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[Less than optimal] Forum software


Jimbodiah

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Squad,

Can you buy decent forum software? This thing is a [less than optimal].

- You need to search twice, because the first time always goes to your own daily activity for no freaking good reason
- Most searches take forever, if they even give you a result and not an error page. Anything over 4 syllables and it's safer to use google.
- When you type a long story, chances are high that the page will magically jump to something else, causing you to lose all your text
- Yet a lot of times when you reply, some old text gets copied into your reply box which has no relevance at all and is annoying as all hell.
- The "Insert media fro URL" doesn't work most of the times, after you enter the correct URL it will just not accept it. Using BBcode tags always works.

I can probably come up with more but honestly I am waiting for the page to magically go somewhere else again and when I hit back to get some old text I typed a year ago but has no relevance.

Stop being cheap-asses and get decent forum software. I never got why you switched to other software in the first place.

Edited by Vanamonde
Language sanitized.
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Watch the language, please. 

Of the problems you list, the only one I have ever encountered is old text in the compose screen, and that's easy enough to remove when it happens. Are you sure the problem isn't at your end? 

And we changed software because the previous one was no longer being supported. 

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The lack of BBCode makes me sad, web-based WYSIWYG editors are almost always complete crap, and this one is no exception. Splitting quotes on my phone tests my patience every time and two-thirds of the toolbar on the editor is missing. Search on this software is bad because you can't search just by author and by date (for instance), you have to have a keyword, which results in stupid searches on "the" or something similar.

In short, yeah, I agree with the OP.

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59 minutes ago, Gaarst said:

vBulletin has security lackings IIRC, that's why they changed.

Considering the outrage for the last forum software change, I don't think Squad wants to go through it again.

This. Yes, I don't think it's a secret that the current forum receives even less love than Dres. But... it's better than Bad Stuff arriving on your computer through the forum. The features make things prettier but that doesn't mean you can't post without using them. Just think of how bad usenet looked! Now get off my lawn!

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I guess I have experienced with a few of the problems listed. Such as the random text appearing, but its really not that bad( unless you are on mobile.) the only thing that really annoys me is that the search function is practically useless in that whenever I try searching for something it always comes up with an error

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12 minutes ago, ModerndayLink64 said:

I guess I have experienced with a few of the problems listed. Such as the random text appearing, but its really not that bad( unless you are on mobile.) the only thing that really annoys me is that the search function is practically useless in that whenever I try searching for something it always comes up with an error

I'd be content if I could just find my own posts... 

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The forum software isn't bad but the search errors are indeed annoying, though it's sufficient for most people. I'd rather they sorted the (allegedly) official wiki out first before touching the forum software/servers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

IPB's WYSIWYG editor on mobile devices is quite tragic, dealing with quotes is impossible. I can now never reply in the Scatterer thread on a mobile device as I can't delete a quote that is in the editor that reappears every time I go to post.

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3 hours ago, Poodmund said:

IPB's WYSIWYG editor on mobile devices is quite tragic, dealing with quotes is impossible. I can now never reply in the Scatterer thread on a mobile device as I can't delete a quote that is in the editor that reappears every time I go to post.

I've noticed this as well...  found myself blocked from responding several times with my tablet because I accidentally hit something and end up inside a quote editing it.  So then I want to start over but can't find a way to just delete the quote and start over.

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1 hour ago, Red Iron Crown said:

On mobile, if I have draft text in a thread, if I go back to it and try to reply it repopulates the draft text but also gives a black bar pop-up asking if I want to clear it. Are you people having those issues not seeing similar? 

I see that now... but let's face it, that is a pretty poor design!   Now come to think of it, I can't even delete your quote in this thread on my PC!  I can't highlight it all and delete it, I can't mouse-over it and get any option to delete it.  The only button we have is "Insert other media".  I should be able to highlight the quoted text in the editor at response time and just delete it; and I can't.

My only hope would be to copy everything I just typed...  go back, start the whole response over, and have the little bar pop-up asking to clear the editor.  Should we not at least have a buttom next to "Submit Reply" that might let us clear the editor space? 

...and on a side note, I've pretty much given up on trying to locate my own posts on this forum.  Search for posts by username just isn't a thing.  I may start adding "XLjedi Locator" to the bottom of every one of my posts so I can find it a week or two from now.

Edited by XLjedi
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4 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

I can't highlight it all and delete it

Try clicking the title bar of the quote and pressing delete.

4 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

...and on a side note, I've pretty much given up on trying to locate my own posts on this forum.  Search for posts by username just isn't a thing.

There's a "See my activity" option that sometimes helps:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/profile/175658-xljedi/content/

And you can search by author:

  1. Click in the search box to get the search options dropdown button to appear
  2. Click the dropdown
  3. Select "Advanced Search"
  4. Enter your search terms in the Search Term box
  5. Click "+Search By Author"
  6. Type the user's name slowly to let the auto complete catch up
  7. When the name you're looking for appears, click it
  8. Click "Search Content"

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/search/&q=excel&author=XLjedi

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@HebaruSan that almost works...  I see the Search by Author feature is hidden now in the advanced search area.  Once you click on the hotlink the username gadget pops-up.  Unfortunately, it then forces you to enter a keyword, it doesn't just let me find all of my content.  Is there a wildcard character I need to use?  Intuitively, I look at the Advanced Search and think the "Author" or "User" tab there is where I need to go.  So I had been missing the "+ Search by Author" clicky thing.

Even the little link you posted there:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/search/&q=excel&author=XLjedi

...only seems to work cuz you included "Excel" as a keyword.

Edited by XLjedi
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11 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

Unfortunately, it then forces you to enter a keyword, it doesn't just let me find all of my content.

To see all of a user's posts...

  1. Click their username to go to their profile
  2. Click the "See their activity" button at the right (or "See my activity" if it's your own profile)

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/profile/175658-xljedi/content/

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12 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

To see all of a user's posts...

  1. Click their username to go to their profile
  2. Click the "See their activity" button at the right (or "See my activity" if it's your own profile)

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/profile/175658-xljedi/content/

That works!  ...and I can use the advanced search if I need to throw in a keyword.

Any good way in the editor to delete the quoted textbox above?

Edit: I was able to click the titlebar of the quote and hit delete on my PC, although it didn't really highlight the quote very well, so I couldn't tell it was selected. (very faint thin blue outline)  So the problem with deleting the quotes is really just with mobile and tablet devices then. 

Edited by XLjedi
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  • 3 weeks later...

This is the best forum software i have ever seen. All the other ones are laggy, clunky and messy. This one is the smoothest one i have ever used. Everything works extremely well for me compared to you.

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For me personally, it's not as bad as I once thought...  

It's starting to grow on me.  Although I still do kinda prefer the old-school style basic forums like BoardGameGeek or the good ole SubSim forum.  Those seem to work fine regardless of how I access them.  ...this one's a bit fancy/different.  Just takes some getting use to I s'pose. 

 

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