Architecht

You can go back four years. The new boards suggests that we limit it to one year to prevent big performance hits from deep searches, but knowing how important the search function is to our content, we set it for four years.

I'd really prefer it to be ALL of the content, but that apparently can be a problem.

However, there is this work around. You can use google to search the site content this way:

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&q=site%3Acgccomics.com%2Fboards+SEARCH_TEXT_GOES_HERE&oq=site%3Acgccomics.com%2Fboards+SEARCH_TEXT_GOES_HERE&gs_l=psy-ab.3...9881.27853.0.28930.64.43.21.0.0.0.127.2086.41j1.42.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.0.0.e7qJ7L1ruJo

On 7/30/2017 at 0:25 PM, bababooey said:

I was reading through some older thread from 2010/11 and noticed that the (thumbs u didn't convert to   - I think it's because the current version doesn't have a space.  

 Some of the old to new translations are also a bit off but that's the only one I noticed that didn't seem to have a current match. 

I don't think we can fix that. I can't change the text shortcut for that icon to what was used on the old boards, since that text was longer than is permitted on the new boards.

Never mind. I was able to change the shortcut text to the old text. What I don't know is whether that will actually fix old posts. I don't have an example thread to test. Do you happen to know what post you were looking at?

That is weird.

If I search for just "Doctor" I find it. If I add either New or Who to the search, I don't.

But if I search for "Doctor 1" (a two word search, with a short word included) that works.

We may have to rebuild the post index. Maybe it got corrupted.

8 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Is it something you can report to Invision? Bugs and missing features etc?

Not much hope on this one being addressed, I'd say. I think what he's doing it trying to use the description as a kind of mini-gallery, so that he can create something like "nested albums".

It's just not what the description is intended to do. I get WHY he wants to do it and I see the usefulness in the context of a VCC booth, but Invision is going to view that as a hack to use their intentional design to do something it wasn't designed to do. Thus investing time in changing that behavior is going to be a low priority for them. It will just be considered a feature suggestion rather than something they need to fix.

We'll report it. I just wouldn't get our hopes up.

I looked for other ways to handle what he's trying to do - nested categories that users could create, albums inside albums, etc., but I did not see any easy alternatives. Working on one idea that may not pan out.

On 7/31/2017 at 8:31 PM, DeadOne said:

I'm posting this again, this time in the appropriate section of the forum. 

I've noticed some problems in the Gallery section of the forums regarding image uploading.
When you go into a picture/scan that has been placed in your album, and then go to edit that image, it looks like you are supposed to have the ability to add images into the description (the reply field looks the same as if you were posting in the other sections of the forum). So far, I have been unable to upload a picture into the description. If I choose files to upload direct from my pc, the images show up in the uploaded images section but it does not let me insert them into the post (using the "+" to add the image).
The same happens when I use the insert other media option. It allows me to select the desired images but does nothing when I go to hit the insert selected button.
I can, however, copy and paste those same images from other sections of the site into field and have them show up. Although I have noticed that when doing this it takes away my ability to edit that main album image (the option to do so seems to be, for lack of a better term, shattered... meaning the manage image button is somehow being fragmented into separate parts outside of the button). An example of this specific problem can be seen in my test gallery HERE .

And again, with a bit more elaboration

The problem with the image upload happens a little deeper into my test gallery, within the actual gallery pics themselves, in the area for the specific images description.
My thinking was that the image put into the gallery (what I will call the main image) would show the front cover. Within the description, we could add both verbal and pictorial representations of the book from the main image (perhaps a back cover scan, pictures of interior flaws, etc.). Right now, I can add a verbal (typed) description, but cannot add additional photos or scans without copy and pasting, and even then there are issues.

I have noticed, just recently, that I can accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish by using the "old school" method by using Imgur to host my images. Inserting the various codes available on this hosting site directly into the reply/description seems to work fine, even when adding multiple images into the same post.
My hopes with the new board's capability of hosting pictures/scans for its members was to avoid using 3rd party image hosting (especially now that Photobucket has gone all gangsta) and, for the most part, it seems to work fine in every section except the Gallery. 

It looks like if you attach an image, save the description, then go back in and edit it, that the boards will have inserted a copy of that image into the main post body for you.

The behavior is a little weird, but it's not a configuration issue. Seems like a bug and/or just missing feature in the board software - so it's not something we can directly effect.

40 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

I don't believe that has ever been a barrier to you answering a question before Arch when the mood has taken you and besides, there's nothing to stop you making an announcement without responding to my questions directly, as you did with your likes abuse post. Many people have asked for clarification on the new moderation rules since the new boards went live so it strikes me (no pun intended) that you'd want to clarify them at some point regardless of individuals questioning.

I did raise the questions in the right place - you said your guy deleted them in error:

 

I'll stop asking now though - 5 times is enough - and will wait with everyone else to see what you come up with in the natural course of your transition work, i.e. setting out new board policy where the old policy no longer applies.

Cheers

 

 

I was hoping you would (unfortunately because of the delete) RE-ask them in the right place so there could be a question from a member and a response by moderation - to help make it obvious that the channel was open for normal questions.

You apparently have re-asked the questions, but in random places around the boards, which is off topic for the threads and less helpful in setting the pattern.

Could you ask them in the proper forum please?

Just now, Marwood & I said:

Hour by hour resolve firmly, like a Roman and a man, to do what comes to hand with correct and natural dignity, and with humanity, independence, and justice. Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations.

On-topic posting in threads helps everybody. It's why it's part of moderation guidelines to bump things along in that direction. In particular, posting the questions in the right place in terms of moderation helps moderators find them so they can be answered, and also helps others find the content in case they are interested as well.

Here's a good place for those questions:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/forum/94-moderation-frequently-asked-questions/

This thread doesn't seem like the place to go into it.

On 7/29/2017 at 4:55 AM, Marwood & I said:

BUTM is a secret Mod!?  Sacre bleu! 

Now you've got that off your chest Arch is there any chance - any chance - that you could answer the two questions I've put to you at least four times now through the various channels available to me on these boards? Or have you got me on ignore? 

Here they are again:

1. Now that strikes are out of the window, can you explain the new boards Moderation process please, specifically in respect of how points accumulate and lead to suspensions / bans etc
2. When a member is serving a suspension, would it not be fairer to allow them to challenge the suspension via the 'Request a Moderation Review' channel rather than make them wait - potentially unfairly - for the suspension to end as is currently the case?

Thanking you kindly 

@Architecht

Not when you keep asking them in the wrong place.

43 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

One cool thing is that you can't put a Mod on Ignore.  If you think someone is a secret Mod, try putting them on Ignore.

That's funny. Actual mods are role specific - e.g. cgcmodX - and you can't ignore them.

There are some specific limited cases where I've granted TO REGULAR MEMBERS some extra permissions that are NOT moderation for the general forums, but are purpose specific. Those specialized groups don't have the power to remove posts from general boards, or warn users, or any of that, but they do have specific power to do certain things in sub-sections of the site.

One example is the guys who run the VCC.

Another example is when you and I were messing around with other ways to support your comic grading tournament, I actually created a group to give you control of a sub forum dedicated to that. I think as a result of that YOU currently can't be ignored because of those limited "mod-like" powers.

You secret mod, you.

I think I can fix that.

1 minute ago, DeadOne said:

I did. It's a nice little extra.
It'd be even more cool if the notes showed up when you viewed the picture in the larger field (what I believe is called the lightbox).

Also, is there any way to delete a note once it has been added?

The black circle with the X in it to the upper right of the note when you click on it.

Have you played around with the "add note" function that lets you specify an area of the photo and then add a note about htat area? Kind of interesting. See the demo notes I added here - hover over the image to see them:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/gallery/image/707-3-tales-from-the-tomb-1-jan-1973-g/

The win here would be that there is less stuff at the top of CG before hitting active posts.

The LOSE here is possibly less visibility that there are new posts in those subforums. By having them in CG, people who visit CG get some exposure to the fact that there are posts there.

I'm not sure if a format change would help or hurt, but as a somewhat related experiment, I created "For Sale Galleries" category in the galleries area. It strikes me as an interesting and compact way to present a "store front" of things for sale. For a sense of what a full album looks like, see what's happening in the Member's Themed Albums area here:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/gallery/category/4-members-themed-albums/

Here are some advantages it could offer:

1. Easy automatic thumbnail view of everything
2. At-a-glance preview of some of the things for sale on the album list page
3. An ability to setup the album in advance of the event by setting the album to private (just for you) and setting it public at the event start
4. An easy ability for people to comment and post I'll Take It on each picture individually.
5. An easy ability to tag individual books with a SOLD tag as they sell

I could create a VCC-specific gallery category.

1 hour ago, Marwood & I said:

Cool, thanks.  Great to see that so many people are joining, but a shame so few are actually posting. Wonder why I don't see them joining in the all activity screen though?

Arch - what is this new 'pending approval' I'm seeing all of a sudden:

Is that to head off all these silly questions we keep getting? 

 

Yes, they are queued for approval so that we can make sure to only include frequently asked question in the resource, as opposed to inquiries that are too specific.

It looks like your posts were deleted, though. I think that's because someone who normally handles "Ask CGC" (as opposed to ask moderation) saw those questions in an approval queue and removed them as inappropriate for "Ask CGC".

I'm following up, but for the moment your questions are gone.  Sorry about that.

Normally they would have sat there in an unapproved state until I could review (or another admin) and decide whether to approve and answer them, or remove them.

On 7/22/2017 at 4:33 PM, jsilverjanet said:

I'm still getting the issue where I cannot post unless I refresh the page first 

Do me a favor and try clicking into the input field, and then click it again. I've seen an issue where sometimes it looks like the field has focus and you SHOULD be able to type in it, but you can't. I have found that rather than refreshing the page, simply clicking in that field again then allows typing.

See if that's actually your issue. I haven't been able to reliably reproduce this, but I have seen it multiple times. Hard to request a fix for it when I can't show it happening reliably though.

On 7/22/2017 at 5:16 AM, bababooey said:

When do the removed threads' ghost-stickies go away?   

14 days

18 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

Where are you getting those figures Arch? If I do a blank member search for the last month I get only 118 new members showing as joined. This is very much in line with the "So and so joined the community" advices you see in the 'all activity' screen. If it was 1K per month as you say, we'd be seeing over 30 of those advices per day wouldn't we?

 

 

You cannot see new signups that have made zero posts, but I can.

I'm closing this topic and moving it. I think we're well past the initial phase of adapting to the new boards, and sorting out critical questions about how the software works, and spotting key configuration / feature problems. I'm aware there are still some people who don't like certain aspects of the new software, but at a certain point we need to move past the differences from the old boards and learn to use the new features to accomplish old tasks.

That said, I'm still always on the lookout to improve the experience, so I'm not saying we're closed to feedback. Far from it. But at this stage, that's best done in the questions about the new boards, or feature suggestions, or (as seems to be the most recent topic) in the moderation discussion area.

26 minutes ago, BriD. said:

I clicked ignore signature preferences on a member's post because it seemed to be slowing down their thread. I don't see an option to bring it back if I choose to. Can I get it to un-ignore?

Yes, go to Settings --> Ignored Users. This list is not just a list of users who you have entirely ignored, but also any part of a user you have ignored (like a signature). Next to each ignore entry is a little "gear" icon that contains some options, including removing that ignore.

On 7/17/2017 at 10:56 AM, MustEatBrains said:

I think it's a great idea.  So long as the info is consolidated and easy to find.  Thanks for the reply.

MAybe propose allowing those things in the guidelines discussion thread. If everyone seems to like it, I'll amend the guidelines to make that clear.

Should we move the How to Pack Your Books and the N00B Guide to the new Newbie Questions board just to cut down on things we have to scroll past to get to new threads?

21 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

Boards have been running slowly since the changeover this morning, with a couple of timeouts.  General problem? 

It's probably due to the caches having to refill on the new servers at the database, application, and CDN levels, but we'll keep an eye on it.

10 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

That Fixed it!! Thanks Arch..

One for the road.  

 

I do have to admit, though, there was a certain interesting kind of style to image-only posts. Maybe we should have a pictures-only discussion board, heh heh.

Sorry for the inconvenience, all. We've filed a ticket with the boards host. I don't believe a server move should mean that users have to clear cookies, etc. to get back to business as usual. We will be addressing this with the boards host.

Hello,

This forum is a good place for new members to ask any kind of newbie questions you'd like, but there are a few simple things to know to get the best value out of this area.

People with Questions

If you have a question, you should do a few things:

1. Review the popular questions, and search this forum before posting a question. Many of the basic questions may already have been answered, so it is ALWAYS good forum etiquette to try to find existing answers first. People do get tired of answering the same questions over and over again, so a new question that's already been answered may not get much of a response.
    
2. Highlight the EXISTING QUESTIONS that were helpful to you. If you find an interesting question with a great answer that taught you something important, then GO TO THE TOP of the post, look to the LEFT of the thread title, find the up-carrot icon and click it to up-vote the whole question. If you found it helpful, then there's a GREAT chance that other people will as well. This will help them find it.
    
3. State your question briefly and clearly in the title. It's very helpful to those answering questions AND to other newbies with the same question to be able to read the actual question you have right there in the title. This helps generate better answers, and helps future newbies to find that same information without have to ask again.
    
4. Try to ask GENERAL questions that would be helpful to many people. The general idea is to ask how-to kinds of questions that could be helpful to anyone and that will teach you to "fish" for yourself instead of just handing you a fish. i.e. "How do I find the value of a comic book?" is better than "How much money is an Action Comics #1 worth?"
    
5. Highlight the answers that helped you the most by up-voting and marking the best answers. When you get answers, you can do two things to help highlight the helpful answers. Any answer that was helpful, you can click the up-arrow to the left of the post to add an "up-vote" to the answer. This helps push that answer to the top so it can be quickly discovered by anyone reading the thread in the future. It's also a "thank you" to helpful responders.
   
   A STRONGER form of this is to click that check-mark icon on the left of the post. If you are the person who asked the question originally, you can set a particular answer as the BEST answer to your question. And that really makes it easy for future readers to get a great answer right away. It also moves that answer to the top of the responses so it's read first. Please do this. It helps other people know if a question received an answer that solved the issue. This allows the experienced collectors to move on and focus time on the questions WITHOUT a best answer
    

People Reading / Answering Questions

If you are either reading or answering questions, you can also help highlight the best questions and answers to make the board more valuable and cut down on repeat questions and answers.

1. Answer questions with good context / general information. Often people with newbie questions won't know quite what to ask or where to begin. So it's super-helpful to offer a bit more background rather than just answer their specific question.
    
2. Highlight the questions that seem the most helpful to many users by up-voting. When you find a question that seems general enough to be of good use to many people, or uncovers an important area of collecting that people just plain should know about, then at the TOP on the LEFT of the thread, you can find an up-carrot looking icon that allows you to up-vote the whole question. This will help highlight the great questions for other people.
    
3. Highlight the most informative answers by up-voting. On any answer that was helpful, you can click the up-arrow to the left of the post to add an "up-vote" to the answer. This helps push that answer to the top so it can be quickly discovered by anyone reading the thread in the future. It's also a "thank you" to helpful responders.