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General discussion

Remaining forum issues?

Nov 14, 2006 5:49AM PST

The original thread has become quite long making it difficult to navigate, especially with resolved and duplicated issues posted. Thus, I have created this one to keep tabs on what issues still remain after the latest patch releases. Please look through this thread and try not to duplicate issues already posted.

John

Discussion is locked

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MAJOR: *Supposedly* missing posts?
Nov 14, 2006 5:49AM PST

1.) The Post Count in member profiles is off for most members, either returning to 0 or reverting back to that of a previous time.

2.) The listing of a member?s posts in their profile is sketchy, omitting random posts or not displaying any posts at all.

3.) When performing an Advanced Search the total number of results for a member?s username is incorrect as well.

4.) The Latest Replies section in the member profiles is not updating at all.

All of the posts are actually present and accounted for but they are not being counted in the forum search and the member profiles.

John

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It's not just a counting problem ...
Nov 15, 2006 11:38AM PST

In the Speakeasy forum it is not possible to display messages older than about March, 2006.
For example:
I can't open any thread on this page
Maybe those posts are there ... maybe not.

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That's the Tree View issue...
Nov 15, 2006 12:24PM PST

Towards the bottom of this list is a notation of issues regarding Tree View. If you switch to Threaded or Flat view and then try to access the posts you can without receiving the Cnet 404. This was reported last week but has not been addressed so I'm going to send an e-mail to see if they can put a rush on the fix...it's getting worse as time goes on.

John

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Thanks, but that raises another question ...
Nov 16, 2006 10:14AM PST

Aside from the minor quibble that I didn't find a 'tree view' issue in this thread ... I appreciate the work-around to get threads to load.

That does illustrate an issue though. Preferred view is an idiosyncratic thing. I STRONGLY prefer the tree view, others don't. When I get to a forum page that lists a bunch of threads it is almost a given that I'll be using tree view. If I discover that I need to switch to flat or threaded view I have to change the preference while viewing a thread, not while viewing the list of threads in the forum. It's extremely clumsy.

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Re: threaded view.
Nov 25, 2006 12:14PM PST

Hi, Bill.

I've always loathed the flat view, but I find the threaded view a user-friendly compromise between it and the tree view. The threaded view keeps the thread structure intact (as the name implies), but doesn't make you keep clicking on links for each message to follow and read the thread. Your mileage may vary, of course -- but you might give it a try.
-- Dave K. (posting via this account while travelling)

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Already tried it ...
Nov 28, 2006 6:53AM PST

I'll stick with the tree view ... when it works.

I gather that fixing this is not a high priority.

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Is there no fix in sight?
Nov 28, 2006 6:52AM PST

I'm still seeing the same behavior. Some threads will not open in tree view.

Since I can't change the view selection while I'm looking at a forum's list of threads this is extremely annoying.

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Can you list some?
Nov 28, 2006 7:18AM PST

The issues with opening long threads in Tree View were addressed a few days after it was reported, so could you post the links to some of those threads to see if it's a recurring problem or something new?

Aside from that, have you tried logging out and deleting all Cnet cookies since the problems began? The views are linked to both your account and cookies, and the little bit of house cleaning has helped a few.

John

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That may have fixed it ... mostly ....
Nov 28, 2006 11:39AM PST

The posts I had trouble with were old ones in Speakeasy, as referenced in my earlier post. I was trying to retrieve some information from an older post (from about Thanksgiving in 2003) but without success. It wasn't just long threads, either. Really old threads with just 1 or 2 posts were also affected.

I did try logging out and back in as well as deleting all cookies when that was first suggested, but without success. However, per your suggestion I tried again this evening. This time it seems to have helped.

Those older posts still load VERY slowly compared to more recent posts for whatever reason. Maybe that's a cache issue. It's not a big deal at present. At least the older posts are accessible now.

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(NT) UPDATE: Forum search is operational/functional again!
Nov 20, 2006 8:13AM PST
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MAJOR: Thread tracking is DOA?
Nov 14, 2006 5:50AM PST

E-mail notifications of tracked threads are still not being sent out.

John

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Just received 2 Forum Watches, however
Nov 16, 2006 4:04AM PST

The link for the topic title leaves you on the forum index instead of first message of the topic.

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It's a simple error...
Nov 16, 2006 4:15AM PST
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just made those email changes
Nov 16, 2006 6:19AM PST

Thanks so much for all of your help here. I just made the changes to the email subject and url. I also wanted to let you know that we made a change such that the emails will only be sent out once a day now. I hope you'll like this. If not, then we can always revisit it. I just wanted to let you know what to expect.

We've got some exciting changes on the horizon for these emails as well as for a number of new features. We are working our hardest to get everything working exactly as expected. Although we may not be very active outwardly, we are extremely active behind the scenes.

Many thanks to all of you for your help. You guys are the best!

Dan Hobbs (CNET)

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Thanks for the update...
Nov 16, 2006 7:39AM PST

I don't track threads very often so I don't have much of a preference on notification frequency and honestly don't remember how often they were sent out previously. I would like to see them sent out a couple times a day, though, to lessen the potential wait between the posting of a reply and the reception of an e-mail when someone's waiting for assistance getting their system back up and running.

Now, to hound you guys for sneak peeks of the next update. Wink
John

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(NT) Agreed. Notification frequency is usually a user preference,
Nov 16, 2006 9:08AM PST
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HTML doesn't always work!
Nov 16, 2006 9:44PM PST
"We've got some exciting changes on the horizon for these emails as well as for a number of new features. We are working our hardest to get everything working exactly as expected. Although we may not be very active outwardly, we are extremely active behind the scenes."

Some things do function such as the hyperlink in this next paragraph, the bolding of the above paragraph but I don't see a problem with why the hyperlink in the next does not, which similar postings yesterday for example were perfect:

Just tried posting to a "thread" and the code displayed instead.

For for a list of articles to browse through, click this "link." Please note, this list was generated simply by searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base with the parameter "the page cannot be displayed" only.

Note: Clicking this link opens the linked-site in a separate window for your convenience, and once open any item of interest should be opened in a separate window for viewing/reading. Scroll down to "More Support & Troubleshooting results" and click to display all the articles. After finishing, simply close that window and you'll pop right back to the main list which requires no refresh -- regenerating a window which has been written over and progressed back to can be time consuming as you may well know.
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That's a filter issue...
Nov 16, 2006 11:43PM PST

It's a filter issue where after a set number of continuous characters (right now 150) a space is automatically inserted, so in the case of links they are broken. It's been reported a little ways down this thread and is something Lee needs to adjust.

John

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(NT) Thanks. Must be 134< based on the HTML length count.
Nov 17, 2006 8:03PM PST
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Digest should include posts from self
Nov 19, 2006 8:00PM PST

Not having the users own posts in the period in the digest makes them harder to use.

The thread context is lost without my own posts to anchor and prod my memory.

This may result in an increase in the number and size of the digests, but, should simplify the select.

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It's working perfectly for me now!
Nov 20, 2006 8:09AM PST

I was offline all day but returned to find just a single tracked thread notification in my inbox. Good work guys. Cool

John

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(NT) Ummm. I got 6 yesterday.
Nov 21, 2006 8:13PM PST
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I just received 8...
Nov 25, 2006 8:57AM PST

I just received 8 over the course of 37 minutes, all of them identical. Sad

John

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Aware of the issue-- this bug has been difficult...
Nov 27, 2006 8:11AM PST

The engineer is having a hard time tracking down this bug--as one moment it is fine the next moment it not working.

I receive 8 sometimes and at other times I receive 3. Anyways just wanted to let you all know that the engineers are actively looking into this issue.

Thanks!
-Lee

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Typical of either a re-select or bad join problem
Nov 27, 2006 8:46PM PST

Without seeing code, my money would be on a bad design with re-select.

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Sorry if there are newer threads on this topic..
Dec 1, 2006 2:51PM PST

...but I've had questions posted in two Forums categories in the last couple of weeks. In both cases I've had them listed as being tracked, and the description says that I'll receive emails when there are responses. For both questions there have been responses to my posts, but I've received no emails notifying me of that. Consequently, I neglected to check the first one for a number of days because I was overworked and forgot, but getting a response was important. What gives?

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MAJOR: Javascript causing a slowdown?
Nov 14, 2006 5:50AM PST

The Javascript in the left-hand Navigation pane and to a much lesser degree the Universal login, is slowing down the load time of the forums. This results in a ?flashing? problem at times (20% of the time here), where the forums will load all except for that Javascript, it will pause, flash to a blank white screen, and then render the page again.

John

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A different annoyance with me and the Navigation pane
Nov 14, 2006 7:25PM PST

On my Firefox 2.0, the "CNET Forums" menu listing keeps opening; eg, I close it using the down arrow, then as soon as I click another post, or forum page, or whatever, the menu drops down again.

The other two javascript menus, "Feedback & testing forums" and "Popular forums", keep dropping down on a page change, then pulling back up as the page fully loads.

It happens in IE7 as well.

Most annoying.

Mark

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My second MAJOR annoyance...
Nov 15, 2006 3:07AM PST

I am annoyed by the drop down menu not holding an then pulling back up after the page has loaded and seemingly re-loading. Wish it would stay like I leave it... that was so the first day the new forums came into existence... but they "ain't" been the same since. Maybe someday it will come about again. Grin "Hope is eternal!"

Glenn

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I don't know if this is for real...
Nov 29, 2006 6:07AM PST

but all afternoon the forum links in the left sidebar are remaining in dropped down position as opposed to closing after a page is loaded. This has not happened since the first day the new software was used.

I hope this is permanent as it sure saves a lot of clicking when moving about from forum to forum. Grin

Win XP SP-2
Firefox 2.0

Glenn