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Underground > Policy & Help >

Suggestions?

07:59 / 25.05.05

Just a couple of things that I think would make navigating/posting at Barbelith a bit easier. First, a "quote" tag. Nothing more complicated than something that seperates off the text and identifies the original poster.

Also, page markers for the topics outside of the topic itself. I may be one of the few unfortunate holdouts, but I don't have a high-speed connection, and (since I live out in the boonies), the dialup is even worse than normal at times. So it gets to be a pain to open up the topic and then go to the page I want.

All Acting Regiment

08:46 / 25.05.05

I thought the "page numbers only visible in topic" malarkey was all about making sure people read the original post?

Though, as I use a tortoise shell and a couple of lemons for a modem, I can kind of see what you mean.

However, on other, crap forums, it's blatantly obvious that people go off topic by just adding on to the most recent thing mentioned in the topic, regardless of what that has to do with the original discussion.

The thing with quote tags: wouldn't it be just as simple to put a bold tag in, or am I missing something? Would you like the quote to e.g. appear in a box of it's own with "Member says:" above it?

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:56 / 25.05.05

Another thing that happens on other forums is that people use the 'reply with quote' button every time they reply, which makes threads extremely unpleasant to read. Much like the ability to add sig files, I think we can do without it.

09:34 / 25.05.05

Yeah, I'm inclined to think that if you can't copy and paste the relevant text you want to quote and add a couple of bold tags then there really is something wrong...

10:07 / 25.05.05

I can understand where you guys are coming from, but those would seem to be complaints that would fit better on other forums, especially since this place went invite-only. People here seem relatively capable of staying on-topic for the most part... these were mostly suggestions for streamlining things.

I do see your points, honestly, but as an example of where I was coming from; when I load up the Star Wars thread in Film, I have to wait for that pic right at the beginning to finish loading before the system'll even bother with the final page.

Also, I've noticed the pages on this forum go for a lot longer than they do on others. Doesn't this help keep things from straying too badly?

All Acting Regiment

10:32 / 25.05.05

People here seem relatively capable of staying on-topic for the most part...

Do they, though? Most, maybe, but not all. There are certain people I won't name. Even in the case of those who do post on topic all the time: how much of that is to do with the restrictions in place here?

And by the way, we're not having a *destroy progress* session here, in case it starts to look like that.

10:41 / 25.05.05

when I load up the Star Wars thread in Film, I have to wait for that pic right at the beginning to finish loading before the system'll even bother with the final page

If you’re on a slow connection, I recommend getting a browser that lets you turn the images off. Seriously, this is probably a better, quicker solution to that problem than asking barbelith be changed to suit.

11:30 / 25.05.05

I don't think your suggestions are unreasonable, to be honest, but I'm not sure that we're really in a position to make a lot of changes at the moment. New developments on the board have been slow for a long time now because I'm overworked, as is Cal who developed the board software.

11:31 / 25.05.05

Also - and I know it's only a workaround rather than a solution, but still - you can just hit your browser's 'Stop' button when a small amount of the page has loaded. The top section of the page should be visible, so you can nav straight to the last one without having to wait for it all to load. 'Swhat I used to have to do when I was stuck on a dial-up connection.

20:09 / 25.05.05

...when I load up the Star Wars thread in Film, I have to wait for that pic right at the beginning...

Another workaround, one that I use a lot, is to learn and use the Barbelith php page naming conventions.

F'rinstance-
Convo is http://www.barbelith.com/forum/1
If you change the 1 to a 13 you're taken to Creation -http://www.barbelith.com/forum/13
If you've got a frighteningly accurate memory, you can specify the thread you want by adding its number after a slash-
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/19571 (barbelith top trumps)
Taking this one step further you can skip to later pages and specific entries by adding /from/[number]
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/19571/from/73 (Stoatie and Mono)

This seems like a pain, but if you do it for a while you'll find it's a much quicker way to navigate.

21:56 / 25.05.05

You are Daniel Tammet and I claim my five pounds.

21:57 / 25.05.05

And if you've visited a page before, you can always use your browser's History sidebar (conrol+H in both Explorer & Firefox) to take you right to it...

00:11 / 26.05.05

Considering what google brought up when I searched for Daniel Tammet, I don't believe I've been paid such a compliment in some time.
Thank you, olulabelle.

12:36 / 27.05.05

And by the way, we're not having a *destroy progress* session here, in case it starts to look like that.

Nah, I didn't think you were. I expected reasonable objections/agreement from you guys, and that's what I got. Well, objections moreso than agreement, buy you know what I mean.

I'd feel like a bit of a dick if I reacted like "Grr! How dare you present practical workarounds and counter-points to my suggestions!"

If you’re on a slow connection, I recommend getting a browser that lets you turn the images off. Seriously, this is probably a better, quicker solution to that problem than asking barbelith be changed to suit.

Understand, these were more "niggling inconveniences" suggestions than "omg the forum is unusable!" The slowness, at times, comes into play more often than just pic-heavy threads. Unfortunately, popping open Firefox doesn't really help much since I've still got to have the main ISP browser open. Firefox, as much as I luvs it, seems to run more slowly as a result.

I don't think your suggestions are unreasonable, to be honest, but I'm not sure that we're really in a position to make a lot of changes at the moment. New developments on the board have been slow for a long time now because I'm overworked, as is Cal who developed the board software.

Yeah, that whole pesky "real-life" thing. No problems; sometimes, it's really easy for people like myself who aren't really familiar with forum software to forget the pain-in-the-assedness attached to making changes.