[07-MAR-2016] Current status of BLF upgrade process

[Bort]

@sb56637

@ToyKeeper

BTW, there is a nice new feature nobody mentioned yet. It is now possible to link directly to individual comments.

Yes! This is a huge improvement from what I can tell. It tends to get lost on my relatively slow Internet connection when there are a lot of heavy images before the post being linked to, causing the page to “bounce” as they load. But after the images are cached the direct post link does work if clicked again. I even tried it in the middle of the crazy long 1000+ comment threads.

I always wanted this fixed, the what you got today and home depot deals threads are the worst.

[sb56637]

@1dash1

SB:

1. When the website was under construction, you posted a link to a Status Update blog … but you never posted any updates. The next time, could you post a message, especially after the scheduled completion time came and went, something like: “Sorry, guys! Still trying to sort through things (you know the routine, two steps forward - one step back). Don’t know when the site will be up. Thanks for your patience! )”

Sorry I kept you in the dark. I did try to pop in to the shoutbox from time to time, but I got so engrossed in the problem solving I was working through that I just couldn’t manage to break away. I barely got out of my chair during the whole time period, if that’s any explanation of how concentrated I was.

4. No subject line on each individual response. Is that permanent or just something that will be worked on later?

I actually disabled that because I never really saw much value in a subject for a forum post, especially since most just left it blank and it got filled with the first ~25 characters of the actual post. I think it looks cleaner and more streamlined without them, but I’d be more than happy to re-enable them if the majority prefers it that way.

5. Suggestion: Provide more separation space for “Log out”. Spacing is fine when using a mouse, but I’ve accidentally logged out several times when using touch screens.

Hmm, ok, good idea. I could probably move it to a different “block” region.

6. Suggestion: Provide more separation space for “SPAM” button. I’ve accidentally hit the SPAM button (numerous occasions) when using touch screens on my tablet or iPhone.

This is a bit more difficult. I agree that it’s not ideally placed. But even if it does get bumped, it doesn’t register as a spam click unless you also hit the confirmation button.

Thanks for the good feedback!

[sb56637]

@cabfrank

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but I just noticed everyone’s location is gone. Will the locations come back? I doubt it matters much, but just wondering. Thanks again.

Yeah, I was trying to add it back, but it’s very poorly documented and requires an intricate knowledge of several underlying systems to know how to code it properly. Maybe if some expert (cough @ToyKeeper) could give me a few tips I could probably figure it out.

[sb56637]

@jacktheclipper

On the other hand , now I know the minute I joined .

You mean you don’t have that moment burned into your long term memory and celebrate your BLF inscription anniversary?

[sb56637]

@Melven

Thanks for getting us back up and running. Its strange that the temporary DNS link does not work for me. The only way I could get to the site was by using my VPN.

Strange. At any rate, everyone should have the new address via DNS by now.

[sb56637]

@Bort

I’ve noticed when i reply to a thread it does not automatically subscribe me to it like it used to

Correct, that whole system is temporarily disabled for now, except for manually subscribing to threads and seeing updates at My Subscriptions.

[jacktheclipper]

@sb56637

@jacktheclipper

On the other hand , now I know the minute I joined .

You mean you don’t have that moment burned into your long term memory and celebrate your BLF inscription anniversary?

Long term memory
I think I lost that back in the ’80s …

[jacktheclipper]

I still haven’t seen anyone else that’s missing a Private Message button . Just me . Not that I get many PMs .

[sb56637]

@jacktheclipper

I still haven’t seen anyone else that’s missing a Private Message button . Just me . Not that I get many PMs .

I see one for you. I assume the system doesn’t show a button to you because you are, well, you. I also don’t have one for myself.

[jacktheclipper]

Oh .

[jacktheclipper]

I lost a lot back in the ’80s .

[raccoon]

The new site looks pretty sweet, sb!

...though I have a couple of requests.

1. Could you bring back mouseovers for images?

2. Could you make it so that we can choose our default "Text format" on the forum, and in private messages?

(I use "Advanced Post Editor" for both, and have to make that change with every post and PM.)

Thanks!

...

Also...

Congrats on 5001 posts, sb56637! *drinks*

[jack-bkk]

very good update the page number on top and bottom are very good news.

[Bort]

@sb56637

@jacktheclipper

I still haven’t seen anyone else that’s missing a Private Message button . Just me . Not that I get many PMs .

I see one for you. I assume the system doesn’t show a button to you because you are, well, you. I also don’t have one for myself.

Reminds me of a line from this old joke

Q: If I fax something to myself, will I go blind?
A: Certainly not, as far as we can see.

http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/safe.fax.html

@raccoon city

Congrats on 5001 posts, sb56637! drinks

I propose that in honour of this accomplishment we create a new ISO 5001 standard related to lumen measurement and CRI

[Halo]

Hey, no mouseover images.

[saypat]

don’t know if it’s already been addressed or not. If it has been, don’t yell at me (hey, no Smileys!?)

I’m not getting e-mail notifications to Subscribed threads. Is this a work in progress? Not being pushy here, at all. Just pointing things out.

thanks.

[raccoon]

@saypat

I’m not getting e-mail notifications to Subscribed threads.

Me neither.

[ToyKeeper]

@raccoon city

Could you bring back mouseovers for images?

I’m not 100% sure, but that might be a side effect of the signatures getting truncated to 255 characters. You may simply need to re-build your signature.

[ToyKeeper]

@saypat

I’m not getting e-mail notifications to Subscribed threads. Is this a work in progress?

It’s the last item on the list, and it sounds like it’s going to be difficult to fix. Probably some old drupal extension which only works on the old version, so it must be more or less rewritten to work on the new version. I’m just guessing, but that’s a pretty common thing during major drupal upgrades.

[ToyKeeper]

@sb56637

@cabfrank

everyone’s location is gone.

Yeah, I was trying to add it back, but it’s very poorly documented and requires an intricate knowledge of several underlying systems to know how to code it properly. Maybe if some expert (cough @ToyKeeper) could give me a few tips I could probably figure it out.

I haven’t actually used Drupal since 2008 or maybe 2009, so I’m a little out of date on it… I mean, I could look, but I can’t promise much. I’ve been avoiding PHP for over a decade.