Status of fixes and to-dos as of January 15

These are all of mine that don't show updated. I haven't looked to see which ones have been moved.

All of my Updated Threads, Watched Forums and Latest Threads are fully current and have been all day. Probably doesn't matter but I do refresh pages often (F5 key) during the day, not just for Dave's Garden but other sites where content changes often. .

Texas gardening, Greenhouse, Cameras and Photography, Insect and Spider Identification, Crafts & Hobbies, Swaps, Trades and Giveaways, Computer Talk and coleus. I have clicked on each one, some have had new postings, some have not.

Garden Items For Sale is still listed, even though it does not exist anymore.

My home page is not updating.

Some but not all of the forums are updating, I just noticed this. The threads seem to be updating tho.

I find that my watched forums do seem to be notifying me of new posts, but once I click into the forum, the headings are not reliably turning green if there are new posts to that thread. I just looked at Propagation and this occurred there. Also Trees and Shrubs, but Photography and Bird Watching it seemed to have worked.

This message was edited Jan 23, 2016 11:46 AM

This message was edited Jan 23, 2016 11:47 AM

Please post a current update regarding fixes. Messages are still going missing after the addition of numerous symbols including, but not exclusively, back slashes, pound sign, or hashtag if preferred, and the ampersand symbol.

In addition to the annoying failed upload message when uploading photos, pics are loading much slower than in the past. Love to share pics but turning gray while they load.

I'm not enchanted with the new time stamp and prefer to know exactly when a post is made whether now or yesterday. Can't imagine why there would be a lack of clarity there.

My devices are not showing current views on all threads. Posts have days and weeks of replies and show zero views. For those of us attempting to post information and photos on forums with low activity there is little recompense if it appears no one is looking. Members can see a frequently viewed thread which might peak their curiosity and encourage participation. The reverse is true as well.

Laurel, I just tested backslash \, forward slash /, pound sign/hashtag #, and ampersand & without any problems.

Terry, Melody & Techs ~ I haven't posted to this thread lately, but I wanted to say THANK YOU for some of the recent fixes - It's wonderful going to the forums page now, both for it's loading speed and because the forums are now updating to show recent activity...YAY!

Also I think all my watched forums and watched threads are updating...ANOTHER YAY!

I can't comment on fixes in areas I haven used recently, but the ones I have used are so much better now.

Thanks for all your hard work!!

Linda, I just logged in as you to look at your home page and everything appears to be current. Can you try again, and let me know if this is still a problem?

And thanks for the heads-up on Garden Items for Sale - you shouldn't see it now.

Forums still not updated are, Greenhouse, Swaps, Trades and Giveaways, Computer Talk and Coleus.

Linda, I sneaked back in under you, posted a test message in a thread in Greenhouses and it is now at the top of your list. After I logged back in under my account, I deleted the test message, so that's why you won't see it :-).

I also snapped a screenshot of the problem for the techs and have filed the report for it - now that I am pretty sure I know what the problem is, I've advised them it's a high priority to fix.

Thanks Terry.

Everything that I think I know is supposed to work is working except one.

The thread I'm watching in Pets forum won't go away from my Updated Threads watch list - no matter how many times I look at it and come back to my home page.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1405192/

Help! (you are welcome to masquerade as me - 6'4" and a beard...)

Gosh, a beard might present a bigger problem than most.

Terry, do I need to go to the test site to see if my situation is anecdotal? It's been consistent. I thought the ampersand was the problem.

Are others saying they are not having a problem with slow loading photos?

My final question is this...why have I seen photos of my orchids, only ever posted to DG, on Googled images? The list of my personally stolen photos is large. I thought those images were proprietary. Very odd when I Google orchids in my collection and see my photos from years past. I have never belonged to nor posted photos on any other site. Since the Orchid forum is a subscriber only site I was puzzled.

Can we agree there is a problem with view counts on some threads?

Yay...I got my calendar today!

Thanks Terry!!

Terry, are they working on notification of new post while you were typing?

Computer Talk isn't updating yet, for me. I think the rest are, though! Thanks for that! =)

I'm not sure which would be harder, the beard or the 14 inches in height I'd have to grow to impersonate you successfully.

But I logged in as you, and then I watched the same thread, and it's behaving the same way for me. After I started clearing out my watched threads list, I found a few others behaving the same way. I've created a trouble ticket for the techs to work from. If anyone else is experiencing this with a specific thread, please post a link to it here - the more examples we have, the more likely we can figure out a common denominator among them.

Please feel free to use the test forum to see if you can replicate the problem with ampersands - I can't. (Other symbols are problematic, and I've reported them. But they aren't symbols on a standard keyboard.)

Slow loading photos may be due to the size of your images. But we have logged the problem with the system giving a false "upload failure" message while the images are uploading.

Regarding view counts...which threads? And why do you believe there's a problem? Just to make sure we're on the same page - each time you view a thread, it counts as a view. So if a count seems really high, it's probably because some people viewed it multiple times. But if there's another issue going on, please explain and give me some examples to look at.

Google scans our site and indexes posts and images. I honestly have no idea how Google decides which images to index. If you find an image used on another site (eBay sellers are notorious for purloining images without permission), let us know. We can issue a takedown demand if your efforts to get their attention are unsuccessful, or you'd prefer we advocate on your behalf.

Hi Terry,
Images of my zinnias have wound up on other sites and have been linked to on this site in the past. It is hard, perhaps impossible, to post an image for view on the Internet without someone "purloining" the image. But, oddly, here on Dave's Garden many of the images require you to be a logged-in-subscribing-member to even see the image. Which makes me wonder if some of this "photo leakage" is due to a registered "mole" who is viewing and purloining the photos. Just a thought.

ZM

Sorry - I overlooked this. But yes, it is on the list of fixes. I don't have an ETA for it yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Hi Terry,
Over in the ID forums, we seem to be missing a, "closed/solved" button. Is this something that can be resurrected? It leaves the ID'ers having to review already solved id's.
Thanks

I'm having a similar issue as VV (without the beard or the 6'4") lol. I got an update, from a thread on the GH forum, yesterday but the last post was on Jan 17th. No matter how many times I "look" at it, it won't go away. Don't even know why it posted all of a sudden. It's not that big of a deal but I thought I'd let you know.

Currently seeing multiple threads on Plant ID forum with repleies but no views. Ask A Daves Gardener; two replies and no views. I've been seeing replies and no views on some Quilting forums and Orchids. How is that? I'm not encouraged to spend time photoing and posting if it appears no one is watching but I'm not sure that's the case. If no views show when there are actual replies maybe people look and don't post. If they look and see no posts or views they might not participate.

The Google explanation was great, but blow me down! I thought it was strictly you and me. Didn't know about them. My photos have appeared rarely on other sites but yes, ebay sellers have used photos from here. I'll definitely let you know.

Mea culpa on saying I've never belonged to another site.
I've joined several but not participated beyond a few posts. This is the only site with my vegetable and orchid photos.

I haven't seen number of views since the update. I thought that was one of the changes or glitches. I don't even see where they would be? That stinks about the pictures feels strange.

Yes we will definitely make sure this capability is readded asap. Thanks for the heads up!

Ohhhhh! I didn't realize that was the issue with thread views vs posts. I will spec that out for the techs as well.

Google has always indexed the site... But if a forum is one of our private forums then you won't see any hint of it in any search results unless you are logged in as a subscriber. Google is a two edged sword...it's how new folks find us but it also means a lot of stuff is out there to help them find us if we've got something they are looking for.

I'm not sure I understand this, Terry. Orchids is a subscriber site yet, when I've researched orchids I've owned and posted for years, I have recognized Google photos posted on Orchids by me. They even bear a Dave's Garden stamp. Are you saying I only see my photos on Google images because I'm a subscriber here and am logged in at the time of search? I def need to check that out.

Update From Internet Brands has five replies and no views. I tried to respond to that thread in support of all you have done but nay. After six sentences my post automatically bounced to a DG site opener.

The view issue has been mentioned before...it hasn't been there,like it used to be, since all the changes started. Does anybody see "views"? There has been jokes about feeling like we are talking to ourselves. I don't even see a place for it.

Orchids is a forum that requires a subscription to participate, but non-subscribers can see it. There are a few forums (such as back porch) that are completely hidden to non-subscribers. Those are the forums that will not appear in Google search results to non-subscribers.

Hi Terry,
I could be wrong about this, but my recollection (from an extended period when I was a non-subscriber) is that you could read the messages, but when you clicked on a photo thumbnail to view it, you got a message that you could not view photos as a non-subscriber. And you couldn't view the photo.

Which raises the question of how Google, as a non-subscriber, could view any of those pictures. And, presumably, if Google couldn't view them, they also couldn't "show" them. That is why I raised the possibility that Google is somehow "enjoying" subscriber status. Possibly via a "mole".

ZM

In regards to Google (or anyone else for that matter) stealing photos: I used to post photos occasionally on Flickr making them available for public viewing. I got uncomfortable when a member from another country seemed to be "faving" all of my pics of a certain subject so I stopped posting altogether.

While looking through Flickr's forums I found quite a few comments from people that actually saw their pics for sale on various screen saver sites.

The best response I read was from someone that said, "If you don't want to take a chance that someone will steal your photos, don't post them on the internet. Or if you want to post them make them viewable only to friends and family". They said there are thieves out there just scanning pictures to steal and it's very easy to do.

Google or anyone else can join DG or any other site and have free access to thousands of pictures. One suggestion I read was to put a large, very visible water mark across the whole pic. At least it makes it not as usable to a thief, but it kind of ruins the picture for the people you want to see it.

I've waffled back and forth for a long time about posting pictures on the internet, but I do get enjoyment out of sharing some of my pics.

I don't think there is a perfect solution. If we want to post our photos on the internet we have to accept some risk. For that matter, we accept some risk every time we use the internet.

Issue number one: Yesterday I discovered the Garden History forum is missing. I have the Today in history on my homepage and the link at the bottom of that redirects to the main forum page. This is the link that is attached to that:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/trivia/all/

Has it been lumped with something else, or is it gone?

Issue number 2:
I tried typing that on the thread, "Changes to the Forums" when I discovered another problem.

There was the standard Post a Reply to this Thread, but when I clicked on the Preview Post button, it took me to a page that said, "This thread has been locked for replies." I see no indication that this was the case. I was able to click my back button to copy what I had written, so I did not lose anything.

Here is a screen shot to show what I saw. The bluish tab is the one I was wanting to post to, so you can see a portion of the subject.

I reported the same problem earlier in this message thread. Not identifying Locked threads as "Locked" is clearly a bug.

Obviously they should not dangle a Message Entry box in front of you in a Locked thread. They should also label as "Locked" the Thread Titles in the Thread List pages. There should also be a "floating" LOCKED THREAD label that sits above the "floating" BACK TO TOP button.

Terry, are you seeing this message? This problem needs to be added to the "To Do" list.

ZM

Hi nutsaboutnature,

I agree with you about the Internet risk thing. But I don't concede that Google has a right to join DG to get pictures. They would be clearly misrepresenting a large institution as an individual member, and that seems very much like fraud. Fraud is a felony.

I love to share photos but am especially careful of the content. This is all news to me. I'm not angry about it but it is food for thought. Thanks to Terry and others for explanations Maybe the lesser quality of tablet photos, in contrast to camera, tripod and background set up, will discourage theft (?).

Zen_Man ~ Please don't misunderstand my intent. The point I was making is that it's easy to do. I never said it was acceptable or right. I think it's distressing that the honest people in the world can't just enjoy the internet without possibly encountering unscrupulous thieves. All I said is we need to accept that it happens and make our choices based on that while being as careful as we can be or choose to be.

Google was just an example I used because it was mentioned in several previous posts. I wasn't implying it's specifically Google. It can be someone outside of Google joining DG and then posting to Google or someone working for Google, or Shmoogle or Moogle or just some individual person having a cup of coffee while stealing photos from the internet.