When using the 'Quick Reply' button and making a post....you are taken to the last page of the thread after the post is completed.
When using the 'regular' Reply button, after making the post you are taken to and left at a screen that says you made a successful post. Redundant and illogical.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Bucyrus How can a thread go on for five pages, generate 64 replies, and get locked because so many bystanders are offended; and yet still only have 63 views? How can a thread have more replies than it has views?
How can a thread go on for five pages, generate 64 replies, and get locked because so many bystanders are offended; and yet still only have 63 views? How can a thread have more replies than it has views?
hee hee hee,,, the way some folk reply you just know they didn't read the thread to begin with!
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
The forum gurus are aware of the views counter being out of whack right now. Some of the thread have a half dozen replies and zero views. It's on the list of things to fix, but I'd guess that list is pretty long at the moment.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
I'm still having the issue with the cursor appearing outside the forum box. I can type okay, but if I try to post it, it just says...
The following errors were found in your form:■Post message is required
I got a screenshot of the issue. If a forum admin wants to send me an email adress, I can send them the screenshot of the issue in progress if they need it. Copy-pasting the text before the failed attempt (if noticed before hitting "post") and retrying it when the cursor appears where it should allows the message to be quickly replaced (it's gone otherwise), but it's annoying having to catch it first.
Semper Vaporo I don't see a way to select an avitar from anyplace other than the ones they supply or from your own computer. Best thing I can think of is for you to copy the file from PhotoBucket back to your PC and upload from there. You can then delete it from your PC when it is done uploading it.
I don't see a way to select an avitar from anyplace other than the ones they supply or from your own computer.
Best thing I can think of is for you to copy the file from PhotoBucket back to your PC and upload from there. You can then delete it from your PC when it is done uploading it.
James
Certainly copy-paste your stuff to an external notepad doc if you fear losing it. I've learned this from much experience myself.
Anyhow, about this forum, 2 more issues. First, I'd be really nice if the posts each had clear dividers, as they did on the old forum, and the names should be easy to find and read. Both of tehse are now an issue. Anyone who looks at any saved old-style pages will easily see what I am talking about.
It'd also be nice if after making a post, the page would automatically redirect to the thread, down to the post just made, as it used to, rather than just say that it succeeded, and just hang there. While I'm at it, the post-successful box should read "Victoly!" or "Conglatulations!". Okay, just joking on that last one...
This is one of the things that really stumps the experts. I have had it happen to me a couple of times on other forums that use different software, so it is not unique to this site. I have also seen people complain about it using different browsers so I don't think it i unique to just one brand (no matter how much people bad-mouth certain ones and practically demand that everyone switch to the one they like the bestest).
I have only had it happen here once, and I am fairly certain it was something "I DID", but I am not sure what it was. The same is true for some instances where it has happened to me on other sites.
It just seems like maybe I moved the mouse while I was clicking the Post/Submit button... it is all kind of hazy as to what happened, like I was mentally running on 'Auto-Pilot' and there is this sudden feeling of, "What did I just do?" followed immediately by, "And where'd all my typing go? ARRRRGGGHH!"
It happened often enough on another forum that I got in the habit of highlighting the entire post (Ctrl-A) and then copying it to the clipboard (Ctrl-C) before I clicked the send button. That way if it got lost in the shuffle I could just paste the clipboard (Ctrl-V) into a new edit window and send it again. Not something that I think we should all just accept as general practice, but it did save my beautiful prose more than once!
The other forum seems to have cured the problem for the most part and I have gotten lax about that habit but I still get bit once in a while... But I still don't know what I do that causes it... Not that it is definitely the user's fault, but it sure seems like it occurs when I get to working too fast.
Does anyone know why when we try to post a reply in a thread, after typing all of it in and hitting 'post,' we get an error message and all content is lost??!! It's now happened more than once. Thanks.
Nance-CCABW/LEI
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” --Will Rogers
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right! --unknown
What am I doing wrong, I am trying to change my avatar. After going through "Change Avatar" or "(Edit)," a sub-screen pops up and I try to put in my avatar's photobucket address and both Firefox and IE8 go searching in my C Drive to "upload" an image. Any ideas?
Edit: My operating system is Vista.
You CAN edit your posts! They just HID the ability by burying the command in a drop down menu in the "More" button. Click the "More" button in the upper right corner of your post and you will find the Edit link.
I have not had a post dissappear using this system (yet) but it did also happen using the old system, so there is not much change in that regard. I also had problems with the old system screwing up my formatting just like this system does.
I see I also can't edit my posts anymore. Also, often, upon loading the posting page, the cursor does screwy stuff, or doesn't end up in the box correctly. I can still type the message okay, but then it will fail to post, with a warning saying that I must type a message (so, where did all that text go I just typed?).
Ugh. So slow, all the extra white makes it harder to read and to differentiate posts or topics from each other... I don't like the change. I can't imagine why somebody thought this was a good idea.
Thanks. I discovered that the new forum system doesn't work with my usual browser, Firefox. Works fine with IE, but I try not to use Microsoft products when I have an option, especially if others are better.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Another possibility is what color "Theme" you are using. What computer operating system are you using? Windows ?? Have you changed the default colors of the system?
I had one customer whose daughter had found the "color setting" Application in Control Panel and had altered all the "standard" colors to match the Oriental rug on the floor! The screen was really color coordinated with the decor of the room but Buttons were unreadable, and dropdown menus looked like ALL the entries were "selected", until the mouse passed over them and then the text dissappeared completely!
The owner was incensed at the foolishness of Microsoft for creating a computer that was so hard to understand and use! And I had to agree when I first started trying to see what the problem was.
It took about an hour to just figure out what had happened and then a good 15 minutes of my running back and forth between a working machine and this one to figure out what unreadable areas to click on to get to the Color app to reset the colors (this was before "Themes" were invented by Microsoft to reset the colors all at once... I had to reset them one at a time... foreground text, background text, button text, button background, button highlight, menu text, menu selected text, menu background, menu selected background... ad nauseum. AAAACCCKKK!
Oh well... Again, just guessing as to why your system might be causing this problem.
schlimm It is not set to 256 but rather to "Highest" (4 Bil.)
It is not set to 256 but rather to "Highest" (4 Bil.)
Well, it was only a possibility and since I have seen so many PCs that are not setup "properly" I thought I mention it.
I am wondering how many icons you detect as invisible (I almost wrote "see as invisible" hee hee hee). I note only 4 that might be too dim for you to see. I see the icons as two rows; the 2nd row begins with the letter "B" icon (Bold). The 2nd row is the only line where there are icons that are dimmed. They are: the 6th (Outdent), the 10th (Insert/edit link), 11th (Unlink) and 13th (Edit image). The last icon on the line is the 14th (Smilies).
Do you see detect any other areas that might be an invisible icon?
When posting a reply.
schlimm No, of course not. I discovered that by sliding the mouse cursor along, the little I.D. messages popped up showing me what was there. I don't know if that is on your display, but if so, maybe you can see for yourself.
No, of course not. I discovered that by sliding the mouse cursor along, the little I.D. messages popped up showing me what was there. I don't know if that is on your display, but if so, maybe you can see for yourself.
At the risk of sounding dumb (too late- I'm already there!), are you talking about these invisable boxes being on the screen I read messages on, or the one where I post a reply message.?I like old Coke better.
It is also possible that your display screen is set to only 256 colors and the colors chosen (by the website page designer) for the background and grayed (inactive) items get mapped to the exact same color and are thus "invisible" to you. (Yeah, just like listening to music you can't hear! Doesn't everybody do that?)
Do you know if your display is set to the old CGA 256-color scheme? (Do photos on your screen, especially photos of faces) look all blotchy?) I have run into way too many folk that never get the information on how to enable the wizbang hardware they paid ever so much for. It is only recently that the computer manufacturer's have started to enable that stuff by default and many people never get to see how much their computer is capable of! I just purchased a new Laptop PC from Wal*Mart and it was advertised as having 640Gbytes of disk space. But it came as two 320Gbyte drives and only the first one was enabled, thus I am betting many purchasers of that model never get to use that second drive and may never even KNOW it!
Semper Vaporo Those links are "grayed" until you have the insertion cursor within something that can use them, then they will brighten showing that they are available and active. The "Link" link does not convert text to a link since anything that looks like a link will automatically be converted to a link anyway, but it is used to modify the displayed link to be different text so as to be more descriptive (or deceptive if the idiot doing the posting desires to be dishonest). On my screen the grayed color of inactive links and the background are almost the same and I have to tip my LCD screen slightly in order to see them.
Those links are "grayed" until you have the insertion cursor within something that can use them, then they will brighten showing that they are available and active.
The "Link" link does not convert text to a link since anything that looks like a link will automatically be converted to a link anyway, but it is used to modify the displayed link to be different text so as to be more descriptive (or deceptive if the idiot doing the posting desires to be dishonest).
On my screen the grayed color of inactive links and the background are almost the same and I have to tip my LCD screen slightly in order to see them.
They darken and then you can see the text message. The only buttons that are "there" are Smilies and "Insert Media" It was not that way at first after the switchover so iI wonder if something is defective? In general, I see no improvements in the New Forum and several negatives.
schlimm I've noticed that many of the buttons (link, unlink, etc.) are there but invisible.
I've noticed that many of the buttons (link, unlink, etc.) are there but invisible.
Followers are probably those who have checked the "Email me replies to this post" box. Viewers are likely anyone who has clicked on the thread.
Since you can reply to any post and your reply will end up at the end as the most recent post, the number of replies to a given post may be as low as 0. I usually reply to the most recent post, unless I want to quote someone from an earlier post.
Some forums show replies to a specific post as sort of a "sub-thread."
I would hazard that "views" are probably cumulative for the entire thread.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
What gets me is that if you go back to page 1 on this thread, at least as a couple of minutes ago, you see a line near the top that says this post has 125 replies and 8 followers, yet on the forums "front page" it says there are over a thousand views of this thread. What the heck is the difference between a viewer and a follower?
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
A couple of thoughts, that I have expressed before:
1) The best (and perhaps only way right now) to get answers to your questions re: the forum and your perceived problems, complaints, and needed explanations is, rather than fulminating here on the forum itself, to put the very same text into a query to Kalmbach "Customer Service" (icon in upper right corner of the screens). This is very effective, and I have found the folks there, usually "Megan," to be quite forthcoming with cogent explanations.
2) You will note that an "Andy Cummings," apparently representing Kalmbach, posted on September 9th in this very same thread, with the acknowledgment that forum complaints were being read and "listened to," and begged our patience as their over-worked IT staff worked to resolve.
"This too shall pass."
Considering the problems that still exist with the forums here, I don't think anyone at Kalmback is listening to us.
Semper Vaporo (9-15):
You've made a good point.
OK, so I will go with the concept that the Kalmbach forums' tallying is all screwed up.
It is now in their ballpark to fix it up ... Is anyone at Kalmbach listening?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
K. P. Harrier Semper Vaporo (9-10): I've gotten the very distinct impression that the "Views" tally now is only of online registered users, whereas 'Guest' viewers are not tallied. It may be too that so many have been turned off by the new Kalmbach forums that the viewer numbers have dropped off dramatically ...
Semper Vaporo (9-10):
I've gotten the very distinct impression that the "Views" tally now is only of online registered users, whereas 'Guest' viewers are not tallied. It may be too that so many have been turned off by the new Kalmbach forums that the viewer numbers have dropped off dramatically ...
Ummm? But don't you have to be a registered user to make a posting/reply? How could there be 4 replies and 0 views? Maybe it is registered magazine subscribers?
In the General Discussion forum, http://cs.trains.com/trccs/themes/trc/forums/threadlist.aspx?ForumID=111 there is a thread named "Crossing the train" that presently shows that there are Zero ("0") views, yet I know that I have opened it twice and it also presently shows there are Two ("2") replies and I have not replied to that thread so there must have been at least 4 views.
Whoops! A minor thing that needs some attention.
EDIT: I viewed it again and replied this time... the "View" count is still zero and the "Reply" count is now 3.
Just in case it is some inadvertant alteration to your forum settings...
Check them by clicking the "(Edit)" text next to the words "Public Profile" on the right side of most any screen on this site (next to your icon).
Make sure that the "Default Content Editor" is set to "Enhanced" (be sure to click "Update Profile" at the bottom of the page if you have to change it).
Just this afternoon, I seem to have lost the privilege to change the font and size of my posts. Can't figure that out, but it may have something to do with an updated Safari installed by the tech guy today.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
steinjr posted: "Your new home page: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/
Press page down to get past the messages and friends crap, and there the list of all forums are:...."
Yes, this does work; even though the forums are not in quite the same order as formerly, it is possible to get to all that I had read with just one address. Thanks.
Also, to Andy Cummings: I trust that you, in time will make it possible to quote just part of a previous post when replying, instead of either having the whole post be copied, or doing as I just did, copying only the pertinent part. And, the first time I replied to a post every time I clicked on the "return" button my comment was posted again, and I now simply go back to the previous page.
Johnny
Andy Cummings Folks — You're right; we should have posted something sooner, my apologies. We do hear you. The online publishing people are working hard trying to get the bugs worked out, but with a project of this size, it's taking some time. Please know that your comments are being heard, and every bit of feedback we on the editorial staff get is being forwarded on to the proper authorities. We for one very much appreciate your patience, and we're convinced this will be a better web experience for everyone once we get this initial round of troubles worked through. Best,
Folks —
You're right; we should have posted something sooner, my apologies. We do hear you. The online publishing people are working hard trying to get the bugs worked out, but with a project of this size, it's taking some time. Please know that your comments are being heard, and every bit of feedback we on the editorial staff get is being forwarded on to the proper authorities.
We for one very much appreciate your patience, and we're convinced this will be a better web experience for everyone once we get this initial round of troubles worked through.
Best,
Thanks, Andy!
I am sure that most of us do appreciate your interest in what we have got to say. I guess we are kind of in the ranks of the kids who sneak into the Circus, and maybe buy peanuts and a drink and enjoy the show, and then complain about something in that show
. Sometimes it is hard to mask episodes of personal frustrations with transferance. Unfortunately, many times our appreciation is moderated by those same frustrations.
I am not a regular reader of the Garden Railways site, but I did post on it recently and I noticed that within that sites general information Threads there seemed to be a lot of the squares with the red x's, such as when a picture fails to transfer into the program for display. It may have been a temporary anomaly, but it was sort of unusual to see. Just to mention it..
Thanks!
I am becoming completely confused with the colouring of read and unread items in both the forums and News Wire. Earlier this week everything seemed to be working fine, but now it is difficult to tell what has and has not been read. It is a good thing I have a good memory.
I am not asking for anything new, just consistency with what we've got. Thanks.
We very much appreciate your patience, and we're convinced this will be a better web experience for everyone once we get this initial round of troubles worked through.
Yesterday, I complained, "When I save the address for the Trains Magazine forums in my 'favorites," it is somehow altered to bring up the "Railroad History Quiz Game" thread. I do not consider this to be "better functionality." Well, this is no longer true. I saved the address that came up through the magazine "Forums"--and it (so far) still gets me to the Trains Magazine forums.
I will try the above mentioned way of getting all the forums with one address, and see what I get.
Yes, "zardoz," it is really disheartening that no one seems to be "listening." Even if no one from Kalmbach actually posted now and then, it would be pleasing to know that at least their "ears were on." That is, "Yes, we hear you, forum members."
This thead that, out of frustration, you started a while back has given voice to so many complaints. Frankly, most of the issues have been resolvable over time, as our familiarity improves or as forum members have kindly provided answers. But, it simply would have been better if the new forum changes had been explained on the first day of roll-out, with how-to-do-it-nows.
Now that it is after-the-fact, perhaps it is that Kalmbach folks are just too busy with solving problems, answering questions, etc. Nonetheless, I have found "Customer Service" to be a great resource to get an answer on a specific question. I guess we must remember that Kalmbach is not a charitable organization. Rather, it is in the business of generating revenue for stakeholders. Forums are but another way of attracting attention, building a client base, and incidentally selling subscriptions.
Notice how no one from Kalmbach has posted on this thread? It would be nice if for no other reason that to let us know that our observations and issues were at least being considered.
Murray Semper Vaporo: I don't really doubt anyone's feeling that one browser is "faster" than another, but I am wondering how you are reaching this conclusion. Have you been running one browser for a while and then using the other one for a similar period of time to base your conclusion or are you running them simultaneously trying to access the same web pages? Are you testing using two different computers? Even if the same make and model, cache loadings and disk drive fragmentation will affect the speed of the computer to accomplish tasks. Do you reboot between tests? Do you clear the cache between tests? Do you test browser "A" and then "B" and then repeat the tests by using "B" first and then "A"... To eliminate the possibility that the first browser used to access a certain page has not preloaded some intermediate cache with the data for the second one to access quicker (nor having to going through the whole web to fetch the data)? Even anti-malware software might be re-using cached malware database files that will speed up subsequent malware testing and thus affect apparent load times. There are many things that go on in the internet that are almost beyond the reach of understanding to know why things seem to behave one way or another. I have noted several times that just one particular page from some web site will load at different speeds depending on which random advertisement is called each time. Some will load rapidly and others will load slowly... some I know I have "blocked" the URL and the web page then senses that the advert didn't load, so it selects some other advert to substitute for the 1st one and that will affect the load times. System caches, both on my PC and on the various servers will affect the load time. Time of day (and thus overall web traffic) will affect load times also (i.e.: did you test one browser in the morning and the other in the afternoon). I appreciate people attesting to their favourite browser, but I'd like some bona fide test data, too. It was not my intent to extol the virtues of the Firefox browser. Actually my preferred browser of choice is IE8. Additionally, my computer and ISP are geared for high speed broadband use. However, I am finding a noticeable "lag time" on the trains.com site when using IE8. I do not find this to be the case with Firefox.
Semper Vaporo: I don't really doubt anyone's feeling that one browser is "faster" than another, but I am wondering how you are reaching this conclusion. Have you been running one browser for a while and then using the other one for a similar period of time to base your conclusion or are you running them simultaneously trying to access the same web pages? Are you testing using two different computers? Even if the same make and model, cache loadings and disk drive fragmentation will affect the speed of the computer to accomplish tasks. Do you reboot between tests? Do you clear the cache between tests? Do you test browser "A" and then "B" and then repeat the tests by using "B" first and then "A"... To eliminate the possibility that the first browser used to access a certain page has not preloaded some intermediate cache with the data for the second one to access quicker (nor having to going through the whole web to fetch the data)? Even anti-malware software might be re-using cached malware database files that will speed up subsequent malware testing and thus affect apparent load times. There are many things that go on in the internet that are almost beyond the reach of understanding to know why things seem to behave one way or another. I have noted several times that just one particular page from some web site will load at different speeds depending on which random advertisement is called each time. Some will load rapidly and others will load slowly... some I know I have "blocked" the URL and the web page then senses that the advert didn't load, so it selects some other advert to substitute for the 1st one and that will affect the load times. System caches, both on my PC and on the various servers will affect the load time. Time of day (and thus overall web traffic) will affect load times also (i.e.: did you test one browser in the morning and the other in the afternoon). I appreciate people attesting to their favourite browser, but I'd like some bona fide test data, too.
Have you been running one browser for a while and then using the other one for a similar period of time to base your conclusion or are you running them simultaneously trying to access the same web pages?
Are you testing using two different computers? Even if the same make and model, cache loadings and disk drive fragmentation will affect the speed of the computer to accomplish tasks.
Do you reboot between tests?
Do you clear the cache between tests?
Do you test browser "A" and then "B" and then repeat the tests by using "B" first and then "A"... To eliminate the possibility that the first browser used to access a certain page has not preloaded some intermediate cache with the data for the second one to access quicker (nor having to going through the whole web to fetch the data)? Even anti-malware software might be re-using cached malware database files that will speed up subsequent malware testing and thus affect apparent load times.
There are many things that go on in the internet that are almost beyond the reach of understanding to know why things seem to behave one way or another. I have noted several times that just one particular page from some web site will load at different speeds depending on which random advertisement is called each time. Some will load rapidly and others will load slowly... some I know I have "blocked" the URL and the web page then senses that the advert didn't load, so it selects some other advert to substitute for the 1st one and that will affect the load times. System caches, both on my PC and on the various servers will affect the load time. Time of day (and thus overall web traffic) will affect load times also (i.e.: did you test one browser in the morning and the other in the afternoon).
I appreciate people attesting to their favourite browser, but I'd like some bona fide test data, too.
It was not my intent to extol the virtues of the Firefox browser. Actually my preferred browser of choice is IE8. Additionally, my computer and ISP are geared for high speed broadband use.
However, I am finding a noticeable "lag time" on the trains.com site when using IE8.
I do not find this to be the case with Firefox.
Regarding "bona fide" test results: if you want such detail, you'd better commission a test lab. I only reported on my own results. I tried both browsers, and in going back and forth between them there was a very noticeable difference in main page loading times: Google in about 5 seconds, IE in about 20 seconds. Granted, not a long time when compared to the average human lifespan or to the age of the universe; but when one is trying to navigate between lots of threads, the delays can become irritating.
Deggesty It is more difficult for me to log on to the forums. Before, I had one "favorite" web address that took me to all of the Kalmbach railroad forums. Now, I have one "favorite" that gets me to the Classical Trains forum--and I have to go first to the TransMag site and click on the "Forums" to get to the Trains Magazine forums. When I save the address for the Trains Magazine forums in my 'favorites," it is somehow altered to bring up the "Railroad History Quiz Game" thread. I do not consider this to be "better functionality."
It is more difficult for me to log on to the forums. Before, I had one "favorite" web address that took me to all of the Kalmbach railroad forums. Now, I have one "favorite" that gets me to the Classical Trains forum--and I have to go first to the TransMag site and click on the "Forums" to get to the Trains Magazine forums. When I save the address for the Trains Magazine forums in my 'favorites," it is somehow altered to bring up the "Railroad History Quiz Game" thread. I do not consider this to be "better functionality."
Your new home page: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/
Press page down to get past the messages and friends crap, and there the list of all forums are:
This link: (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/) also gives you all the forums, but in an unsorted and hard to read way.
Several of us that were picked out to do end user beta testing pointed out that a lot of people would not necessarily enter the forums from the magazine page, but would want to treat the forums as a separate web site with subforums from several magazines, and thus we wanted to have a common starting point for all the forums, with the forum list grouped by magazine.
Apparently we were not understood.
Anyways - this is a couple of workarounds to getting a list of all forums on one page.
Smile, Stein
Quentin, I discovered early on that the old addresses that I had no longer worked. At least the new address I have for the Classic Trains forum does not wander off on its own after I have saved it in my favorites.
.....As for this new version of the forum:
I found the other one easier to read.
I too have to go thru 2 or 3 steps now to get to it, as when I click on my "favorites" to bring it up....I get something like: "site not available", so to continue, go over on the right side of the screen and click on "forum", and then from the next screen, scroll down to "General Discussion", and...bingo, we're finally there. Better...??
Quentin
I just read my Trains Magazine Newsletter for this week, and I saw that "By now, you've noticed the changes we made to TrainsMag.com. All of your favorite features are still there but with better functionality."
The "Edit" icon is located on a sub-menu that appears when one clicks on the "More" icon at the top right of any post. Kalmbach "Customer Service" is very helpful in answering queries such as this, should you or others have a list of concerns, questions, or perhaps comments.
Is there a EDIT button....if there is, I don't see it using IE8.
If there isn't - Why Not!
I admit, from time to time I will make a mistake....a mistake I would like to correct. Without EDIT how does one correct a mistake.
My own experience, verified again this morning, is that when one first goes on-line on a given day, all thread titles are red. But, when one opens a thread (that was titled in red) to read posts, that thread color (and the color of all other threads which you have opened) immediately changes to gray after one returns to the forum list of threads.
Curious, but not particularly bothersome to me. "This too shall pass" when things settle down after these beta test resolutions by the webmaster. Nonetheless, I am sure that a simple query to Kalmbach Customer Service would result in a reply.
Bucyrus On the forum pages that list the threads, why are some of the thread titles shown in gray while most of them are displayed as the dark red?
On the forum pages that list the threads, why are some of the thread titles shown in gray while most of them are displayed as the dark red?
On other forums that usually represents that some threads have new entries that you, personally, have not read yet. Usually the brigher text is the new and the less bright has no new entries.
Unfortunately, I don't think it is working all that well in this present incarnation of the forum software/databases.
I thought the point of this thread was to document the problems so they can learn of them in case they don’t find them on their own. If they read this thread and fix all the problems, that would be great. Maybe they will do that. There is no problem changing font size. The problem is that the font size changes on its own when you post the message.
Sure it’s a free forum, but that doesn’t mean that they or we should not care if it is not working properly. They want people to post and they want the forum to work well. I am sure they want to hear about problems we are having with the new software. Rather than everybody calling customer service, they have this thread as a record of the issues for their reference.
Jerry Pier It's slow and the print is too small. I don't feel I've been helped.
It's slow and the print is too small. I don't feel I've been helped.
It could be that you just wanted to complain, and were not looking for suggestions or information. In which case I apologize in advance for offering practical advice instead of just commiserating with you :-)
Slowness is reportedly most likely due to re-indexing of old posts still underway - expected to last another week or so. Hopefully it then will improve.
But be advised that one thing which has been reported by quite a few people is that the reading experience might be worse if you are using a too old web browser - e.g. Internet Explorer version 6, which no longer is recommended for general use.
If you are running an old web browser, it may be time to upgrade your web browser to something more modern - if you can. Some companies use old functionality for work related web sites and thus has a company policy that force their users to use old browsers.
But you probably should not use a company owned computer to surf the web for private reasons anyways, eh? :-)
Anyways - hopefully speed will improve in another week or so. If not, you might want to consider switching to a newer browser.
Font size you can adjust yourself to more suit your preferences, in several ways.
You can e.g. do it on your forum profile (click (Edit) by Public Profile on the right side of the screen, and then choose Default Font Size to be Large instead of Normal.
Or you can adjust font size in your web browser.
E.g. in firefox under Microsoft Windows I can temporarily increase the font size by holding down the [Ctrl] key and pressing the plus (+) sign when viewing a text page. [Ctrl] and zero [0] resets to standard size.
In firefox I can set a different default font size by going to Tools | Options | Content and choosing a bigger font and/or font size (e.g 16pt Times New Roman) for my default font.
If you are using another browser, hit [F1] or click on "help" in your browser to learn how to change default font size in your browser.
In Windows (pt Windows XP pro on this box), I can get bigger font on everything bigger by right clicking on the screen desktop, choosing properties, choosing Appearance, and then picking font size large or extra large instead of normal.
There is no immediate lack of options for getting bigger fonts, if you want bigger fonts. Only one of these (the profile edit) is specific to this web site.
The others three ways of adjusting font size are part of general computer literacy.
I have no clue what Kalmbach's main goal for the upgrade was. I expect it was partly to stay current with the software - Telligent Community, to maintain their eligiblity (sp?) for support by the software makers.
Maybe partly to get various bug and security fixes.
Maybe partly to try to cash in on the social websites craze.
None of my business either way, I figure. It's a resource provided free of direct charges, which I freely can choose whether I want to use or don't want to use. If it gets too aggravating to use, I'll just go to one of the other model railroading websites.
But so far, this forum isn't half bad. In my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
Smile, Stein, who is just a user like yourself, not an official representative of Kalmbach in any way
Per your request for comment: I am gratified that I can learn, and also modestly share, railroad-related subject material on these forums. Kalmbach has graciously provided this forum (no doubt with a desire to increase magazine subscriptions thereby - that's OK) for anyone.
Having been software engineer myself, and then corporate executive thereof, I am aware of the problems that arise in "beta tests," as may be the current version of which we now have available. There will be "continuous improvement' in all things in life, including this forum, which tries to satisfy the demands and expectations of a diverse group of anybody. Give the guys a chance !
Regardless, we inevitably get used to various "systems" in life, that initially seem stupid or inadequate. (Remember the "hue and cry" decades ago about how these new-fangled seatbelts that were going to lead to trapped deaths of car drivers ?)
I am happy with whatever forum is offered, and can deal with it, just as I hope that others will deal with the manner of my football coaching, letter writing, conversation, etc. that may seem inadequate.
Meanwhile, I have found Kalmbach "Customer Service" to be a kind and willing provider of assistance and information.
The forum operates much slower than before for me too. With the old forum, if you quoted somebody’s post, just click “quote” and it happened instantaneously—a split second and it was done. Now it takes about 15 seconds because it has to load for some reason. Before, if you only wanted to quote part posts, you just highlighted the part you wanted, and clicked “quote” and it happened. Now, if you highlight only a part of a post to quote, it still quotes the entire post, so you have to go back and delete the parts of the quote you don’t want. This takes still more time.
There is no rhyme or reason to the font size control and paragraph set-off by spacing. Sometimes it reduces the font size by one step when you post. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I post 12 pt. when I want 10 pt., and it displays in 10 pt. Sometimes when I post in 10 pt., it displays 10 pt. This discrepancy also operates between what is composed as a post and what it previews.
With paragraphs, sometimes double spacing displays as double spacing. But sometimes it displays as triple spacing. And sometimes, it just single spaces (no space). This stuff just goes round and round.
And then these discrepancies may change between the preview and the final displayed post. So preview is worthless, because it means nothing. You can use preview to proof read your post, but you might as well go ahead and post without preview, and then proof read the actual posted message. If you want to change something, just edit the post.
It is a waste of time to preview because the preview may not be accurate, so you may have to edit the post even after you previewed it.
I agree with a comment by someone earlier about software developers and programmers always wanting to add razzle-dazzle bells and whistles as an end in itself rather than for a useful purpose. Programmers and marketers show off to each other rather than give the customers what they need and want. A lot of times, you need more computer just to run the new bells and whistles.
This forum upgrade was announced well in advance as a big improvement over the old forum. How many users think it is an improvement? As I recall, the promised improvement was said to lie mainly in the member-to-member networking. Was this something to sort of jump on the social networking craze that is sweeping the country?
It's slow and the print is too small. I don't feel I've been helped. What waqs your goal?
Murphy Siding What used to be my PM option(?) is now headed "Conversations". It shows Conversations (16). What exactly does the 16 signify? When I open that area, there are 80 conversations ( what used to be called Private messages). These go back as far as March, 2007 (!) (Huh?) Does anyone have a good understanding of this feature yet? -Thanks
What used to be my PM option(?) is now headed "Conversations". It shows Conversations (16). What exactly does the 16 signify? When I open that area, there are 80 conversations ( what used to be called Private messages). These go back as far as March, 2007 (!) (Huh?) Does anyone have a good understanding of this feature yet? -Thanks
Number in parantheses show how many unread PM's you have.
Number is wrong initially - seems like either all or a number of your PMs have been marked "unread" (even if they were already read) by the transition to the new forums.
Could also be that more (and older) PM's will be flagged as unread while content is being re-indexed over the next week or so.
Just click on the already read PM's one by one to reset the count of unread PM's (or Conversations), if it bothers you.
Yes - someone apparently goofed on that part of the migration.
Good point zugmann, it's a stop signal, I not going to read any farther cause it's probably all been said. Let's see what happens Tuesday after the holiday weekend.
Ed in Kentucky
Semper VaporoI don't really doubt anyone's feeling that one browser is "faster" than another, but I am wondering how you are reaching this conclusion. Have you been running one browser for a while and then using the other one for a similar period of time to base your conclusion or are you running them simultaneously trying to access the same web pages? Are you testing using two different computers? Even if the same make and model, cache loadings and disk drive fragmentation will affect the speed of the computer to accomplish tasks. Do you reboot between tests? Do you clear the cache between tests? Do you test browser "A" and then "B" and then repeat the tests by using "B" first and then "A"... To eliminate the possibility that the first browser used to access a certain page has not preloaded some intermediate cache with the data for the second one to access quicker (nor having to going through the whole web to fetch the data)? Even anti-malware software might be re-using cached malware database files that will speed up subsequent malware testing and thus affect apparent load times. There are many things that go on in the internet that are almost beyond the reach of understanding to know why things seem to behave one way or another. I have noted several times that just one particular page from some web site will load at different speeds depending on which random advertisement is called each time. Some will load rapidly and others will load slowly... some I know I have "blocked" the URL and the web page then senses that the advert didn't load, so it selects some other advert to substitute for the 1st one and that will affect the load times. System caches, both on my PC and on the various servers will affect the load time. Time of day (and thus overall web traffic) will affect load times also (i.e.: did you test one browser in the morning and the other in the afternoon). I appreciate people attesting to their favourite browser, but I'd like some bona fide test data, too.
Murray zardoz: FWIW, I have noticed that the site is much quicker when using Google Chrome, instead of Microsoft's IE. I've also noticed that the site is much more responsive with Firefox than with IE8.
zardoz: FWIW, I have noticed that the site is much quicker when using Google Chrome, instead of Microsoft's IE.
I've also noticed that the site is much more responsive with Firefox than with IE8.
I don't really doubt anyone's feeling that one browser is "faster" than another, but I am wondering how you are reaching this conclusion.
zardozFWIW, I have noticed that the site is much quicker when using Google Chrome, instead of Microsoft's IE.
I found the place to click for the forums, other than under "Community." It is way over on the right on the home page with the ads, which I normally have blocked out so I don't have to look at them. Dumb me; they must think I'm a real klutz at Kalmbach for sending them an e-mail saying I couldn't find it.
desertdog While we are at it, I will admit that I do not understand the difference between the "General Discussion (Trains.com)" forum and this "General Discussion" forum for Trains Magazine. The former carries the notation that it is "a place for other discussions. Note, this isn’t the Trains magazine forum section... railroad discussions should happen over there." That said, there are plenty of "railroad discussions" going on there all the time, leading me to think that I am not the only person who does not understand its purpose. Bottom line: why two forums with bascially the same name and, by default, the same function?John Timm
While we are at it, I will admit that I do not understand the difference between the "General Discussion (Trains.com)" forum and this "General Discussion" forum for Trains Magazine.
The former carries the notation that it is "a place for other discussions. Note, this isn’t the Trains magazine forum section... railroad discussions should happen over there."
That said, there are plenty of "railroad discussions" going on there all the time, leading me to think that I am not the only person who does not understand its purpose. Bottom line: why two forums with bascially the same name and, by default, the same function?John Timm
Excelent Point! My thoughts exactly.
Of Course, not having been privy to any of the reasons or rationale as to why the FORUM needed to be changed, all we can do is to speculate. .
I kinda feel like one of the residents of Nagasaki or Hiroshima. Envolved as a user of the facility, but unknowing as to the ultimate effect of the announced change. (I seem to recall that the USAAF dropped leaflets on Japan warning them of impending change).
Anybody know why a photo will display on a preview but will not display in a post itself?
I tried to post something on Monday but did not check to see if it actually posted. My mistake. On Tuesday, it had not yet appeared but magically, on Wednesday, a half-finished, unedited version magically showed up, much to my embarrassment. Very strange, very strange.
John Timm
zardoz Pages are still incredibly slow to load. Seems like sometimes the site freezes up. Takes about 20 seconds for the page to load and display.
Pages are still incredibly slow to load. Seems like sometimes the site freezes up. Takes about 20 seconds for the page to load and display.
Well, there is more evidence that someone is working on the software, I thimks.
I put two "enters" between the top line and this one.
I put one "Enter" between the above line and this one.
Notice that all those posts were I (and some others) were putting in 2 "Enters" to get at least one blank line between paragraphs are now displaying with the extra line showing. I told ya that would happen!
OOooo the Smellies have changed too!
Going from thread to thread, or waiting for a post to be accepted using IE8...It seems like the post is acted upon and displayed rapidly....right up until one has to wait for the 'activity block' to fill....it will take upwards of 15 seconds for the IE8 'activity block' to fill and signify the completion of computer activity for that post.
Semper Vaporo blue streak 1: BaltACD: Right on: Well I have to click backspace twice 1st time I get message "web page has expired" then next backspace gives page am replying to but still have to back space twice more to read other posts. I also unclick on each of my posts send no e mail but it is still filling up my mail box. UGH! I am having trouble remembering who has done what here... but did you alter your Public Profile to turn off the automatic selection to send you e-mails? Click the word "(Edit)" next the words "Public Profile" on the RIGHT side of the screen (next to your avatar). Scroll down to the section titled, "EMail configuration" and click 'NO" on the last option in that section "Send Notifications". That should change the forum so that when you post a new missive (reply or new topic) it does not automatically select to send you e-mails. If you decide you do want e-mail notification on any topic after you have done this, you then must click the "Send me notifications" button at the top of the topic, or if you want only replies to a specific reply of yours (and not replies to some other reply within a topic) click the checkbox below the textbox where you typed your reply, "Email me replies to this post." Thanks I checked it tuesday and did not work but now it appears to be working. Guess that was fixed rather quickly. Now if they can just get it to go to the thread after posting this it will be better! Hope this helps.
blue streak 1: BaltACD: Right on: Well I have to click backspace twice 1st time I get message "web page has expired" then next backspace gives page am replying to but still have to back space twice more to read other posts. I also unclick on each of my posts send no e mail but it is still filling up my mail box. UGH!
BaltACD:
Right on:
Well I have to click backspace twice 1st time I get message "web page has expired" then next backspace gives page am replying to but still have to back space twice more to read other posts.
I also unclick on each of my posts send no e mail but it is still filling up my mail box. UGH!
I am having trouble remembering who has done what here...
but did you alter your Public Profile to turn off the automatic selection to send you e-mails? Click the word "(Edit)" next the words "Public Profile" on the RIGHT side of the screen (next to your avatar). Scroll down to the section titled, "EMail configuration" and click 'NO" on the last option in that section "Send Notifications".
That should change the forum so that when you post a new missive (reply or new topic) it does not automatically select to send you e-mails.
If you decide you do want e-mail notification on any topic after you have done this, you then must click the "Send me notifications" button at the top of the topic, or if you want only replies to a specific reply of yours (and not replies to some other reply within a topic) click the checkbox below the textbox where you typed your reply, "Email me replies to this post."
Thanks I checked it tuesday and did not work but now it appears to be working. Guess that was fixed rather quickly. Now if they can just get it to go to the thread after posting this it will be better!
Hope this helps.
I miss the last post detail that was at the top of the page on the threads instead of the #of replies and followers.
...
I feel better now that I have vented ... off to pick an avatar :)
Robert
I also don't like the fact that I get threads from every forum post. I think I disabled this, I don't want to read what every one else is saying and getting e-mails on it. My Inbox gets enough e-mail without all of this coming through.
I hope I've fixed this problem. If I want to check out a forum and post a comment, that's OK, but I don't want 100 e-mails telling me what else has been said. I liked the old way better. I also liked the fact that discussion threads were found in the Trains e-mail newsletter at the bottom and not have to search around to find what I want to comment on. Maybe I'll get used to that way, but I don't want a bunch of e-mails telling me what everyone has said.
Well, I'm not crazy about this either. Why do folks always have to change the forums and they almost are never as good as they were before the change?
Semper Vaporo What do you folk think of the "Popular Tags" box to the right of the forum lists? The one with all the silly oddball random font sizes in it. I have noticed some other forums using this tactic to gain the user's eye and my personal opinion is that it is just plain stupid... Not unlike what I did here! Looks like some child discovered the font size menu and decided that if it exists it must be used no matter what.
What do you folk think of the "Popular Tags" box to the right of the forum lists? The one with all the silly oddball random font sizes in it. I have noticed some other forums using this tactic to gain the user's eye and my personal opinion is that it is just plain stupid... Not unlike what I did here! Looks like some child discovered the font size menu and decided that if it exists it must be used no matter what.
Well maybe that is a hot new trend in graphics. They do seem to have incorporated it into this forum message composition editor as an automatic feature.
blue streak 1 BaltACD: One other thing....after making a post I have to hit another button to be taken back to the thread I just posted in. Ridiculous! Right on: Well I have to click backspace twice 1st time I get message "web page has expired" then next backspace gives page am replying to but still have to back space twice more to read other posts. I also unclick on each of my posts send no e mail but it is still filling up my mail box. UGH!
BaltACD: One other thing....after making a post I have to hit another button to be taken back to the thread I just posted in. Ridiculous!
One other thing....after making a post I have to hit another button to be taken back to the thread I just posted in. Ridiculous!
K. P. Harrier Semper Vaporo: K. P. Harrier: CShaveRR (9-1): How did you get a space line between paragraphs? I sure can't! Sure you can... ya just gotta hit the Enter key TWICE to get it to happen. I now see THREE lines between my "sure you can" line and this one, but when it displays to you, you will see only one. I now see SIX lines between my 2nd line and this one because I hit the Enter key THREE times. It used to be called, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), but now it is WYSINQWYG (What You See Is Not Quite What You Get)! Semper Vaporo: What you and I see on the computer may be different. All the previous posts have all been altered for the worse with the new upgraded forums, at least on my computer. The following temporary photo (of a reply to CShaveRR) is what I see on the computer: But, to print out the display, the following results: What you say about adding a line makes very much sense, Semper Vaporo, but I believe the above photos show an inconsistency. And, adding a line NOW in a composition is fine, but it doesn't solve all the old posts having been altered for the worse, at least on my computer. Nobody seems to have brought up such an alteration. Is my computer the only one where all the old posts have been change with paragraphs kind of running together? K.P. PS: As seen above, adding a line still hasn't solved the problem.
Semper Vaporo: K. P. Harrier: CShaveRR (9-1): How did you get a space line between paragraphs? I sure can't! Sure you can... ya just gotta hit the Enter key TWICE to get it to happen. I now see THREE lines between my "sure you can" line and this one, but when it displays to you, you will see only one. I now see SIX lines between my 2nd line and this one because I hit the Enter key THREE times. It used to be called, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), but now it is WYSINQWYG (What You See Is Not Quite What You Get)!
K. P. Harrier: CShaveRR (9-1): How did you get a space line between paragraphs? I sure can't!
CShaveRR (9-1):
How did you get a space line between paragraphs? I sure can't!
Sure you can... ya just gotta hit the Enter key TWICE to get it to happen.
I now see THREE lines between my "sure you can" line and this one, but when it displays to you, you will see only one.
I now see SIX lines between my 2nd line and this one because I hit the Enter key THREE times.
It used to be called, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), but now it is WYSINQWYG (What You See Is Not Quite What You Get)!
Semper Vaporo:
What you and I see on the computer may be different.
All the previous posts have all been altered for the worse with the new upgraded forums, at least on my computer.
The following temporary photo (of a reply to CShaveRR) is what I see on the computer:
But, to print out the display, the following results:
What you say about adding a line makes very much sense, Semper Vaporo, but I believe the above photos show an inconsistency. And, adding a line NOW in a composition is fine, but it doesn't solve all the old posts having been altered for the worse, at least on my computer. Nobody seems to have brought up such an alteration. Is my computer the only one where all the old posts have been change with paragraphs kind of running together?
K.P.
PS: As seen above, adding a line still hasn't solved the problem.
Yeah, looks like your "display" and mine show the same single blank line between the two paragraphs, but when you print it the extra one I stuck in to make the display right, gets remembered again and shows up. Another fine example of WYSINQWYG. And yes, it does not fix old posts, and may create another stupidity if they fix it and then all the newer posts (since the anomaly was introduced) by then showing extra space in later viewings.
This an lots of other silly things show me that they just didn't spend much time REALLY LOOKING at the result. Notice that on the Trains.com home page there is a menu bar across the top that has some drop-down menus on the left, but when you cause one to drop down, it is hidden behind the banner and you can't click on any of the menu entries. The list of what forum you are in is inconsistant between pages (this is the series of "Home > Forums > Trains magazine forums > General discussions" at the top of the page just below the banner). Sometimes it includes the "Forums >" entry and sometimes it doesn't, though it should be there (or not... I have never understood the forum list within a forum list the way this site is setup). There are dozens of other oddball anomalies like this in the whole thing... the person/people who put it together didn't have a really good template to use (or maybe there were too many templates and not everybody was working from the same ones).
I figure these things will all be corrected in the next couple of years and will be almost perfect right before they decide to "upgrade" the site again. Is that no the way of things?
BaltACD One other thing....after making a post I have to hit another button to be taken back to the thread I just posted in. Ridiculous!
All things considered.....what would be so bad about using the seeming standard of the forum world PhPBB forumware.
Simple, straight forward. All the continual reinventing of the wheel does is keep geeks employed and thinking they are the saviours of the byte world.
All,
Software updates are nothing new, and shouldn't be confusing. They should transition smoothly, but often times don't or have bugs that drive people nuts. As an example, I paid big bucks to get Microsoft Office 97. Then I bought a computer with Vista and discovered Office 97 was not compatible. I had to purchase Office 2007, and if I may say so it is a very poor replacement.
I also moderate an aviation forum, and it seems that every upgrade we install brings new problems. That is not intended to fault the programmers. They think they have it right when they release it but it is bound to have a few bugs.
I don't see that this programming is much different than the old one and works pretty well for me. Let's give the techies a chance to get everything right.
Norm
Semper Vaporo,
*
Yes, thank you, that did add the missing toolbar. I had found a workaround yesterday, but this top toolbar will help. I usually never compose a message directly in the message composition box because it can self-delete when you hit post. So I have always composed the message in Word, and then copy/pasted it into the forum message box.
However, this seemed most reliable when the message was composed in Word, using 12 pt. Times New Roman font, and then changing to the desired forum font from the forum message box. Also, any undersocre or bold face should be added in the forum box rather than being pasted in with the Word document. The forum message composer can lose its formatting if you paste in some bold face font.
It will also lose its formatting if you copy/paste anything from a PDF file, which can be highly proiblematic. If I copy/paste from a PDF into a Word document, it looks fine there. If I copy/paste from there to the message box, it loses all formatting and everything runs together like one long sentence upon preview, and in posting. This happens with the entire text body, not just the PDF portion. In fact, if I delete the PDF portion from the Word document, the rest of the text remains corrupted format that show up as such when previewed from the message box.
I have never know whether this is something particular to PDF files, or if it is a problem with the forum software. As a test, I have typed this message in the message box, and found it would not preview the entire text. There is a basic problem with creating paragraphs by multiple "enter" commands that can be flaky.
P.S. When I posted the above, formatted in triple spaced paragraphs, 10 pt. Verdana, it displated with no paragraph spacing, and 8 pt. Verdana. I have edited a few times to add more paragraph spacing. I have also found that the forum seems to consistently reduce the text size by one step between preview and posting. This is being composed in 12 pt., and it will post in 10 pt.
P.P.S. I have made several attempts to get this to format with spaces between paragraphs to no avail. So I tried a technique that I have used when fighting to get PDFs to format. This message has always previewed with the format, but loses it upon posting. It also previews with 12 pt. font, and posts with 10 pt.
Semper Vaporo K. P. Harrier: CShaveRR (9-1): How did you get a space line between paragraphs? I sure can't! Sure you can... ya just gotta hit the Enter key TWICE to get it to happen. I now see THREE lines between my "sure you can" line and this one, but when it displays to you, you will see only one. I now see SIX lines between my 2nd line and this one because I hit the Enter key THREE times. It used to be called, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), but now it is WYSINQWYG (What You See Is Not Quite What You Get)!
Here is stupid bug that the programmers should be able to fix.
On the main Trains.com home page (and several other pages associated with this site) there is a banner across the top that has the Trains.com name on the left and images of the 5 Kalmbach magazines on the right. Just above this banner is a menu bar that has a link to the home page on the left and on the right are 4 dropdown listboxes ("Trains.com sites", "Resources", "Shop" and "E-mail Newsletters") that if you hover your mouse over them they drop down a list of links you can click on... Unfortunately, you cannot click on them because the aforementioned banner has a higher priority in the display and the drop-down lists appear BEHIND the banner! Only one of the top menu entries drops down a long enough list to see any of them lower on the screen than the banner, but there is no way to move the mouse to them because moving the mouse to the banner causes the list to disappear. Same problem trying to go around the banner! Note that some of the list is also hidden by the Search and Help/Contact us areas below the banner.
To err is human, to really foul things up requires a computer.
Bucyrus Semper Vaporo: Hmmm... you don't see this? You say you have only one line of tools... are any of them like what I show above... I circled the general area of interest...??? I agree that Verdana is somewhat better for text display but there are those that will argue with us about that. And apparently the person in charge of this forum selected whatever this is (I think it is maybe Arial), or maybe they just left it as it happened to be when they created the code. As for the text size, it is already 10pt. which isn't too bad on my laptop monitor sitting, of all places, on top of my lap! I do have a second (identical) laptop computer on a couch next to me that is running some video surveilance software and that is just a wee bit too far away (about twice the distance) to read the text in the size that the surveilance software has selected (which I believe to be 10pt.)... I have to squint to see which camera I want to pick from the list of cameras to be displayed on the main window. Wonder why you don't see the entire tool bar (or at least a different one than I do)? No, I don't have that top tool bar that starts of the left with font family. I used to have it with the previous forum, but now all I have is the second tool bar that starts with bold, italic, and underline. As far as fonts go, I don't mind if the forum has a default font of something I would not use as long as I have the option to change it to my preference. Also, 10 pt. Verdana is considerably larger than this font. As far as individual preferences go, I know everybody has their own. But I want to use the one that I believe communicates the best. But apparenly there is a toolbar problem, a browser problem or whatever. Many things about the fourm operation seem really squirrely today. For instance, my preview pops up in a little window of its own underneath the forum display.
Semper Vaporo: Hmmm... you don't see this? You say you have only one line of tools... are any of them like what I show above... I circled the general area of interest...??? I agree that Verdana is somewhat better for text display but there are those that will argue with us about that. And apparently the person in charge of this forum selected whatever this is (I think it is maybe Arial), or maybe they just left it as it happened to be when they created the code. As for the text size, it is already 10pt. which isn't too bad on my laptop monitor sitting, of all places, on top of my lap! I do have a second (identical) laptop computer on a couch next to me that is running some video surveilance software and that is just a wee bit too far away (about twice the distance) to read the text in the size that the surveilance software has selected (which I believe to be 10pt.)... I have to squint to see which camera I want to pick from the list of cameras to be displayed on the main window. Wonder why you don't see the entire tool bar (or at least a different one than I do)?
Hmmm... you don't see this?
You say you have only one line of tools... are any of them like what I show above... I circled the general area of interest...???
I agree that Verdana is somewhat better for text display but there are those that will argue with us about that. And apparently the person in charge of this forum selected whatever this is (I think it is maybe Arial), or maybe they just left it as it happened to be when they created the code.
As for the text size, it is already 10pt. which isn't too bad on my laptop monitor sitting, of all places, on top of my lap! I do have a second (identical) laptop computer on a couch next to me that is running some video surveilance software and that is just a wee bit too far away (about twice the distance) to read the text in the size that the surveilance software has selected (which I believe to be 10pt.)... I have to squint to see which camera I want to pick from the list of cameras to be displayed on the main window.
Wonder why you don't see the entire tool bar (or at least a different one than I do)?
No, I don't have that top tool bar that starts of the left with font family. I used to have it with the previous forum, but now all I have is the second tool bar that starts with bold, italic, and underline.
As far as fonts go, I don't mind if the forum has a default font of something I would not use as long as I have the option to change it to my preference. Also, 10 pt. Verdana is considerably larger than this font.
As far as individual preferences go, I know everybody has their own. But I want to use the one that I believe communicates the best. But apparenly there is a toolbar problem, a browser problem or whatever. Many things about the fourm operation seem really squirrely today. For instance, my preview pops up in a little window of its own underneath the forum display.
I just noticed something...
There is a text area with an orangish background between the quote of the thread you are doing a reply to and the area where you are typing your reply (just above the part that I made an image of to paste into the above reply) and it has some words about a "Default Content Editor" that can be set or updated from your profile and it provides a link to click on to do so. It goes to the same page that clicking on "(Edit)" next to Public Profile on the right does. About 1/2 way down is a series of 3 selectors for the type of editor to use. Mine is set to "Enhanced" ... See if yours is set to that and if not click on it and then click the "Save Profile" button at the bottom of the page.
I hope you can read the orangish text area as on my PC the text runs off the right side and I seem to lose some of the text under the right advertising bar.
Now that I have *conversations* instead of PM's, a couple of weird things popped up. Old, deleted PM's came back to life (!) (?) ......which lead to this: I can't seem to delete them ( It's alive!!! ). I try checking the box, and clicking delete, but no luck. Can anybody help me out? ( Talk to me like I'm 4 please. ) -Thanks
...Hope this works. I'm not sure about anything on here now.
Woe is us, non super accomplished Geeks.
My email has been flooded with posts from here.....and it took 2 days to find I had to click on {Edit}, and not "Public Profile"...
Same clarity {about annually} to try to work with each all strange rearrangement.
@ blue streak 1 - You are absolutely right about web sites are designed to impress only those that are in competition for who has used the latest and greatest (their opinion!) widgets in the newest versions of whatever is in fashion at the moment.
Thank you for pointing out that 'Edit' is a different link than 'Public Profile'!BTW the Profile now allows links (not just raw HTML) to be added to the Signature and the Biography. Thumbs up on this feature.
Another new 'feature' is that Quick Reply is now Slower than the regular reply using the Editor. After five minutes the Quick Reply dialog didn't finish downloading (no buttons) so I had to reload the page. WTH?
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
My daughter who designs web sites and forums says too many designers make it for other geeks and not the average Joe Blow. She has even sent me some to critique especially ones she is trying to revise.
That comment is backed up by a step son who also does some of this kind of work and is working for a major silicon valley company.
TheK4Kid I'm done with these forums, going over and staying on MRH I liked it the way it was. MR really messed it up this time!!! Their magazine is good, but this new website is ridiculous! I'm not going to waste my time on this ridiculous site anymore. I am saying goodbye to a lot of great model railroad fans MR had a good thing going with the way the forums USED TO BE! I'm gone! The K4Kid Model Railroad Hobbyist site
I'm done with these forums, going over and staying on MRH
I liked it the way it was. MR really messed it up this time!!!
Their magazine is good, but this new website is ridiculous!
I'm not going to waste my time on this ridiculous site anymore.
I am saying goodbye to a lot of great model railroad fans
MR had a good thing going with the way the forums USED TO BE!
I'm gone!
The K4Kid
Model Railroad Hobbyist site
Ok, um..bye?
I mean geeez... it's new software. Give Kalmbach a few days to iron it out. And even then, all new forums take a day to get used to. No big deal.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
According to my computer and browser, this is 10 pt veranda.
This is 12
This is 14
Here is 10 pt. Verdana.
I find this new updated site is confusing
Where are the different discussion threads???, I can't find them
My PC has been down for a week, so I get it back up online, and this is what I find.
Is anyone else felling like I am?
zugmann Well, here's 10pt veranda... And this is the default. I think this is slightly easier to read than the above...
Well, here's 10pt veranda...
And this is the default. I think this is slightly easier to read than the above...
That looks way smaller than 10 pt. Verdana. When I compare it to text in Word, it looks like 8 pt. Verdana. Although when I look at it while writing this message, as a quote from your message, it looks like it should. But then when I preview it, it gets much smaller.
That is basically what I have noticed happening. If I paste text into the message composition box that was written as a word document, it comes in the same size as the word document. But when I preview it, it gets smaller, and when I post it, it is at that smaller size.
I have no problem with loading or access times at the moment.
I sent an e-mail complaining that I couldn't find anyplace on the home page to click on to go directly to "Forums." After much fumbling around I discovered them under "Community," but I never would have guessed that.
Semper Vaporo Hmmm... you don't see this? You say you have only one line of tools... are any of them like what I show above... I circled the general area of interest...??? I agree that Verdana is somewhat better for text display but there are those that will argue with us about that. And apparently the person in charge of this forum selected whatever this is (I think it is maybe Arial), or maybe they just left it as it happened to be when they created the code. As for the text size, it is already 10pt. which isn't too bad on my laptop monitor sitting, of all places, on top of my lap! I do have a second (identical) laptop computer on a couch next to me that is running some video surveilance software and that is just a wee bit too far away (about twice the distance) to read the text in the size that the surveilance software has selected (which I believe to be 10pt.)... I have to squint to see which camera I want to pick from the list of cameras to be displayed on the main window. Wonder why you don't see the entire tool bar (or at least a different one than I do)?
Something has been changed. Now when I bring up the site I get the MR site with topics listed the way they were on the old site, However none of the other categories like garden RR and others appear. I like this listing but do wonder what happened to the other categories.
Click on the word "(Edit)" next to the words Public Profile to edit the avitar and signature.
Using Firefox on the Mac Mini (ugh) and it loads fine. My other computers using windows take forever to load.
zardozPermit me to be the first to complain about the incredibly slow loading times for the threads.<snip>
However, Reply and Edit functions are abysmally slow as ever.The cursor lag is incredible, reminds me of using an old ASCII terminal on a 1200 baud modem 30 years ago.
Note that Kalmbach, unlike most SMBs and individuals, has chosen proprietary forum software that runs on MS Windows O/S, SQL Server and IIS. GAACK! <insert puke icon> No wonder it runs like frozen dog poop.
BTW I haven't found the Signature Edit function - didn't it used to be in the Public Profile?
Also, some dialogs like Change Avatar do Not have a visible close (X) button. I'm using the latest Firefox.
Yah, the Contact Us links seem to be broken. I guess that they don't want any direct feedback. Except from this forum .....
Semper Vaporo Bucyrus: How do you select font type and font size? I want to post in verdana 10 pt. I guess if you want a paragraph break, you have to triple space. Look near the top of page 3 of this thread for a posting from me with one paragraph all colorful and with various font sizes and stuff... I explain how there. Verdana is one of the fonts available in the list when I look, I have to assume it will be there for you, too. 10 pt is font size "2", which is the default size for this forum when I see it on my PC. Is yours too small or too large? I have to ask, why do you want to change from the standard font (and possibly size, as well)? I guess I don't mind it if someone changes from the "usual" to emphasize some point, but I sure hope you leave it well enough alone for just regular postings. Many folk don't like to see a multitude of font changes and sizes from one post to the next, especially if they have poor eyesight. If you think the font is too small for your eyes then you really should find a way for the normal size font to be enlarged only on your PC rather than making only your words appear HUGE for everybody. There are features of various browsers and Winders itself to do that and there are add-ons for browsers and operating systems that will increase the size of ALL text on the screen for those with poor eyesight (or tiny monitors!).
Bucyrus: How do you select font type and font size? I want to post in verdana 10 pt. I guess if you want a paragraph break, you have to triple space.
How do you select font type and font size?
I want to post in verdana 10 pt.
I guess if you want a paragraph break, you have to triple space.
Look near the top of page 3 of this thread for a posting from me with one paragraph all colorful and with various font sizes and stuff... I explain how there. Verdana is one of the fonts available in the list when I look, I have to assume it will be there for you, too. 10 pt is font size "2", which is the default size for this forum when I see it on my PC. Is yours too small or too large?
I have to ask, why do you want to change from the standard font (and possibly size, as well)? I guess I don't mind it if someone changes from the "usual" to emphasize some point, but I sure hope you leave it well enough alone for just regular postings. Many folk don't like to see a multitude of font changes and sizes from one post to the next, especially if they have poor eyesight.
If you think the font is too small for your eyes then you really should find a way for the normal size font to be enlarged only on your PC rather than making only your words appear HUGE for everybody. There are features of various browsers and Winders itself to do that and there are add-ons for browsers and operating systems that will increase the size of ALL text on the screen for those with poor eyesight (or tiny monitors!).
I have a one-line tool bar above my message compostion box. It does not have any buttons to select font type or font size.
Regarding font type preference: My preference for font control has nothing to do with using a bunch of wired fonts just to be different. And I don't need any special font type or size for my own benefit.
However, I have found that the easiest font to read on a monitor is verdana 10 pt. I believe this applies to everybody, whether they realize it or not (and whether they agree or not). So, in the interest of communication, I prefer to use the font size and type that I know will be the most comprehended by others in visual terms. I am referring specifically and only to reading off of a monitor.
Verdana 10 pt. is best for monitor viewing. Unless one has a vision problem that requires something larger that 10 pt., using a size larger than 10 pt. makes it harder to read and comprehend. 12 pt. verdana is harder to read than 10 pt. for normal vision.
Bucyrus How do you select font type and font size? I want to post in verdana 10 pt. I guess if you want a paragraph break, you have to triple space.
schlimm I hate to sound like a cranky old man, but I'm not seeing any improvement s. In fact, the new organization scheme seems less logical than before, i.e., all General sub-forums are grouped together rather than grouping by Trains, Model Railroader, etc. Check that! It seemed that way when I first went on, then reverted to the old scheme.
I hate to sound like a cranky old man, but I'm not seeing any improvement s. In fact, the new organization scheme seems less logical than before, i.e., all General sub-forums are grouped together rather than grouping by Trains, Model Railroader, etc. Check that! It seemed that way when I first went on, then reverted to the old scheme.
Just surmising here and trying to help... Did you maybe the first time click on the "Not Read" link? I see that when viewing the list that way all the subforums of the major forum get lumped together. The 2nd time maybe you were looking at an individual subforum.
I also see a bug wherein the "Not Read" list does not have a method for marking the list as "Read" when viewing in the Not Read list. There is a link/button (at the top) to click when viewing individual forums to "Mark All Read", but it does not seem to work the way "I think" it should (as I think I described elsewhere in this "Non-official" problem reporting thread).
Here is hoping they get around to fixing this kind of stuff. These features are REALLY nice -- when they work!
ZUGMAN: You will probably have to turn off the notifications by clicking the link at the top of the page for this thread because it is already turned on by the automatic setting that was in effect when you posted the first time. You should have gotten any future threads disabled by changing the profile setting, but that is only for future posts to threads.
blue streak 1 Help!!!!!!! I want to turn off the G--- D---- e-mail alerts permanently and just get ones I designate. I dont't want to get them and I tried to send a message on the contact us icon and got reply that site does not exits anymore.
Help!!!!!!! I want to turn off the G--- D---- e-mail alerts permanently and just get ones I designate. I dont't want to get them and I tried to send a message on the contact us icon and got reply that site does not exits anymore.
See several replies above in this thread for how to fix this. There are a couple of ways to do it.
Yep, very slow loading here as well. I trust the crew at Kalmbach are listening and will have it fixed in no time.
I tried unsubscribing that way a few times. But every time I reply, it must re-subscribe me.
Other interesting features from that list on the right...
Conversations - is a list of your "Private Messages" you may have had in the past with other members.
Your Friends - I am so sad, it says I don't have any friends!
Your Forum Discussions - is a list of all the threads you have made a posting to.
Your Favorites - I've never played favourites, so I am not sure what this is for. I assume there is some way to mark threads as a favourite one and this would be a list of them so you can find them easily.
Oooo... Hey, I just clicked on the "Forum Alerts" text over by my icon on the right and got a list of all the individual threads I am presently subscribed to, and to the right of each one is a "Remove" button to disable notifications of each one. Nice feature.
Also, at the top is a link (reads "Click here") that lists all of the various forums so that I can subscribe (get an e-mail) to every topic in a whole forum if I wish.
thanks... I just tried hitting "no" to 'receive notifications'. We'll see what that does.
These options are confusing enough, that I'm almost convinced they were written by the same people that write RR rulebooks.
zugmann Anyone else wake up with 50,000 emails from trains about replies to threads? Is it a default thing to automatically be enrolled for the emails?
Anyone else wake up with 50,000 emails from trains about replies to threads? Is it a default thing to automatically be enrolled for the emails?
Yep, I got a bunch too. There is a link/button at the top of the thread page that says, "Stop emailing replies to me" (in a red oval button). Click on it and you should not get the e-mails. There MAY be some setting in your Profile that will change the automatic "subscription" feature, but I haven't looked yet. You will get e-mails for every new post to any thread you have made a reply to unless you click that button (or find a profile setup that cancels the automatic subcription feature).
Hang on...
I just clicked on the "Edit" link over on the right side where my icon is displayed (had to scroll down a bit) right next to the words "Public Profile". In the page that is displayed, scroll down to "Email configuration" and I THINK!!!! if you change the 4th entry's selection boxes to "No" you will disable the automatic feature... then if you really want to get e-mails when someone replies to a specific thread you will probably see a button that says you want to get the e-mails (instead of the "Stop" one). Try it!
EDIT: Be sure to click the UPDATE PROFILE button at the bottom of the page!
I tried a search on the new home page. It was unsuccessful (not too surprising) and now Google has told me it was unsuccessful at least a dozen times...even after I left this site and started viewing another.
Advice to all. DO NOT SEARCH!!
ChuckAllen, TX
Sunnyland: We'll continue to post links to the forums in the weekly e-mail newsletter. We couldn't this week due to the timing coinciding with the upgrade.
-Matt Quandt Online Content Editor Kalmbach Publishing Co.
I wonder if maybe you were using something different than the "Reply" link at the top of the posting, like maybe you used the "Quick Reply" at the bottom. I see the same tool bar using the bottom link so it should work this way too. I'll mess this paragraph up and see if it does.
Looks like it does now, do you see the colors and font changes when it gets posted?
CANADIANPACIFIC2816 Why am I limited to only 1 size of font and 1 shade of color when I post anything here? My first post with "On This Date in Railroad History" is what I am talking about. I would have included my monicker name in maroon lettering had I been able to do so, but no!
Why am I limited to only 1 size of font and 1 shade of color when I post anything here? My first post with "On This Date in Railroad History" is what I am talking about. I would have included my monicker name in maroon lettering had I been able to do so, but no!
On the page where you type your reply you should see a 2 line tool bar just above the space you type in and on the upper left there should be three drop-down selection boxes. The first one is where you define the Font you want to use (it says, "Font family" now) and next to it to the right is one that is labeled "Font size" and if you click on the downward point triangle/arrow you can select a new size (from 1 to 7). To the right of that is one that says "Paragraph". I have not messed with that so I won't attempt to explain it here. But, next to that is an icon of the letter "A" and another downward pointing triangle/arrow. If you clck on it, a box will open up where you can pick a different color for the text.
I find it best to type all I intend to do, spell check it, verify that it looks pretty much like I want it to, including line spacing, and then I highlight the text I want to be in a different font, size, color or bold/italic/underlined and then use the tool bar icons to set the text for those attributes. Here, I'll copy this paragraph and alter the copy using the icons now (just to test it and see if my blathering is right!)
Looks like it works now... here is hoping it works when I post it.
K. P. Harrier CShaveRR (9-1): How did you get a space line between paragraphs? I sure can't!
dakotafred You know, God himself said "good enough" after only six days. Maybe the Web designers at Kalmbach should follow his example.
You know, God himself said "good enough" after only six days. Maybe the Web designers at Kalmbach should follow his example.
Haven't you heard of those religions where artists will produce some "perfect" object (clay pot, stained glass window, etc.) and then deliberately damage it so that they do not become like a god for having produced perfection? Yes, they don't realize that "man" cannot ever produce something that is actually "Perfect" but they have this silly fear that they might.
Anyway, it sure seems that some programmers have converted to that religion and thus must inject flaws in their software so as to not chance becomming a god.
Actually, the problem is often because the programmer, as well as the beta-tester, is often sitting very near the main computer server where the program that is being tested resides. Thus they are not subject to delay times caused by intermediary servers and transmission machinery. Also, the software group often has the latest, greatest, wizz-bang hardware on which to do the development and thus does not see that routines they have written are inherantly slow on the "average" hardware that the software will actually run on.
There is also the fact that often the software is tested using a very small database to work against. What works with the "test database" may seem quick and responsive to the tester, but suddenly becomes a drudge when the program is mated with a "working database" that is 10's of 1000's of times larger.
I have been a programmer for nigh onto 45 years and I have run into those problems MANY times. My neat-o program that is nimble and agile becomes a lumbering dinasaur when unleashed on the user community -- for all those reasons listed above.
I tried, where I worked, to convince management and my co-workers that the programmers and beta-testers should have the oldest, beat-up equipment to develop programs, but my co-workers would not hear of it! (I got in big trouble with many of my peers.) Even management failed to grasp the problem and just kept buying newer and better hardware for the rank and file users so they could become effecient using the bloated software my co-workers turned out. They also didn't like it if I spent a day "tweaking" a piece of code to shave a few milli-seconds off the run time, not realizing that the routine might be run hundreds of millions of times per day and thus actually save many minutes for users per day that would otherwise be sitting waiting for an answer to be display on their computers. Multiply that over the 3 or 4 year lifetime of the software and my one day translates to many days of improved productivity (heck, I know of some programs I wrote 18 years ago that are still running on a dozen computers; And with the new quad-core hardware they are on now are REALLY responsive to the user!)
I see similar things happening here (as is seen whenever any forum decides to update the software); the programmers are now scratching their heads in wonderment that us users are discovering flaws that they never thought could exist. Things that were added to the code suddenly are being shown to have broken things that were thoroughly tested and debugged long ago. Words are being spoken, like,
"That should not have affected this other area of the code."
"We will have to rewrite that section of code, but since it kind'a works now, we will have to do that after we fix this other thing."
"The guy that wrote that section quit last week and we will have to rewrite it because we can't figure out what he wrote. He was not a very good programmer anyway."
"That is part of the purchased code and we can't change it, but we could write a work-around after we get this other stuff working right. Maybe by then the original developer will have corrected it... we'll turn in a bug report to the vendor, but he says he is busy with some other program right now and can't get back to this one for a few months."
"There is a new vendor that is selling this really great new Forum software, it would be a lot easier for us to maintain it. We should think about buying it and get rid of this old buggy stuff where we have little or no control over how it works."
ChuckCobleigh Well...at least us Safari users can have the full edit tools suite again without having to lie and say we are running, say, FireFox. At least a little progress. In other respects, it just takes a little getting used to the changes, I guess. BTW, I haven't noticed any particular slowing the two or three times I have been on this afternoon/evening, so things might be getting back in order in the Trains Mag Bat Cave.
Well...at least us Safari users can have the full edit tools suite again without having to lie and say we are running, say, FireFox. At least a little progress.
In other respects, it just takes a little getting used to the changes, I guess.
BTW, I haven't noticed any particular slowing the two or three times I have been on this afternoon/evening, so things might be getting back in order in the Trains Mag Bat Cave.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
I'm having trouble with the replies--the message box doesn't appear today. Tweak away, folks!
Perhaps a shaded background (very light shading) for the areas outside the posts would be a good idea, in view of what Zugman has said.
I wonder if anybody at Kalmbach actually tried out this site software before committing to it. I find it hard to believe anyone would see this new forum or the way it operates as an improvement, unless there are many pointy-haired (reference from Dilbert) managers involved in the decision-making process.
In conclusion, if I were to first visit this site today, I would have soon given up on it and probably never returned.
Progress is always change, but change is not always progress.
I agree with schlimm, the order of topics is awkward. I have to scroll to three different places to find the HO topics. Having them grouped by as they were in the old setup would be more user friendly.
Yeah, I've tried twice to edit a post this morning, to no avail. Still get the message that the forum is down, or there is an error.
What happened to the blank line between paragraphs on years and years of past posts?
[Second paragraph] Now all the old post's paragraphs run together!
[Third paragraph] I guess NEW posts (like this one) don't have that problem ...
[Fourth paragraph, as an edit] Whoops ... I guess new posts have that problem too!
Looks like you could scare off some responses to a posting by clicking on that checkbox. I bet you could completely lock a thread in the first posting... blather something and keep anyone from responding to it. Hmmmm... Probably not good.
Well, at the bottom of the previous missive from me, it says "Locked" but if I go to my previous entry I seem to be able to make a post, so maybe it does just Lock a particular entry. Oh well...
Oh well nothin' ventured, nothing gained... I just clicked in the box and will click the Post button at the end of this typing.
I am terribly tempted to click that "Locked: Do not allow replies" box just to see what happens! I assume it is actually for moderators to use to lock a thread, but maybe it is to keep people from quoting a particular comment in a thread.
schlimm dakotafred: Yes. In addition, in replying to a previous post on the passenger thread, I was unable to excerpt just the line I wanted from his post, in the old style. It highlighted OK, but would not replicate in the reply portion. Exactly. I noticed that also, but thought i had done something wrong.
dakotafred: Yes. In addition, in replying to a previous post on the passenger thread, I was unable to excerpt just the line I wanted from his post, in the old style. It highlighted OK, but would not replicate in the reply portion.
Yes. In addition, in replying to a previous post on the passenger thread, I was unable to excerpt just the line I wanted from his post, in the old style. It highlighted OK, but would not replicate in the reply portion.
Exactly. I noticed that also, but thought i had done something wrong.
Yes also happened to me! In addition when editing my own post and hit the backspace key I get a web page has expired message. Never had that happen before. And what is that box that you can check "Locked: Do not allow replies". ?? MEAN??
Well...at least us Safari users can have the full edit tools suite again without having to lie and say we are running, say, FireFox.[:D] At least a little progress.
BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
If this is progress, sign me up for a shift at the buggy whip factory.
Bring back the old format!
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!
SHEESH!
This going to take some getting used to!
When I accessed the new site, all the topic titles were in a dark red text color. I read the ones that I found of interest and those titles changed to a light gray color. I then clicked on the "Mark All Read" link and all of the remaining titles changed to a light gray.
There have now been new posts to the subjects and I have not read those new postings, but the title text is still the light gray color.
Other forums that have something like this feature of marking threads that have new content that I have not read change the text color back to indicate that I have not read them.
Is this forum supposed to have that feature (seems like it should given the "Mark All Read" link)? Is it possibly broken?
Zardoz sez:
And I tried (twice) to edit one of my posts, and after about 60 seconds of waiting all I got was an error message.
He's right about that...but once you've given up on it, you'll find that your message has been properly edited.
Folks are right--the "quote" thing doesn't work very well, hence my solution above, done with good ol' copy-and-paste.
Now, we have one problem that may just be mine: every time I'm typing away here, I get stopped cold by a message that says,
SLOW SCRIPT
A script on the page "Reply to Post - Trains Magazine - Online Community: Forums and Blogs" (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/AddPost.aspx?ReplyToPostID=1963500&Quote=False) is making Safari unresponsive. Do you want to continue running the script, or stop it?
I "continue", because it doesn't seem to matter what I say about it--if I "stop", the message just comes up more quickly.
I miss the new forum threads on the Trains e-mail newsletter. I could always read over the news and then drop down to the bottom and see what was posted on forums. This will be a little more confusing and harder to find. Progress and change isn't always easy.
I ain't crazy about this. Way too much white. The messages, the buttons, the signatures are all too blended together in a sea of white. I'm also not crazy about the message telling me that I made a reply when I made a reply. Cause, you know, I kind of figured that out on my own when I made the reply.
Oh well, worth what I pay for it, I guess.
Now I have to get myself some cheap sunglasses.
Eleanor Roosevelt gives it two thumbs up.........
dakotafred Yes. In addition, in replying to a previous post on the passenger thread, I was unable to excerpt just the line I wanted from his post, in the old style. It highlighted OK, but would not replicate in the reply portion.
Why is Zardoz's semaphore talking?
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.