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Post by stevemacdonald on May 15, 2006 14:58:47 GMT
Okay, I fully expect to be put in my place with unprecedented ferocity for what I'm about to say, but this is really starting to bug me. I am really bothered by all the Happy Birthday's we give eachother in here, not that it isn't a great thing, especially if it's your birthday, but mainly because it takes up so much space on the page. I always view this site by way of "View the 30 most recent posts of this forum" which for many of us is a perfectly efficient way to catch up. However, when it's loaded up with "Happy Birthday" greetings (a lot) I am denied a quick and easy way of finding all the regular posts I came to read. Now I didn't start this just to gripe. I actually have a couple of solutions to propose, solutions we can all live with, I hope: 1. Allow more flexibility with regard to the "View the most recent posts" number -- perhaps giving us the option of raising it to 40 or even 50. 2. Make the mention of a birthday more prominent on the index page but encourage people to send private Happy Birthday messages to the individual. This is more personal and very nice for the recipient. 3. If the two proposals above don't work, why not simply incorporate "Happy Birthday" into regular posts one makes? This would kill two birds with the same stone, not that we need dead birds lying around. 4. We set a day aside each week in which ALL the posts are "Happy Birthday" to all the members celebrating that week. That gets it out of the way so we can concentrate on less serious matters. Oh and by the way, Happy Birthday Tim, Jenny and Holger!  |
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Post by postscript on May 15, 2006 16:24:07 GMT
Actually, I would go further, Steve.
!. Congratulations on daring to raise such a tricky subject and to treat it in my view so sensitively.
2. I actually share your sentiments but could not think of a way to raise it sufficiently delicately and so did not do so earlier.
3. HOWEVER, I have to tell you, perhaps because it was two or three days early, I was very pleasantly surprised and VERY HAPPY to find several Happy Birthday posts for my own birthday a week or two ago and I really did feel quite chuffed about it! Especially, as may well be the case occasionally for others, that I am emerging from a rather long dark tunnel in my life.
4. May I suggest that these things are spontaneous and probably relate to members who have had quite a lot of public yet personal interchange on various subjects and therefore feel perhaps that bit closer, thus building a camaraderie from which we all gain.
5. 'Happy Birthday' is part of the general banter and I myself, who share your sentiments have suddenly found myself interacting with one liners of late simply because the nature of the banter was apposite.
6. I come on spasmodically and erratically. From that experience I would say there are no specific criteria that determine the speed at which something new happens causing a flurry of posts. So, I'm inclined to think that it is an 'irritant' when it happens that is just 'one of those irritants' that is necessary to a community.
7. For the benefit of those currently having or have just celebrated a birthday, I do wish you all VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. The reason I didn't at the time was because I felt that one or two posts from different people was sufficient. I think, too, that those who did post nearer the time were those with whom those particular correspondents had exchanged some regular banter over the previous year. This, .Ii know, was the case with those who sent me greetings a few weeks ago.
I suspect I'm not really being helpful to you, Steve, while at the same time wishing to be supportive because I think you have aired a point worth airing. It is a point that doesn't just relate to Birthdays but then what we are raising is the principle of 'banter' itself and is that not a healthy sign of pro-active members with the emphasis on the plural?
Peter
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Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
Posts: 7,699
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Post by Dave on May 15, 2006 16:52:14 GMT
Before we get too far into this, we'll have a look around to see if there is any way of modifying what appears in the "Last 30 Posts" list or some other workaround. I've had my own problems with stuff appearing in the "Last 30 Posts" that I don't want there and I certainly can't promise anything - but we'll have a look at it sometime in the next few days. Steve, here's some unprecedented ferocity:  and hopefully, that's all we get!  Cheers, Dave  |
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Post by Richard on May 15, 2006 17:09:33 GMT
Thanks for that Dave! It's a busy week for birthdays, so I'll be posting yet another one tomorrow. Meanwhile, is there a fire extinguisher in the house? Oh it's ok, the Fire Station's only down the road in Shaftesbury Avenue! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifRichard |
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Post by Andrew on May 15, 2006 17:17:00 GMT
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Post by roger on May 15, 2006 17:24:43 GMT
Hi everyone, Steve M, you only got one thing wrong. You said you expected to be put down with unprecedented ferocity... Well, not from me, you won't. I happen to be in full agreement with you (for the second time in two days, I believe - surely this can't last?!  ) I believe the "last 30" posts can be increased if that would solve the problem. In the early days, you could only search the last 10. That was briefly increased to 20 and then to 30. I see no reason why we shouldn't increase it further unless anyone (like Dave) can think of a reason why we shouldn't. But that still doesn't reduce the amount of space that these posts are taking up or the fact that they will be found by anyone who uses the "find the last fifty thousand posts". So, further suggestions will be welcome and duly considered. Roger |
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Post by roger on May 15, 2006 17:40:36 GMT
Before we get too far into this, we'll have a look around to see if there is any way of modifying what appears in the "Last 30 Posts" list or some other workaround. Cheers, Dave Hi Dave, I am fairly certain you can't be selective in what does and does not appear there, if that's what you mean. You can, however, change the amount of posts (in General Settings but don't tell everyone! ): default = 10; minimum = 1; maximum = 100; currently 30. Roger |
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Dave
Administrator
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Post by Dave on May 15, 2006 23:16:20 GMT
Hi guys, Yes, using the Last 30 posts button will (should) always get you all the posts. I'm not sure if we should increase the number though in case it slows down members with dial-up connections too much. Does anyone want it increased? (but read on first). Steve, there is a solution if all you want to do is filter out the birthday posts, as they mostly appear in their own sub-board. You can use the Search button (in the menu bar near at the top of the forum) to get all recent posts from all, or only some boards and sub-boards. The Search method is detailed in this Tech support thread here. We'll have to have a think about the other issues raised... Cheers, Dave |
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Post by postscript on May 16, 2006 6:48:34 GMT
Following Roger's point that Steve has raised an issue about 'flippant' posts and the storage factor of 'Happy Birthday' that is at least an easily defined category that could be easily axed periodically without loss to service. So perhaps, as far as storage is concerned and future search patterns, 'Happy Birthday' posts can be quickly eliminated in the way the Il Divo forum is a ruthless router out?
Peter
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Post by postscript on May 16, 2006 8:00:17 GMT
Hi Dave! Having linked to the technical report on searching to which you refer I clicked a fulsome reply but was of course on a board to which i could not post a reply, so lost it!  However, having taken the trouble to wax lyrical i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif, I shall try again while it's in my head!  Thank you for the tip off. That is a very good point. I do use the search button for word or subject searching and I have to confess I never thought of using it any other way, probably through lack of time to explore and the default ease of the last 30 posts, which works fine if you are a regular. If, as I often am, you are erratic then you can lose touch with current affairs and their continuum. I'm one who interacts according to the flow of general conversation, not to disciplined subject areas of debate... 'the world is my oyster' and I can never recall, do not even necessarily note at the time of replying, what thread it is to which i am replying, commenting or interacting! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif Steady, Roger, steady. Don't jump in yet! Roger will of course point out the value of subject classification AND BEING ON TOPIC! But which ever philosophy you accept, God-created or Natural Selection, all the world tells us that it loves diversity, flexibility, adaptability, malleability and conformity and standardisation are anathema to REAL LIVING. When man sets out to compartmentalise and create conformity in the defiance of the natural order he always comes a cropper--look at the EU! BUT, the counter-argument is that without some 'topic discipline' some plants would exhibit their roots to the wind and bury their flowers in the ground and then where would we all be? Where did that happen? Alice Through the Looking Glass or some other nursery tale of moral values, as to why one should always stay ON TOPIC? Seriously,I have copied and pasted that article on the search engine use to Word and will print it out to have by me all the time.  That was a good suggestion, Dave and let me take this opportunity to say THANK YOU TECH GUYS who keep us going with a lot of hard work of which most of us are unaware! Peter |
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Dave
Administrator
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Post by Dave on May 16, 2006 9:37:51 GMT
Hi Dave! Having linked to the technical report on searching to which you refer I clicked a fulsome reply but was of course on a board to which i could not post a reply, so lost it! Peter Hi Peter, I don't understand your above comment - you can (and did) post a reply to the "Search Button" thread in Tech Support; as did Steve M yesterday!  Cheers, Dave |
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Post by postscript on May 16, 2006 22:29:26 GMT
Hi Dave! Having linked to the technical report on searching to which you refer I clicked a fulsome reply but was of course on a board to which i could not post a reply, so lost it! Peter Hi Peter, I don't understand your above comment - you can (and did) post a reply to the "Search Button" thread in Tech Support; as did Steve M yesterday! Cheers, Dave That was the resend! Peter |
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Joe
Administrator
Supporting Hayley since 2003!
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Post by Joe on May 17, 2006 2:26:07 GMT
Hi all,
When I want to view the many new posts made each day, I click SEARCH, then scroll to the foot of the page then put 60 in the "maximum search" box. If one doesn't want to read the "Happy Birthday" posts, one could remove the tick (checkmark).
I enjoy reading the birthday posts...we've gotten creative with them! I never saw a problem with them; it so happens that we've had so many birthdays recently. Then it may be two or three weeks with no birthday.
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Post by alien on May 17, 2006 5:31:54 GMT
Hi Dave, Does proboards happen to have a feature to list all new posts since last visit? I know some other forums such as phpBB has that and I find it very useful. Sometimes it can be a bit hard to catch up with the new posts after being away for several days Allen |
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Post by stevemacdonald on May 17, 2006 5:36:25 GMT
Like I said, in a perfect world the off-topic categories (Happy Birthday, Photography, Nicola Benedetti, etc.) which all too often overwhelm the "30 most recent posts", would exist in their own parallel forum -- with its own "30 most recent posts" -- fully apart from posts about Hayley.
I mainly come here to read posts about Hayley (remember her?) but that has become much harder to do these days without resorting to the "search" workaround.
*puts on protective gear*
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