1068 replies to this topic

[KWSN - DSM]

I gave a very clear answer.

 

They don't decide which you use, they decide which are easy to use because they are the most popular services.  Yes, Autosport definitely should be chosing a small subset of direct links and not all of them.

 

You are still free to share via myspace if you prefer. It is simply easiest to do it via the links which are predefined, six from the bottom of the page, and five via the small link in the top right of every post.

 

You might very well ask the same question of most national news or newspaper sites because they have the same small subset of sharing options.  Dear BBC News, why have you chosen only those eight?  Guardian, why only a paltry three?  I am confident the answer will be the same from them.

 

I am sure that many would agree with the concern that the formal encroachment of Facebook and twitter into the forum is an unwelcome change.  Your 'concern' that we have made it easy for six sites but not all of the others (which can still be shared to) doesn't make much sense but I am sure that if you lobby hard enough to have the list extended, there may be room to swapout or change.  Though probably not to your redtube suggestion.

 

But you continue to not adress the point, and you do not have to. Your clear answer was clear, just not in any way shape or form answering one I asked. I do understand that they are listing the most popular, I do understand that these are the ones most people will use, I do undestand that I can link to other social networks but as I have written repeatedly that is not what I want. I am saying that it should be a user preference, and not a default set on the front page.

 

Being based in the US the one place where I have 'default' social media is www.si.com, whre I can not join a live chat without either a Facebook account, a twitter account, and two others which I do not recall sitting here. I have neither, so I can not join their live chat. That is a choice I make, I just find it a poor choice by the allgedly biggest online sports provider in the US, to force their users to sign up with one of the 4. Let me register with them, and I should be able to chat away.

 

You and other continue to 'reply' to questions I did not ask, and must be 4 hoiurs ago I wrote:

 

Is a discussion about noting, since this forum is the closest I get to 'Social Media', I simple STRONGLY disagree with the Big Brother handholding in principle.

 

Rather than suggestion that I do not scroll to the bottom, will the actual questions not dealing with Social Media be replied?

 

[Zmeej]

Grayson

1/ The previous version of the forum had a feature giving one the option of launching the rest of the topic being viewed in another window, for easier reference to previous posts.

Could this please be re-instated, or if it is available, could you please let me know where the button/thang for it can be found?

2/ Am beginning to find the automatically appearing "Reply" window a serious annoyance.

- when editing, a "mirror image" reply window appears that strikes me as entirely superfluous;
- after one has edited, this "mirror image" persists;
- it is VERY irritating to contend with reply windows which apparently need to wait for all of the "metric-gathering" mechanisms of adverts to fully load (and/or hang) before one can write a bloody word.

Please consider reverting to the format in which a reply window is summoned, rather than automatic.

Please consider how, from a techical standpoint, the function of the reply window can be de-coupled from the functioning of the advert material.

Edited by Zmeej, 22 August 2013 - 18:45.

[Zmeej]

Further to the matter of "wrapping":

It is altogether ironic that the only feature which causes a post to wrap is an advert (the ad indents the post leftward, and only half the ad is readable), since subscribers could well be suffering from greater annoyance than non-subscribers.

At this point, I'll re-iterate my position on ads:

Do not consider them an annoyance, but a badge of the fact that these fora are thus, even if obliquely, rendered revenue-positive.

Edited by Zmeej, 22 August 2013 - 18:42.

[Tufty]

I have no problem with ads but the fact they're slammed into the middle of a thread is ridiculous.

[alfa1]

As a temporary measure, I've started using a Firefox plugin, "color that site".

https://addons.mozil...olor-that-site/

 

It lets you edit the colours, to make them what you wish, to get away from the blinding, headache inducing contrast that exists now.

 

Not perfect, but better than nothing.

[Tufty]

Interesting Alfa, thanks.

 

Another bug I've had is that it just took TWENTY MINUTES to load the Paddock Club. Not a problem with my connection because other sites were running fine. So much for faster servers...

[Vitesse2]

As a temporary measure, I've started using a Firefox plugin, "color that site".

https://addons.mozil...olor-that-site/

 

It lets you edit the colours, to make them what you wish, to get away from the blinding, headache inducing contrast that exists now.

 

Not perfect, but better than nothing.

Nice! thanks for that!

 

Interesting Alfa, thanks.

 

Another bug I've had is that it just took TWENTY MINUTES to load the Paddock Club. Not a problem with my connection because other sites were running fine. So much for faster servers...

I have a feeling that some of the database tweaking they're doing is playing havoc with stored cookies. I've had five "driver errors" today - and one last night. The site was also getting slower and slower to load, but as soon as I cleared them all it loaded instantly.

[Tufty]

Everything else is loading fine, just the PC that refuses to do it. Given up after another 15-minute wait and came back here again.

[Deluxx]

Would appreciate a different skin that isn't so harsh on the eyes with the contrast between the bright white and black

 

Edit:

Edited by Deluxx, 22 August 2013 - 21:06.

[Buttoneer]

But you continue to not adress the point, and you do not have to. Your clear answer was clear, just not in any way shape or form answering one I asked. I do understand that they are listing the most popular, I do understand that these are the ones most people will use, I do undestand that I can link to other social networks but as I have written repeatedly that is not what I want. I am saying that it should be a user preference, and not a default set on the front page.

 

Being based in the US the one place where I have 'default' social media is www.si.com, whre I can not join a live chat without either a Facebook account, a twitter account, and two others which I do not recall sitting here. I have neither, so I can not join their live chat. That is a choice I make, I just find it a poor choice by the allgedly biggest online sports provider in the US, to force their users to sign up with one of the 4. Let me register with them, and I should be able to chat away.

 

You and other continue to 'reply' to questions I did not ask, and must be 4 hoiurs ago I wrote:

 

Is a discussion about noting, since this forum is the closest I get to 'Social Media', I simple STRONGLY disagree with the Big Brother handholding in principle.

 

Rather than suggestion that I do not scroll to the bottom, will the actual questions not dealing with Social Media be replied?

 

I don't agree at all that your question was clear otherwise you would not have had so many unsatisfactory answers from so many people.  However, if I have understood the point correctly this time, you want to be able to configure for yourself which of the social media sites are in your personal list of quick links, swapping Facebook for Bebo or twitter for MySpace etc.  Each of us would have our own chosen sites available for linking.

 

Please confirm.

[KWSN - DSM]

I don't agree at all that your question was clear otherwise you would not have had so many unsatisfactory answers from so many people.  However, if I have understood the point correctly this time, you want to be able to configure for yourself which of the social media sites are in your personal list of quick links, swapping Facebook for Bebo or twitter for MySpace etc.  Each of us would have our own chosen sites available for linking.

 

Please confirm.

 

I want the users who want to link to a Social Media to set that in their personal profile. As I have said repeatedly, I am on neither of the suggested Social Media so matters nothing for me personally I simple STRONGLY disagree with the Big Brother handholding in principle.

 

[Buttoneer]

Sorry, I am lost again, and I would really like to understand your issue.  I acknowledge that you don't like Big Brother handholding and have no interest in social media, as you have said repeatedly, so can you instead explain what exactly you would like to see, or not see in a user profile.

 

Is it that you want to prevent your posts being linked to on any media site, or want to chose what media sites you would like your posts linked to, or simply have the icons which allow you to link removed from your screen using a profile option, or something else?

[Tonka]

Argh.

 

Just made a rather long reply using the new "Reply to this topic" box.  What a Pita.  After x lines it's necessary to use a side scrollbar, because the box isn't large enough - it's like writing though a bloody letter box.  I now see it can be expanded, why doesn't it expand automatically when a lot of text is put into the box ?

 

Then after using the text options once, they disappeared.

[Vitesse2]

Crafted with the aid of Colour that Site, as mentioned above:

 

[FastnLoud]

The reason they are ignoring the 10,000 posts about the colour scheme is because they have messed it up - whoever did it will end up on Cowboy traders soon

[KWSN - DSM]

Sorry, I am lost again, and I would really like to understand your issue.  I acknowledge that you don't like Big Brother handholding and have no interest in social media, as you have said repeatedly, so can you instead explain what exactly you would like to see, or not see in a user profile.

 

Is it that you want to prevent your posts being linked to on any media site, or want to chose what media sites you would like your posts linked to, or simply have the icons which allow you to link removed from your screen using a profile option, or something else?

 

I think that Social Media links belong in the user setup, if you want to have an avenue then force all of us the re-set all our preferences. The users who want to link, can link as much as they want. Anyone who wants to can cut and paste what I post.

 

My issue remain that I oppose the Big Brother approach, and state that as a comment on the new forum in the thread created for the purpose of commenting on the new forum.

 

My unanswered question is if those particular social media are revenue accumulators.

 

[Tufty]

I'm more curious why massive loading times are not considered important than the constant evasion of colour scheme feedback.

[Tufty]

 

This sort of mid-page ad is ridiculous. That and the Paddock Club lag - it took me over 5 minutes to get in to take that screenshot - are going to drive me away from this forum before long if they're not addressed.

[saudoso]

If I change to mobile theme on the phone I get it on the desktop later... not cool

[Hack]

Sorry for the unexpected downtime overnight, this was caused by a glitch in an automated backup process.

 

We are, of course, working on performance. There is one obvious slow query relating to forum listing that is causing the issues mentioned here and we will have it optimised as soon as we can.

[Brother Fox]

Any word on wether the colour scheme/layout isssues are filed under

 

a) we're looking into it

b) suck it up, its staying

[pacificquay]

The social media argument is ridiculous - it's Autosport's forum, of course they can choose which ones to give shortcuts to. Nothing to do with big brother.

 

Don't understand the talk about ads - I don't have any.

 

The colour scheme is fresh and crisp - some of the suggestions posted just want to turn it back into something from the 90s!

 

 

The only problem I have had is slowness of the forum at times - but they say that's being worked on.

 

Last time the forum was upgraded there was big moans on here and then people got used to it.

 

Autosport doesn't have to provide this service, yet they do - and free of charge.

 

Sad to see some people are such ungrateful moaners just because things are a bit different!

[Lights]

Possibly a question and complaint in one: is there any function I'm missing with which I can check if I'm quoted in a post anywhere on the forum by another member? I used to sometimes search for my username to check if I didn't miss any replies to my posts but the new search function doesn't seem to be very reliable in this - sometimes it does show some and the next day the same posts have disappeared from the search results.

[Shambolic]

The colour scheme is fresh and crisp - some of the suggestions posted just want to turn it back into something from the 90s!

Sad to see some people are such ungrateful moaners just because things are a bit different!

 

Some people just want to be able to read the forums on a reasonable sized screen (ie not a bloody phone) without being forced to either dim it to near illegible, or suffer retina bleeding. It's nothing to do with luddite attitudes to change, it's to do with form in this case being function, and failing.

 

As for taking it back to the 90s, I'd say that's exactly what stark, angular, harshly contrasting aesthetics replicate.

 

I'm not sure what was wrong with the old forum, other than the server it was on clearly needed the hamsters replacing. There's a vast differnce between resisting change, and disliking changes for the worse made for the sake of change.

 

Oh, and when I pull up a new tab in Firefox, the quick links thumbnail looks very similar to another uninspiring grey white and black mess of an F1 forum. Except that one at least hasn't gone so high contrast it causes migraines. So Autosport can't even turn to claims of individualism or originality for their design choice,

[Grayson]

My unanswered question is if those particular social media are revenue accumulators.

 

 

No - they're not revenue accumulators. Despite Mark Zuckerberg's immense wealth, he doesn't pay us to stick his logo on the site.

 

The links there are purely in place because they're the most popular social networking sites so the buttons may be of use, not because we would prefer for you to use those over others. I hadn't realised that this could be seen as Big Brotherish or controversial!

[Force Ten]

Okay. I came somewhere where there is not a 3x4 or 16x10 screen but an even newer 16x9 1920x1080 screen. The forum looks absolutely ridiculous over there. There is a massive as in "you can fit a whole laptop screen in there" white space in the middle WHERE YOU LOOK and all the action is on the far left and the corresponding data on the far right. You need to have a 2 feet ruler to keep the left and right parts of the screen in line.

The 'active area' NEEDS to be cropped to be more in the middle.

[prty]

No - they're not revenue accumulators. Despite Mark Zuckerberg's immense wealth, he doesn't pay us to stick his logo on the site.

 

The links there are purely in place because they're the most popular social networking sites so the buttons may be of use, not because we would prefer for you to use those over others. I hadn't realised that this could be seen as Big Brotherish or controversial!

 

Even if he doesn't pay money, it doesn't mean that he doesn't get it. See how the like button works to track people habits, and you don't have to click on it:

 

http://www.abine.com...across-the-web/

 

For example, this is the output that the tracking detector plugin shows, while browsing the forum (it means: 2 social networks tracking me, Google+ and Facebook):

 

Edited by prty, 23 August 2013 - 09:24.

[Stephen W]

I don't quite understand what you mean by adding a caption, this?

 

Caption

 

Or something like this (since you mentioned quoting)

 

The first.

[275 GTB-4]

I don't quite understand what you mean by adding a caption, this?

 

This here's the 44 magnum, "the most powerful handgun ever made", did I fire 5 or 6 shots?

"what you have to ask yourself is, do I feel lucky? Well do ya' punk?"

 

 

[condor]

I am struggling to cope with all the changes.

I've read through this thread and have managed to change back to the Atlas skin ( though there doesn't seem to be much of an Atlas look to it). On my old fashioned box type screen the very small font 'change theme' was partly overwritten by something else - so it did take some looking for.

 

I haven't found how you can access your Private messages or how to send/receive one - has that feature been removed?

 

Crafted with the aid of Colour that Site, as mentioned above:

 

 

 

This colour scheme I like

[SophieB]

I am struggling to cope with all the changes.

I've read through this thread and have managed to change back to the Atlas skin ( though there doesn't seem to be much of an Atlas look to it). On my old fashioned box type screen the very small font 'change theme' was partly overwritten by something else - so it did take some looking for.

 

I haven't found how you can access your Private messages or how to send/receive one - has that feature been removed?

 

Go to the top right of the page. To the left of your screen name, you should see a little person icon for your notifications and then to the left of that, a little envelope. Click on the envelope to get to your PMs.

[Vitesse2]

Even if he doesn't pay money, it doesn't mean that he doesn't get it. See how the like button works to track people habits, and you don't have to click on it:

 

http://www.abine.com...across-the-web/

 

For example, this is the output that the tracking detector plugin shows, while browsing the forum (it means: 2 social networks tracking me, Google+ and Facebook):

 

I was wondering what all this social media buttons stuff was about. When I checked my DNTMe report, it showed no tracking at all. However, I also use AdBlockPlus and my filters on that are set up to block that sort of crap, so they don't even get as far as DNTMe!

 

Having now looked at the site on IE with no blocking I can see why people may be annoyed!

[Vitesse2]

You also need to do something about the rendering of large pictures for those of us who don't have wide or very wide screen displays. I suspect condor is probably seeing the same as me in her quoted post which includes my screenshot - a horizontal scroll bar and a large amount of blank space to the right of the image.

 

In the original post, it seems that because the picture overlaps the margin of the screen, rather than stretching the margin as the old software did, it adds a link so that the picture can be opened separately in the foreground. But even that image is too large for my screen and I need to scroll it right to find the close button! Happens in both Firefox and IE.

[milestone 11]

The first.

You can.

[Stephen W]

I don't know if anyone else has pointed out the following problems as I can't be bothered reading through all of the above:

 

1. When posting an Image you cannot add a Caption it only allows the image to be posted!

2. When you try to EDIT a post with an image in it you can't add a caption!!

3. The only way to add a caption is to Quote the post and in the new post add the caption.

 

This is so utterly useless it is beyond belief that someone who is supposed to be technically efficient could let this happen!

 

What if I want to post four images with integrated captions? It can only be done at present by (a) quoting the original post, (b) deleting three of the pictures from that post, © adding a caption in the new post, and (d) repeating the above three steps for each of the other photos in the original post!!!

 

Utterly useless - a bit like the person who made this amendment.

 

I worked all my career in IT and if someone working for me made such a complete hash of things they would either be in the Job Centre on Monday or on garden leave!

 

Just tried this again and it would appear that this glitch has been resolved - thanks.

[Grayson]

So I mentioned that you might have to bear with us in the first few days in case there are any teething problems...

 

One early problem we're having is that the process of deciding whether to put a star or a circle next to thread titles (to show which threads you've previously posted in) is causing huge strain on the database as it's crossreferencing every post a member has made to every thread in the forum. This will be a bigger problem for members with thousands of posts in forums with a lot of threads that they've posted in, which may be why quite a few people have reported the Paddock Club loading slowly.

 

As a temporary measure, we've disabled this feature. You should find that some of the slow loading of forum index pages (ie. the pages which show all of the forum threads) goes away as a result of this. Our development team are looking into optimizing the query that works out which threads you've posted in, so hopefully we will be able to reintroduce it at some point.

[discover23]

Hello, any reason why the font of the post name is way smaller than "started by poster name" ?
It makes it really hard to read since all your eyes will be seeing is the name of the person who created the thread but not the thread name.
Thanks

[KWSN - DSM]

Hello, any reason why the font of the post name is way smaller than "started by poster name" ?
It makes it really hard to read since all your eyes will be seeing is the name of the person who created the thread but not the thread name.
Thanks

 

Without being certain, I would expect the developers to concentrate on optimizing the data base queries before the start on the various graphic issues we are voicing. I would imagine it being non-trivial and that they want to be certain that the next iteration of a colour scheme is not creating yet another 123165445 posts complaining about strained eyes.

 

I would imagine there are 'reasons' for everything we see here. The reason that we complain in various loud voices and not about the same is that we agree to some of the reasons, and not with others. The poor admins are humans to (I presume), and can on occasion be as dimwitted and obstinate as me, and focus on something else than what 'I" want them to focus on.

 

Me not liking the Social Media buttons are small potatoes to the 1514564 users complaining about all the whiteness, some may even be irked that my complaint for at least two admins replying, but we are yet to hear or see a peep about the whiteness.

 

But good things comes to he who waits, so I will wait.

 

Maybe one day someone can steer me towards the lost spell check option.

 

[condor]

Go to the top right of the page. To the left of your screen name, you should see a little person icon for your notifications and then to the left of that, a little envelope. Click on the envelope to get to your PMs.

 

 

On the top right  - I get top line Forix with a 1 in a red box

next line down I get search ( but only the top part of the letters) forums and icon that when I put my mouse on it says 'advanced search'.

Underneath that I get view new content the 'vie' overwriting the banner ad.

 

I don't get my screen name at all, nor a little person icon, nor a little envelope.

[SophieB]

On the top right  - I get top line Forix with a 1 in a red box

next line down I get search ( but only the top part of the letters) forums and icon that when I put my mouse on it says 'advanced search'.

Underneath that I get view new content the 'vie' overwriting the banner ad.

 

I don't get my screen name at all, nor a little person icon, nor a little envelope.

 

How odd. You don't see something like this?

 

[Ze Bum]

I clicked the gray X on someone's signature and then chose "hide all signatures".

 

Now, is there a way to get the signatures back? I can't find anything.

[Vitesse2]

I clicked the gray X on someone's signature and then chose "hide all signatures".

 

Now, is there a way to get the signatures back? I can't find anything.

Click on your name, top right and go to "My settings". Click on "Ignore preferences" on the left hand side and untick "Ignore all signatures when reading topics and personal messages".

[Costaz]

I clicked the gray X on someone's signature and then chose "hide all signatures".

 

Now, is there a way to get the signatures back? I can't find anything.

 

 

You need to go to 'My settings', and then to the ''Ignore' Preferences' tab, and untick the 'Ignore all signatures when reading topics and personal messages' option.

 

Edit: Ninja'd by Vitesse2

Edited by Costaz, 23 August 2013 - 14:54.

[Ze Bum]

Thanks guys. That was the only place where I didn't look because I have never ignored anybody.

[condor]

How odd. You don't see something like this?

 

 

 

No, I don't.

 

What is interesting is when I saw your post I thought, well that is what I see but you've just posted the middle bit. It's only when I hit the quote button to reply that I now see there's a lot more that I'm missing and my 'view new content' is on a line below the search option.

Your line starting Home and ending Forix has a lot of space to the right of it - whereas my forix has hardly any space to the right of it. It ends approximately where the V of view is.

[Buttoneer]

No, I don't.

 

What is interesting is when I saw your post I thought, well that is what I see but you've just posted the middle bit. It's only when I hit the quote button to reply that I now see there's a lot more that I'm missing and my 'view new content' is on a line below the search option.

Your line starting Home and ending Forix has a lot of space to the right of it - whereas my forix has hardly any space to the right of it. It ends approximately where the V of view is.

Can you post a screenshot?

[milestone 11]

As Sophie said Condor, how odd. However I can replicate your problem. Your resolution size needs changing I think. I am most certainly not sufficiently competent to talk you through that procedure though I'm afraid.

[tifosiMac]

I quite like the new look and think every website needs a refresh every few years to keep things fresh.

[Vitesse2]

Taking my post and condor's together, it seems pretty obvious that whoever "designed" this new look was working on a 16:9 or 16:10 monitor and has set the whole bloody thing up with that in mind in order to fill all possible blank spaces on that. Therefore those of us who are on 4:3 or 5:4 screens are getting a squeezed-up display, which sometimes moves stuff down a line or overlaps two elements.

 

Believe it or not, not everybody has f***-off great big monitors - or even a widescreen laptop.

 

Putting it in basic terms - it should stretch to fit, not shrink to fit.

[Vitesse2]

Can you post a screenshot?

Compare the arrangement of elements top right on my screenshot (ignore the colour scheme) and on SophieB's. Like condor, I'm seeing "View new content" below the search box, not alongside it. Using a 4:3 monitor on a Thinkpad here.

 

edit: It's also added more blank space between the link buttons and the thread title, roughly doubling the wasted real estate at the top.

Edited by Vitesse2, 23 August 2013 - 16:55.