[WARNING: Lengthy post ahead. This might be my last post in this thread. It was brought to my attention earlier that my posts are lengthy, which is making things more difficult when people are trying to find and deal with bugs, address people's issues, et cetera. And this is a valid point. Some of you are great at this sort of thing, even going so far as to present concise bullet-point lists. I can begin a post with one thing to post about - and end up with eleven large paragraphs. I also seem to get "locked in" to a way of doing a thing, find breaking these habits very difficult, and get frustrated in the process. This has to be coloring my posts! Maybe a new way actually is better, but I just cannot see it for the frustration that my broken learning ability causes me. Add to that the fact that I do not seem to have a decent set of "filters." If I think a thing, it ends up being spoken (or in print). And we've all had those "Oh, f*ck!" moments, lol - but I probably seem like more of an arse at times than the next person, because most people have sense enough to not actually speak/type such thoughts. Again, these things have no place in a support thread that's being actively monitored by the staff/admin/owner so that they can address real issues as quickly as possible. For all these reasons - and more, lol - I am not only less helpful than I thought I was... I am also making things harder for those dealing with the issues. Rob, staff, and members, I apologize.]
Well, I just challenged the new forum software without thinking about it
. I've gotten into the habit of... When reading a thread and wishing to reply to several posts, opening replies into separate tabs. I do this because some forums have a limit when multi-quoting (e.g., "tag" seven posts but only five show up when I start a reply). I can pull quoted text from many posts this way, break them up in order to address each point and remove the text I am not replying to, then add my text under each. Afterwards, I post the finished product and close the additional tabs. Just now, however, I tried hitting the multi-quote button for each post, thinking I'd know what the limit is for this new software. And there might not be a limit - because every post I so "tagged" showed up! This is a WIN for the new setup, IMHO. IF I can break my habit (difficult 
), this will make things simpler for me.
Although I had assumed that each image would be optimized for web-usage at the time of uploading it, this might not be the case. If not, it could be because an option simply wasn't set or even because the server is under a heavier load than normal (due to importing/etc. of old data) and there was a conscious decision to try to minimize the load so as to not cause the forum to become unresponsive. In other words, the behavior we are seeing NOW might not be the status quo after things get sorted.
Using Firefox, I can right-click on an image and select "View Image Info." I also happened to save that particular image file and, therefore, could view its properties locally.
There's another reason I am a not a good choice for listing issues. I think that things "starting to work really well" might be translated as "we are starting to see how the new forum is meant to function." That is to say, what we have been seeing previously (and maybe still are) might be attributable to the whole data importation process not being 100% accomplished yet. The various databases being used here... Well, they're certainly not small, lol, it's not like deciding you wish to use a different address book application and spending 30 seconds importing the old database data into the new address book app. I would not expect to see full performance out of an engine that is still in the process of being finished - and it would be unfair to expect to see it - and the same thing probably applies here.
I just... <SIGH> I am just too emotionally attached to 420 Magazine.
I'm not sure what you mean. Do we not have exactly the same access as we did before? IOW, we could view other people's images in their member galleries, and choose to post one or more of them in our messages. With the forum back to stripping metadata from the images, things seem (to me) to basically be the same. Or am I missing something? (Entirely possible, lol.)
I love that! Thank you, Rob, for leaving thestrike-through permission set at default. Now, if we edit one of our posts, we can effectively leave prior text in the edited message if we feel that completely removing it could cause confusion due to some having already read (and possibly replied to) the original message, et cetera. Another WIN for the new setup.
I'd like to see images shown large enough to be useful, but small enough to fit into the limitations of my physical display size and of a more reasonable file size (reasonable here meaning small enough not to concern those using cell phones - paying for their data - and those on "slow" broadband). I find that I favor the "big thumbnail in post" setup, because it allows the viewer to easily see the original uploaded image by clicking on the thumbnail. I am thinking that this might eventually be a WIN for the new setup, after things settle down.
I actually posted a thread asking the same thing, LOL. I'm still, well, ME (paranoia incarnate ). Truthfully, I haven't been hassled by LEO for years - and when I was, it was mostly getting read the riot act for failing to exhibit common sense. But I still cringe at the thought of someone being able to keep tabs on me, vis-à-vis knowing when I get online and what I am doing. But I might be reading more into the "follow" function than is actually there, IDK.
I'm actually speaking from experience here, lol: NO! But some of us are probably "a bit over the top," and some (me) might, on the balance, be slowing the process.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. But this might be a temporary thing. Web links aren't like page numbers in a book, they can be far more fluid than that. Everything was set up for the old forum software, and that's almost certainly not the way that the new software expects it to be. This is very much a time of flux. (And even with books, a paragraph's location (page number) can change from one edition to the next.)
I thought it was just (a portion of) those of us using desktops/laptops who did that. I didn't even know it was possible on a tablet. I need to buy one of those things if I ever buy a lottery ticket and win the jackpot. Or two (first one going to Mom so she can start reading again). It would be awesome to be able to use the forum in different locations.
Again, I am not positive I understand. Are you referring to changing the page number in the HTTP address to reflect page 127, for example? I've done that before when I wanted to dig into a lengthy thread and the choices for which page to go to only show those close to the beginning and end of a thread. I confess I haven't noticed how page numbers are now being dealt with. Some websites/forums don't even show a different link when one navigates, because everything is being handled dynamically by the website's script(s). This is annoying to me, but I always figured most people didn't even notice.
Does the software not have a box for typing in a specific page number to the right of the listed choices? Again, I hadn't noticed - but I hope it does (or that such a feature can be easily added).
This is an example of different people having different priorities, lol. I use the things, but wouldn't be upset if all of them disappeared. I don't "see" any difference between:
and
...so I was surprised at the number of comments I saw requesting work be done on the... err... "smiley situation." And your wants are just as valid as mine. <LAUGHING> Now that I think about it, your wants probably more accurately reflect those of the average forum member than mine do, so they might be better treated as being more valid than mine.
<NODS>.
AWESOME!
^THIS^ . IMHO, the person "being followed" ought to be the one who decides whether or not such a thing is allowed (preferably, on a person by person basis). Would be nice if we could decide which activities are eligible for information-sharing, too. In the real world, if one does not wish to be stalked, lol, there are mechanisms in place to discourage the thing.
Did anyone else just get hit with a mental image of Sue on one of those (derogatory adjectives withheld ) "reality" television shows, LMAO? "What's Sue Doing Now?" The ad rates for that one might be quite high...
Every time I'm offline for a few days (or several hours?), I have to spend TIME reading, playing catch-up. I can't see your threads not becoming lengthy. You're so popular (for good reason) that the audience participation can be staggering at times.
One of my three (642, lol?) biggest problems.
I'm going to take a break from these troubleshooting threads. The things I'm seeing (and complaining about) might not even be valid concerns if they're as a result of this being a time of transition. Other things... If I revisit this section in a week or two, I might see threads about them, with explanations and instructions.
Err... The previous forum setup had also an auto-save function. It might not have been so obvious, since we had to click on a thing to recover that auto-saved content. I've been noticing that this setup is much more... "hand-holdy," configured (or, perhaps, written) to try to do things for us. I'm generally against such (invasive) behavior from computer programs OR people. But I can see the utility in certain situations.
Always did, lol. It just wasn't automatic, we had to choose to use the prior content. The old multi-quoting function was (sort of) the same way. At times, the latter became annoying when I'd begin a reply in a thread and I'd be asked if I wanted to use quoted content from completely different threads that I'd marked and ended up not using. So I'm going to have to consider the new multi-quoting routine a WIN, even though we have to do an extra step with it (the pop-up asking us which of the posts we've marked we actually want to use).
Yes, almost certainly. Makes me wish that they'd done the whole importation/transition thing in the background while leaving the prior incarnation up and running. But that might have necessitated paying for more server space - and Rob's bill from the hosting company have to be significant enough already, lol, considering the amount of activity the forum generates. (The person behind one of the linux OS that I used to use was hosting the OS (downloads) on one of his servers and basically almost got bankrupted - had to take out a short-term loan to pay a bill - because he began seeing "terrabyte data transfers" per month, and is probably the only person I know short of those who run Amazon and Google who have to think about what "exabyte" means.)
Additionally... From experience, I know that a small team of testers - however dedicated they may be - will NEVER find all the bugs/issues that the whole user base will end up discovering.
I'm still trying to get used to it, personally (and most of this is due to my own mental state). But THIS is still the online cannabis-information resource that I send people to when asked about such things. And there are many reasons for this...
I still don't know how y'all do it, even with good vision <SHUDDERS>. I read ebooks on my phone, and am constantly tapping my volume switch to turn the pages because I've had to increase the font size so much.
I have noticed that some cell phone apps have their menus set up so that they do not automatically appear at all, and there is ZERO space taken up by any kind of "menu button." Instead, the user slides his/her finger from the left edge of the screen to the right, causing a menu to appear. I do not know that this would be a good thing to see in a "420 Magazine app," because I am not one of its users. But I do strongly feel that such a setup might be the way to go, here. (If/when a new app is ever developed.)
This might be another thing that would be better displayed after the user "swipes right" to bring up a menu. That way, it's instantly available - but doesn't take up any of that very limited screen real estate when one is reading content.
In general: The older I get, the less capable I am of multi-tasking. You have a few years on me. You must have spent far less time actively killing brain cells than I did. Oh, the things we are told - but don't have sense enough to believe - when we are young, lol.
Specifically: Sue, I wish I had known you when I was in a relationship with a certain woman who I care very, very much about. ONE of her issues is rather severe (at times) episodes from her schizophrenia. There are times when her communications skills are, frankly, nonexistent; she might slur her words, be able to get them out only very slowly, and, in terms of her conversations (and speaking charitably), be rather "disjointed." However, at other times, she'd speak "90 miles an hour," oft times carrying on five different conversations with the same person, which was sometimes difficult for ME to track / participate in. And other people... Half of them didn't even talk to her, the other half... You - and, of course, she, since she's pretty much the most intelligent woman I've ever met - could tell by their body language and actions that they didn't really want to be talking to her, either. Stuff like this, whew, I don't know... She has to deal with so many issues that affect every facet of her life as it is, and then you pile on the fact that she was lacking the therapeutic benefits that simple conversation provides, you know?
Err... This message is already longer than I meant it to be. Time to hit the magic button. I hope that all the forum bugs (and simple issues caused by misunderstanding how the new setup works) will be solved soon - and I know that they will be, because we have a wonderful staff and user base. But I'm going to stop participating in the process because I have found it too difficult to "speak" in short posts, and almost impossible to do unless I constantly concentrate on it. In other words, I'm not withdrawing because I'm mad or even upset - I just realized I'm slowing the process as much as I'm helping with it. Best of luck to everyone where this stuff is concerned, I'm glad that most of you have better communication skills, and... THANK YOU(!!!) for doing what you do.
Well, I just challenged the new forum software without thinking about it
. I've gotten into the habit of... When reading a thread and wishing to reply to several posts, opening replies into separate tabs. I do this because some forums have a limit when multi-quoting (e.g., "tag" seven posts but only five show up when I start a reply). I can pull quoted text from many posts this way, break them up in order to address each point and remove the text I am not replying to, then add my text under each. Afterwards, I post the finished product and close the additional tabs. Just now, however, I tried hitting the multi-quote button for each post, thinking I'd know what the limit is for this new software. And there might not be a limit - because every post I so "tagged" showed up! This is a WIN for the new setup, IMHO. IF I can break my habit (difficult ), this will make things simpler for me.Although I had assumed that each image would be optimized for web-usage at the time of uploading it, this might not be the case. If not, it could be because an option simply wasn't set or even because the server is under a heavier load than normal (due to importing/etc. of old data) and there was a conscious decision to try to minimize the load so as to not cause the forum to become unresponsive. In other words, the behavior we are seeing NOW might not be the status quo after things get sorted.
Using Firefox, I can right-click on an image and select "View Image Info." I also happened to save that particular image file and, therefore, could view its properties locally.
There's another reason I am a not a good choice for listing issues. I think that things "starting to work really well" might be translated as "we are starting to see how the new forum is meant to function." That is to say, what we have been seeing previously (and maybe still are) might be attributable to the whole data importation process not being 100% accomplished yet. The various databases being used here... Well, they're certainly not small, lol, it's not like deciding you wish to use a different address book application and spending 30 seconds importing the old database data into the new address book app. I would not expect to see full performance out of an engine that is still in the process of being finished - and it would be unfair to expect to see it - and the same thing probably applies here.
I just... <SIGH> I am just too emotionally attached to 420 Magazine.
I'm not sure what you mean. Do we not have exactly the same access as we did before? IOW, we could view other people's images in their member galleries, and choose to post one or more of them in our messages. With the forum back to stripping metadata from the images, things seem (to me) to basically be the same. Or am I missing something? (Entirely possible, lol.)
I love that! Thank you, Rob, for leaving the
I'd like to see images shown large enough to be useful, but small enough to fit into the limitations of my physical display size and of a more reasonable file size (reasonable here meaning small enough not to concern those using cell phones - paying for their data - and those on "slow" broadband). I find that I favor the "big thumbnail in post" setup, because it allows the viewer to easily see the original uploaded image by clicking on the thumbnail. I am thinking that this might eventually be a WIN for the new setup, after things settle down.
I actually posted a thread asking the same thing, LOL. I'm still, well, ME (paranoia incarnate
). Truthfully, I haven't been hassled by LEO for years - and when I was, it was mostly getting read the riot act for failing to exhibit common sense. But I still cringe at the thought of someone being able to keep tabs on me, vis-à-vis knowing when I get online and what I am doing. But I might be reading more into the "follow" function than is actually there, IDK.I'm actually speaking from experience here, lol: NO! But some of us are probably "a bit over the top," and some (me) might, on the balance, be slowing the process.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. But this might be a temporary thing. Web links aren't like page numbers in a book, they can be far more fluid than that. Everything was set up for the old forum software, and that's almost certainly not the way that the new software expects it to be. This is very much a time of flux. (And even with books, a paragraph's location (page number) can change from one edition to the next.)
I thought it was just (a portion of) those of us using desktops/laptops who did that. I didn't even know it was possible on a tablet. I need to buy one of those things if I ever buy a lottery ticket and win the jackpot. Or two (first one going to Mom so she can start reading again). It would be awesome to be able to use the forum in different locations.
Again, I am not positive I understand. Are you referring to changing the page number in the HTTP address to reflect page 127, for example? I've done that before when I wanted to dig into a lengthy thread and the choices for which page to go to only show those close to the beginning and end of a thread. I confess I haven't noticed how page numbers are now being dealt with. Some websites/forums don't even show a different link when one navigates, because everything is being handled dynamically by the website's script(s). This is annoying to me, but I always figured most people didn't even notice.
Does the software not have a box for typing in a specific page number to the right of the listed choices? Again, I hadn't noticed - but I hope it does (or that such a feature can be easily added).
The emoticons spread joy all through the community. Thank you for that work.
This is an example of different people having different priorities, lol. I use the things, but wouldn't be upset if all of them disappeared. I don't "see" any difference between:
and
Code:
;)...so I was surprised at the number of comments I saw requesting work be done on the... err... "smiley situation." And your wants are just as valid as mine. <LAUGHING> Now that I think about it, your wants probably more accurately reflect those of the average forum member than mine do, so they might be better treated as being more valid than mine.
<NODS>.
AWESOME!
^THIS^ . IMHO, the person "being followed" ought to be the one who decides whether or not such a thing is allowed (preferably, on a person by person basis). Would be nice if we could decide which activities are eligible for information-sharing, too. In the real world, if one does not wish to be stalked, lol, there are mechanisms in place to discourage the thing.
So far no alerts about what Sue is doing tho ...
Did anyone else just get hit with a mental image of Sue on one of those (derogatory adjectives withheld
) "reality" television shows, LMAO? "What's Sue Doing Now?" The ad rates for that one might be quite high...Every time I'm offline for a few days (or several hours?), I have to spend TIME reading, playing catch-up. I can't see your threads not becoming lengthy. You're so popular (for good reason) that the audience participation can be staggering at times.
One of my three (642, lol?) biggest problems.
I'm going to take a break from these troubleshooting threads. The things I'm seeing (and complaining about) might not even be valid concerns if they're as a result of this being a time of transition. Other things... If I revisit this section in a week or two, I might see threads about them, with explanations and instructions.
I just discovered the coolest feature.
I was composing on my iPhone and decided I wanted to do it on the iPad instead. I'd just started, only a couple sentences in, so I figured I'd just start all over.
When I opened the page in the iPad the composition I was work on was there waiting for me. Now that is a feature I can appreciate.
Err... The previous forum setup had also an auto-save function. It might not have been so obvious, since we had to click on a thing to recover that auto-saved content. I've been noticing that this setup is much more... "hand-holdy," configured (or, perhaps, written) to try to do things for us. I'm generally against such (invasive) behavior from computer programs OR people. But I can see the utility in certain situations.
Always did, lol. It just wasn't automatic, we had to choose to use the prior content. The old multi-quoting function was (sort of) the same way. At times, the latter became annoying when I'd begin a reply in a thread and I'd be asked if I wanted to use quoted content from completely different threads that I'd marked and ended up not using. So I'm going to have to consider the new multi-quoting routine a WIN, even though we have to do an extra step with it (the pop-up asking us which of the posts we've marked we actually want to use).
Yes, almost certainly. Makes me wish that they'd done the whole importation/transition thing in the background while leaving the prior incarnation up and running. But that might have necessitated paying for more server space - and Rob's bill from the hosting company have to be significant enough already, lol, considering the amount of activity the forum generates. (The person behind one of the linux OS that I used to use was hosting the OS (downloads) on one of his servers and basically almost got bankrupted - had to take out a short-term loan to pay a bill - because he began seeing "terrabyte data transfers" per month, and is probably the only person I know short of those who run Amazon and Google who have to think about what "exabyte" means.)
Additionally... From experience, I know that a small team of testers - however dedicated they may be - will NEVER find all the bugs/issues that the whole user base will end up discovering.
But in general, the site looks really slick - in a good way - and images are sharp. Navigation and typing are better on the iPad then the phone for sure. It really does feel like a big step up in terms of the quality of the UI. And I really like that the views are similar - rather than the app being so wholly different to the desktop site. The app was convenient but I’m probably in the minority who would say it was pretty annoying really. As this settles in and we all get proficient with it it’s fast becoming superior. Streaking into the 21st Century we go!
I'm still trying to get used to it, personally (and most of this is due to my own mental state). But THIS is still the online cannabis-information resource that I send people to when asked about such things. And there are many reasons for this...
I still don't know how y'all do it, even with good vision <SHUDDERS>. I read ebooks on my phone, and am constantly tapping my volume switch to turn the pages because I've had to increase the font size so much.
I have noticed that some cell phone apps have their menus set up so that they do not automatically appear at all, and there is ZERO space taken up by any kind of "menu button." Instead, the user slides his/her finger from the left edge of the screen to the right, causing a menu to appear. I do not know that this would be a good thing to see in a "420 Magazine app," because I am not one of its users. But I do strongly feel that such a setup might be the way to go, here. (If/when a new app is ever developed.)
This might be another thing that would be better displayed after the user "swipes right" to bring up a menu. That way, it's instantly available - but doesn't take up any of that very limited screen real estate when one is reading content.
In general: The older I get, the less capable I am of multi-tasking. You have a few years on me. You must have spent far less time actively killing brain cells than I did. Oh, the things we are told - but don't have sense enough to believe - when we are young, lol.
Specifically: Sue, I wish I had known you when I was in a relationship with a certain woman who I care very, very much about. ONE of her issues is rather severe (at times) episodes from her schizophrenia. There are times when her communications skills are, frankly, nonexistent; she might slur her words, be able to get them out only very slowly, and, in terms of her conversations (and speaking charitably), be rather "disjointed." However, at other times, she'd speak "90 miles an hour," oft times carrying on five different conversations with the same person, which was sometimes difficult for ME to track / participate in. And other people... Half of them didn't even talk to her, the other half... You - and, of course, she, since she's pretty much the most intelligent woman I've ever met - could tell by their body language and actions that they didn't really want to be talking to her, either. Stuff like this, whew, I don't know... She has to deal with so many issues that affect every facet of her life as it is, and then you pile on the fact that she was lacking the therapeutic benefits that simple conversation provides, you know?
Err... This message is already longer than I meant it to be. Time to hit the magic button. I hope that all the forum bugs (and simple issues caused by misunderstanding how the new setup works) will be solved soon - and I know that they will be, because we have a wonderful staff and user base. But I'm going to stop participating in the process because I have found it too difficult to "speak" in short posts, and almost impossible to do unless I constantly concentrate on it. In other words, I'm not withdrawing because I'm mad or even upset - I just realized I'm slowing the process as much as I'm helping with it. Best of luck to everyone where this stuff is concerned, I'm glad that most of you have better communication skills, and... THANK YOU(!!!) for doing what you do.
)
