The official "Features we would like to see implemented on the new platform'' List

I'd rather they not treat them differently at all.  iPhone is fine as a web browser if you don't do anything specific for it.

When I first saw the "countdown" I knew I would hate the new site. I also knew that I would gradually get used to it, so I decided to wait before commenting. Well, I'm still not really used to it (I don't find it a very inviting look so I haven't visited as much since the switch), but it is usable. There are a few things I would like to see returned, however:

- It was mentioned much earlier in this thread, but I want to add my vote for returning the page links for a thread. Many times I would hit the link for the last page of a thread I was following. Now, that is a two step process (open the thread and then click the last page link). I know there are probably other ways to do this, but I liked doing it this way.

- On the main forums page, please return the descriptions of each forum. For some reason I just liked them, and it gives you quick reminder of what a forum is without opening it.

- Rename "ADVANCED REPLY" back to "PREVIEW". I wouldn't have known that was the method for previewing a post if I hadn't read it on a thread. It should be made obvious.

- For goodness sakes, return the sticky function. I don't give one hoot if Huddler thinks we should use wikis for everything. Are they runnning this place or are the owners? Evidently Huddler thinks we have nothing better to do than click all over the place to find things we used to see just by going to a forum. At the VERY least let the mods puts links to applicable wikis at the top of the applicable forum. Otherwise, I have no real desire to go searching through the wikis trying to find something that should have been right there in the forum all the time.


Editorial comment: To me, the new site design seems boring and drab. Before the switch, there was no doubt that you were on HTF. The whole site seemed like it was more vibrant and alive than this new incarnation. The new site design is unremarkable and could be almost any other forum site on the web. HTF's design used to be distinctive. Now it just seems to be in the noise. Frankly, I don't feel there is anything that has improved useability over the previous site design.

Why do you prefer jumping to the last page rather than using the "go to first unread post" feature?

I'll answer that one.  Because other forums have made making tracking unread posts problematic, unscientific and just a pain in the ass.  Honestly it's more like work than it something that just works.  I don't know if HTF is any better in this regard but it's not the way _I_ work.  My "Advanced Search method" and forum jumps work just fine for me.

Boy.  I spent a lot of time thinking about this paragraph. 

While I'm sure Parker & Ron are still very much in control of things here...this got me thinking about how much control they had over the way the place worked with Parker actually writing the code and implementing any changes/updates to the forum. 

While that has obviously changed,  I hope they still plan on being responsive to the requests of the users who are making numerous suggestions about usability and features they felt made the old HTF one of the premier and user-friendly discussion forums on the internet. 

===========================

Personally, I'm getting tired.  And I'm starting to get a sense that checking-in to the forum is becoming more of a chore dealing with form and function rather than a fun place to visit with like-minded friends about interesting & fun topics. 

And I'll tell you, the crap with that Amex advertisement slowing everything down for me was really dispiriting. 

I thought HTF1 and HTF2 both had good quality "first new post" systems. I use it exclusively with threads I'm following. I'm also using the "Home" page listing consistently, which is the same "first new post" system.

There is discrepancy between reading at home and reading at work, of course, but I find it easily managed.

How do you use "Advanced Search" to figure out where you left off reading in a thread? That seems much, much slower than clicking the "first new post" link and being where you left off.

Regarding the red star (*)  ratings issue ... is there any way the workings can be changed so we can just go back to putting  " :star: " in, and that's that? Also, is it feasible that we could be able to get bold lettering by putting [b] and [/b] (same with italicized lettering)?  

And I don't get the whole multi-quote function. Plenty of times I like to respond to people's posts in sections, and I can no longer just write [quote][/quote] and be done with that, either.

What do you think?

There are no limitations on what we can and can't post there.  If you look in the HD SW area I put links to most of the threads that were "sticky" on the old SW and to some that should have been.  I also created a link to a wiki that was created with links to all our reviews---the equivilent of the old Software Review page.  Just like on the old platform if there is something you want added as a sticky just ask.
Edited by Adam Gregorich - 7/11/2009 at 05:53 pm GMT for grammer.  2 hours of sleep will quickly undo 16 years of shooling
Edited by Adam Gregorich - 7/11/2009 at 05:54 pm GMT

Mike you bring up a good point, but Parker writing the code was a two edged sword.  While there were things that he could jump in and fix immediately, there were other things that he was struggling to figure out how to do.  He also had a demanding job outside of the forum and wasn't always able to make changes or deal with outages right away due to his work schedule.  We now have an entire team that can respond to outages 7x24, and with more programmers being hired turn around time on feature requests should be even quicker.  Now that Parker is finally able to take a vacation he can be very satisfied knowing that we needed several people to replace him.  Parker was so busy coding and tweaking that he never really had time to particpate on the forum.  I for one am looking forward to seeing more of him .

As to being responsive to users...look at all that has changed just in the first week based on user feedback!  Not only are Ron and Parker interested in the user experience here, but look how active Huddler has been in addressing user experience issues and questions.  User requests are talked about several times a week.  Just remember that there are some larger behind the scenes requests that have been made for things like signups and spam control, so just because you don't see anything been done doesn't mean we aren't making requested changes.
I'm sorry you feel that way.  The AMEX ad is gone based on your feedback so you shouldn't be "spinning your wheels" anymore .  I think the best thing you could do is leave the feedback area for a while and go find the threads that make this a fun place to visit....they are still here.  Whatever you do, please make sure you still spend Sunday mornings in the Bargains and Deals forum.....I need my weekly roundup...

This was and is my biggest concern as well.  In many ways this move is like going all the way back to Prodigy.  And while we have Huddlers direct attention now, that hopefully for them, will not be a permanent thing because right now there is, relatively speaking, nobody else on their platform and in the future I'm sure they will have to grow to survive.  It's in HTFs best interest to see that Huddler makes the most of this move cause if they don't thrive and grow it will stunt all the big plans they have.... 

  Adam:  Thanks.

1.)  Thanks for responding to that part of my post.  I think you make a good suggestion.

2.)  And thanks for the kind words.  I'll see ya Sunday morning! 

Well, I'm hoping that some of my concerns above will be addressed at some point.

What has it been -- a week or so here now with this new software? And there are still nothing but headaches. I still cannot access Page 1 of TRACK THE FILMS YOU WATCH, reportedly "because there is a lot of information on the first page" (how is THAT considered "progress and improvement",  and how can a forum run that way?) ... I still cannot break up quotes so that I can respond to several comments by posters on a point-by-point basis. Forget about all the complicated methods of accomplishing that feat .... you have to be able to do [quote] and [/quote] --- c'mon, now -- EVERY type of other forum software at least offers that basic capability (same with [b][/b], etc....) ...!

Thanks to Man-Fai Wong for the new insight! Insert cursor in a blank line in a quote. Change the "Format" drop-down menu box from "Normal (DIV)" to "Normal". The quote is separated. See this video for example. I will confess that this, while a kludge, is easier than manually typing [quote] blocks in vbulletin.

Well, I have to disagree vehemently on this point. I found it much easier to just "copy/paste"  any section you wish to re-quote and then add the [quote][/quote] bookends.

Another thing -- this technique really only works 'semi'-quickly when quoting a poster's comments according to individual paragraphs, where there is already a handy space in between them. If you want to select a sentence within a paragraph to quote, you have to go out of your way to make your own spacing in between, like this here:                    and  THEN, after making your own spacing, place in your cursor and hit the "normal" command.

But on the bright side, at least I know how to do it now, and I do thank you.  

Glad to help, Joe.

Not to break into the discussions on quoting, but I've finally realized what one of the little tiny things is that I'm missing.  Hopefully, it should be a tiny little change. 

At the top of the page is a link-bar that, for example, on this page reads:

Home Theater Forum   ›   Forums   ›   Feedback/Misc   ›   Forum Help and Feedback   ›   The official "Features we would like to see implemented on the new platform" List 

...with the first four being links.

Can that be echoed again at the bottom of the page?  It's particularly useful for going back to the discussion list right after posting a reply.

Leo

True, but you lose the attribution using this method on any quote but the first.   I wonder if that is what Multi-quote intends to keep.

For breaking up a quote from a single poster, this is so. But it's no different from before; I lost attribution when copy/pasting and typing  [quote] tags.

Multi-quote seems specifically for quoting from multiple posts in a single reply. There was no tool for that in the old forum, to my knowledge. I had to manually type the [quote] tags and would lose attribution, unless I bothered to also manually insert that too.

The new multi-quote tool is better all-around than the old way of manually doing multi-quotes. It will better still if Huddler is able to make the feature "discoverable" and make the GUI concordant with the other posting tools.

I'm not sure what's wrong with using multi quote.
By attribution does this mean who is being quoted?
Why would I want to copy and paste a post when I can just hit the "m.q." button?
I guess I don't understand what you guys are asking for.
I just multi quoted the last 4 posts and it seems to work very well and exactly as it did on the old HTF software.
when one multi quotes, don't forget to just "quote" at least one post to activate all the quotes into one post.

See the video I posted about breaking up a quote into smaller sections. It wasn't initially clear how to do this with the current software. Rather, it's not clear from the GUI given, but Man-Fai figured out a useful "hack". Previously many people understood how to use the [quote] codes for this.

As for attribution, the new MQ system makes it easier for this case, as you observe.

Here's a question/issue which I had raised before...but somehow missed putting it in my extensive "to do" list back on page 2.

What about the system for keeping track of successful/unsuccessful trades/purchases among members? 

For years, we had the Good Trader's List in place in which I tracked every member's feedback about their transactions with other members.  Recently, Parker had implemented a feedback system integrated into the old HTF software.

One concern I have is if the feedback on the new system is retrievable? 

I'm assuming the old Good Trader's List still exists and we could build off of that.  I would be more than willing to help with that, if needed. 

It would be a shame if that data was lost and not able to be implemented into a new system....if one is coming. 

==========================

EDIT**  Here is the old Good Trader's List.

Regarding the overloading of right mouse menus.  It just occurred to me how surreal this is.
-The right mouse menu has been hijacked to do cut copy and paste.  There is apparently no other use for this hijacking.
-The cut copy and paste don't actually work because of some made up nonsense about it being a security violation, which is defeated by using control-x control-v (command on mac!) anyway.

So, explain to me what's going on here again please?  Why can't this just be removed which will result in no loss of functionality for anyone but for those of us on Firefox will result in more functionality?

+1 Insightful

Sam, are you talking about a FireFox 3.5 thing? Firefox 3 on WinXP, right-click is normal.

Not completely normal, Dave.  It seems to depend on whether or not you are in a reply or edit mode versus sitting on a thread page.

For example, you can right-click on some text in a thread and copy it...but when you try to paste it into a reply box, you are disabled on the right-click and have to Ctrl + v.

But then, once you pasted the text into the reply box with the Ctrl + v, you cannot then copy that same text to your clipboard with the right-click...you have to use Ctrl + C.

Quoting is broken.

Quoting the post linked below only gives the bottom two paragraphs. It doesn't include the first paragraph
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/289628/observations-about-the-new-software/630#post_3583677


Mike & Sam -- Maybe it's fixed now. It's all normal for me, even in reply box.

I personally fixed this problem... I have Firefox 3.5 and when I right click I see the normal menu as always.

All you have to do is go into Firefox Options.... then go to...

Content where you click Advanced button in the top box
There you uncheck Disable or Replace Context Menu and then click OK

And now I get my normal every day context menu. in reply and edit boxes.

That's weird, Dave.  I just hit the "quote" button on my own post.  When the reply box came up I tried--for the hell of it--to right-click "cut" the middle paragraph out and couldn't do it that way.  Had to Ctrl + X.  Same with pasting & copying. 

You must be living right.

I've run into some wonkiness with quoting since the switchover.  Every once in a while I'll click on the quote button and have a quote box appear in the reply window...but empty.  I then have to scroll back to the text I wanted to quote and copy/paste it into the quote box.  And, again, I can right-click copy the text onto my clipboard but then have to Ctrl-V paste it into the quote box! 

Maybe I need to upgrade to FF 3.5.  I don't see that in 3.0.11. 

If I remember right I set that in 3.0.11 before I upgraded... for another reason. though it might be in a different location in 3.0.11... I do believe it is there.

Tools --> Options --> Content--> top box where it says stop pop-ups/Load images automatically/ enable Javascript /enable Java... there click the Advanced button. --> uncheck Disable or replace context menu

If it is not there... maybe someone that still has 3.0.11 can search for it in the options to tell us where it is in that version?