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About 20 hours I think.
Good one!
Some part of me was almost hoping it would last indefinitely. It just sort of seemed like it would be a fitting end to something that has so little life compared to before.
I got a new
icon for Breaktime on my browser's link bar, but it went back to normal.
Until I closed out my browser
I still saw the error 500-no connection to BT
Now to find out what the invisible non communicating powers done did.
I was hoping that it would return as the old prospero forum of a year ago, right where they shut it down.
HEY!
You got bigger letters. Congratulations
I of course, didn't. So I suppost the I.E. excuse can be used again.
No change yet have I seen, except for the bailing of another former poster.
I'm using Firefox. I'm stuck with black though.
OK, size change doesn't work, but you can change the heading for bigger font.
or smaller.
Don,
If I didn't know better...............................well, that's a misnomer.
I'm thinking someone that has no idea what the fuck they are doing decided to fart around with this thing.
I took a look, or rather-decided to go to the Mitre Saw Stand thread and see that all the thumbnail pictures have vanished-now there's a box and a link...............and if you click the link-NO PAGE FOUND.
So, I guess that's something.
Don, it was about-screwing things up some more.
I see their coveted Blog links on the left NEW BLOGS, go to the same Page Not Found you're taken to trying to view a pic.
Man, if this was a car you'd be sitting on the side of the hiway.
or better yet, there'd be a Recall.
What are they thinking
It still amazes me. They had a good thing going and they dropped the ball. Realizing they dropped the ball, they asked for advice which they proceded to ignore. Then comes the new guy, full of ideas and sincerity. He's either been fired, re-assigned, seriously ill or full of schit because he's really added nothing either... and now he's incommunicado.
You're tenacity in trying to make this a decent place is appreciated, but it feels like FHB is just hoping we all go away.
It just occured to me that since the changeover, I don't think I've asked a single question here, but I've asked many over at BTC. If I answer 2 or 3 more questions here, I'll just might have finished sharing everything I know and it will be time for me abandon ship like so many others have already.
Don, if I knew the answer I'd run for dog catcher on the .......
Tea Party ticket.
and that makes about as much sense as the way this whole shebang has turned out.
However, I'm not done yet. Still seriously lacking in the brains dept. I'm sure.
Dan's at a show somewhere. Left him a message with no reply. He's also got a young family, no reason to spend evenings here. We shoulda cornered the old geezer, oh that's right..............he didn't show up.
Did you see, there's another Annual BT Gift Exchange going.
>>>You're tenacity in trying
>>>You're tenacity in trying to make this a decent place is appreciated, but it feels like FHB is just hoping we all go away.
Don and Cal,
I've wondered the same thing.
In fairness to the publisher, magazine sales have declined in the last few years, and I can't help but wonder if this site is a liability.
Of course Taunton would never announce this for fear of image damage.
When times are tight, are you going to trim services from those who pay (mag subscribers)? or those who simply hang out for free at your forum?
But at the same time, if Taunton is against the ropes financially and would rather not offer forum(s) in the future, I'd wish they'd come out and tell us so that we can all move on. It's not like we've got anything positive to say about Taunton's forums (although I still like their books).
Letting a super-vibrant forum like BT die with no communication, no inclusion, and very little forewarning can't be good for business.
you said a mouthful.........
Letting a super-vibrant forum like BT die with no communication, no inclusion, and very little forewarning can't be good for business.
The question might be asked which came first. For a couple yrs. or more regulars were showing disgruntlement with the mags direction. Supposedly the bottom line was why Taunton took that course. Then they roll out this forum change seemingly to gain readership and exposure (or $'s) via google. The outcome seems suspect. Low participation in the non stellar forum and spamming of it and the FHB Web prescence. Makes you wonder how much research went into it.
With no communication, you wonder if they even know.
Here's another take on the snafu of late december......
Written in response to a blog comment of sorts that was posted by a FWW forum member back in January.
"Companies tend to underestimate the importance of online communities; online communities tend to overestimate their worth. I look forward to following how this all works out."
Yeah, I remember that. Sure raises a bunch of questions.
cal....
i still have some interest in this site...but....
it takes between 2 minutes and three minutes for this site to open for me....other sites ...mebbe 3 seconds
and it takes about 30 seconds for me to post or refreash...
i can't put up with that
Mike........
I have some interest in keeping you interested.
I cannot tell you what the problem is. I don't have it.
They tell me because I use I.E., there's somethings that don't work or I don't see or I can't do............
beats the shit outta me. I
I suggest you ask Steve the fat roman and then go at Dan Morrison with all cannons blaring.
Kiss the wife, hey to the rest of the family!
For me the site isn't any slower than most other forum-type sites. I do avoid ever pressing "Recent Replies", since that will go off into Never-Never-Land for 2-3 minutes, but "Recent Posts" is generally fairly quick.
Posting can sometimes be slow, but again no worse than other sites -- in fact probably a little better.
Of course, none of the performance is as good as the old site, but then nothing's as good as it used to be.
recent replies ?????
well...that must be it...that's always my first punch.... on other sites... i always hit "replies to me" 1st
and "threads of interest 2d.....and new threads / posts 3d
but this site is so hard to find things in ...... i hate it
There's no "replies to me"
There's no "replies to me" option.
Mike
You're old but not dumb.
You can do it.
Off site
Or maybe "off topic", I don't hvae much of a time lag problem on the is site , but do at BTC.
If I take time to read down through a a few post over there I get locked up. I can't move to another post, reply to the one I'm in, or even create a new post. Just happens at BTC.
Got any ideas how I can get some help over there?
....
"never announce this for fear of image damage."
With what they did to ruin this site, I don't imagine they are concerned about image in the least
Lessee...
Can't attach that, let's try this:
Lets try text:
Try again
OK, attachments are working again.
My test.
I'll try to answer some of your questions
Hello all,
I haven't been involved in the recent forum changes, but I'll try to answer most of the questions in this thread.
On Friday, the forum host -- not our web staff -- attempted to update their system. At the end of the day, I got an email from our tech folks saying that the host had some issues, and that Breaktime would not go back online until at least the following day. With the forum already down, and no prior notice, there was no way for me to give you all an update on the status.
I just recieved another email from our head tech person saying that he is aware of the avatar and image issues and he's pretty sure he knows what's causing it. I'll bug him to keep me updated and pass on anything I hear.
Sorry for the inconvenience. don't give up on us yet!
Thanks,
Rob
Rob
Long time no see.
Not giving up yet, but...
don't give up on us yet!
Well, it's far too late for many valuable contributors who have found "homes" elsewhere. To me, that's the real shame of what's happened here. A minor technical glitch in easily overlooked.
But if your'e in the mood for sharing information about the status of this site, what about the punchlist items that were identified back in August? See this thread: http://forums.finehomebuilding.com/help-and-feedback/forum-suggestions/punch-list-breaktime-repairs
If you can't say, or don't know, just say so. It would be more information than we've had for a long time.
Page not found
Evidently the same goes with your message.
Image attachments are working again
Hello everyone,
I just got notice that images are working properly again. I did a test post, and it worked fine for me, but please let me know if anyone is still having problems.
Don,
Yes, I wish I knew about the recent forum maintenance before Breaktime went down so I could have kept everyone in the loop.
I really wish I could work on the code side of things here, but I'm just an editor and don't have the expertise or access to edit the functionality of the forum. I just put in an inquiry to the same folks who fixed the image problem. If all I get is a "we don't know", then that's what I'll pass on to you. Being a former contractor myself, it is pretty darn frustrating to see a 3-month-old punchlist laying around with nothing checked off.
- Rob
Thanks for the reply.
I know I'm not alone in looking forward to additional information.
whoa!!!!
"Being a former contractor myself, it is pretty darn frustrating to see a 3-month-old punchlist laying around with nothing checked off."
You can THAT again!
You've never seen a software punchlist! Likely to be thousands of bugs listed, and often you get to a point where each bug fixed introduces 1.1 new ones.
good explanation why Jason revzon should have hired a pro to do this instead of going DIY with it ten percent developed and no budget to move forward any further
good explanation why Jason revzon should have hired a pro to do this instead of going DIY with it ten percent developed and no budget to move forward any further
That **is** with pros doing the work.
Sometimes
You're funny
Sometimes
You're funny
I wish it were.
I can probably give a little more info too
It seems that the punchlist boils down to a few items -- numbered posts, better NEW notifications being the biggies.
To fix these takes a developer to write /edit code. Taunton's developers are slammed, so I asked permission to hire a free-lance developer (whom I've worked with in the past) to help me do a few minor chores on Green Building Advisor's forums. I will pay this free-lance developer through the editorial budget, not the tech development budget, and this is the cornerstone of how I got approval to do this.
GBA is built on Drupal, as is the new Breaktime.
After he makes the changes to GBA's forum, I will ask him to make the changes to Breaktime.
We need to go the long route here (through GBA) because taking the short route would turn into a longer route (sometimes the fsatest way to do things is the slow way).
We'll try to keep you updated more frequently.
Dan
Oh Danny Boy..............
the pipes, the pipes ...........are call'in...........
Let's not simplify the list just yet. I think we all need to review the list of stumbling blocks we've experienced for the last 11 months and put forth an updated version. What do you think would be your starting time to overhaul the system? I don't know that "tweaking" is the right word to use, but I probably am pretty ignorant of what can happen and what it would take to make it happen.
Other than that, have a Happy Thanksgiving and give the Music City my love. Well, at least say hi to the pretty fiddle player on Friday nites at Tootsies.
Great, have it on my desk next Thursday
Glad you decided to volunteer to boil that thread down into an itemized list, Calvin!
But seriously, this is what I have:
The List:
1. Add Read/Unread [by person being replied to] notice .
2. Add 'Edited' notice to posts that have been edited.
3. Show me what's new TO ME -- not what's new to the forum.
4. When I click the 'Recent posts to me' link, take me to the actual post, not to the top of the thread.
5. Fix the NEW link to actually show all new (to me) posts to a thread. Currently it only shows the new posts on the first page.
6. Add numbers to the posts
The Nice-to-Have List:
1. Add 'Reply with quotes' button (in additon to 'Reply' button)
2. Add 'Preview' button
3. Open profiles in new window
4. Unlimited file uploads rather than having to make a new screen name when we've reached our limit (ala BossHog)
----------------------------------
Timeline that I'm willing to commit to in a public forum is "Don't hold your breath, and I'll do my best."
The other part of my plan to get Breaktime improved is to show that it is an actual creator of content rather than a thing we spend money and time on without actually publishing any articles or videos. We've built great articles from the discussion threads at GBA and we're beginning to do the same at FHB, see the 'Breaktime Spotlight' blog for examples.When you guys do a great job answering questions, it really helps me to build articles and illustrate the value.
As I said, we'll keep you updated on any advances that we have. Sorry to not be as active as I'd like to.
Thanks for the update, Dan.
I see so many new members that I wonder how many regulars are still here and actually miss the functionality of the old forum format. Nevertheless, the improvements you listed are well worth pursuing because they will help to attract and retain valuable contributors.
I won't be holding my breath, but please try and keep up apprised along the way.
>>>I see so many new members
>>>I see so many new members that I wonder how many regulars are still here and actually miss the functionality of the old forum format. Nevertheless, the improvements you listed are well worth pursuing because they will help to attract and retain valuable contributors.
Roger that.
There are still a few members that float regularly back and forth between here and BTC (Bosshog, and a few others). It may be interesting and worthwhile to ask them to compare the two environments.
But will it result in a tsunami of revived interest? Welllllllll.....maybe.... maybe not.
You are looking at the short list, not the real list
A couple of items?!?!?!?
What about the fact that the whole left column does nothing other than make a return to top of existing page?
What about fact that the servers are so slow that sometimes you can get a nap in while a page loads?
At least you are honest enough to admit that nobody near the top at Taunton has any hint of what is needed in the budget to maintain the forum properly. Low budget is what so many suspected for the past year, but no one there has ever admitted it before.
You must have a screw loose somewhere on that computer......
The left column does not take you to the top of the current page.
The only thing not working is that blog link on the left - takes you to PAGE NOT FOUND.
And of course, the infinit time waster-RECENT REPLIES which does slow load. No speed problems on the other for a fast cable connection-cannot any longer speak on dial up.
Could be
Or maybe because I use firefox?
Another thing, I use paragraphs and white space, but my replies do not show up that way.
and this is the only forum I have either of those problems with....so not likely my puter
Beats me
In your post i'm replying to, I see white space.
Grant had trouble with firefox. DanH don't.
I was told I.E. was the reason.......................I forget....................that something didn't work.
One more for the list. or two more-depends on how you look at it.
We've been going at this for a fuck'n year. With mostly ficticious names, evidently not really in control. And we've been doing this for a reason, eventho the expatriots had no interest in any humanizing of this shit hole. Believe me, it would have been easier to just leave or not bother with trying to .........................how was it put by ed and the other guy.............."tweak it".
>>>Or maybe because I use
>>>Or maybe because I use firefox?
Don't think so... that's what I use day in/day out.
I do agree that there were things in the old interface that led to an intuitive sense of community... for example you could see what you said to whom, and whether they had read it. And I really liked the quick listing of threads on the left so you could leap around from conversation to conversation. Machine-gun speed with firing off rounds of chatter from thread to thread; that's good. I agree that the new left frame is useless for me... I much prefer a listing of threads on the left, not a listing of categories.
But there's some good things about this forum too; I like the way pictures are handled, once they are in. Of course this does little to help poor Mike S. who posted thousands of pics to the old forum only to have them lost in conversion. Bummer.
As for the slowness, I have no idea. I'm on a basic DSL connection and have no complaints.
I do miss the "old days" having hung around here since around '97 and WebX.
Good to see you again.... ya grumpy old fart.... ;-)
*ducks..... dives for the shadows.....