Overmod Not, I think, mentioned so far here but recently a topic on the MR forums: e-mail notification of posts to threads of interest, and e-mail notification of PMs. (BTW something I do not care for in RyPN's notifications is the little pop-up that tells you a new PM has arrived; it gets out of sync sometimes and keeps nagging you that you have a new message when you don't... ) Forum titles, threads, and the PM indicator should all change color when read -- the convention retained on the Trains forum of highlighting in red being sorely missed over on MR. We may have to decide whether 'jump to last unread post' is more important than 'threads with unread posts display in red' (or user-selectable highlight color or whatever) if it is too hard for them to code both without conflicts.
Not, I think, mentioned so far here but recently a topic on the MR forums: e-mail notification of posts to threads of interest, and e-mail notification of PMs. (BTW something I do not care for in RyPN's notifications is the little pop-up that tells you a new PM has arrived; it gets out of sync sometimes and keeps nagging you that you have a new message when you don't... )
Forum titles, threads, and the PM indicator should all change color when read -- the convention retained on the Trains forum of highlighting in red being sorely missed over on MR. We may have to decide whether 'jump to last unread post' is more important than 'threads with unread posts display in red' (or user-selectable highlight color or whatever) if it is too hard for them to code both without conflicts.
To see top notch forum software at work, check out mytractorforum.com and you can read all about my tractor in the GRAVELY section.
Sheldon
It has been screwed up for 18 years and I suspect it will be screwed up for at least 18 more.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Back to the original thread title, I just hope that the next iteration of change for the website is not like a lot of times I remember change being implemented at work, where the "progress" was carefully crafted to eliminate the things we considered to be perks.
aka: everything that is not mandatory is now prohibited.....
Lithonia OperatorBack to me, LO, talking. Does anyone have any ideas? CO, on my end here, you have the same stick-figure temporary avatar that I do. Is that what you are seeing on your end also? Have you tried to put up an avatar lately?
Just yesterday I tried to update my avatar for the first time in years, and am suffering the same dysfunction as you are. Hopefully this is just a temporary set back and not a sign of things to come?
Overmod stated: "I believe concerning the origin of the name of a certain river vs a certain shop...."
It's times like this I feel as though you know me better than anyone else here.
Lithonia Operator Convicted One Kinda eerie coming so soon in the wake of the recent membername scandal we all just observed.
Convicted One Kinda eerie coming so soon in the wake of the recent membername scandal we all just observed.
Convicted OneKinda eerie coming so soon in the wake of the recent membername scandal we all just observed.
CO, which "scandal" do you refer to. The one with "Northwest" and the plagiarsm? Or did I miss something?
Still in training.
Yahoo!! I have my two-word moniker back, associated with the gmail address.
However, I can't get any avatar to upload. ??? I get this messsage every time:
Either the site is offline or an unhandled error occurred. We apologize and have logged the error. Please try your request again or if you know who your site administrator is let them know too.
* * *
Back to me, LO, talking. Does anyone have any ideas? CO, on my end here, you have the same stick-figure temporary avatar that I do. Is that what you are seeing on your end also? Have you tried to put up an avatar lately?
The beat goes on.
Lithonia OperatorStay tuned ...
Your other acocunt (with the blue avatar) is now showing as MMLdelete ( I guess that's fancy words for "deleted"?). Looks like that one may be gone for good.
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
Convicted One LithoniaOperator When you choose a moniker and an avatar, have the ability to preview how it will be presented on the forum pages before committing. OR, have the ability to change one's moniker, just as one can change the avatar. OR, let member know the max # of characters that can display on one line. Preferably, do all of the above! When I first saw this post, I thought you had lost your cool blue avatar. But now I see that you have multiple accounts, this one and the one with way more posts, a better formatted moniker, and a 2019 begin date. Kinda eerie coming so soon in the wake of the recent membername scandal we all just observed. Is this recent swap related to the account access problem you've been expeeriencing?
LithoniaOperator When you choose a moniker and an avatar, have the ability to preview how it will be presented on the forum pages before committing. OR, have the ability to change one's moniker, just as one can change the avatar. OR, let member know the max # of characters that can display on one line. Preferably, do all of the above!
When I first saw this post, I thought you had lost your cool blue avatar. But now I see that you have multiple accounts, this one and the one with way more posts, a better formatted moniker, and a 2019 begin date. Kinda eerie coming so soon in the wake of the recent membername scandal we all just observed. Is this recent swap related to the account access problem you've been expeeriencing?
It's complicated ...
I created this problem, sadly. When I first joined, I named myself LithoniaOperator (no space between the words). When I saw my first post, I realized that my moniker wouldn't fit on one line, and instead I got LithoniaOper and the dot dot dot. I was bummed. That account was/is connected to my then and current gmail email address.
So I went to Yahoo and created a new email address, solely for the purpose of a work-around. I created a new account with that address and the two-word "Lithonia Operator," and put up the blue avatar. And that worked out; the words are on two lines. But I had to have that second email address.
Then along came the new Kalmbach websites, and I had the same issues most of you did, with logging in and out, no access or limited access to NewsWire, etc. So I emailed customer service, and a very cordial woman named Kat looked into that stuff. And she noticed that I had two accounts, and asked if I wanted them combined under my (primary) gmail address. I jumped at the chance and said Yes.
However, I didn't realize (but probably should have) that once the Yahoo address was discarded, that did NOT mean that my forum identity under the gmail address would now have the two-word Lithonia Operator and the blue avatar. So then I was back to the orginal LithoniaOper... account. I tried using the blue avatar there, but got a malfunction notice. So then I gave the avatar a different name and tried that. No dice.
So, I explained my sins to Kat, but she said she didn't have the power to make the good name and avatar go with the gmail address. But she'd be forwarding my request to Kalmbach's HQ (Kat is apparently part of an independent company Kalmbach contracts with), and she was optimistic they will straighten it out.
And right now it seems that the correct two-word moniker IS attached to the two-word moniker. (But we'll see how this looks after it's posted.) But I cannot get any avatar to upload.
Stay tuned ...
- Be able to PM from phone.
- To actually get New Post notifications for threads I've posted in, as I've chosen in Settings. ( I used get them, then they quit coming.
- As my other forums do, continually auto-save content in the Reply box. When you're making a post, if it suddenly disappears, when you return to the box, you have the option to "Restore Auto-Saved Content."
- When you choose a moniker and an avatar, have the ability to preview how it will be presented on the forum pages before committing. OR, have the ability to change one's moniker, just as one can change the avatar. OR, let member know the max # of characters that can display on one line. Preferably, do all of the above!
LithoniaOperatorOn those forums, in the list of threads, one has the option to go directly to the first post that has appears since one's last visit to that thread.
The problem with Kalmbach is that they would have to 'interlock' it with the last-post-first display order option -- which they already imperfectly know how to support.
I would NOT however want to replace a general preference to see last-posts-first. If they could track 'threads responded to' and display only THOSE from the first 'unread' post, it would be better...
On the other hand if they can't fix the preference so I can choose to view the order either way, let's just go to 'first unread post' as an option the way RyPN allows.
Come to think of it, now that it's doubled my post with that inane doubling of 'submit new post' when you think you're editing -- fix that crap, please.
Delphi Forums are pretty good with that functionalty.
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L.O., I give you my vote for the best suggestion, so far!!
What I'd like to see added is a feature that exists in other forums I visit.
On those forums, in the list of threads, one has the option to go directly to the first post that has appears since one's last visit to that thread.
This forum lets you skip only to the last post in the thread, as do my other forums. But that functionality is not nearly as handy as what I desribed above.
And it should be remembered that most animgifs, even those that are image-based, are comparatively small as files.
For a while, I was using a variant of Jeff Lisowski's sig from RyPN, made of all the joke images of various wacky GG1 variants and permutations from Sam Berliner III's site (with the manic repeat rate edited down to where epileptics could more safely view it). In editing code for that file I was struck by how small it actually was.
It would be nice to presume that the dancing-ad code has been properly written for minimum bandwidth. It has been a while since the last malformed ad code locked my browser...
Murphy SidingNow that you mention it, your signature that I see is a horizontal blue rectangle with 4 icons that look like compute monitors with X's in them. Simple, yet elegant.
There should be 5 X's there, the sky is an image also.
A static image would get stuffed onto your machine the same way.
Convicted OneAn interesting thing about animated gifs over the internet, they actually only run once (download) per session when you first view them, ....and thereafter they run from your own machine.
The dancing ads behave the same way, I think, with the added fillip that at least some of them stop after a few cycles. The concern is that each time the page reloads you get a new crop, and I'm not sure I like the idea that lots of dancing images are being buffered in local storage just to speed page display...
OvermodI say bring back the OP engine.
In all fairness, it was a huge file, so it wasn't hard to invoke feelings of guilt.
Plus, it was a "boosted" image, so it would never fly in the intellectual property rights-obsessed climate we have here today.
This signature, OTOH, every pixel is the fruit of mine own hand, so I feel it to be defensible, for better or for worse,...from the I.P. gremlins
OvermodMuch of the format coding is not HTML tags but BBcode (from the quaintly archaic 'bulletin boards' on the Internet of yore).
Indeed, but they chiefly differ in the type of brackets ([] vs <>). If you understand one, you'll usually understand the other.
It does remain to be seen how long such functionality remains.
In my experience, if there's a useful function (at least to me) it will soon be eliminated, or at least buried where it's impossible to find it.
A primer on the forum code would be great for those who are regulars.
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...
Wasn't Chaplin behind bars an early, early meme mocking IBM's ridiculously-overdone early PC marketing?
I say bring back the OP engine. It would go well with the cat. Now we have to convince Balt to edit out that YELLOW! (I can't think of a lowercase equivalent that does that color justice) background in his current picture -- it's actually inducing heart palpitations from repeated exposure!
Convicted One Overmod What's needed is simply a way to suppress signatures. I would support that. Please realize that in the time I've been here, I've had other users complain about my initial use of a Charlie Chaplain behind bars avatar, an animated signature of an opposed piston engine, the static "Death Rails" signature that replaced that, as well as numerous inquiries if I was really "Ricky Gates". And Semper previously went as far as to take issue when I was experimenting with HTML colored back grounds for my posts. At some point you just decide that continually retreating in deference to the whims of others has reached the limit you are willing to bear.....and THAT is where I am now. YMMV?
Overmod What's needed is simply a way to suppress signatures.
I would support that. Please realize that in the time I've been here, I've had other users complain about my initial use of a Charlie Chaplain behind bars avatar, an animated signature of an opposed piston engine, the static "Death Rails" signature that replaced that, as well as numerous inquiries if I was really "Ricky Gates". And Semper previously went as far as to take issue when I was experimenting with HTML colored back grounds for my posts.
At some point you just decide that continually retreating in deference to the whims of others has reached the limit you are willing to bear.....and THAT is where I am now. YMMV?
I submit my whims to your whims.
Your milage exceeds mine.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Much of the format coding is not HTML tags but BBcode (from the quaintly archaic 'bulletin boards' on the Internet of yore).
There are online references and tutorials for BBcode, and some of these contain useful information for 'unlocking Easter egg features' hidden in the Kalmbach legacy code. But only a certain amount of trial and error will reveal exactly which BBcode tags actually work as intended.
Again, if the 'stage 3' revisions actually retain BBcode in their formatting, Kalmbach owes us a manpage (Unix equivalent of what to find when someone tells you 'RTFM') that covers exactly what magic they use and how to type it yourself.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
zugmann Convicted One HEY!! I thought that Overmod clearly stated that this thread was for POSITIVE suggestions?? + Eww
Convicted One HEY!! I thought that Overmod clearly stated that this thread was for POSITIVE suggestions??
+ Eww
Just imagine the bandwidth overhead ON TOP OF what the dancing-ad codes and traps are consuming. And of course 'certain people' at Kalmbach couldn't resist the opportunity to monetize... in-app purchases for more equipment, or better routes, or higher resolution. More targeted advertising for those identified as suckersapp users. Can it be long before it appears in the Android and iOS app stores for 'free' download -- railfanning's answer to Angry Birds?
Having written a fair amount of HTML (but by no means an expert), I'm familiar with the tags for some of the common features, like "quote," "img," "url", and italics, bold, etc.
This allows me to format my posts and replies the way I want, including splitting up an original post to reply to specific sections.
Sometimes I'll insert the tags rather than use the formatting buttons.
I've been known to get into the source and make changes in the HTML, too.
I have no idea of what mobile (phone, tablet) users see as I don't use them to access the forum. Perhaps a user on one of those platforms could try adding a simple one as an experiment.
To make a portion of a post bold, put the tag (square bracket [)B(square bracket]) add your text (square bracket [)/B(square bracket ]) in a post to see what happens. Here is an example. Note that I coded this in, I did not use the formatting bar at the top of the post window.
Now about that spel czech...
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