Forum update

[mjp]

Roni, I thought I would give you a glimpse into the future. Because I know how much you love change. :)

I don't know when it's coming (they've been working on version 2.0 for 2.5 years - seriously), but the fact that there's a demo forum now gives me the impression they are getting close.

 

[mjp]

Added ssl certificates so you can access the forum (and the main site) via https.

I removed the SSL cert...

You may not have noticed (and you still may not care), but the SSL certificate has been back for a while.

That's because Google is becoming very pushy about using https, and starting next year (soon) they are going to start showing a visible security warning in Chrome if a site isn't accessed using https.

They're already paving the way for that warning with the "information" icon in the URL, which, if you click on it now, leads you to a security warning on http:

But not on https:

So today I'll start forcing the https connection, and working on fixing the issues that it caused last time (getting logged out, missing images, etc.).

All of which is to say, you may see some wonky behavior here and there. But it has to be done, so being done it is. So to speak. And so forth. FYI. DIY. FTW!

 

[mjp]

It's done. I don't see any problems so far. Let me know.

 

[roni]

I'm sorry to say that, but it's okay.

 

[LickTheStar]

Well I hate change. But I guess this kind is OK.

 

[Johannes]

I guess the question we all have to face is: When and how will Snapchat be integrated? If we want to appeal to the kids we gotta stay fly. I can envision mjp doing a couple of snaps while commuting to work or something, like reading the hottest new threads into his smartphone.

This gotta be awesome.

 

[LickTheStar]

Not "fly" Johannes. On fleek.

 

[Johannes]

That's too hip, even for me. Had to check Urban Dictionary.

 

[mjp]

The forum search is using a new cloud-based search engine. I don't know yet whether I love or hate the new results format. But it's certainly a better search engine, so if you've ever been frustrated trying to find something here (or searching a term the old search engine said was "too short"), you should be happy.

Some advanced search operators:

Query	What it does
user:"Mockingbird"	Searches for posts by user "Mockingbird." Quotes are needed only if the username has more than oneword[/td[/tr
tag:"site update"	Searches for posts with the tag "site update." Quotes needed only if the tag has more than one word
before:2010-12-31	Searches for posts before Dec. 31, 2010
after:2014-01-01	Searches for posts after Jan. 1, 2014
Henry -Chinaski	Searches for posts with "Henry" but not "Chinaski" aka NOT operator
Henry+Chinaski	Searches for posts with "Henry" and "Chinaski" aka AND operator
forum:30	Restricts search results to posts from forum id 30
thread:145277	Restricts search results to posts from thread id 145277
title:"Barfly"	Searches thread titles only for "Barfly"
Run^2 Hunted	Boosts "Run" by a factor of 2 (can be any positive number >0, including <1), ranking it higher
"Post Office" ~5	Searches for posts with "Post" and "Office" within 5 words of each other (any number between 0 and 5)
prefix:"For sale"	Searches for posts withe the thread prefix "For sale"

 

[mjp]

Photobucket pulled the plug on all the free links in forums like this one, so you may have noticed missing images in some threads that were replaced by a lovely generic Photobucket image telling the user to get their great new pay service if they want their images to show up.

I'm running a script at the moment that's supposed to replace all of those by converting the images linked from image hosting services to attachments. It's going to take several hours to do all those conversions though (there were 4936 posts with outside links to images), but hopefully it will get rid of most of the Photobucket ads.

I'd remind everyone to attach images rather than link to them, but I've also installed a plugin that will convert linked images to attachments automatically from now on, so it doesn't really matter. But if you don't want your images to be automatically processed (I have no idea what the auto-processing does to image quality yet - if it does anything) you should continue to attach rather than link.

 

[mjp]

The forum search is using a new cloud-based search engine.

Funny thing about this, since I'm in this thread - I received an email from the company that makes the cloud-based search engine, and I'd assumed they were an established joint and I'd just never heard of them. But the email was touting their great success at having more than 140 forums using the software.

140 users is success? Aiming a little low there, aren't we?

Anyway, I didn't realize that we were guinea pigs, but it's working well so far, so I guess that's fine.

 

[HugOK]

What's the name of that search engine company? Giggle ?

 

[mjp]

Gaggle? Snaggle? Oh wait..threadloom

 

[mjp]

Roni, I thought I would give you a glimpse into the future.

[ps403102]$ php cmd.php xf:upgrade
Current version: 1051470
Upgrade target: 2000031 (2.0.0 Beta 1)
Are you sure you want to continue with the upgrade? [y/n] y

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Upgrade completed successfully.

This is just a test on a different domain. The forum software isn't even out of beta yet. But this is pretty much how it will be (but in a lovely shade of grey, I suppose). Not too terribly different.

 

[mjp]

A little closer to the bone...

 

[zobraks]

Something has been changed in the last couple of days - subforum titles are no more in bold letters if there are unread messages in them, like they used to be:

As you can see, only the slightly darker Buk drawing in front of the subforum title indicates that some of the posts in that subforum are not checked yet.

P.S. It's the same thing with thread titles in subforums: they are in same (not bold) letters whether there are unread messages in them or not:

 

[mjp]

Yes, I changed that yesterday after looking at the forum on a couple of non-Chrome browsers. The bold font looked terrible in Firefox and IE. There are still indicators, as you mentioned, the forum icon is dark when there are unread messages, and the blue dot shows up next to individual posts with unread messages.

It may have been the blue color, I don't know, but I was surprised by how shitty it looked in those browsers. It was bad enough to take the time to change the font weights. When the 2.0 update happens the bold indicators will be back. You can see in the images above that the bold looks fine in the grey color.

 

[zobraks]

I changed that yesterday after looking at the forum on a couple of non-Chrome browsers.

I'm a Firefox man and those bold letters looked OK for me (and I could clearly see what's new to read, not like now.)
On the other hand, if you're about to change the forum look as shown here soon, I'll be happy & satisfied again.
I know that me being happy & satisfied means a whole world to you :D.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

A little closer to the bone...

View attachment 15157

If you ever want some additional doodle icons, I can scan a few.

 

[mjp]

Thanks, but it's a bitch to do those, because they're all in a single image. Or two images, I should say:

Then via the magic of CSS, the correct part of the image shows up on the forum list. So it isn't a simple thing to add new ones. If I redo them one day I'll take you up on the offer.

if you're about to change the forum look as shown here soon, I'll be happy & satisfied again.

I don't know how soon it will be, but probably this year. The 2.0 version of the forum software is still in beta.

Like I mentioned, the problem (that I saw, anyway) may have been the blue color. Maybe I'll try changing the link color and making them bold again. It's just that there are a dozen changes - all in different places - to do something as simple as changing link colors.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Is there a "statistics" page hiding around here. I was wondering how many issues of magazine appearances have been logged. (As opposed to the number of appearances, since there are often more than one appearance in a single issue. And not the number of magazines, since he appeared in magazines more than once).

 

[Purple Stickpin]

The closest you'll get (as far as I can tell) is here.

 

[mjp]

Yes, that would be the place.

• 2545 works in 1163 magazines

 

[zobraks]

Forum update and Database... What's the connection?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yes, that would be the place.

• 2545 works in 1163 magazines

Thank you MJP and Stickpin...

Forum update and Database... What's the connection?

There is awesome info on here, but sometimes hard to find for a particular individual with habits like mine. Suggested post?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It's a small thing, I know, but I like the new look and feel of the search results.

 

[mjp]

The test forum with the new forum software version is available if anyone is curious or sufficiently bored enough to look at it. New signups are blocked, but you should be able to login with the username you use here.

I have no idea when this is going to go live. They are on beta 7 right now, and after the betas there will be some "release candidate" versions, so it may still be a while.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I just looked at it wth my phone. Mobile version looks pretty good. Simple but distinctive. The "liked by" boxes were a bit big and intrusive, but that's small quibble.

 

[mjp]

Yeah, the goofy REAPER CREW images are all chopped up in mobile too. I may be able to figure some way to get rid of those in a small viewport.

 

[zobraks]

Hmm... Somehow I have a slight feeling that The Forum has been updated.