What's All This Then?

[heresi]

Hi Brian,

 

Wow !!!

 

Thanks you for your Work!

 

Happy new year!

 

Regards,

Killian.

 

 

 

 

[Nickupero]

Me like, will take some getting used to for sure. Thanks Brian for all the hard work!!!!!!

[Brian]

Just a small thing I noticed that differs on this forum. Links.

On the old forum, www.militaria.co.za would auto create the link

On this one, to do that you either need to use the link button above to make it clickable, or otherwise add the http:// to the link when you manually type it.

Either of those 2 ways will make it clickable.
I just edited your signature Nick, and advise those with links in their signature to edit them to add the http://

Not a big thing, but I am sure someone is going to bring it up soon.

 

Brian

[Loco Al]

New look, but not necessarily an improvement, Stark white background less inviting and less intimate than the old black background. Like an old office building flooded with flickering fluorescent lights and cheap partition walls. Plus, almost a weeks worth of new posts (threads) have simply disappeared.

 

For all the gusto, the old cheesy masthead atop this new-look forum seems out of place somehow. 

 

Alan

[Brian]

There will be a dark style available later today. Styles can be changed at the bottom left of the forum.

If you read some of the topics about the changes, you will have noted we are already designing a new logo. Anything else?

 

Brian

[Tcat]

Well, it had to be done sometime. Well done Brian for forging ahead! Progress. Chat feature has me excited :D I would like to return to the old color scheme but I know this is planned. Good luck with the new layout!

[kissakai]

Hi

Still not explored all the new features yet but love that a topic you are following where the reply is delivered directly to my email.

So much easier to follow

If I have time I may reissue my for sale items to resize the images as one of the posts with a lot of images looks great

 

I expect you will get fed up of hearing this but great work Brian along with and your 'elves' whoever they are

Grev UK

[Guido]

Well done, Brian! I like the new forum a lot, especially the default theme. I used subsilver2 at the old forum, because it's much easier on my old eyes - no need to change anything at the new forum!

 

The only thing I haven't got a hang on yet is the qoute/multiple quote function, but I'll get there.

 

As the famous German politician Franz Josef Strauß (allegedly) said: "If you try to be everybody's darling, you're soon everybody's clown!" You simply can't please everybody, and some of the complaints here are just laughable.

 

Job extremely well done!!!

[Daniele B]

Thank you, just logged with the new format but it seems way better than before! Good job!

[docliss]

Can one still edit a previous post in order to correct typos or errors? My apologies if I am being thick! John L.

[Brian]

Doc,

As per the previous forum, I allow about a half hour for people to edit their own topics before editing reverts to a moderator only. If you need something edited after that time, just pm one of us.

 

Brian

[flo06]

This new version looks great !

Thanks for your nice work Brian.

 

Happy new year to all members !

[Ron STL]

Quite a surprise today to find a new format introduced. Judging from the many positive comments posted, it must be an improvement. I would suspect the comments reflect age groups with those of us over seventy still scratching our heads. A new computer with Windows 8.1 and now this change...I'll work through it all...eventually.   I'm amazed at your dedication to the NMB, Brian. Ron STL

[Rich S]

Ron -

 

As one of us over 70, I think Win 8.1 totally sucks. Maybe the worse operating system Microsoft has ever come up with. IMHO it was made for 12 year olds who live on various social media. I've been using it (8.1) for about 8 months and find it unstable; the settings seem to change on their own. On the other hand, this forum new software is great IMHO.  I long for Win 3.1 and Netscape 5.

Rich S
 

[Stephen]

id be happy with a operating XP,   working files on 8.1....forgetabout it I email them to me then open size whatever on xp

[Rich S]

Yes, I loved XP, but had to go to 8.1 when my machine totally crashed and burned in the spring. Fortunately I had backed up all my files to either a disk or flash drive, so I didn't loose anything of importance EXCEPT now ToShow (which I used a lot) won't run at all on 8.1

Rich S

[johnb]

Nice! Black type on a white...well grey background! Great for us OLDER gents! Below from one of the doyennes of advertising.

2. No Reverse Type

David Ogilvy repeatedly found that reverse type (white text on a black background) is harder to read and that having black text on a white background. Though the rule was written for the print world, where Ogily did the majority of his work, it seems to function well on the Web.

 

Thanks Brian, love it!
 

[Jussi Ekholm]

Any idea how many messages can the custom made folders hold? *Edit* Just saw that the message limit is now 150, had to make some careful deletions. Also this works like a charm on my phone, so easy to use this new board by phone.

[ancientnoob]

Pretty nice and refreshing look. Good choice.

[Brian]

Would you believe I refuse to leave XP?

That's what I am stiill running. I will NOT go to Windows 8.

 

Jussi, I can increase the 150 pm messages storage, but let's first see how we go with that amount. People should not become hoarders and store 5 years of messages. I know..I do the same.

Gotta get into the habit of deleting old messages and keeping the database cleaner.

 

Brian

[Davis]

Brian

As an old technophobe it seemed a bit daunting at first but I've spent the last couple of days navigating the site, trying some of the new features and getting to grips with them.

 

Overall, excellent.  The hard work and effort that you have put in has provided us with an excellent forum.

Thanks

Mick

[Adrian]

 The new software is obviously richer in features, good job. Also it's worth mentioning that the forum lost it's somehow dated look. However I think it would be a good idea to test the data ammount required now for normal browsing of the forum, if it's significantly higher then the old version some people may have trouble. I'm talking about those stuck for various reason on crappy connections and those who want to connect from remote areas when traveling and so on. Perhaps providing an alternative "low-fi" version could help these members.

 

 P.S. A world of caution about the new sanction system: it appears to be designed in a very similar manner with the system used by the traffic police in many countries. Get caught a few times without the safety belt on while driving two miles to the supermarket, go on green but catch a blink of yellow light right in front of the camera, get stopped for doing 30mph in a 20 area and BAM, you're getting the same sanction as the idiot who was going 160mph in a 60 mph restriction zone.

 

 Someone who gets grinded down in this manner will be very frustrated when comparing his "wrong doings" with those comitted by someone who actually crossed the line and who got the same sanction, only faster.

[Brian]

You'll be happy to know that the severity of the warnings and actions taken can be overridden by moderators to fine tune it to the offense.

So the punishment will fit the crime, so to speak.

 

Brian

[Jussi Ekholm]

But but... you might need that tiny bit of information in a 5 year old message in the next 5 years... I just noticed how the new message system works, and you can actually have 150 conversations saved? That means a ton of messages. Also the best thing is that now the private message gets emailed to you with the message instead of just the you've got a private message notification. So I can store the important information in my email as well as in here too. So I can now store PM's in my email which is awesome.

 

Getting more and more used to these new options, and the new features are great.

 

 

[Adrian]

 Brian, I've seen it implemented on other forums.  The result wasn't pretty, particularly on the long run.

 

What you say is 100% true but it works only in theory.  When it comes to practice, in a few months no one is going to check every point currently present on a user's balance in order to make an informed decision to give or not that last point which results in a ban. 

 

 Sure, it may  work better here due to the size of the forum and the fact that most if not all members are grown up adults with a certain education. Which only will mean that most users are a great group, not that the system isn't flawed.

[Brian]

System's fine. If anyone manages to build up 5 or 10 points, they aren't members we want here anyways.

I'm happy to lose members for the greater good of the forum. You seem to expect people to commit serious offenses regularly? Know something I don't?

I'm happy with the way it will work. Those unhappy with it are likely to be the ones at the receiving end sooner or later I suppose.

 

Brian

[Adrian]

 

. You seem to expect people to commit serious offenses regularly? Know something I don't?

 

Far from it.  What I'm pointing out (from experience and not at the receiving end) is the fact that with this system a point doesn't appear to be much of a sanction and ends up being awarded quite easily. And for reasons that don't exactly equal with "members we don't want here".

 

However, on a large volume forum with lots of activity, this means that moderators loose very soon any chance to keep the system under control. And, same as in the traffic violations system, people end up banned for petty reasons.

 

 Hopefully you'll be able to keep it in check due to the moderate size of the forum and the nice behavior of most of the members.  I failed, but on a different type of online community.

[kuromido]

Has anyone found a way to access all of your own past posts or threads?  On the old site there was a Saved posts  or Saved topics tab. 

As far as I can see there is no way of getting back to all of my threads or single posts.  Nor is there a provision to save a thread you want to return to .

Am I missing it somewhere? 

Can anyone help?

 

PeterD

[Brian]

Don't know about specific posts, but at the top right you can follow a topic, and in your profile manage and view your followed content.

 

Brian

[Peter Bleed]

Brian,

I remain a big fan of the NMB. I think it is "world central" for Japanese sword enthusiasts. I am impressed that individuals I respect have expressed support for the new format and presentation. Thank you for must have been a great deal of work. And i well know that "change is good." Still,  .   . another learning curve presents challanges.

One feature I miss from the old format was the open-ended list of "recent" or was it "active" topics. That made it very easy to find discussions of the past day or two.

Peter