[LesB]

OK John, The conversations just don't seem to be as private as they use to be when they "appeared" to be an exchange of private emails. Like most web sites the code writers seem to change things just to justify their job. Every time I update my OS software some code writer has moved things around that didn't improve anything; just made me look for it. LOL

 

[CaptainKlutz]

Did this new program delete the ability to send a "private" message to another member that no one else can view....including admins? If not how does it work?

+1 conversations.
BUT
It has been determined that conversations and PM use the same editor, with the same list of "banned" forum words.

When you hit preview on conversation, everything looks normal, even banned text. But any attempt to post/send a word on the black list will be automatically replaced with asterisks, or post could be queued waiting for Admin moderation/approval. The robo text filtering was first uncovered by someone posting the noun for "A person born to parents not married to each other". Several other "bad" words, names, and websites have been documented as filter triggers.

LumberJocks TOS quoted below can provide some additional insight on possible filtered text:

You may not:

• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Web Site.
• Use the Web Site to impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
• Interfere with or disrupt any servers or networks used to provide the Web Site or its features, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of the networks we use to provide the Web Site.
• Use the Web Site to instigate or encourage others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage or interfere with business interests or contractual relations of any person.
• Gain unauthorized access to the Web Site, or any account, computer system, or network connected to this Web Site, by means such as hacking, password mining or other illicit means.
• Obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through this Web Site.
• Use the Web Site to post or transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, libelous, flaming, hateful, offensive (whether in relation to sex, race, religion or otherwise), defamatory, obscene, vulgar, harassing, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, provincial, national or international law.
• Use the Web Site to post or transmit any information, software or other material that violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material that is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or rights holder.
• Use the Web Site to post or transmit any information, software or other material that contains a virus or other harmful component.
• Use the Web Site to post, transmit or in any way exploit any information, software or other material for commercial purposes, or that contains advertising.
• Use the Web Site to advertise or solicit to anyone to buy or sell products or services, to cease using the Web Site, to visit another competing Web Site, or to make donations of any kind, without our express written approval

 

[Admin]

Is there any way the resolution on showcase thumbnails can be increased?
Ever since the the forum software changed, they're so fuzzy and unappealing.
I'm guessing that's one reason why response totals are so low these days. Used to be we'd get somewhere between 8-15 responses on most really nice projects.
Now If we get 2-3 responses we're lucky.

The issue happens when a rectangle-shaped image is used for a square thumbnail. One thing that I have found helps is using a square image for your cover photo.

 

[LesB]

As far as private messages or conversations goes shouldn't be up to the receiver of the message to determine if it is inappropriate use of words, threats, insults or character assignation and they could report it to the Admin or block the sender just like most email programs do. (is it possible to block a sender here?).

 

[Admin]

As far as private messages or conversations goes shouldn't be up to the receiver of the message to determine if it is inappropriate use of words, threats, insults or character assignation and they could report it to the Admin or block the sender just like most email programs do. (is it possible to block a sender here?).

This is critical to avoid legal issues, especially regarding harassment, discriminatory terms, etc. The rules in this community are the same, regardless of if you are typing in a discussion thread or a private message. It is automated.

 

[Underdog]

The issue happens when a rectangle-shaped image is used for a square thumbnail. One thing that I have found helps is using a square image for your cover photo.
View attachment 3865230

Thanks Cricket!
Making the image square helps immensely. Noted for future reference. Thanks for the help.

 

[Sodabowski]

To the new admins :

I just came back after several years of hard work on a carreer change, which had left me too little time to really post anything here, particularly about my academic research work on spalted wood, precisely the green stain produced by Chlorociboria, which is relevant to anyone wanting to do marquetery with 100% natural woods.

First, I notice an ugly new interface, with a disastrous palette. Okay maybe it's just cosmetics, let's login.
First thing, I'm forced to change my password. Not willing but no choice. Then I start looking for my buddies list and so on. WHAT THE ACTUAL F

Gladly, several of my friends from here (where are the buddies lists?) had warned me on facebook that LJs had become a complete disaster in the hands of a new "team". Well, that was putting it mildly. You kids basically WRECKED all that made this a very nice website. Everything is WRONG about the new interface, and your "reasons" for the switch are LAME. And no, it's nost fast either. Why can't you just let things as they are interface-wise and only change the nuts and bolts, like any self-respecting website programmer would do? This is NOT a PLEASANT or PRACTICAL interface AT ALL.

I was going to share the results of my research over here, but clearly I don't want my work associated with what has become a lousy platform - unless you make things right again. Sorry, not sorry. This new interface SUCKS big time, and NO there is no "getting used to" sh!t.

 

[fromaway]

I will be here during your transition to the new platform, to help with any questions, help with navigation or how to do things, and to listen to your feedback so please don't hesitate to holler at me. I want to help. You can also check out our FAQs.

I do want to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Cricket. When I was born, my father told his friends I was the ugliest baby he had ever seen, and that I sounded just like a cricket (I was born with the hiccups.) so yes, I have been Cricket for a very long time now. I live just outside of San Antonio, Texas. I spend most of my free time out in nature and exploring the back roads. During late autumn when it starts to finally cool down, I disappear from the world for a bit for camping trips and hiking.

Please don't be afraid to explore and test out things to see how they work on the site.

Although you can certainly use the "insert image" icon to upload an image to your post, you can also just drag and drop it to the text editor or even copy/paste it into there!

You can easily share videos just by adding the URL directly into the text editor!

Gif links from sites like giphy.com will display automatically just by adding the gif URL directly in the text editor. Try it!

I am a huge fan of the dark mode for the community. What is your favorite feature?

The new forum software is still a work in progress.

We will be seeing regular updates, which are largely fueled by community feedback. While that doesn't mean we can action every request, it does mean we will be actively listening to the feedback and sharing it with the developers. We do ask that you keep any questions, thoughts or feedback about the new forum software here in the Community Feedback thread to help us keep all the information together, so we don't miss anything.

There is still some work going on behind the scene so you may notice some changes as we work.

• It can take 24-48 hours for the site to finish indexing, so it may take a bit for search results to return proper results, including showing all your threads/posts under your profile.
• We will continue to clean up the order of the sections on the full forum listings page, so you might see some stuff move around.
• We are reviewing permissions and special permission sections so let us know if you notice any issues so we can look into them.

I won't always know the answers to your questions, but I can find someone who does, as needed.

- Cricket

Hi Cricket. I’ve been on the new site for some time now & am getting more used to the new look & feel. I do have an observation/question though.

I value the skill & knowledge that’s available through this group. Best of all I find the members are always willing to share their expertise. It took ages for me to post anything but the feedback I received on those early posts encouraged me to do more & as I did, I was able to learn more.

OK, my observation/question. With the previous version, projects that were posted would often get multiple comments - not just views. I mean in the hundreds & beyond. Doing an unscientific analysis of the current version most projects are lucky if they even get comments into double digits.

Was this a design point objective? I’m sure it wasn’t.

While it’s a great ego boost to get a bunch of positive comments it’s way more beneficial, at least to me, to get feedback as to what someone liked or didn’t like or had suggestions as to how to improve it or where the ‘making’ could be more efficient.

since the members haven’t changed it seems to me that there’s something in the new version that (inadvertently) discourages comments.

Or do I just not know how to use the version effectively?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers
Bryan

 

[MikeB_UK]

Hey Bryan
As near as I can tell the main reason as to why there are less comments on projects is that less people see them.
The site seems to have switched to a more chat focused format - for better, worse or indifferent is down to the individual.

Go to the home page and count how many project images you can see - I get between 0 and 3 depending on how generous you want to be about what classes as a decent project pic, where there used to be a top 15 front and centre.

 

[unclearthur]

The main project page is a catastrophe, with tiny, grainy and distorted pictures which make every project look bad. Totally unappealling to browse through, so people don't. Hence your low comment count.

The shortcoming to that page, and the implications for a project orientated community site, were pointed out a long time ago, but nothing has changed. People who like looking at other people's projects have gone elsewhere.

 

[LittleBlackDuck]

There are a lot of one picture, one line comments like "Table made out of walnut." that seem to be proliferated by the influx of new members and amortisation by old members dissatisfied by the new format... that are not too conducive to project participation.

People that seem to have cared are sadly missing. The emphasis on chat versus lack of pictures is not helping the cause.

 

[Redoak49]

Interesting comments...my main interest is the projects first and then blogs. I prefer a project which provides a description of the project including materials and the build. Projects with just one short sentence hold little interest.

I also like a good blog but there seems to be fewer of them. It does take quite a bit of effort to write a good blog with pictures.

There does seem to be many new members and hope they will post projects or blogs.

 

[LittleBlackDuck]

I miss the Reviews... The current format basically makes exposure to new items practically impossible.

New members seem to be one-liners with cameras without film!

 

[EricFai]

Agree, projects have gone to the bottom of the list, no wonder folks are going elsewhere. As for the project postings, folks are not describing their projects very well.

 

[BB1]

It becomes a bit circular as I don't feel motivated to write a long description if few (or none) comment or interact. Part of the enjoyment is the discussion that follows a post. Without the interaction, the drive to add a project is definitely diminished for me (which makes me sad!).

 

[Redoak49]

While I am extremely upset about the way favorites were handled, the reviews are something else. I think that the issue of reviews could be easily fixed to make it easy to find them. There is really no reason to have twenty different categories of reviews as there are not enough of them to justify it. The current system is just a waste.

 

[LeeRoyMan]

I would say the site is going to stay as it is. I've come to the realization that asking/recommending change is falling on deaf ears. We all have the option of finding other sites. I frequent another that is more user friendly when it comes to projects.
This has become more of a chat site, kind of like woodworkingtalk.com's little brother.

 

[unclearthur]

I would say the site is going to stay as it is. I've come to the realization that asking/recommending change is falling on deaf ears.

Agreed. Improving the project part would be easy, but the corporate guys probably forbid any customization as it would increase maintenance costs for the website. Basically has to work within the same paramaters as all the other forums.

It is really the typical sequence:

• something gets popular because its unique
• it gets bought by BigCompany because it popular
• BigCompany makes it generic to save costs
• it dies

 

[Mosquito]

I will pile my agreement on top of the above discussions. Quite sad, really. They put on a good show about caring to improve for a while, but then drove enough of the regulars that cared away to dull the roar

 

[Redoak49]

I will politely ask....Are there any plans to work on any suggestions that have been made