Classic AquaSport
General Aquasport Forums => Web Site Issues, Good and Bad => Topic started by: RickK on September 20, 2014, 09:24:27 AM
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Hi All, we're doing a little reorganization in the rebuilds forum. We're going to be grouping the rebuilds to make them easier to find so please excuse our dust :wink:
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Will my rebuild be moved to the appropriate category?
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Hi Steve - all rebuilds will be moved eventually (mine too). I'm starting at the last page and going through them so it'll be a while before we get to page 1 :D
The end result will be better organization and easier to find information. That's our goal at least.
Let me know if you, or anyone, have suggestions on this subject.
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That sounds cool. Will they still be visible the way it is now with the most active topics first?
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yup. Just in a new sub forum - where should we put yours since you have some 200 CCP stuff on your 246CCP? :lol:
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I would think the older one "http://www.classicaquasport.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3858" should go in 200 ccp and the newer one "http://www.classicaquasport.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7670 " should go in 246ccp, no? Even though there is some cross over I think that is where they will be most applicable, especially when the 246 is finished
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I was just kidding - I'll split them into the right home when I get to them.
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In a lot of the older rebuilds the photos are gone. Is there a way to fix that as they were a good source of reference?
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Kevin, if the pics were off PB, Picsaweb, or another host, and the poster rearranged his folders there, then the pics are gone until the poster puts them back where they were. I haven't deleted or moved anything in my PB account in God know's how long, as something I posted 5 years ago may still be relavent to someone. I'm now at 70% full on my free storage on PB...
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No Bob it wasn't through PB, they are just on the thread now gone. I am a Mod on 2 other boards and know how the systems work. I think a lot went away during the switch. I do know that some where hosted on sites that do no exist anymore so I get that part.
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No Bob it wasn't through PB, they are just on the thread now gone. I am a Mod on 2 other boards and know how the systems work. I think a lot went away during the switch. I do know that some where hosted on sites that do not exist anymore so I get that part.
We're talking about REALLY old posts - 2005-2007. If they were on an off-site host and the member deleted them (being a good steward of server space) or the host went defunct then they are now empty links that I can't fix. If they are pics on our site I can track them down (or CB can) and re-connect them - maybe not.
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No Bob it wasn't through PB, they are just on the thread now gone.
Would you post a link to one of the threads you are referring to so I can take a look at it.
I am a Mod on 2 other boards and know how the systems work. I think a lot went away during the switch.
Well then you can help me a lot because I've been a Mod here for some time and how the web host does his thing is not my forte. Therefore, it would be greatly appreciated if you can give me examples of what you're seeing.
Thanks.
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No Bob it wasn't through PB, they are just on the thread now gone.
Would you post a link to one of the threads you are referring to so I can take a look at it.
Thanks.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=702 (http://www.classicaquasport.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=702)
In the very first post, you see where there is a small block where a photo was and a link to other photos. If you put your mouse over that block and it does not show a link, then it is permanently attached to the thread and should be there. This is not the case. There are other great rebuilds that have the same issue. You have the empty square where a photo was but the pic gone.
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Some of these challenges may not be fixable unfortunately. I'll give it my best shot but there are not even a hint to what was there before. I also see some links to posts are broken too - not sure if this happened over the years due to upgrades or what. These type of things are easier to resolve though. We'll keep trying to fix them as we find them though.
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http://www.classicaquasport.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=702
In the very first post, you see where there is a small block where a photo was and a link to other photos. If you put your mouse over that block and it does not show a link, then it is permanently attached to the thread and should be there. This is not the case. There are other great rebuilds that have the same issue. You have the empty square where a photo was but the pic gone.
Here lies the problem (I think).
I can't see what your browser is showing but on mine I see the word "image" apparently where you see the blank space.
I can right click on that and get a menu that allows me to see the image information. Clicking on that, I retrieve a link to that image which sadly is now broken (this did not occur on the change of servers). Further down in this same post is another link (clearly visible to me) that is also broken. Both the "image link" and the posted link lead (at one time anyway) to the member's third party photo host. These links have been broken (for whatever reason by the member, not the site) and I cannot retrieve the photos.
This member and others have chosen to "remove" their pics either by the actions (accidental) stated by SB in his post above, on purpose to gain space on the host site for new photos or just because they got pissed about something on this Forum and took their pics and went home.
I understand your frustration but it isn't due to something the Forum has done. That is just not the case.
I have spent several years going through the threads here since I was asked to be a Mod (long before the switch).
I cleaned up 35 pages of posts in the Classifieds alone and have seen this very same thing (member deleted pics). I've tried to follow the links and retrieve these but with my limited ability, I have failed. We had a member here recently who was working in his Gallery and accidentally deleted all his photos. We had no way of getting them back so he had to reload them back on his rebuild thread.
Anyway, unless I'm misreading what you posted, it's weird you see blank spaces rather than broken links or the word 'image". :scratch:
Thanks for posting.
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Rick and CB, Many thanks for all your efforts!!!! :salut:
The amount of your time that this consumes I can not fathom..... WOW!
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Here's an example of a console rebuild.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=140 (http://www.classicaquasport.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=140)
Again, I see (in blue font) where the member (Seadog) had placed either a pic or link to, his progress on the project. Clicking on that shows that the pic was but is not now, in the Photo Gallery data base (where he originally had placed it apparently). Visiting the Photo Gallery, clicking on members and then searching the letter "S" shows that Seadog has 111 photos in the Gallery. A whole sh*tload of them are of this console project. Further search shows that at some time Seadog decided to "name" his photos and place them into "albums". This (again as SB mentioned siting PB) then broke the original links and they were never re-established.
OK, so what?
Well, we have two options. First is to just edit his posts and insert the album links and add a "Note" at the beginning of the thread saying same so it doesn't seem so disjointed.
Second is that I could break each photo down (the file names still have the order) and work though so as to place the original photo in the same space. This will take time and I'm not really sure most members really care. It a good bet that Seadog won't get involved because he last visited the Forum 6 years ago. A lot can change in someone's life over 6 years.
Point to all this is that we can do only so much and we are trying to get the site more organize for members to use as a reference tool. Members who remove photos for any reason don't give us anything else to do but delete the thread if it makes no sense. Hopefully we can match pics in the Gallery with threads as we sift through them and possibly increase their value to our active and future members.
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Yup, some of this is going to be a little painful. I think some of the broken links to threads in some of these posts could be a result of some of the moving of topics over the years. Hopefully this will be the last time posts need to be moved/reorganized.
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I know that this will take a little time and patience :scratch: , but a quick ?, I was trying to look at the rebuild section and after logging in it popped up that I didn't have the authority to view them..I will try again later today or in a day or two and if still can't access will send you an email to advise ..
Thanks for all you guys do to keep this site up and moving forward.
Garry
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Bob, Rick,
You guys are doing an excellent job in undertaking what appears to be a monumentally boring task...a yeoman's effort, so to speak. Well done!
Since I use PB, I don 't change a thing in my albums/folders, haven't since I've been a user. God knows how many pics I've put out there, and, by some strange reason one of those pics may be helpful to someone, well, it's still there. So for any PB users, think about the pics you have posted before you go consolidating your albums, re-naming your pics, or deleting them altogether.
As I said earlier, I'm around 70% of my free storage on PB, I'd like to get it down to 50% or less. God knows I've got a ton of pics on there that don't mean a hill of beans to anyone...probably not even me. Hopefully my paring down of my PB account won't F anybody up...
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I know that this will take a little time and patience :scratch: , but a quick ?, I was trying to look at the rebuild section and after logging in it popped up that I didn't have the authority to view them..I will try again later today or in a day or two and if still can't access will send you an email to advise ..
Thanks for all you guys do to keep this site up and moving forward.
Garry
Hi Garry, were you able to view the posts? Anyone else not able to access any of the new forums and sub-forums?
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It appears 86Aqua has the same problem.
I've forwarded his PM to you. It may be they were trying to access while you were adjusting the new forums. :scratch:
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Can anyone see this post?
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Can anyone see this post?
I can see this post Bob
I can't see any of the forums unless I'm logged in. Without being logged in, all I can see is a message stating "this board has no forums." Also, I can only access a few of the forums, and clicking View Active Topics only returns this topic
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Can anyone see this post?
Nope... :shock: :wink:
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Jessie, Marc texted me today, said he was having similar issues. Since I never log out, all has been fine for me...
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It's a permissions thing - working it now.
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Was inaccessible all day. Just now given the chance to log-in.
Can now see the forums.
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I must have been special...
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It should all be good now :cheers:
I found a bug in php that I didn't know was there and apparently they didn't either. It is a permissions thing.
Whew - stressful few hours.
If anyone has any areas they can't get in let me know plz. If you're a registered user (which if you're logged in you are), then you should be able to get into all the forums and posts now. I logged in as a regular user and I can see everything.
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Well just got back and see all seems good.
SB, I was working on the Forum in the office and like yourself was logged on all day. That explains why I could only get on there and not on my phone after I got home.
What a mess. :?
Just cleared my phone of Firefox cache and finally can get on. :salut:
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Good work fellas. Can see everything now, even as a visitor.
Also checked the Photo Gallery. Running on non-eth 93 Octane :thumright:
Back up to snuff...post 'em up members!! :cheers:
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Thanks guys for the update/renovation! :salut:
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I'm good now
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By the time CB and I are done the site should be so much easier to find what you're looking for.
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OK,
Here's a new dilemma for me and maybe others.
I've been moving rebuilds around to their new homes.When I refresh, I notice the "New Post" indicator (pic to the left of the forum title) is highlighted. Upon clicking, I see that I have already read the latest post so.....
Check the last date post shown on the far right. If it's today's date, then check for a new post.
OK, let's see what else I can screw up. :mrgreen:
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If you start seeing this (I see it too), there is a "Mark topic read" at the top of each forum (on the right side of bar just under "New Topic" button) - scan the dates, if you've read them already, click that button.
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So we've made the first pass through the rebuild forum and separated everything out - still a little ways to go though, another pass or so to see if we can sort the rest or just leave it in the generic forum. (My eyes are bleeding :cyclops: )
What is your initial opinion as you learn the layout and such? Any easier to find stuff?
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Rick, mentioned to CB earlier this is night and day over how it was before. Like how it is organized by model. Really makes it easy for the members, especially new members, to research their boat and potential rebuild procedures.
Hat's off to you guys!! :salut:
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It really brings to light how many rebuild examples we have of each model. Bet some of the old timers will start reading some of the old threads too :mrgreen:
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I may be a unique case as I like to read all the rebuilds and chime in where I can. With that said I have to say I liked the old format better for that purpose. Yes, the new format catalogs and separates the categories better for research but I definitely feel disconnected from the most recent posts across all builds. I guess I will have to take more steps and click more topics to see what everyone is up to.... But will everyone else? Will the person who may have a great answer to my generic dilemma navigate many pages and topics to find me as easily as they did when it's was all under one topic? There is a ton of useful overlap that applies to fiberglass boats in general which may be lost in the new sectionalizing of the site. It may have made it easier to search a specific model but I think the group dynamic will suffer and replys will diminish greatly. Sorry to be a downer but I feel disconnected from the builds I was following. Maybe it will grow on me and I will have an " ah ha" moment on how it works now but I liked the prior format better.
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Very nice Rick,
Just surfed through the topics and it is very well organized. You and CB have put a bunch of time and effort into this. I found it very easy to find what I was looking for. Sure you have to do a little digging but that's typical when your doing research. I also found the most recent posts to be available in each catagory, for me, easy to track. Hats off!
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I may be a unique case as I like to read all the rebuilds and chime in where I can. With that said I have to say I liked the old format better for that purpose. Yes, the new format catalogs and separates the categories better for research but I definitely feel disconnected from the most recent posts across all builds. I guess I will have to take more steps and click more topics to see what everyone is up to.... But will everyone else? Will the person who may have a great answer to my generic dilemma navigate many pages and topics to find me as easily as they did when it's was all under one topic? There is a ton of useful overlap that applies to fiberglass boats in general which may be lost in the new sectionalizing of the site. It may have made it easier to search a specific model but I think the group dynamic will suffer and replys will diminish greatly. Sorry to be a downer but I feel disconnected from the builds I was following. Maybe it will grow on me and I will have an " ah ha" moment on how it works now but I liked the prior format better.
Koz,
I won't argue your feelings because change is often hard (more so for old guys like me) but let me give you something to ponder.
The Forum has been in existence since early 2005. Over this period of time, a great deal of information along with a fair amount of chaff has been accumulated in the various forums. During my tenure here, I've found that most members rarely scan deeper than the first page or two of the individual forum they're reading and as such, don't utilize the Forum to its full potential. I'd guess the vast majority of members who use this Forum for obtaining the data they are searching for, may or may not find what they are seeking and move on. This would also include "lurkers" like myself who use internet forums like THT and Continuous Wave for the exact same purpose.
That stated, our hope was to break out the information lying dormant in this Forum and make it more accessible to both members and guests. In its past form, it often reminded me of a coffee can of fasteners (screws, nuts, bolts, washers etc.). When I needed a fastener for a project, I would dump the can out on the table and scatter the stuff around looking for what I needed. After I found it (or did not find) I then pushed all the fasteners back in the can and placed it back on the shelf.
The Forum was (and still is in sections) a lot like that one can but as we move forward, we have created smaller cans to place our information in and place on the shelf. Certainly more cans to shift through but but less data per can and since they are labeled, logic would dictate they should help us find that data easier.
New posts to a thread still are highlighted as it always was (think no change).
The active threads are at the top (or close to) of their forum page (think no change).
Now data is more concentrated (think change).
More mouse clicks are needed for navigation (again change).
What has really changed is the ability to find things. We are in some cases adding to the original thread title so members can spot a topic of interest without having to wade through the thread. All of this is change and it will take time. Time to implement and time to adjust.
Give it a little time. :thumright:
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Thanks Bob. It's not that I hate it although I guess I'm getting older and resistant to change. I can see reason for the points made but that's also what the "search" function is for. When I go to google.com there aren't any categories. I put in what I'm looking for and it takes me right there. I've browsed the categories and my concern is that there are many categories combined in our builds which make them too broad to place in a boat model category alone. The 100 plus page Delmarva build covers every category by itself. I agree that a single "rebuild" category ends up a jar of screws but again that's what the search is for to pinpoint a keyword of interest. I guess time will tell but I still believe that fracturing the site to this extent is going to hurt the broad input posts that make this site such an incredible resource in the first place
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I'm pretty much with you on this one, Steve, but I'm hoping that it is just that I need to get used to the new format. I used to go to the rebuild forum to see the latest updates. Lately I've been clicking on the "view new posts" button in the upper right so I can see all the new posts on all the forums. If you don't do this, perhaps you should give it a try. It may make keeping up with things a little easier.
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Good thinking Craig.
And Steve, I get it, the continuity of new posts is a great reason to check the board...and important from a "cutting edge" standpoint.
Personally.... I like the rebuilds divided based upon model/organization. And Craig's suggestion gives us the best of both worlds.
So....lets go forward and see how it shakes out. I'm not a moderator, but perhaps there can be a "new posts" forum added to the rebuilds if we come to that consensus. As always, this is a member's board. Whatever it takes has been my experience.
Rick and Bob....you've done a great job... and we're appreciative :salut:
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The problem I was seeing is that there were pretty much two forums where everything landed - Rebuilds and Engine, even if it had nothing to do with either. So we became accustomed to coming to just a couple forums and all updated threads were there and all at the top. The vast information below those upper ones was rarely ever looked at - especially 37 pages worth of it in the rebuild forum.
Having the new organization is going to make it so easy for someone to find what they are looking for and for us that read every post, remember that the icons light up when there is a new post in a forum. All the forums/subforums are visible from the front page so you can scan down the list and go where they are lit. Or do what Craig is suggesting - works well if you want a one stop spot to view the new topics or updates.
When we're finished there will not be a reason why a new or old member can't find what they're looking for now - for example, I need to find info on how to install a bilge pump, there is an Electrical and Plumbing forum where all that is now - you hopefully wouldn't look in the engines forum for that (and that was where they used to be). CB's analogy of the jars of screws was brilliant and spot on - it was getting to a point where we couldn't find info easy and most never even tried.
We have matured into being the site to come to for Aquasport info and help, so we need to make it easy. When you have the amount of data we have there is a lot of work behind the scenes to keep it simple. For example, putting subjects on each topic that describe what the topic is about, which helps searching is one simple thing that will help. I found a topic that had 10 question marks as the subject - that helped members a lot.
So, change is a little painful but in a week or two it'll all make sense, especially if you want to find something. Bear with us, we'll be culling things for some time to come.
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Wow Craig, as obvious as that button is I never "saw" the view new posts button. Thank you for that suggestion as that helps put me back on track. I look forward to more great stuff from the site. Thanks everyone !
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Hi All,
On Jan 2, 2015 we will be shutting the site down (7AM) and migrating to SMF forum software. When we come back up, hopefully the same day, we will have a fresh new look with new themes and offer 3 themes for you to choose from.
We have been testing SMF for several months now and it is a solid forum software with good support and is easier to deal with than phpBB.
If you have any questions let me know.
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Avish is thinking 9-10AM for shutting down the site, so you'll have time to check the site in the AM for latest info.
Happy New Year everyone :cheers: :rendeer: :king: :bigsmurf: :clown: :shaking2: :drunken:
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Hi everyone,
It appears since everyone's basically offline and still in recovery mode from last night (I know I still am lol), I'm going to go ahead and do the switch over to the new software.
Cheers,
Avish