Forum Feedback & Technical Support
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This is a thread for feedback on what works and doesn’t work in this forum, or any other issues that you may have. Just be aware that there are limits to what can be fixed and upgraded. There is no money for fancier software, for example, at least not at this time.
A few tips on how to use the very basic forum:
“B” means bold. Mark the text, and then press “B”.
“I” means italics. Mark the text, and then press “I”.
“B-QUOTE” means quoting a post you want to respond to. It’s a bit cumbersome, but copy/paste the text you want to quote, then mark it, then press “B-QUOTE”.
“DEL” with a line through means text with a line through. Not sure if you’ll ever need that.
“IMG” means photo. Click “IMG”, then paste the link of the photo that exists online, then click “OK” twice and it will display (be aware that Amazon does not allow hotlinking!). If the photo does not exist online, but on your phone or computer, you’ll have to upload it first via, for example, https://imgbb.com/. Once it’s been uploaded there, press “BB Code Full”, copy/paste the link and do the same as above. But remove everything that is between brackets ([ ]).
Spotify and YouTube links will display automatically when you’ve inserted the link into the post, and pressed “Send”.
My experience of the forum is much better on my phone compared with desktop. But that maybe more to do with my end.
On my desktop browser the forum seems to load the Norwegian version and I must use Google Translate to switch to English.
And, I am asked to log in to the forum but it fails to log in. I think because my own WordPress log in details for my blog are filled into the log in boxes.
Both issues that I think my own issues.
Thor, any chance of a “like” function for posts?
Your comment about login made me remember an issue: if logging in through the username and password fields at the bottom of the forum, login always fails. Probably because the captcha is missing.
Let me first explain that we choose bbpress being a plugin to WordPress to keep maintenance low. The alternative would have been a standalone more sophisticated forum software which would require its own updates and such. We probably more sophisticated than the FMS forum but certainly less than the jwfan forums some of youre may be “spoilered” by (which is using a commercial software which here is naturally out of question).
THe bbpress plugin does not have an awful lot of functions. There a plugins to this plugin to extend functionality but while the forum is maintained its not that actively maintained and lots of those plugins seem to be not. So I probably frequently will not be able to fullfill request (and while I theoretically code things myself that causes some overhead).
On my desktop browser the forum seems to load the Norwegian version and I must use Google Translate to switch to English.
There is a language selector on your user account you have to set as your language explitly. Its set to the default language by default which unsurprisingly is Norwegian 🙂
And, I am asked to log in to the forum but it fails to log in. I think because my own WordPress log in details for my blog are filled into the log in boxes.
The form at the bottton indeed misses the captcha. Sadly the plugin taking over the main login form does not cover the form of the forum, it literally is not compatible as the forum does it’s own thing… I have to look if I can remove that one…
And, I am asked to log in to the forum but it fails to log in. I think because my own WordPress log in details for my blog are filled into the log in boxes.
You own WP login surely does not have to do with that. Its just the above issue.
Thor, any chance of a “like” function for posts?
I have to look if there is a working plugin for this. Otherwise………
Spotted this question on another topic:
When I select “reply” on a post, isn’t that post supposed to get quoted in my own post?
It’s not possible to auto-quote things (and such an automatism can “pollute” replies a little as well). The reason for this “reply” link is that theoretically comments in WP do support hierachical or nested views. This is rather uncommon on forums and makes everything a little hard to read so it is disabled…
Thanks for the explanation. What about inserting a space or vertical line between the time and “EDIT”/”REPLY” in the header of each post? 🙂
Thanks for the explanation. What about inserting a space or vertical line between the time and “EDIT”/”REPLY” in the header of each post? 🙂
Not sure I understand that… The reply link is at least on desktop on the right and the time is on the left. Besides that I cannot simply edit such small details as they come like that from the forum plugin.
Ah, I see, you probably mean the display on mobile. (I never use this on the mobile as I hate typing there ;-). As a admin I have a few more links there but I see if I can do this via theme styling perhaps.
By the way, if anyone other than me wants to start a new thread on….whatever, nothing would make me happier! I’m getting a bit exasperated here.
Chill out, Thor. Don’t get exasperated. Enjoy the wine. As the great Sir Christopher Lee once said to me when I was assistant makeup artist on THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, “Don’t sweat it”. You see, Lee was bald but wanted people to think that Billy Wilder had asked him to shave his head for the role of Mycroft. As I was taking off his wig (“No cameras, no cameras!” bellowed Lee), he then patted me on the hand (I was only nine years old) and said gently, “Don’t sweat it”. And I rarely have done since.
What about inserting a space or vertical line between the time and “EDIT”/”REPLY” in the header of each post? 🙂
I could not do that as we admins have several links more so it gets a new line below thte post date now. Since the reply link was confusing I have hidden it now.
The login form at the bottom that was not working due to plugin conflicts with captcha has been removed now.
I looked into adding a like button to replies but sadly I have not found any suitable plugin for this. Either ugly, too limited and requiring buying a pro version or totally outdated… Sorry.
There has been some work under the hood of the site theme. If anyone encounters weird or broken layout your browser caches need to be cleared manually. Browser caches are really persistent these days and often serve outdate files for longer than they should.
Not sure why, but the forum seems to — quite often — put posts of mine into “Spam”, even though I do not actually intend to spam.
Last post that happened to was my reply in the “10 favorite soundtracks” forum. Not sure what could have triggered the filter.I’m stumped too. Maybe Malte knows? Incidentally, you’re not the only one whose posts are filtered into “pending”, for whatever reason, but it seems to happen to you the most. Irritating.
Does anyone have any tips on how to attract more members? I’ve invited some on my own, some of whom cordially came on here to say hello and then disappeared again, for reasons unknown. I’ve tried to post about the forum on FSM, JWFAN and Maintitles as well, without much success (and I don’t want to spam). Do any of you have any Facebook connections you could invite, for example? I know it’s a big ask, but I had to make it.
What about sending regular updates about recent discussions to those who already are registered in the forum? For example once a week.
Is there a way to show the most recent posts at the top of the list? I thought that most message boards did that by default.
Yes, whenever there are new posts to a thread, the thread is automatically bumped to the top.
But if you mean a “new posts since the last time I visited” type of function, perhaps marked differently, or with a different colour or something, I’ll leave that up to Malte to explain. Not sure there is one. There is so little activity here, though, so fairly easy to get on top of things if you’ve been away for a while.
Seems I haven’t seen and replied to some questions…!
What about sending regular updates about recent discussions to those who already are registered in the forum? For example once a week.
You can subscribe to the forum or individual topics on the top right corner. Then you should get mail notifications. I think you also get them if you started a topic.
Isn’t that what an “RSS feed” is (the orange icon up in the corner)? I think Malte knows.
RSS is not the same but can be used like that with an RSS reader (same for the RSS feed of posts on the site itself). It does not require registration as it is public for public content.
Is there a way to show the most recent posts at the top of the list? I thought that most message boards did that by default.
Actually that descending order is the default order for blogs and other general news sections but no forum I know does that. All use ascending order as that is the “discussion or reading order” of course. There is no setting for this.
On the forum page the topic with the latest reply will be at the top and on the right you can click on the date
Graham’s post was a little confusing, but I’m pretty sure he meant a “new posts since the last time” function.
Graham’s post was a little confusing, but I’m pretty sure he meant a “new posts since the last time” function.
Okay, but isn’t having the latest topics on top basically providing that? Other than that we have nothing for that I fear.
No one seemed to have missed it but we now have forum search form as the main one from the site header only searches the actual articles.
It lists full replies that contain the search term so can be a bit overwhelming.Okay, but isn’t having the latest topics on top basically providing that? Other than that we have nothing for that I fear.
I could possibly list the lastest replies itself like we do with comments. But that would not be user specific the latest since the last visit.
Great with the search engine!
On FSM, the most ancient of ancient messageboards (for the time being), posts with new threads since your last visit are marked with red. But you have to scroll to find the latest replies, and when you last left off. On newer messageboards, you’re immediately taken to the last post after your last visit (like JWFAN). I thought maybe that was what Graham was referring to.
You can at least jump to the latest post in any topc directly on the left column. But I fear there is nothing available to jump to the latest post that was posted after you last visit. I don’t think that last visit info is even stored anywhere.
Hello again, playmates!
Just to clarify/ confuse the issue wot I was on about several moons ago, this particular topic was (previous to this post) last contributed to 2 dager, 8 tiner siden.
The topic “Been to Any Good Concerts Lately?” is currently three places down the list, and yet the most recent post was a mere 19 minutter siden.
Do I make myself clear?
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