The only place that I am aware of where you will see when a buddy has posted something is in New>News Feed. For me that is pretty worthless because there are no filters so you see every comment they post. They are a chatty bunch so when they create new discussions or showcase/projects, they get lost in the noise. I would have to check almost hourly to not have to scroll through several pages to find them. I wish that they would add a filter so I can limit to just new postings or exclude replies to existing postings since I can see those once I am following those posts.
Community Feedback: New Forum Software Is Live!
We are excited to announce that we are live on our new forum platform!
It’s been a long time coming. Let’s face it. Sometimes older forum technology lags behind other parts of the internet. Although seeing the same format for a long time is comforting, the member experience shouldn’t include dealing with outdated, unsafe, slow software.
The transition to a new platform will never be 100% smooth but the days of dealing with out of date forum software are over. We have teams dedicated to building a world-class community for you. The development has been steady with regular software releases since May 2019. Asking members for feedback and coming up with ideas for improvement is what we want.
Speed and Reliability Are Key
No one should have to wait for information. This site has been built to be much faster and more reliable, period.
New Homepage Experience
Our algorithm will serve a personal customized feed based on your prior engagement with content on the site. If you’ve liked and or commented, or are following certain topics that are of interest to you, similar content will appear at the top of the homepage.
Search
We have introduced new search algorithms, powered by an industry-leading AI platform, to help you find information faster. We plan to roll out new features to continue improving search, and to power many additional areas of the forum.
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Due to the volume of content, our search platform may take some time to complete indexing over the first few days after migrating. During this process, you may see a limited number of posts until indexing has been completed. We appreciate your patience.
Finding Your Way Around
We have made the design clean and simple to use. Near the upper right-hand corner of the community, you will see navigation icons.
The first icon is for what’s new on the site.
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Clicking on it, by default, will take you to new unread posts. On that page, you can click on additional tabs as well, such as Popular, if you prefer to view active topics.
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Clicking the list icon next to “NEW” will bring you to the full forum listing.
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Clicking your avatar will give you a drop-down menu for all things related to your account.
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You can also navigate more by clicking the 3 vertical dots.
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Dark Mode
We have introduced Dark Mode. One of our favorite features allows you to access the site with a power-saving, and easier on the eyes dark mode. You can access it in the drop-down menu under the 3 vertical dots.
Save Bookmarks
Now you can save your favorite discussion threads and posts! Bookmarks are a handy way to remember and easily find great content or stuff you want to read later.
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We also wanted to make it easier for new users to understand the lingo of forums. We have cleaned up various language to more commonly recognized phrases including:
Please keep all feedback, questions, concerns, requests for help, etc. regarding the new platform right here in this Feedback thread. This will help us make sure not to miss a request for help and also let us pass along your thoughts to our Product team. The Admins and I will be here to help along the way taking note of your comments.
- Community Management Team
It’s been a long time coming. Let’s face it. Sometimes older forum technology lags behind other parts of the internet. Although seeing the same format for a long time is comforting, the member experience shouldn’t include dealing with outdated, unsafe, slow software.
The transition to a new platform will never be 100% smooth but the days of dealing with out of date forum software are over. We have teams dedicated to building a world-class community for you. The development has been steady with regular software releases since May 2019. Asking members for feedback and coming up with ideas for improvement is what we want.
Speed and Reliability Are Key
No one should have to wait for information. This site has been built to be much faster and more reliable, period.
New Homepage Experience
Our algorithm will serve a personal customized feed based on your prior engagement with content on the site. If you’ve liked and or commented, or are following certain topics that are of interest to you, similar content will appear at the top of the homepage.
Search
We have introduced new search algorithms, powered by an industry-leading AI platform, to help you find information faster. We plan to roll out new features to continue improving search, and to power many additional areas of the forum.
Due to the volume of content, our search platform may take some time to complete indexing over the first few days after migrating. During this process, you may see a limited number of posts until indexing has been completed. We appreciate your patience.
Finding Your Way Around
We have made the design clean and simple to use. Near the upper right-hand corner of the community, you will see navigation icons.
The first icon is for what’s new on the site.
Clicking on it, by default, will take you to new unread posts. On that page, you can click on additional tabs as well, such as Popular, if you prefer to view active topics.
Clicking the list icon next to “NEW” will bring you to the full forum listing.
Clicking your avatar will give you a drop-down menu for all things related to your account.
You can also navigate more by clicking the 3 vertical dots.
Dark Mode
We have introduced Dark Mode. One of our favorite features allows you to access the site with a power-saving, and easier on the eyes dark mode. You can access it in the drop-down menu under the 3 vertical dots.
Save Bookmarks
Now you can save your favorite discussion threads and posts! Bookmarks are a handy way to remember and easily find great content or stuff you want to read later.
We also wanted to make it easier for new users to understand the lingo of forums. We have cleaned up various language to more commonly recognized phrases including:
- Following - Thread subscriptions, and Watched are now known as Following
- Conversations - Private Messages or PMs are now conversations and can be accessed from the user avatar drop-down in the main navigation
- Showcase - Showcase is designed for users to "showcase" items/projects through the use of uploaded images, text descriptions and custom content categories. It’s a way to visually and textually provide detailed information on the content you wish to share. The showcase would be similar to a catalog, whereas the gallery would be like a photo album. It can be accessed from the drop-down menu with the 3 dots.
Please keep all feedback, questions, concerns, requests for help, etc. regarding the new platform right here in this Feedback thread. This will help us make sure not to miss a request for help and also let us pass along your thoughts to our Product team. The Admins and I will be here to help along the way taking note of your comments.
- Community Management Team
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I wrote software for 30 years and learned two things:
- Do not trust anything important to software - kind of kidding.
- Even when people are very upset about problems with the software, they will be much more patient if you keep them informed about the status of their issues.
I have actively kept the community up to date in this thread. I will not be starting another one.
Personally, I would appreciate a "read only sticky" in this forum, so it doesn't get cluttered up with commentary like this one doesI have actively kept the community up to date in this thread. I will not be starting another one.
Exactly!
Maybe one of our Super Moderators (hint, hint
) will take a survey to see how people feel about being able to get the information they want from this tangled web of a thread.
Which Issues Have Been Resolved
Site Speed & Errors
Site Speed & Errors
- The site speed issues (and error messages) were resolved.
- Showcase was loading very slowly. Resolved
- Showcase was divided into Categories. Journals, Projects, and Workshops.
- Pagination issues were reported for the Showcase categories. Resolved.
- Members reported being frustrated with not being able to go directly to the Showcase categories. A secondary navigation menu was added.
- Members reported issue finding how to search Showcases. A node (forum) link was added near the top of the community.
- Members Reported Confusion With Using Showcase. Miscellaneous Showcase Tips were added.
- Members reported frustration with being unable to block off topic discussions. A new preference was added along with a tutorial. Resolved
- Member reported bug regarding Media and Showcase directed to the same location when hovering over an avatar within a thread. Resolved
- Member reported an issue with searching for 3-character words such as oak, CNC, etc. Search now allows 4 character words. Resolved.
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