Test out the new discussion forum

I'm sure it won't take long fo most of us to get used to (and maybe prefer) the new set up. My concern is, as Davydd pointed out, will all of my posts be flagged as inappropriate!

My only suggestion when we switch over to the new format would be to create a new forum in the Miscellaneous section called "The Whine Cellar". All of the inevitable negative comments by the Usual Suspects would be located in one area and Stephen would be able to sift through and see if there were any valid concerns that would require tweaking the settings. After a decent period (30 days?) of mourning for the way things used to be, that forum could disappear in the middle of the night.

quote:

Originally posted by MiamiDon

quote:

Originally posted by The Travelin Man

... there doesn't seem to be a way to bring up an "active topics" list, like the one that we have now. That is the page that I use the most. I usually set it to list all threads since "yesterday," giving me 24 hours of active Roadfood topics.

That's the way that I mostly view the forums, too. I guess that I'll have to type in a "since" time and date repeatedly.

First, this maybe an Admin definable function.
But the only way I see doing this as the setup is now, is to list all topics since last visit. Then on the far right reset your last visit time.

Next the search function seems to allow you to search topics since 1,2,3,ect days. However, it will not allow you to leave the search field blank or use the wildcard (%) by itself and thus list all topics since.

To answer my own question about the RSS feed. From the ASPPlayground.NET website, RSS feeds setup is a part of the forum setup package.

I applaud the switch. Another long-time (non-food) forum I visit switched from Snitz earlier this year - it was fraught with issues and hackers. If as I suspect most of the folks here are multi-forum users, the change will be simple, as they may already be using the same software elsewhere. Cheers!


P.S. - any chance on actually getting the signature feature enabled? It is missed.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

Stephen has all the details, so maybe he'll provide a better answer, but it is my understanding that when the "official" transfer happens, all posts will be rolled over from old to new.

Please keep in mind this new "playground" is basically a test, and anything in there will be over-written when the official roll over happens, so anything posted in the "playground" version will be lost when the official transfer occurs.

Tony is correct. All posts on the new site will be scrapped when the transfer takes place.

quote:

Originally posted by The Travelin Man

Is there a way to view the new threads that have posts - and maybe take you to the oldest unread post in any thread? I have seen that option in some other forums and think it would be helpful here. For that matter, it may already be there and I just need a tutorial on the new joint!

Good question - let me look into that. Thanks!

I was just looking at BuffetBuster's photos in his "My Head's in Mississippi" thread, and again, I am running into the same problem with photos.

For instance, the first two photos, the building and the pie are fine. After that, they are reduced to the half-inch size again. I know I've made no changes.

I made a comment about this on page one and I'm not sure Mr Rushmore has actually addressed it. I know I'm not the only one having this problem. I love this site and I would be crushed if that photos were restriced on me for some unknown, possibly unfixable reason on my side. Can anyone help me out here? What should I look at? Is it a case of me, or the configuration of the new forum?

Thanks,
Pwingsx

I just looked at My Head's in Mississippi in both this forum and the new forum and the photos are exactly the same for me. If people are having problems they should report what OS and browser they are using so it can be investigated or corroborated. I'm on Mac OS X 10.5.5 and Mac FireFox 3.0.4.

For the most part, I think the photos posted on this site are way too large. It is the Internet after all. Photos display perfectly well when people bother to scale them down for the web.
They can retain their size, but will not retain their weight in megabytes which slows everything down for users of the site. The photos are nice, but I don't think anyone is going to download and print an 8' by 10' photo of what you ate last night.

I for one can get the idea with a smaller resolution. If the new system does this automatically, I am all for it. It is long overdue and a great improvement.

The photos look fine to me too. Yes, please tell me which browser and version number you are using so we can troubleshoot it. Thanks!

I am also using the latest version of Firefox.

BTW, I would like to give the forums another week of testing before making the switch - that will give you guys plenty of time to spot the bugs and for me to find a resolution.

The new site will be fine, My only comment is that it looks identical to that other "rogue" food site.

The only issue I am currenly seeing using internet explorer ver 6.0 as a browser is when I looked at trip reports the photos showed up very very tiny about the size of the word The....
I don't know if this is a temporary thing, but it is a problem for me.

I tried "Thanksgiving in Springfield", and "My Head's in Miss.."
and the pics are fine in this forum and teeny weeny in the new one.


My OS is windows XP Professional, on a pretty new dell laptop
(I'm not allowed to use firefox-it's a work computer issue-thing-)
Thanks!

Internet Explorer 6 is a 7+ year old browser riddled with issues. In the interest of progress, we will probably no longer support that browser. In the interest of your own security and browsing experience, I suggest you upgrade.

quote:

Originally posted by irisarbor

The only issue I am currenly seeing using internet explorer ver 6.0 as a browser is when I looked at trip reports the photos showed up very very tiny about the size of the word The....
I don't know if this is a temporary thing, but it is a problem for me.

I tried "Thanksgiving in Springfield", and "My Head's in Miss.."
and the pics are fine in this forum and teeny weeny in the new one.


My OS is windows XP Professional, on a pretty new dell laptop
(I'm not allowed to use firefox-it's a work computer issue-thing-)
Thanks!

I have been playing around with several OS and versions of IE. On a set up similar to your...but with XP home...I see the same issue, but I notice if I hit F5 or "reload" the pictures then come up at their normal or intended size.

I know this isn't a full solution, as it means an extra step, but it seems to work for me.

I know IE6 is an older version, but IE7 has many features incompatible with some business software. This is why I still run IE6 on some machines. IE7 also hogs a ton of desktop!

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

quote:

Originally posted by irisarbor

The only issue I am currenly seeing using internet explorer ver 6.0 as a browser is when I looked at trip reports the photos showed up very very tiny about the size of the word The....
I don't know if this is a temporary thing, but it is a problem for me.

I tried "Thanksgiving in Springfield", and "My Head's in Miss.."
and the pics are fine in this forum and teeny weeny in the new one.


My OS is windows XP Professional, on a pretty new dell laptop
(I'm not allowed to use firefox-it's a work computer issue-thing-)
Thanks!

I have been playing around with several OS and versions of IE. On a set up similar to your...but with XP home...I see the same issue, but I notice if I hit F5 or "reload" the pictures then come up at their normal or intended size.

I know this isn't a full solution, as it means an extra step, but it seems to work for me.

I know IE6 is an older version, but IE7 has many features incompatible with some business software. This is why I still run IE6 on some machines. IE7 also hogs a ton of desktop!

Another work-around for the teeny photos is to put your cursor on the first one, right click, and hit Properties. It should bring all of them up to normal size.

I think we ARE required to use IE6 to support all our work web-based apps, but I will double-check on it

The re-loading didn't work for me,
but the right click, propertied did...
not ideal, but not too cumbersome.

Iris if it helps, as long as you don't change your 'preferred' browser to Firefox, you still should be able to download and use it alongside IE. Firefox also interferes with a lot of adware so you might find you like it.

I do like firefox Nancy, and use it on the home computer,
it just "verboten" on the work laptop.
and you KNOW how IT depts can get.....
you have to work with whatever they deign to give you,
and be glad they don't block your beloved roadfood and yahoo.....

I use IE 6.0 also on Windows XP. If right-clicking on my mouse will work, I am willing to use it as a work-around. I'll have to try it.

If IE 7 uses a lot of desktop, I'm not thrilled at the idea of upgrading. But the photos are probably 75% of the pleasure I take in Roadfood.

I use IE 7.0.6.001 and this loads so much faster than the old forum. FWIW, I can't wait.

The last time I bought a new computer, I did it because I wanted to watch the videos on Youtube. My old machine was just not fast enough for anything but the earliest streaming video formats. But, this new software package, as far as I am able to determine, is just going to be the samo samo alphanumberic message board, emoticons, and still pictures. The problem with upgrading to IE7 is that some users may have older computers that IE7 will not run on, either due to sunset Windows operating systems such as Win2K Pro, or not enough hardware resources. And, how often are we supposed to go out and buy a new computer?

The software vendor has a FAQ which states the package is compatible with all current browsers. Now, that is a weasel statement, but read it for yourself:
http://www.aspplayground.net/forum/What-are-the-browser-requirements-m373889.aspx
I think it is fair to say that IE6 falls within the 99% of browser usage. Many users here report they are still using IE6, often for compatability reasons with "higher priority" applications on their computer (which usually means the boss's computer and they are visiting this site on company time.)

The question here is whether the picture problem is a problem with the software package as licensed from the software vendor, or a customization problem confined to Roadfood.com. One way to test this is to find some other site using the same package, registering, and posting something, if you can find site running version 3.1.5, which I was unable to do. Of course if you post a picture of a Five Guys hamburger on a (sex) porno site, they may delete it for being off topic.

I found a few sites that are now using ASPPlayground.NET Forum Commercial Version 3.2. This site has a photo gallery:
http://www.commuterclub.org/forum/Photo-Gallery-f167.aspx
Maybe some of the people having trouble could view the pictures on other sites to see if the problem is localized to Roadfood.

Besides, that ASPPlayground.NET Forum Commercial Version 3.1.5 software is hopelessly outdated. You have to immediately upgrade to version 3.2:
http://www.aspplayground.net/news.asp

This merry-go-round never stops.

quote:

Originally posted by RubyRose


Another work-around for the teeny photos is to put your cursor on the first one, right click, and hit Properties. It should bring all of them up to normal size.

I tried this and it works for me, though you have to repeat it for each thread. I can live with that. Thank you, Rubyrose!

I notice in the new forum

quote:

http://www.roadfood.com/aspplayground

The reply box is almost invisible on my computer IE Explorer6 but when I switch over to Safari(Apple browser) the outline gets highlighted and that makes it easy to see.

Safari & Firefox are all free downloads.I have them all.
I think I will start viewing this site in Safari.

very moderne but it kinda looks just like a slicker version of what we have so i'm assuming all the whiz bang is operational. but either way i appreciate all the hard work in maintaining and improving and any nit picking by me or anyone else should be taken with many grains of salt. Kudos for all your hard work and dedication and i'm sure in 6months people will be saying "when is the new version coming out"
but sincerely thank you from all of us who just sign on an play with out a care thanks to youse guys. and if your ever in the nyc vacinity let me take you roadfooding some afternoon on my tab.

what are we getting rewarded for?

I have a habit of screwing up my log book entries. Will there be a way to edit or delete them?

Yes, you can already do that. Search for them and make changes.

Hey Stephen, I don't want to go steady, but can you hold my hand on this one.

Example: Brooklyn Ice cream, I have a double log book entry. How do I delete one? And how would I change it to a published review?

Thanks,
Joe

Maybe, if it hasn't been mentioned- adding a totally non-roadfood tech section. This would deal with, camera, computer, and other technical questions that would help some of us enjoy the website even more. Maybe too far off-topic, just a thought.