for posts by myself, too.  Both when I click on my name to the left of a post I have made and then click on my post count, and when I do a straight search in the new search box to the righ of the columns of posts.

 Edit3: Bergie just posted in another thread that it will take about 24 hours for all old posts to be indexed - they should be back by Friday sometime.

 A very preliminary evaluation of new format: doesn't feel like an improvement for me as a user. Most things that worked reasonably well in the old format can still be done, but most things seems to be more convoluted for the user - you have to scroll and click way more to do the stuff that was fairly easy to do with the old user interface. 

 Like checking if there is any new posts in any threads in any trains.com forum I have been taking part in, like quoting another user when replying (in both cases a simple one-click approach on top of the page has been replaced by a process that involves a lot more scrolling and multiple clicks),

 Edit: I found a list of "my discussions" - in plain view on the right margin of the main forum front page (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/). Looks like it will show the last 10-15 or so threads you have taken part in. No idea how it will show things when you get a couple of hundred threads you have taken part in - I expect there will be a "more" link at the bottom.

 And I found an explanation of why the quote functionality was changed - you can now highlight just the part of the the text you want to quote before hitting "quote" and only that part gets quoted, not the whole post. Will perhaps make it a little easier for people who struggled with quoting when replying. Or not - since these people probably won't figure out on their own that you can highlight a part of the text before clocking "quote", either :-)

 Oh well, times change, and we must change with them. No doubt more shortcuts and functionality will become apparent over time. 

 But I still suspect I will miss the old format, which had a pretty good user interface for a web forum, as opposed to the new format, which so far gets a C - it gets the job done, but in a rather mediocre way.

 Edit2: found a slightly improved feature. You still can chose sort order "newest to oldest" (instead of the default "oldest to newest") in the drop down box at top of a thread.

 Forum software now seem to remember your choice for that thread - so if you return to that thread, you see the posts sorted in the order "newest to oldest"  - allowing you to quickly see if there is anything new in threads you follow.

 Setting only seems to preserved in the context of the current browser session, though. Doesn't seem to be preserved if you close your browser and restart it.

 Still - a potensially nice feature if you like to leave a web browser open with the trains.com forums. As I recall it, you had to click "last" or choose "newest to oldest" every time you returned to a thread to see the latest posts in the old forum.

 And then another little onion - when I paste text way down in a post, focus is returned to the top of my text again, instead of being left where I pasted text.

 Text marker is still at the right place - if I continue typing focus returns to where it belongs. But it is disconcerning to feel that you lost what you just pasted. 

 Poor user interface design. Not Kalmbach's fault - but the people who designed the forum software ought to get a swift kick in the posterior for such little annoyances. Haven't they tried to use their own software ?

 Grin,
 Stein

 

[gmcrail]

 It's an interesting and different format, but not very friendly.  Advertising money getting short?  And what's with the underlining in the thread list?    I suppose I'll get used to it, but I can't say it's very nice....

[galaxy]

I just want to know:

Is this new format DCC compatible?

 

[rs2mike]

I still get white boxes with red x's where all the stuff at the top of the page should be.  What gives

 

Also How do I find my past posts I have some good stuff i want to go back and reference it.

[fiatfan]

 One thing I would like to see changed is that after you post to a thread it would be nice if the software took you back to the same page as your post, not to the first page of the thread.

 

Tom

[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.

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.

[saronaterry]

I'm an oldfolk tryin' ta see if I can still post.

Won't be mad if this works.

Terry

[Geared Steam]

C'mon now Tom, I didn't say you were old.

I posted a test Photobucket and it worked fine for me. (i'm using IE 7)

 

[twhite]

Now, now, I'm an Old Folks, and I'm not having a cow, LOL! 

But I just tried to post a photo from my Photobucket account to see if that still worked the same way, and it threw me completely out of the Forum.  Is there going to be a new trick to this--AGAIN????

Tom

[Geared Steam]

Cool, looks great , I like, nice job.

Of course the old folks are having a cow.

 

 

 

 

 

[Train 284]

Veeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrry slow. I really do like the design, more modern. I keep getting all kinds of errors though which is getting on my nerves but hopefully those will be fixed soon.

[BMRR]

No complaints here. I like it. 

[howmus]

vsmith

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

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 agree 100%!  Change for the sake of change is seldom an improvement.  And what I see here is not even close to an improvement. Hard to read and just full of wasted space.  I agree they should fire who ever did this (Hope that is not you Bergie....)  Hopefully somebody at Kalmbach will make some changes to redo this abomination.  The worst thing is that when you reply, you find yourself way back at the begining of the thread.  That is a pain!

[RedGrey62]

Yup, works fine for me.  I like some of the features that may help some folks get answers to their questions even if the post falls off the first or second page.

 

Rick Keil

[vsmith]

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

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

[jfugate]

Overall, the site has a more modern feel, with the big difference being the use of darker Web 2.0 style gradients and drop shadows.

The organization feels better, although all the ad buttons and mini-dialogs on the right do make the page look pretty busy. As long as we don't get dancing girls or animated critters in the ads on the right we should be good!

All-in-all, a nice upgrade Bergie and gang - congrats!

[yankee flyer]

Whoa!  I got lost in the woods and it took me six hours to get here. I still can't find the restroom.      You all have a good day. Hear?

Lee

[IRONROOSTER]

I miss them also.

I'm reserving judgement on the new look until I have used it awhile.  But, wow it sure is different.

Enjoy

Paul 

[ARTHILL]

One more test. It does seem to be slow.

[modelalaska]

Testing 1,2,3...  The site is kind of bloated on the graphics but I do like everything handy.

Peter

[citylimits]

[dbradley]

I think I got it right. Welcome back everyone.

Den.

[trainfan1221]

Wooooowwww!  Like it!  And it's easy to figure out.

[Pruitt]

Whoever designed the "new look" should be fired.

Home page is cluttered as heck, and very user-unfriendly.

Forums are harder to follow and more cluttered as well.

Oh, well, who cares about usability anyway?

[csxns]

I like it.Thanks.

[fiatfan]

steinjr

 Did a little testing - they change colors, but it is not obvious at first - threads you haven't read have grey paper sheets in the icon. Threads you have visited have white paper sheets in the icon. Kinda opposite of "normal" - where links you have visited get darker.  But at least - there is a visual clue there if you know what to look for.

 Smile,
 Stein

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

Tom

[fwright]

Without a doubt, a change for the worse. No way to know which threads have new posts since I last read them (the color coding was nice). No easy way to jump to the last post in a thread. Can't sneak a peek at work anymore due to ads. Old version looked somewhat like corporate web page from distance. New layout reduces number of threads listed per page, and amount of information per page. On the good side, will probably spend more time modeling due to frustrations with this forum. just my thoughts, Fred W

edit: Auto-formatting of posts is apparently missing, at least with the IE7 that I am using. Have to insert HTML tags for paragraphs and the like now.

edit2: After posting, jumps you to first page and top of thread instead of end where your post is.

[Flashwave]

I partially agree with above, I can libve with the ads, but they are WAY to far over. The Forum should take priority, not ads.

[simon1966]

So far it looks good to me.  If you are using IE7 with the zoom feature, at least on my PC 150% zoom shoves all the ads off on the right side of the screen and leaves the entire screen width for the forum text.  It works really well in this aspect for me.

[Bill54]

Can't say that I'm a fan of the ads to the right taking up so much space. 

I had a lot of problems regaining my user name also.  The system wouldn't reconize my password.  Fianlly got that solved.

They say change is good.  I guess it'll take some time to get use to the new site.

Bill

[steinjr]

fiatfan

 I don't like the fact that the thread titles don't change color after you read them.

 Tom

 

 Did a little testing - they change colors, but it is not obvious at first - threads you haven't read have grey paper sheets in the icon. Threads you have visited have white paper sheets in the icon. Kinda opposite of "normal" - where links you have visited get darker.  But at least - there is a visual clue there if you know what to look for.

 I am still looking for "my topics" or similar functionality.

 Edit: finally found "my topics" - button labelled "more options" beneath post list - can filter the list of posts to just show threads you have participated in, or hide threads you have already read or other options.

 Smile,
 Stein

 

[OKrlroads]

Updated site looks good, seems to work alright too. Nice job crew!

Just had to drop in and post to see if it still will work with old system I'm using here at work.

[West Penn Nscale]

I like the new look of the site ... It is running alittle slow on my end and I had to logout and then log back in  to reply .... It will take awhile to get around the site .... good job

 

[Robby P.]

Nice looking website.

[Bapou]

 Nope, too many ads. Not bad though for software.

Cut and copy does work for me.

[fiatfan]

 It's directly below your profile on the right side of the page.

 

Tom

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I don't see our old friend the 'Search' button anywhere.

[MisterBeasley]

The layout makes very poor use of screen real estate when viewing a topic.  The ads in the right colum, which take up about a third of the screen, only go down so far, maybe one or two posts.  The rest of that column is blank, which means that the posts get scrunched over to the left and require more scrolling, just to leave room for all that blank space.

If there must be ads, why not put them up at the top, so the screen can be used more efficiently?  Or, re-write the display code so that first few posts share column space with the ads, but once you scroll below the ads, then the blank space is given back for posts, and that window gets wider.

[MOJAX]

 Just trying it out.

[mainetrains]

I feel your pain on unlocking my screen name. Kept throwing different combinations of e-mail addresses and password at it until I finally hit on the right one. Have to cut down on the different passwords. Getting too old to remember much of anything.

Also I need to start posting more so I can get at least one green bar!!!!!

Mainetrains

[DFerg]

Personaly I think the new look looks pretty good. But that's just me. Sure it took me a little bit of time to unlock my new screen name, but other than that I think MR realy did a good job.

[fiatfan]

 I don't like the fact that the thread titles don't change color after you read them.

 

Tom

[rrinker]

 Bigger ads, more 'stuff' on the screen so it's slower. Yeah, the old layout with some of the software changes would have been better. But hey, it's the Web, and everyone knows you have to get flashier and flashier, makign the pages bigger and bigger since everyone had huge bandwidth these days.

It does appear to work though, even if getting my screen name unlocked was more of a chore than it should have been - it wouldn;t take my password so I had to req a password email, the password it sent was a random one, not the one I had been using all along, for sure. But then it let me in.

 

                --Randy

 

[fiatfan]

 Can you say STARS!  The stars are back only now they're little green boxes.

 

Tom

[ajgaudy]

Hi,

There is a paste from Word feature on the new forum that you may with to try.  It is the folder with the "W" on it near the end of the tool bar.

Hopefully it will help you with the issues you may have with copy and paste.

Thanks,

[Loco]

There is a spell checker in the task bar.....

[1train1]

Way Too Busy  with the adverts - and no I do not have Firefox so I guess those adverts down the right side of the page will just get longer and more self serving.

We'll see how it goes.

[Burlington Northern Rails]

Nice new layout, congratulations. Now it takes longer to load a site. The user is online image () don't match with the background.

[easyaces]

 I guess this is just like the Borg, resistance is futile! Nice new lay out anyway!

[inch53]

 I can see I'm not going to like this. Copy/paste don't work for for me anyway with Vista, so can't use word and i'm not that good a speller. Maybe they'll get that worked out before long.

inch

[jeffrey-wimberly]

WSOR 3801

 The posting area got smaller, but the ads got bigger...How does that work?  On my screen, I get 3 inches on the left of green, 6 inches of posting area, 3 inches of ads, and 3 more inches of green.  Other fora use the full width of the screen. 

Ads? What ads. I don't see any ads. That's an advantage of Firefox with Adblock. As far as the new look goes, I like it. Gonna take a little getting used to but it's similar to what I see on some other forums. Wonder how well it keeps the trolls out?

[arkansasrailfan]

so what are those boxes underneath our avatars? I had a few "bleep" moments but I just logged out then in.

[vsmith]

Maybe I'm missing something but the Active Topics and My Topics tabs have both gone bye bye

[dehusman]

Waaaaay cluttered, very hard to find things.

I wish they had paid the extra $10 a month and got the web hosting service that doesn't have all the ads on it. 8-)

Dave H.

[ChrisNH]

 I can't get any subscriber content..

I am not a fan at all of the large strip of junk to the right of the message board.

Other then those issues, the site looks nice.

 

[howmus]

Frankly.............. So far it looks less usable and more complicated than the old one.  One more reason to hang out more across the street I guess. Lots of room for the ads though.  Since I turn the durn things off, I have half a blank page now. 

Doesn't do a thing for me.

[WSOR 3801]

 The posting area got smaller, but the ads got bigger...How does that work?  On my screen, I get 3 inches on the left of green, 6 inches of posting area, 3 inches of ads, and 3 more inches of green.  Other fora use the full width of the screen. 

We'll see if things move faster on here.  Sometimes loading up anything took a looong time. 

Any way for subscibers to get more posting space, and less ad space?

[Dallas Model Works]

Testing ... testing ... one, two, four...

 

[MisterBeasley]

It's OK on old IE6.  Hey, let's try posting a picture...

 

[MAbruce]

Seems to work fine for me.  A bit busier of a look.  MR might consider trimming down the clutter a bit.  I hope it comes with new tools to make the job of moderation easier - especially when our pal AL tries to visit again.

[0-6-0]

Hello  wow looks good so far works fine for me not slow at all good job MR staff. Have day day Frank

[richg1998]

Looks good with Firefox 3.0.3.

Change is inevitable, struggle is an option.

 Rich

[mainetrains]

Will take some getting used to, but change is good - at least that's what I'm told.

Mainetrains

[Cannoli]

Nice job! I love the new design, nice and speedy too on my end, and I'm even using the beta of IE8!

[scottychaos]

Looks good!

nice upgrade!

Scot

[DigitalGriffin]

Dang Skippy

Where did all this spiffy new fangled-ness come from?

Nice job!

 

BTW: Number 3!

 

[Loco]

Woot, I'm number two poster!!!