I read on Taunton’s other forums that the threads were hard to read because they are not in straight chronological order. I understand that this could be true after spending many years reading threads that were. So I thought I’d post a brief explanation of how posts are threading in the new forum (at least for now). First, you have the OP. Then, there are two types of reply. There are replies to the OP, which are called comments in the new Knots. Any response to the OP will be aligned with the OP’s post on the left hand side, no matter where it is in the thread. So anything that is all the way over to the left is a direct response to the OP. You can make a direct response to the OP by clicking on “add new comment” at the bottom of the OP’s post. The second type of reply is made in response to someone other than the OP. You can click on “Reply” in the bottom of the post. All replies of this sort will be indented under the post they are a response to. How is all of this different? Well, in the old Knots things were just posted in the order they came along. One post might not be a response to the post above it, but to some post on a previous page. Here, whenever a comment (response to the OP) generates its own subthread, all of the posts in that subthread are listed under it. And there are lots of threads in Knots that have subthreads. This could take some getting used to visually. However, I like it. In the old Knots, you’d have to click that little numerical link to find out what a poster was responding to. Here you don’t. You just look right above it. (This applies to the subthreads, which were always a bit frustrating to follow in the old Knots). To summarize, indented posts is how subthreads within a thread are visually organized. Responses to the OP are not indented at all. I hope this helps.
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Replies
I can certainly see the logic behind setting up comments for replies to the OP or responses to someone other than the OP. However, this makes it difficult to sift through other information that could be useful in the entire thread. It makes you sift through all of the posts every time there are new replies.
Jointerman,
You do need to look through the entire thread, but there is a visual cue to make that easier. In the upper left hand corner of a new post is a little red "new." I just look for that. It's well placed, as well read from left to right and it's at the top of the box.
That linking of reply to specific post can work well, but it would be helpful, particularly given the knotheads tendancy toward long threads, to have a user option for a condensed thread--that way you see the outline, new posts pop-out visually, but you don't have to go through the entire content until you click on a post.
Matt, I dearly hope that the other mods have mentioned to you that while new replies appearing on page 1 of the thread are marked with a red "new," any new replies posted on the second or subsequent pages are not marked new at all, the only way to find them is to scan through every single post looking for something you haven't read before. For example, if I come back to this thread in two days, and someone has replied to my post, it will appear on page 1 and show as "new" to me. But if someone replies to the fifth post on page two and someone else replies to the 20th post on page three, neither will be marked new and I would either miss them or have to read through every post on page 2 and 3 to hunt them down.
Also, if there were 7 posts marked new on page 1, scattered beneath whatever posts they were replies to, and I chose to reply to the first new post, then all the other "new" tags on page 1 would disappear.
This has been such a consistently mentioned problem with the new software on CT, OTF, Gatherings and BT that I am puzzled that you don't seem aware of it. It's the major reason that members of those forums are strongly requesting to have chronological threads, oldest to latest.
Okay, this may point to a different issue.
---I found the answer to my own question. :)
Amen to that brother!
Well put!
Kathy
There is no great puzzle here. I am not a moderator. I don't attend their meetings. And I don't read the other forums. I'm an editor with the print magazine (FWW). If the Knots forum turns out to have the same bug, you're more than welcome to post about it in the "bugs" thread started by Knots's moderator, GEide. That's the best place to post bug reports, because it will make it easier for Gina to know of them.
I see the sense of this approach. I have often been frustrated by the "gaps" in 'Comments" relative to the OP.
Thanks
Frosty,
I'm glad I'm not the
Frosty,
I'm glad I'm not the only one!
A big tip of the hat for your note- very helpful. Keep 'em coming. I'd note, that for this 56+ year old anyways, the site is still hard on the eyeballs. A for certain headache after an hour; that wasn't the case previously. I think color is part of it- color choice maybe but I think primarily it's a lack of contrast- as I type I notice how much easier it is to read the text in the Stanley ad vs the Forum status box above. The other thing is delineation- on most any forum I've been to posts are each sharply defined space wise by a box or lines- I think it saves some eyeball hunting for the beginning/end of a post. The user pics help break it up- it doesn't seem to run together quite as badly but more needs to be done. jc - in need of Visine.
JC,
Try using the zoom in for your browser for now. It helps reduce the eyestrain when the whole screen is a bit larger.
Don
Thanks, Matt.
One thing to explore with the various post-implementation changes is whether the software allows individual members to tailor the presentation to their personal tastes, as many other forum packages do. If so, that might solve the differences between those who like a fully-threaded presentation versus those who prefer a chronological presentation.
Ralph,
It would be nice if everyone could tailor the look of the forum to his or her taste. I suggest adding this to the thread about desired upgrades (started by Gina).
Listen, loose the jargen (OP, what the lell is that?)(Orginal Post). If you are going to follow this response etc. plan, then you need to add a road map of comments so that they can be sorted at a glance and you can get back into the flow of the conversation and have a way of seeing the order things were posted as well. It is not uncommon to have folks post to the last comment, and not to the orgninal post, even with the comment addressed to the orginal post. YOu need to look at how people actually used the prior formant and then make the new one compatable with how your customers actually use to forum. Keep in mind you have a bunch of old farts that have been engaging in 3 -4 -5 way conversations and would like to keep in touch that way.
ANd how the hell do you do spell chack with this new format?
Dan,
Spelling is checked as you type. Words get a red underline. After which you can leave or right mouse button to correct or add the word to the dictionary.
Don
Dan,
I believe that only works if your browser/dictionary works with a particular forum. Firefox and US Cambridge shows the underline but with a right click yields nothing but notice of such dictionary and control/select - the same. From what I've learned their are many forums drivers that can only be checked but not corrected. Mine works to check and correct on many forums but not this one. Worked on the old one
Dan,
Sorry for the jargon. I have seen OP (original post or original poster) used quite a bit on Knots (and other forums) so I thought I was safe using it.
As for your suggestion on improvements to how threads are organized, you should make them in the thread that Gina started for keeping track of them. As she is the one who will be implementing any changes, it will be easier for her if we do that.
Thanks.
Matt
Thanks for the insight. For what it's worth, I think you, Gina, and the rest of the crew are doing a terrific job of at least trying to help us get through this phase alignment. If this forum truly is as customizable as Gina says it is, within a matter of months it should start looking like something that is much easier to navigate than it presently is. Thanks for all your efforts, and please pass my regards along to everyone behind the scenes that is busting their hump to get this done right.
Happy Holidays,
Jeff
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