What Have I Missed?

[Admin 14,791]

Please read this thread first: http://peefans.com/index.php?/topic/7387-were-back/

 

Whilst I occasionally checked back to the site after the new administrator took over, I have missed a lot of what has been going on.

Firstly, I think the name change (PeeFans) is excellent, and far better reflects what this site has become. 

Secondly, the forum is now running different software. To those that remember the original software (xenForo for anyone familiar), which of the two do you prefer? Presumably there are positives and negatives to both, although I am reluctant to switch back to the original unless consensus is exceptionally strong as this could cause more potential problems. Whilst the new software is more expensive, it does seem more robust in terms of additional features available.

Finally, I'd love to hear what else I've missed. Please fill me in on any major developments. :) 

[bpb 788]

I liked that original (xenForo) better than the current form (IPS).  I would like for this to be taken as a soft vote.  However, there are things that I miss from the original form.

I miss the birthday panel and was using it as a way to estimate the percentage of active people who had listed their birthdays.

I miss the ability to look up a person's Profile even if their Avatar was to available due to not being on for a long time.

There seemed to be more readable information on the Profiles under the old system.  Take for example Vikka's where she explains her bipolar situation.

I like the present Online Users somewhat better than the old users active.  The old form allowed one to go incognito where I haven't found this action on this present form.

If going back raises many possibilities of problems then I would vote to staying on the present forum.

[Admin 14,791]

4 minutes ago, bpb said:

I liked that original (xenForo) better than the current form (IPS).  I would like for this to be taken as a soft vote.  However, there are things that I miss from the original form.

I miss the birthday panel and was using it as a way to estimate the percentage of active people who had listed their birthdays.

I miss the ability to look up a person's Profile even if their Avatar was to available due to not being on for a long time.

There seemed to be more readable information on the Profiles under the old system.  Take for example Vikka's where she explains her bipolar situation.

I like the present Online Users somewhat better than the old users active.  The old form allowed one to go incognito where I haven't found this action on this present form.

If going back raises many possibilities of problems then I would vote to staying on the present forum.

Once everything with the new transfer is fully sorted and everything completely back to normal, I'll be sure to take a look at trying to introduce these features. I am not as familiar with the new software either, so I can't make any guarantees, but some of those features should definitely be possible. :)

[bpb 788]

28 minutes ago, Admin said:

Once everything with the new transfer is fully sorted and everything completely back to normal, I'll be sure to take a look at trying to introduce these features. I am not as familiar with the new software either, so I can't make any guarantees, but some of those features should definitely be possible. :)

Maybe sometime in the future you can start a thread where we discuss old verse new features.

I certainly don't want to jeopardize this forum by trying to insert a new feature that doesn't fit in well with the software.

[Admin 14,791]

Just a quick observation though - there is a calendar feature ( http://peefans.com/index.php?/calendar/ ) that does provide a list of birthdays. Is this similar to what you were looking for?

As for the other things you mentioned:

- You can still look people up without avatars using the advanced search function.

- If people go to their profile and select 'edit profile', they can 'enable status updates' which brings back the discussion section on their profiles - it's simply an optional feature here rather than the default as before. 

- The last thing you mentioned sounds like a positive.

 

So actually, I think some of these things may already exist, just are maybe not as well known? :)

[likesToLick 10,216]

This current software has some nice features, we are able to include higher definition pictures in posts, as one example.

On the previous server it was set up with https secure sockets layer communication,  which was nice for the privacy of members, though it did make things run a little slower on some computers.  (I presume there are costs associated with doing that again, e.g paying for the SSL certificate, and possibly a greater load on the server for the encryption.)

Some moderators have remarked that they have better control with the new software.

I have become used to the new one now,  so I vote to continue using it.

[F.W 5,734]

Dont understand the question...

[Sophie 24,412]

7 minutes ago, fannywatcher said:

Dont understand the question...

What forum do you prefer? The one we've had for the past few months, or the one we first had.

[F.W 5,734]

Oh thank you.Im not really techy enough to know what xenforo is etc.

[F.W 5,734]

I liked the original layout.But its all good.

[bpb 788]

1 hour ago, Admin said:

Just a quick observation though - there is a calendar feature ( http://peefans.com/index.php?/calendar/ ) that does provide a list of birthdays. Is this similar to what you were looking for?

So actually, I think some of these things may already exist, just are maybe not as well known? :)

On the old calendar there was a list of everyone who had a birthday on that date.  I rather enjoyed wishing each one of them who appeared to have been on in the recent past a "Happy Birthday"

I went to the present date on the calendar and found that there were 46 birthday on today's date.  I clicked on 46 to see if I could see who they were and I got a very short list with no clue as to their activity, also no clue as to how to see the rest of the list.

I went to my own birth date to see if was listed.  The list was very short and I was not on the list, nor was Vikka's who I know that have the same birth date.

[Admin 14,791]

5 minutes ago, bpb said:

On the old calendar there was a list of everyone who had a birthday on that date.  I rather enjoyed wishing each one of them who appeared to have been on in the recent past a "Happy Birthday"

I went to the present date on the calendar and found that there were 46 birthday on today's date.  I clicked on 46 to see if I could see who they were and I got a very short list with no clue as to their activity, also no clue as to how to see the rest of the list.

I went to my own birth date to see if was listed.  The list was very short and I was not on the list, nor was Vikka's who I know that have the same birth date.

Do you not see the 'view all' button underneath the short list? If not, it may be those members have not selected to publicly display their birth day. 

As for when they were most active, simply click on their profile and it says when they were last online. :)

If you can't see these things, it may be a permissions issue, as I can. If so, let me know.

I also edited my post above with responses to your other comments. 

[bpb 788]

11 minutes ago, Admin said:

Do you not see the 'view all' button underneath the short list? If not, it may be those members have not selected to publicly display their birth day. 

As for when they were most active, simply click on their profile and it says when they were last online. :)

If you can't see these things, it may be a permissions issue, as I can. If so, let me know.

I also edited my post above with responses to your other comments. 

Sorry, I missed the view all button.  With this I saw the entire list.  As the Avatars are there I could get to the Profiles to wish them the "Happy Birthday" where I use to drop the greeting.  I am not sure that every Profile has the permission to be written on.

[Admin 14,791]

14 minutes ago, bpb said:

Sorry, I missed the view all button.  With this I saw the entire list.  As the Avatars are there I could get to the Profiles to wish them the "Happy Birthday" where I use to drop the greeting.  I am not sure that every Profile has the permission to be written on.

Great, glad it's all working. You're right though, a lot of users haven't changed their setting to allow profile posts, though you can always privately message them instead. 

[Admin 14,791]

@bpb, I've added a list of tday's birthdays to the bottom of the homepage - clicking their username will take you to their profile. :)

[nopjans 1,178]

There are pros and cons to each forum software. Given how difficult it was for the previous Admin to migrate to this one, I worry about any additional downtime for a migration back. I also prefer the way this forum displays images.

[bpb 788]

3 hours ago, Admin said:

@bpb, I've added a list of tday's birthdays to the bottom of the homepage - clicking their username will take you to their profile. :)

I feel like a klutz trying to find my way around.  I have not been able to locate this homepage with the birthday list for the day. :-(

[Sophie 24,412]

2 minutes ago, bpb said:

I feel like a klutz trying to find my way around.  I have not been able to locate this homepage with the birthday list for the day. :-(

It's underneath the chatbox 

[steve25805 126,154]

As a mod I would like to say that one problem with the original system is that the Admin who inherited it could never figure out how to give mods the powers necessary. Apparently, it wouldn't allow mods to have the power to even temporarily ban people. This became a real problem when members with a grudge started incessant trolling. The forum has been a far friendlier place since mods have had the ability to shut down trouble makers quickly. It is essential that mods retain these powers.

Also, the original format included a number of negative icons. Unfortunately, one or two members were using these for negative judgementalist reasons, calculated to dissuade newbies from making further contributions just because THEY didn't like their first posts. And at least one now banned member was blatantly using them for overt troll-like purposes. I don't think negative icons serve any constructive purpose at all.

One thing I do like about the new format is that it generally allows for much larger pics.

But the old format had it's virtues. It was - for example - easier to find the newest posts.

Still, change is disruptive and maybe it is better to stick with what we have for now.

[bpb 788]

2 hours ago, Sophie said:

It's underneath the chatbox 

Thanks,  I found it.  I will think about some Birthday Greetings now. I saw one that I posted two years ago.

[Admin 14,791]

2 hours ago, steve25805 said:

As a mod I would like to say that one problem with the original system is that the Admin who inherited it could never figure out how to give mods the powers necessary. Apparently, it wouldn't allow mods to have the power to even temporarily ban people. This became a real problem when members with a grudge started incessant trolling. The forum has been a far friendlier place since mods have had the ability to shut down trouble makers quickly. It is essential that mods retain these powers.

Also, the original format included a number of negative icons. Unfortunately, one or two members were using these for negative judgementalist reasons, calculated to dissuade newbies from making further contributions just because THEY didn't like their first posts. And at least one now banned member was blatantly using them for overt troll-like purposes. I don't think negative icons serve any constructive purpose at all.

One thing I do like about the new format is that it generally allows for much larger pics.

But the old format had it's virtues. It was - for example - easier to find the newest posts.

Still, change is disruptive and maybe it is better to stick with what we have for now.

All good points, though primarily all in favour of the new system. I know it's early in the voting, but the current system seems to be the more popular. To avoid further site complications, I think it's worth paying the extra anyway. I just wanted to check that generally people were happy with how things are. As I said, any features 'missing' can potentially be introduced on this new software too, just tell me what you'd like to see (as it seems we will be continuing with it).

The one criticism of this system you mentioned is the ease of finding new posts. However, there's an 'activity' tab in the navigation bar ( http://peefans.com/index.php?/discover/ ) that has all of the latest posts/threads, you can even segment this by 'unread posts' and 'content I follow'. I can add recent posts to the sidebar too if people would prefer it, but I figured new trending threads was more appropriate. 

[Admin 14,791]

@bpb sorry to bring back a feature only to take it away again, but I've decided that the current birthday system wasn't very effective. 

The calendar remains unchanged if you want to see the full list as it was before, but the birthdays have now moved to the homepage sidebar (right hand side, near the bottom of page) and only display members who've actually posted content on the site before. A list of 100 names we've never heard of is useless, whereas a much shorter list of names of people who actually regularly use the site seems far more appropriate. Hope you're happy with this change. :)

 

[uniloo 98]

17 hours ago, likesToLick said:

On the previous server it was set up with https secure sockets layer communication,  which was nice for the privacy of members, though it did make things run a little slower on some computers.  (I presume there are costs associated with doing that again, e.g paying for the SSL certificate, and possibly a greater load on the server for the encryption.)

 

It is not necessary to pay for an SSL certificate. Obtaining one from LetsEncrypt (and other) is free and would be trusted by most browsers. Though https does put more load on the servers.