[58876]

I'm curious, George...

Where is the server for this circus? My post was timestamped five hours later than Central.

This thing running out of Nova Scotia, or sumthin'?

You can change your time zone in the user preferences section.

 

[58876]

To change your time zone (and the number of posts per page, and other stuff) click "User CP" and then go to the "Edit Options" section.

Number of posts per page is a necessity to change unless I misremember the MO of old. I'm not even sure 40 per page will be enough.

 

[58876]

The main page looks great. Now about the "forums":

Can I assume a "nested" viewing option is in the works, so I can see all of the comments, with the replies to each comment indented underneath them, all on one page? Because if "easier navigation" is one of the features, I'm thinking that making me click to advance to the next page isn't really "easier", nor is trying to figure out what comment another comment is referring to. More like "time-consuming pain-in-the-ass enough to make it not worth it." Even cooler would be an option to get rid of all the space-wasting crap like avatars. In other words, just like the old version.

Of course, I'm just looking it over now, so maybe I'm just not seeing it, and it isn't as subscription-lapsing horrible as it seems.

I agree 100%. Why do we need to have the comments paged if we can handle the bandwidth and memory of showing it all in one? Instead of 40 per page as the maximum, can we make it 100% (or 1000, if we need an upper limit).

 

[58876]

Did that already. Still not nested in full (see my reply to longride).

So does cerebral palsy. That doesn't make it right.

Shizuki, it's simple. The problem you're having is you just don't like the fact that the new forums are a pain in the ass and far inferior to the old version.
One other new feature of them that tickles me is that if the comments are nested more than 4 deep then the little comments box says "More replies below current depth" and there is no setting to change the "current depth." However, helpfully you can click on the worthless link and then read the post to determine if it was something you wanted to read. And the punch yourself in the eye to fix your headache.

Basically if you want to read all the comments and track who is replying to whom you must click back and forth from the little comments box to the area below, and if something is nested more than 4 deep, well, that thread has gone on too long anyway. Or you can switch to linear mode and just read them as one long list of posts in chronological order. Or wait, not exactly one, since it's paged.. so.. pick a page and read that page.

Lots of bells and whistles went into making this the way it is! That's what you get with off-the-shelf vertical portal software tools though.

 

[58876]

Krebs, send me your address so I can send you a fruit basket and bundt cake. I can't thank you enough for putting into words far better than I have the enormity of the suckitude of this forum design.

I'm actually depressed about this. MO was my favorite place to hang out and chew the fat online. It's been fun hangin' with you bastards, but now it's just too much goddamn work. I'll miss this place.

I'll keep an eye out for the premium-only keep-out-the-riff-raff forums and maybe pop in and say hi occasionally.

(Note to MO - this format is fine for brief info-only communication where radical thread segregation can be an organizational benefit. For the extensive, shoot-the-breeze style of MO News discussions, it's like having a dinner party with every guest in a separate room.)

I'd rather have a Cuban cigar than a fruit basket. Or maybe a Buena Vista Social Club album. Or some nice Havana Club Anejo.

 

[58876]

I agree with schizuki that it does not foster the same community feel the previous board had.

Thanks for the tip sachi. I have tried it and will give the new forum a chance. But to make a weak analogy: The R1 may be one of the most fun, advanced and feature filled sportbikes on the planet but a seven year old Road King is still my ride of choice for most riding situations and conditions.

derrick

I think the fact that anyone can post a new thread is fantastic.

I think Shizuki's issues which many of us share can be solved by two things:

1) a new threaded view (basically fixing the hybrid view) to put all the comments in nested so all you have to do is scroll to read them (and understand who is replying to whom) and

2) A new display option next to "New Posts" which is "Chronological Order".

Also, I suspect a lot of the confusion about what is new will end once the administration finishes reposting all the old articles. I think even just #1 would be a major fix and we could probably figure out how to use the New Posts and Subscribed Threads features to keep our conversations going once all the old content is finally posted.