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feedback on forums needed!
(17 posts)-
I hope everyone will respond to this thread with their opinions.
My understanding so far is that we need some kind of search box (I have to look into that). Are there other problems with the forums or other improvements you feel would help?
I may try to make improvements to this site, but there may be limitations. I have considered trying to move to another software for the forums only, and if I cannot make the changes people want, I might have to do that. This will mean you might have to make a separate username and password for those new forums. This would be more of a problem for new users who would be more confused--right now if you surf over from the blog, you are still logged in, and that is a nice feature not probably available on another forum software.
We also would have a link to the old forums, but they would not become searchable. Since the forums are only about 7 weeks old, this is not a huge tragedy, and they would still be accessible. But new conversations might be more accessible.
I am willing to move to new forum software, since people do seem to be using the forums a lot, though it will be more expensive to run.
Problems that will probably persist: occasionally people's messages get into spam filters. Since this happens consistently to a few people, it is very annoying for them. But it never happens to most people. I will try to improve it, but we do need a spam filter, so it will probably still happen at least sometimes.
What's nice about the forums? Do you like the PM function? The tags? Is there anything else you like about the forums that you'd want to maintain? What would you change?
Please speak up so I can think about making improvements. Thanks all!
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Thanks, Nobugs... I vote in favor of limiting costs if possible. I hate ads!
The forums are great. A google search bar would be plenty improvement for me.
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Fedupandparanoid
junior member
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 81
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 11:47:33
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I think a search facility on the forums would be good but I do like being able to shift easily between the blog and the forums. Having two user names would be a bit of a pain though so if that was the only way I think I'd vote for staying as we are. I like the PM function although can you turn off the notification in your email box that someone has pm'd you? We don't necessarily need that as it says you have messages on the forum page. Generally though I think it is all pretty good, and easy to use which is very important for anyone new and desperate. Its probably my level of computer illiteracy but I find it so much clearer and easier to use than the yahoo bedbugger site and I really like the blog with news on this site.
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Thanks Nomo and Fedup!
I am adding the search box shortly, assuming it works.
I just added a little tidbit under the hottags: "Who's online now?"
Fedup is the only one who has asked me to remove the PM notifications. I have to say I find them annoying too. Anyone else?
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And... if you look at someone's profile, you can now see "Last online xxx" (and xxx = the date). This may be of use if you are responding to someone or want to check up on someone from an old thread--you'll know if they still come to the site.
I hope that is all useful and not too big brother--these are features I have found useful on other sites.
I think it's important that we do not expect people to respond to PMs instantly if they are online. If someone is pestering you, of course, you can always get in touch with me and I will see what I can do.
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Okay, here's another one I found while trying to sort out a search box:
NOW when you login, new posts will be highlighted in bold. You will see this until you logout for at least five minutes and login again. (That is, it won't change from bold just because you read it.) Also, threads where the only new post is from you will not be highlighted in this way. -
willow-the-wisp
banned
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 1,530
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 12:37:37
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Yeah--they are annoying ... those yahoo mail alerts about the PM's in my yahoo mailbox. As fedup said, we can always scroll down and see if we have messages. It is easier, that way, to just scroll down and therefore we will not have to sign-in to Yahoo mail … or any mail … just to delete the new mail message icon.
I have a suggestion about your going into the green stickies (when you have some time)and editing them or weeding them out to some degree. To be honest I'm not sure people read them as faithfully as I do and have, but on that I can't be sure.
I know I was like the only one that put a few responses in there. So I would think that would be somewhat frustrating for you.
I don't mind the spammer, really, now that I understand it better. So if you keep what we have and just tweak it--with a note in green stickies about possibly being caught into the spammer--that would suffice for newbees ...I like how we can look on anyone's profile and see what threads they have responded to, when ... and how many, or which threads they have started. That's a real plus and it helps identify some newbees to some extent. But I'd love to see more bio info: for instance, mine say's
"Hi I'm a host!"
A few paragraphs there, would be better, than the way you have it now, with a separate entry for "introduce yourself." As you can well, see--nobody ever seems to use it.Finally, I suggest you somehow steer newbees into leaving comments about their bed bug/ living and social setting/situation(s) roomates ... multi dwelling ... level of infestation they think they have # of bites and reactions etc ... I'm thinking it would be so much better to get and give advice. I know you do mention it somewhere but It is not (I don't think) enough. SO with those tweaks and editing upgrades I vote we keep what we have and just make it a tad more explicable: For instance, once I edited something for you and I think you posted it in the first or second green sticky when all of this was still so new. (It's the one that starts off with the word "finally" about six paragraphs down ... and then a few paragraphs down after that--it says "finally" again. Even though I think you DID post what I had sent you as an edit, it is, now that I know more about the system you are using, still technically awkward and slightly incorrect--(if I recall correctly).
Maybe it is too complex. Technical writing is as we all know--so tough.Yes ... I said that. I wrote something too complex, or, long-winded if you will.
:)
PS the fact that people seem to go to the top threads is obvious now, becase you are now getting responses to questions you had not before.
I HOPE all of that makes sense! -
Fedupandparanoid
junior member
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 81
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 12:39:37
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I think the highlighting new posts will be good. With the time difference when I log on there can be a lot of stuff that's come in overnight and it would definitiely make it simpler for me to see what is new quickly. Seeing whose online will be interesting too.
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Fedupandparanoid
junior member
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 81
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 12:43:09
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Just tested the search button on the forum page and it certainly worked. Only thing though I typed in Olli as in Willows pet BB (the only thing I could think of off hand) and as well as references to Olli the bb things like folliclitus came up too. Any tips on searching - should we use "? It's definitely a good addition though.
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Fedupandparanoid
junior member
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 81
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 12:46:42
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Now there are two search buttons and I like the bottom one best (not google search)
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willow-the-wisp
banned
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 1,530
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 12:53:43
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I have a question about the hot tags ... Are they finite as in--these are tags you have created and listed? If so ... it would explain to me better why you did what you did to the genetic research thread by changing the tags.
I personally don't use them and so that may be why I still have some questions about them:
I'm wondering too, if others use them? And I'm wanting to know more about how these hot tags came into being, if they are ever updated or not.
For instance, say I add a tag called "Olivia", I would have expected it to show up in the hot tags section--yet it does would not seem to.
So, I'm asking ... do we have to CHOOSE from the list of hot tags there already exactly?
Or ... is there a glitch or what?I know you changed the tags in "genetics lab breeding thread" and used it as an exaMple but ... that only made me more confused about the hot-tags.
I really don't think we need them--I just know(I DON'T USE THEM AT ALL FOR SEARCHING .... BUT I DO STILL TRY TO ADD TAGS EVEN THOUGH I'M STILL CONFUSED--NOT ANGRY--CONFUSED.) :-)
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Hi Willow,
I gotcha. I did not create the hot tags feature--it's a built-in function. It lists the *most popular* tags only. There is simply not room to list every tag ever made. So "hotness" = popular. That's why it's in your interest to choose tags that others will use also. So "research" may be used on lots of posts.
Right now, you can see "research" in the hot tags; click the link below:
http://bedbugger.com/forum/tags/researchWhat's listed are ONLY those posts which people tagged with "research" spelled just so and not in capitals.
But the hot tags are sensitive. If you capitalize it ("RESEARCH"), it's a different tag. If you add other words ("genetic-research") it will not include these.
So in order to get value from tags we all have to use them. Many times people don't. Hopefully the new search function will solve the problem. I typed "genetics" into the search box, chose "Search the Forums" and got your post:
http://www.google.com/custom?domains=bedbugger.com&q=genetics&sitesearch=bedbugger.com%2Fforum%2F&sa=Google+Search&client=pub-7312958226641931&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&flav=0000&sig=mQULAE_tJndQcB7a&cof=GALT%3A%23006699%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23006699%3BVLC%3A11593C%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3AE1771E%3BALC%3A006699%3BLC%3A006699%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A666666%3BGIMP%3A666666%3BFORID%3A1&hl=enTo respond to your comment about my changing the tags--"genetics lab breeding" or whatever your original tag, would not have shown up in the hot tags. No one was ever likely to use such a specific tag again. Sometimes I replace tags when people use ones that aren't likely to work--as in, not likely to be replicated.
On the other hand, a tag like "bed bugs" is also pointless since it will refer to every post.
Hope that helps.
The search box was causing errors for the last hour or so, as I kept tweaking it. It's done now and should work. It opens results in a new window, so you do not lose the window you're working in.
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Fedup,
I modified the search box: you can now choose to search forums, Bedbugger as a whole, or the web. I thought that would make it most useful for all. -
Oh, and one more thing people should know: the search box is using google. Google indexes the site regularly, but not instantly--so a post put up recently, like Lt Dan's one on Collembola, or the name Oli, might not show up for a few days.
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Nobugs
I like the view your profile function to see which posts have a response with the time stamp countdown. I haven't tried the search function yet.
Doug Summers MS
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nyjammin
senior member
Joined: Apr '07
Posts: 664
Posted 2 years ago
Thu May 17 2007 19:55:59
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Nobugs, wow! You've really improved the site. I see a whole lot of things that will make this site much easier to maneuver. You are AMAZING. How the heck did you do it so FAST?! Congrats!
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Thanks NYJammin! I just took a few hours today. Most of these tweaks are plug-ins people have written and so I am finding them and plugging them in (making a few changes here and there). Stuff is not always so easy, and sometimes what seems like a simple change is actually tricky, so I can't always make changes people request.
Glad the changes look helpful. It will never be perfect, but it's not a bad forum site.
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