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General discussion

FORUM Annoucement: Forum bug fixes and added features- to deploy 6/08

Jun 7, 2004 7:26AM PDT

Hi folks,

Sometime tomorrow morning 6/08, we will be deploying some changes to the CNET community forums--some will be enhancements and some will be bug fixes. So please be aware of these changes and please report any bugs or weirdness to THIS thread. thank you! -Lee

Here is the list of things that are going to be deployed in the forums:

Forum Bug fixes

1. Duplicate posts have been resolved by adding a confirmation page after submitting a post. It is one extra step for users, but this will ensure that duplicate posts will not occur.

2. Text limitation in replies: Limitations have been removed in replies, no more "Part 1, part2..." for posting large amount of text

3. Active X script running in forum templates has been removed

4. Forum Discussion list will now include additional columns of info:

Title/Author, Thread creation date, Last Post to thread date and time, and number of posts in the thread

5. Alt tags have been added to buttons -- We might have missed a few alt tags here and there, but the important ones are covered.

6. Reply to post page, will show entire content of post that you are replying to, rather than it being cut off.

7. HTML template has been cleaned up in hopes to improve forum speeds.


User functionality enhancements:

1. Increased tree thread views to show 250 rather than 50 messages So rather than having user page through the tree of messages, 250 messages will appear on the tree for ease of following long discussions. Anything after 250 posts will initiate the paging of the tree.

2. The red "NEW" indicator for new message to disappear after 12 hrs rather than a lengthy 24hrs

3. User thread subscriptions: User will now be able to subscribe to threads and get notification on activities in those particular threads. Please check out the revised Forum FAQ page to reflect thread subscriptions: http://reviews.cnet.com/4002-7600_7-5083783.html Once you have subscribed to a thread, if there is any activity in the thread(s) that you subscribed to, a summarized email of your subscriptions will be sent to you. Emails will be sent every 4 hours. If there are no activities in your subscriptions, you will not be notified.

4. Forum Search added to all forum pages

5. Next and previous message button has been moved to a more prominent and fixed location rather than bouncing around depending on the length of the message.

6. Added a "Back to main Forums page" link and "Jump page" at the bottom of collapsed forum pages

Other Stuff:

1. CNET Editors/Employees will receive a red ball "C" icon.

2. Co-Branding of the CNET help.com with CNET Reviews
Going forward --to invite more members and participation in our forums, we have co-branded our forums to have the look and feel of CNET Reviews. Once these forum changes have been deployed you will now be able to view the forums with the CNET Help.com look or the CNET Reviews look. All content is shared, but just the header and footer template will be different.

Here is an example, but it will only work after the forum changes have been deployed to live:

CNET Help.com Windows XP forum:
http://reviews.cnet.com/5204-6142-0.html?forumID=5

CNET Reviews Windows XP forum:
http://reviews.cnet.com/5204-6142-0.html?forumID=5&tag=cnr

3. Subject line display will be limited to 50 characters.

4. Register user can now only send Offensive message alerts now. Only registered/logged in users will have the ability to notify us of offensive messages.

5. Discussion threads can be locked by our moderators. If we see that a discussion is going no where, but south, moderators will be able to lock them down. Locked down thread will be indicated with a pad lock icon.

Things that will unfortunately remain the same:

1. 7 layer deep thread...we tried but the wrapping of subject lines made the thread almost impossible to follow, so it was ultimately decided not to increase it

2. No thread jumping links...we implemented it at first, but because the forum pages are dynamic and any new posted message to any discussion will bump the thread to the top of the forums--it made the previous and next thread button appear then disappear which made it a pretty confusing experience. So we had decided for the sake of not confusing users, this piece was pulled at the last minute.

3. Remaining logged in. This is actually a larger issue and will require additional resources to look into to fix, so given the resources I received this time, I was unable to get this resolved.

Discussion is locked

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One bug I've experienced...
Jun 8, 2004 1:15AM PDT

relates to Profitt;s complaint.

I have only posted twice since the changes, but Sillyost" took me to that "Thank you for your comment " page.

However, on the 2nd try each time, it worked fine. (It was about 10:00AM CDT at the time._

It was laso during the time the changes were happening, so it mught clear up as things settle down/

Regardless, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the time, effort, and caring you have put into the community.

Angeline

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(NT) Any timetable on eliminating the need to enter a character in the message body for ''NT'' posts?
Jun 8, 2004 1:17AM PDT

.

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Gee Josh I had to click open your NT post.....notice
Jun 8, 2004 3:15AM PDT

they limited the number of characters in the subject. If you or the system puts an NT in the subject and goes over the max characters it makes no differents about 'no text'...still have to click on it to read the complete subject. A unnecessary step and a BUG IMO. Sad

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Seems to be less than the advertised 50 characters
Jun 8, 2004 10:03AM PDT

for the subject then must click on subject to read all. My results in Test indicate 45 characters (including spaces).

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Ah, they just fixed it to now be 50 characters, Thanks
Jun 8, 2004 10:09AM PDT

.

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Maybe the next round
Jun 9, 2004 2:28AM PDT

This may take a little time to implement. If I find that it is an easy add on then I'll try my best to get the engineer to squeeze it in.

But I'm not promising you guys anything.

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Uh-Oh! This could be a biggie!
Jun 8, 2004 1:26AM PDT

As reported by a member....

When you subscribe, the person's registered name is showing in the "My Discussions"

The member's EMAIL user name shows up. I know, because it is from the member's email address, and is not his forum user name.

"This is weird!!!!!

What do Muslims believe about Jesus?
John Doe | 06/08/2004


I subscribed to this discussion, and I get the info above, The thing is this is Bob Smith post and it say's John Doe ????"

(posred by a member)

Angeline

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We are looking into this now...
Jun 8, 2004 1:54AM PDT

test

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This has been fixed (NT)
Jun 8, 2004 5:24AM PDT

.

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Links don't show as read? (NT)
Jun 8, 2004 1:36AM PDT

.

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We are looking into the Read and unread links... something happened
Jun 8, 2004 1:52AM PDT

when we deployed these changes to live...

I let you all know shortly.

thanks,
-Lee

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It looked like you had it for a few minutes. -nt
Jun 8, 2004 3:21AM PDT

.

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Looks OK now. -nt
Jun 8, 2004 3:40AM PDT

.

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The deleted posts should continue to be marked deleted to reduce confusion. Please
Jun 8, 2004 2:48AM PDT
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Re:The deleted posts should continue to be marked deleted to reduce confusion. Please
Jun 8, 2004 3:07AM PDT

This should be up to moderator to delete children post that follow the deleted messages.

Replies wouldn't make too much sense either if it followed a "Message has been deleted" post.

-Lee

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I agree. Deleted should be marked deleted.
Jun 8, 2004 3:20AM PDT

It keeps people from searching for posts that have been deleted.

It shows that a reply has been made even if it is inappropriate.

It gives a visible record of who's naughty.

Dan

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Apparently you don't read that much in SpeakEasy.......
Jun 8, 2004 3:46AM PDT

There are post in SE that have perfectly good and legitimate text that follow a deleted post and they are definately not "children post" or would cause a Mod to delete.


Sample:
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6130-0.html?forumID=50&threadID=23858&start=0

There are many other legit posts that make comment to a post before it has been deleted and if there is no trace of it a reader thinks...'what in the world' are these other post referring to....could there have been a post deleted somewhere? Continuity is maintained somewhat by indicating "Message has been deleted".

Lee, in the old forum system (before October) when a post was eliminated it would often cause 'orphan' posts that in many cases were not 'children post' and perfectly good posts. Since October with the system marking a post as deleted it eliminated the confusion.

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Re: Apparently you don't read that much in SpeakEasy.......
Jun 8, 2004 1:27PM PDT

Hi, John.

We delete replies (without prejudice) that make no sense after deletion of the post to which they reply.

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator

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I don't read the Speakeasy...
Jun 9, 2004 2:34AM PDT

There shouldn't be that many deleted post in the first place. If people just stay within the TOS then then we would have this problems like this, would we? I don't see this happening in the technical forums, only in speakeasy. And I really can't justisfy this type of change for just one forum. I've done this for the benefit of all the forums.

Sorry John, the "message has been deleted" should've never been there in the first place.

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I agree, Lee! Please- no "message deleted"
Jun 8, 2004 3:59AM PDT

That is how it used to be before the new software.

Having "message deleted" serves to draw stuff like, "I wonder why that was deleted? " "Boy! That must have been some fight!", and the like.

i much prefer the old way... remove the other replies that no longer make sense.

Angeline

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Re:I agree, Lee! Please- no
Jun 8, 2004 4:01AM PDT

That only happens with a very limited number of deletions. The confusion with evaporating posts will be much worse and it will happen with every single deletion.


Dan

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I have to side with Angeline on this one.
Jun 8, 2004 4:19AM PDT

Even if it means replies might seem odd at times, as long as the thread doesn't fall apart over it. Perhaps a good compromise would be just a place holder saying "post deleted" with no name, date, or time stamp by it.

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Re: ........Err.........
Jun 8, 2004 4:26AM PDT

"...remove the other replies that no longer make sense."

That is just the problem...with no indication of a post deleted the legitimate and plausible replies don't make sense to a reader. So you want all replies deleted to a deleted post removed?

Seems James has the best solution:
"Perhaps a good compromise would be just a place holder saying "post deleted" with no name, date, or time stamp by it."

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It worked fine in the old forums
Jun 8, 2004 5:24AM PDT

Now folks have grown accustomed to "message deleted".

From my end, that has caused many problems. I wish I had a nickel for each time it did.

Anther reason is it prompts stuff like, "well, (whichever) mod really has it in for John/Jane Doe. He/she deletes everything they post>" No consideration is given to the posts warranted removal, instead implying vindictiveness and under-handed actions on our part. Speculation runs amok that there is a conspiracy.

When we have an address, we send the reason why. We started posting "dupe" or "by poster's request" to try to keep the "conspiracy" theories to a minimun.

Also, when things get out of hand, and there are a string (or strings) of "message has been deleted", rise is given to more speculation.

Again, I am looking at it from my ebd.

Angeline

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Message deleted will not appear any longer --that's final
Jun 8, 2004 5:47AM PDT

Sorry, but I already made the commitment to remove the traces of deleted post and this is one change that is sticking. So please get use to it.

-Lee

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When you get a chance.
Jun 8, 2004 6:00AM PDT

Lee,

Could you let us know what procedures, notifications, etc. that the moderators will be following regarding deletions of messages and any child messages. Past handling of this has not been entirely consistent.

Thanks,

Dan

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(NT) Thank you, Lee! :-)
Jun 8, 2004 7:14AM PDT

.

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NT - ''NO CHILD'' then dump it all. Tired seeing them.
Jun 8, 2004 5:25AM PDT

..

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NT - ''YES CHILD'' then (keep ?) it all. Tired seeing them. :-)
Jun 8, 2004 5:51AM PDT

.

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Re:FORUM Annoucement: Forum bug fixes and added features- to deploy 6/08
Jun 8, 2004 3:45AM PDT

I justed wanted to say good job with all of these new features. They are really good. What I noticed is that on the right side where is says "Forum Information," that column is to narrow so it puts the "Information" below the "Forum" but the graphic isn't big enough so it doesn't look right if you know what I mean. It's not an usability issue but I wanted to mention it Happy.