Please report new message board bugs and annoyances here

beckysioux

I just noticed that we no longer have the option to message each other on the boards. Are we able to get this feature back? And what happened to all of the old messages we had? Are they lost in the ether?

Chips

glamour_and_sedition said
I experienced the math problem for the first time last night.  I tried to submit a post 7 times and kept getting an error message that said the math was incorrect.  Just tried again today and this time it accepted my post on the first try.

The math problem is officially back.  I had the same problem last night, unless 2+1 is not 3.  Hopefully the issue can be fixed, or at least a trigger can be determined.

beckysioux said
I just noticed that we no longer have the option to message each other on the boards. Are we able to get this feature back? And what happened to all of the old messages we had? Are they lost in the ether?

I saw that too.  I thought, how will this affect the gmail account?  New people get the password through private message.

beckysioux

Something else missing: The Database. Will that be put back up? Someone just made a thread because he purchased the ENE and wanted to use the code he received with the purchase.

Chips

The math issue is back.  I had some difficulty yesterday posting.  Some stuff went through, but most was blocked.

Also, this isn't a bug, but a question regarding upgrades:  Are there any plans to add an option to create threads with a poll built in?

eThan

beckysioux said
Something else missing: The Database. Will that be put back up? Someone just made a thread because he purchased the ENE and wanted to use the code he received with the purchase.

@beckysioux: I am just seeing this now, and perhaps you've already discovered that the database is back at http://okgo.net/database.

eThan

Chips said

glamour_and_sedition said
I experienced the math problem for the first time last night.  I tried to submit a post 7 times and kept getting an error message that said the math was incorrect.  Just tried again today and this time it accepted my post on the first try.

The math problem is officially back.  I had the same problem last night, unless 2+1 is not 3.  Hopefully the issue can be fixed, or at least a trigger can be determined.

beckysioux said
I just noticed that we no longer have the option to message each other on the boards. Are we able to get this feature back? And what happened to all of the old messages we had? Are they lost in the ether?

I saw that too.  I thought, how will this affect the gmail account?  New people get the password through private message.

i will try and look into the internal messaging feature and see if i can find it again. were old messages lost in the upgrade? does anyone have a sense of the date cut-off where they seem to have vanished?

eThan

hi there all, i have just updated the forum software again. it seems also that there are some new plugins that we could install. here's a list:

New - Uploads Viewer, Post Preview and Topic Description plugins now available

Now available to download - three new optional plugins for your Simple:Press forum.

Uploads Viewer: Installed as an extension of our file uploader - the new Viewer gives you visual access to all of your previous uploaded images, media and files when editing or creating a new post - complete with automatic drop into your post content.

Post Preview: Allows you to preview your posts before you save them - as they will be displayed when published in the forum.

Topic Description: Allows users to add an optional topic description when creating new topics.

do any of these look attractive?

 

eThan

eThan

Another update: I just added a new plugin that provides some sort of private messaging. I'm not sure if it's what you had in mind, but check it out. There's a new button up top, with a letter icon. That's the new thing... 

 

eThan

beckysioux

eThan said
Another update: I just added a new plugin that provides some sort of private messaging. I'm not sure if it's what you had in mind, but check it out. There's a new button up top, with a letter icon. That's the new thing... 

 

eThan

That's the message feature we were talking about. And it seems to have saved all our past messages, which is pretty freaking awesome. Though there is a new note at the top which states that they will be deleted after 360 days.

As for those new plugins, I think they all look pretty good. I'm pretty sure we had the Post Preview before, but it seems to have disappeared. The Uploads Viewer seems like something that would be very useful.

eThan

@beckysioux  -- i hear there is a spam problem. can you give me a description of the problem. where it's showing up, and anything else that seems relevant? 

 

thanks!

beckysioux

eThan said
@beckysioux  -- i hear there is a spam problem. can you give me a description of the problem. where it's showing up, and anything else that seems relevant? 

 

thanks!

Hey eThan,

Here's one occurrence by *dJ*: http://okgo.net/forum/general-discussion/look-for-memory-foam-that-is-temperature-sensitive/

This user has posted 13 topics over in the General Discussion section. They started out only posting every few days. As of 10/7/13, they posted once a day. This morning I removed the content and replaced it with "Spam removed by moderator." The only one I didn't remove was the post I referenced above. All of the posts lead to that same website. (Apologies if I overstepped my moderator bounds, but the spam was getting worse and worse.)

The user K/a/t also posted twice in the General Discussion section but appeared to stop after I asked them to stop posting the spam: http://okgo.net/forum/general-discussion/purchasing-tips-for-dresses/

 

darbie_starpower (the other moderator) also pointed out that there are old usernames that have been used to post spam. darbie doesn't believe that the old users are the ones posting, but spammers who have hacked into their old accounts. Here are two occurrences: http://okgo.net/forum/general-discussion/ok-go-dreams/page-6/#p1795882 and http://okgo.net/forum/general-discussion/happy-birthday-beckysioux/page-4/#p1795879. The website they're referring to is the same one K/a/t posted.

 

With the current board, we mods can only edit posts. We can't delete a topic, change a user's posting access or move a post from one topic/thread to another. If this is how it's supposed to be, that's fine. I just remember being able to at least move posts from one place to another before the last update.

eThan

Thanks beckysioux! this is very helpful. I don't think you overstepped any bounds. I'm going to be doing some maintenance on the site over the next while, and I will figure out how to respond to this and get back to you. 

 

eThan

eThan

beckysioux, could you tell me which moderation features specifically you think would be useful for you yourself to control spam. also is the spam limited, or is it really a flood? 

darbie_starpower

eThan said

beckysioux, could you tell me which moderation features specifically you think would be useful for you yourself to control spam. also is the spam limited, or is it really a flood? 

the ability to delete a topic would be most useful...
i don't know that i'd classify it as a flood, but it's certainly disheartening that the 16 most recent topics in the general discussion forum are spam...

beckysioux

darbie_starpower said

eThan said

beckysioux, could you tell me which moderation features specifically you think would be useful for you yourself to control spam. also is the spam limited, or is it really a flood? 

the ability to delete a topic would be most useful...
i don't know that i'd classify it as a flood, but it's certainly disheartening that the 16 most recent topics in the general discussion forum are spam...

Yes, the ability to delete a topic would be great. I also liked being able to move a post to a relevant thread instead of having a whole new thread about something that's been discussed many times before.

We had two new spam threads posted in General Discussion 4 days ago and haven't had anything since. It's more of a trickle than a flood. Still really annoying though.

eThan

Okay thanks that is helpful. Here's the deal, we are actually in the process of building a new forum that will reside with a different (and much better forum framework). So I am going to keep these things in mind in terms of constructing this new forum. 

On that topic, I wonder if you could help me out with this process a bit. I'll likely have a number of questions as we go a long, but the first one that is coming up is about the forum areas. What kinds of major forum areas/categories would do you think suit you guys most?

beckysioux

Going along with our current categories, I think we should (obviously) keep the OK Go one. As for the other five, I don't think that the Trucks category is needed any longer. The News & Politics hasn't been posted to in 2 years, but that could always change. But probably won't.

I hope that when we move to the new place, more people will post again. Though I think that will rely heavily on the boys putting out the new album and touring again. Until then, there's really not much to talk about.

Also, there's a new spammer, "futurecsi". I just removed all the content in their posts.

eThan

beckysioux, thanks this is helpful. i can't find the name of that user in the system, are you sure you spelled it correctly. could you give me a link to their posts? 

also, i wonder if you could be more bold still about the forum areas, since you play such an important role here on the boards. what forum areas/topics/categories would it make sense to you to have in the new forum?

 

for example:

OK Go

Music In General

and so on....

 

(just to give you an idea what i mean, if you look here css-tricks.com/forums, you'll see a lit of different forum themes... the point here would be to define some themes that make sense for this forum community..)

 

maybe you could just brainstorm some categories, give me a list of 5-10 possible ideas? you're likely to come up with better themes than i would as a participant here. you could even query the others? 

also, can you give me an estimate of how many people are regularly posting on the forums now, and how many at peak times (i.e. when there's a lot to discuss.)

finally, i wanted to ask you how you and the others would feel if i were to cull some of the old forum content. is this just a bad idea!? the motivation here is just to streamline the site, but it may not be necessary. still, i'l appreciate knowing what you think. are there certain sections of the forum, where the content is just not important or loved by anyone? 

beckysioux

I will crowd source and see what we come up with for the new boards. I'll also ask some of the older Boardies what they think we should keep and what could be culled.

As for futurecsi, here's a link to one of the replies they made, though I had already removed the content: http://okgo.net/forum/general-discussion/greetings-from-a-newbie/#p1795924

And of course, there's a new spammer. The username is ventage and here is one of the new threads they made: http://okgo.net/forum/general-discussion/beading-watermelon-lace-up-tulle-pink-prom-dresses/ They made another thread, but I removed the content. It's a bit early for prom season. And it does look like ventage was a board member from before and the spammer hacked their account.

ChristelAdina

5 or 10 new categories?

I was just going to reiterate that we keep the obvious (OK Go, General, Music). I have never used many others, and I don't think I've even looked in them since the week I de-lurked.

But I'm game for other categories (or new names or whatever), if others are really attached.

I am opposed to deleting old content. Unless it cannot be helped. And even then, I will grumble...