Status of Updates & Fixes

So, size still matters at least for me.

Terri


Seems size of a post also matters as to which posts double up with the Read More and Read Less with posts having less than 8 to 10 lines not doubling up. Here is another example:


Gita, type in the address at the top of your screen or in your search bar rather than use the click-on site.

Holly, Happy Birthday! I hope you were able to enjoy some of the spectacular weather we had today. Read Less

Gita, type in the address at the top of your screen or in your search bar rather than use the click-on site.

Holly, Happy Birthday! I hope you were able to enjoy some of the spectacular weather we had today. …Read More

And the same post after I have clicked on Read Less.

Gita, type in the address at the top of your screen or in your search bar rather than use the click-on site.

Holly, Happy Birthday! I hope you were able to enjoy some of the spectacular weather we had today. Read Less

Only one of the Read More or Read Less works on any of the threads I have tried with double posts.

Okay, It took me 4 0 minutes and 6 tries to post my reply above. Grrrr

When I went to Preview and clicked on the first Post Reply my next screen was another Preview. So I used the second Post Reply option at the bottom of the page and it also went to a second Preview screen. Neither of the second preview screens had any 'message' to preview, just an empty message box. Then I refreshed the thread to see if perhaps my post had posted and saw that several others had posted while I was attempting to post. I tried a second time in Preview with each of the Reply buttons to no avail. I then Refreshed again and noticed that this thread had gone on to a second page, where I found my post! Have no idea why there aren't multiples of my post and why only one version succeeded and which?!!!!!?!

Could posting by others have effected whether or not any of my attempts to post a reply here? Could the code to make a thread add a page have bollixed my posting attempts?

Terry - I was trying to post a comment in an ongoing thread in the Parking Lot.

I would type my post, then when I clicked PREVIEW POST, all the text in the text box for that post was gone. I did it at least 4 times. I tried doing it again and pasting my post into a new window again - and same thing.

~ Attached is a screen capture.

I eventually got it posted by... when i clicked the PREVIEW POST, the window was empty, but I pasted in the box below, where you can make edits, and posted and it finally took.

here is the post http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=10180376

~ Also, I just noticed the backslash is still active in that post. I thought they were gone.

I notice that when you click on "scroll to new" it only sends you to the bottom of the first page, then you go to the second page and click on "scroll to new" then it just sends you to the bottom of the page.

Terry, there is a link at the bottom of tcs1366's post she mentioned. I clicked on it and it opened a separate page that said it was my preview with nothing to preview.

Clicking on a member's name on their post now works, taking one to the member's info page, but has not been added to the list of problems fixed.

Terry, you said date and time were fixed, but I do not see the time, all I see is the date and how many hours or minutes ago it was posted. I would love to see the actual time of a post please?

Yeah I agree with Taters55. It does only say the minutes ago but if it's not the current day, it doesn't even say what time of day the post was.

I haven't seen any improvements since these changes were made. Lots of DGers are at ATP(All things Plants) either from the last set of problems or as an alternative while the bugs are being worked out here. I'm still checking in here but find it very frustrating to get to any of the threads I normally follow. kb

Hi Terry,
I see there's progress that is being made :-)

For a request to work on when the bugs are taken care of - I'm fine with the button(s) being at the side vs at the bottom of each thread, but still request a "Home" button be there as well as a "Back To Top". When I am done reading a thread, my next action is almost always to go back to the Home Page vs going back to the top of the thread that I just read and then clicking to go back to Home from there. Sounds trivial, but it cuts keystrokes in half. Thanks!

Also, please include a POST button next to the PREVIEW POST button.

I edit my posts "in progress", so having to go to the preview site every time is driving me nuts!

Thanks!

I agree with gym girl 100%.

Some of the recent suggestions reminded me of something else that would be nice to have.

We used to be able to "Mark as unread" on the bottom of the page as well as the top. I know it's a minor thing and probably not a priority, but it was really convenient if we wanted to save a thread without the extra step of going to the top.

Terri, if you haven't already done so please alert the tecs to the postin misadventures reported by tcs1366, Tuckersmom and myself? When we make a post and click on PreviewPost, there is no post to preview on the Review your post page.

Thanks

I have to say that I like the 'Back To Top' button that always stays at the lower right hand corner. I guess this thread isn't just for complaints right ;-)

Would it not be useful in threads with multiple pages, to have at the top above the first post a link to "next page" or "page 2, 3, etc."

So from Home you click on a watched thread, then you click "skip to new," then you click the last page (in this case 2), then you do "skip to new" again, then you read the last post, then you type your post, then you do "preview post," then you actually "post reply," and God forbid you want to go to that spot again and read over what you just posted. Good luck getting back to Home again.

I remember being surprised and happy how easy this site was to navigate after having been frustrated/annoyed by many other online experiences.

I know all this is going to be better in the long run.

But can we do something about all the WHITE on the pages?
I have serious visual issues, and the white is just blinding. Before when we
had the colors on the pages for banners and along the sides, it helped break it up.

I am trying to be patient and understanding. I know I am not the only person
having trouble with all the white. And yes, I have changed all the possibilities on
my own computer and the screens to try and work with it.

Thanks much
Debbie

I too just wrote a long post, went to preview it and the whole thing disappeared. No preview and everything I wrote is somewhere in cyberspace. Aaagh.

June, i'll hit the back arrow and it always takes me back to the "lost" post, then I can copy / paste it.

There was a "back to top" thing that I kept accidentally hitting while trying to thumb down. It seems an arrow has been put way down and out of the way.

I'm having no less problems than anyone else here but hey...the previous patched up parts to the site refer to trying to move things forward on a platform that's fifteen years old. I get it and I barely know the on/off button on my computer! So the conundrum becomes "How Do You Keep A Site Running While Replacing An Obsolete Platform". Dave did a good thing when he created this site and then moved on. Those of us who chose to stay, and don't have a foot on either side of the fence, would like to see the negativity stop. There are people who I am calling out that are over at ATP rabble rousing about "mutiny" here. Really. A community is about your input. Terry and Melody have been right up front. Be a positive and helpful part of the process.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2015 8:17 PM

June, the same 'disappearing act' just happened when I tried to start a new thread over on the Test Forum

Eight times in 4 days is way more than a 'glitch' and that's just my experience.

Think I'll see if dmail still works

Guess I still don't understand what they were trying to fix when they messed everything up so badly. I see below "updated threads" where the last posts were in 2007.

Even a basic function like getting to updates on a thread you are watching remain totally (and I mean TOTALLY) messed up.

All these functions are working well at ATP where I am finding lots of friends, oold and new without dealing with crappy Admin.

When does unrewarded loyalty become stupidity?

katie

MayPop.... I too feel the same way.

It will take time to fix the bugs and get things to where they need to be.

While I am not thrilled with some of the changes, in time I'll learn to live with them and they will be 'old hat' just like the last few upgrades.

Remember rewarded loyalty like the cigarette companies? You got free ashtrays. Visa gave away cheesy nylon travel bags and "I'm Preferred" plush bath robes. American Express has all kinds of loyalty points. Having to be stroked for altruism is not part of the social networking experience as I understand it. Maybe somewhere else in that more perfect place.

I am still baffled and amazed as to how those who are working on this process are able to combine new technology with old as we attempt to move forward. When Dave left to start ATP he was able to write a whole new program. He can be on top of it now but eventually that will show wear and tear too. Maybe time to sell another company? Meanwhile, it's about the community here. There are some very faithful folks who want to see it work for the sake of the community.

MaypopLaurel, Sequoiadendron4, tcs1366 and others with similar feelings...Add me to the list. I'm not going anywhere. This is home to me.

Sure, I do my share of complaining when changes occur bringing a new set of glitches with them, but my complaints have boundaries which I won't cross.

I love that we have Terry and Melody to bounce the issues back and forth with. It makes our community feel much smaller and more personal than it really is.

I wish everything, everywhere in my life worked perfectly all the time. Unfortunately, that isn't reality. I can live with that.

The way I see it, Daves G currently serves a positive purpose. I am appreciative of that and so I subscribe. If and when the time comes that it no longer functions for me...adds to the quality of my internet use, provides gardening education, allows for community sharing, and experiences...then I likely won't use it any longer. The relationship with the site (any social media site) should not be work and should not frustrate or aggravate. If the negatives become greater than the positives....It won't be that I take my toys and leave in a huff...but leave I will.. Like everthing in life, we have to pick and choose where our time and energies are spent, and that usually entails a relationship where there is give and take and mutual consideration of needs. Everything in perspective.

This message was edited Dec 15, 2015 3:12 PM

Amen.

MaypopLaurel and others here who are happy -- that is perfectly fine... but I don't understand the anger about Dave and ATP. Life goes on, and life at ATP is good. :)
(and, guess what: you can actually be a member of both sites.)

Weedwhacker, I'm not sure there's any 'anger' at Dave and ATP. I think the irritation is more focused on those who are being openly rude to the people trying to fix the problems. I am a member of ATP and GW but I prefer DG over both of them. I actually prefer GW over ATP. We all have opinions and that's great but being rude and disparaging is unnecessary and ignorant.

Terry or Melody - any progress on planned corrections (specifically, doing something about the need to click on Skip to new and having to click on last page and then having to click again on Skip to new. Of course, doing that each time takes you to the bottom of the page and requiring you to scroll up to actual posts. This is very inefficient and unnecessary (as I know you know). Is fixing that a priority? Please update us.

I think the problem with the disappearing posts is related to an elusive character set on some keyboards. For those of you who have this issue, can you help us test it?

What key are you using to create an apostrophe or double quote mark? Most of us use the key to the right of the L on traditional "QWERTY" keyboard.

Are you by any chance using the little mark to the left of the 1 & ! on your keyboard?

Or is there a chance you have a modified keyboard that does true single/double quote marks - the ones that are slightly rounded with the small curlicues as a flourish, rather than the straight up/down ' and " ?

This has long been an issue, and the reason we've wrestled with it is related to the security of the site, and some safeguards in place to stop a hacker from placing a virus in their post. (Beyond that, I can't give you a more technical reason, but in a nutshell, that's why we've had problems with backslashes and disappearing posts in the past, as the system is "stripping" out anything it perceives as a potential snippet of code.) The solution may be to loosen up and allow more characters, but in the meantime, if we can pinpoint exactly which characters are causing this issue, that will help you, because you can try to avoid them, and help the techs know which one(s) are causing problems.