Tips for using the new forum

[scott]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to point out a couple of useful tips and tricks for using the new board.

New posts
------------
If you are a registered user, the board automatically keeps track of all the new posts since your last visit. For example, when you go to the "General Discussion" Forum, all topics with new posts will appear at the top of the list with a small orange page icon next to the topic name. To go directly to the first new post in each topic, click the small orange page icon with an arrow next to it.

Also, each time you log in there will be a link on the upper right that says "View posts since last visit (X)", where X is the number of new posts since your last visit. When you click the link, you will be taken to a list of all the topics with new posts. Again, click the small orange page icon to go directly to the first new post in each topic.

Previewing/Editing posts
------------------------------
If you're a registered user, there is no need to submit multiple posts to correct errors. First, you can preview a post before submitting it by clicking "Preview" rather than "Submit." If an error still ends up in your post, you can edit the post after it was submitted by clicking the "Edit" button on the upper right of the post in question and submitting it again.

Merging/Splitting topics
----------------------------
The new board allows me to merge topics together and split topics apart, which I intend to do (on a small scale anyway) to try to keep the threads somewhat organized. If your topic or post disappears, try searching for it... it's probably been merged or split.


That's all I can think of right now... hopefully this helps. If you have any questions about how the new board works, how best to use it, or requests for new features, please just post a reply to this topic.

Thanks for visiting!
-Scott

[scott]

One other note:

Watching topics
-------------------
Registered users can "watch" particular topics, which means that they will receive an email notification whenever a new post is made on that topic.

To watch a topic, just click the link on the lower left corner that says "Watch this topic for replies." After you do, the link will change to "Stop watching this topic for replies." Click that link to turn notification off again.

[Fletcher]

Hi Scott, how do I bookmark topics or posts of interest to me alone without having to use my "favourites". This would be useful to keep track of useful stuff that I could easily access again at a later stage for review ? As an example I'm having trouble finding John Collins discussion (thread)on the 95.5 degrees & 25.5 degees making 120 degrees etc. i.e. the Bessler drawing of which he says something like "do you still not understand".

[scott]

Hi Fletcher,
Thanks for your feedback and the great enhancement idea. I have implemented a bookmarking mechanism for logged in users. Here is an overview of the new bookmark features:

• You will now find a link on every topic to set or remove a bookmark for that topic.
• You can view and manage your bookmarks by clicking the main "Bookmarks" link at the top of every page.
• You can automatically set a bookmark while you are posting by checking the "Set a bookmark for this topic" option (and you can change the default setting in your profile).

Hopefully, these features will address your needs. Thanks again, Fletcher, for the great suggestion. Keep those ideas coming!

-Scott

[Jonathan]

I love the statistics page!

[scott]

I love the statistics page!

Hi Jonathan,
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. (Statisitics are only available to members for now...)

I just added even more statistics you might find interesting. Scroll to the bottom of the Statistics page and click the "Site History" link...

Good stuff! (but needs more time to accumulate data...)
-Scott

[Jeff1]

Scott,
How do the quotes work? Are the messages numbered. On the old board I could refer to a previous message by number. Lets say I wanted to start a new thread with the subject matter concerning a reply to one of the other posts, how do I reference that?
Thanks,
Jeff

[Jonathan]

I don't know how to use the quote button, I've never tried, but if I want to quote somebody, I copy what they wrote into my post like this:
[quote ]whatever they said[/quote ]
But without the space between the word 'quote' and the end bracket in the tags.

[scott]

How do the quotes work? Are the messages numbered?... Lets say I wanted to start a new thread with the subject matter concerning a reply to one of the other posts, how do I reference that?

Hi Jeff,
The quote button on each post starts a new reply with that post automatically quoted.

To reference a post outside of the current topic, you can do as Jonathan suggests by copying the verbage you want to quote and placing it inside [ quote][ /quote] tags in your new post.

Alternatively, you can link directly to another topic by placing the url for the topic in your post (just copy and paste the url from your browser's location bar. Well-formed urls are automatically converted into links by this board.)

Here's an example of a link to the topic "Bessler Convention": http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79

If you want to get really fancy and link directly to a particular post within a topic (by number), you can do that too. Notice the small page icons at the upper left corner of each post, right in front of the date? Those icons provide links directly to particular posts (using internal anchors on the page.)

You can copy and paste these urls into a new post as well to link directly to another post (in the same topic or not).

For example, this link: http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewt ... ?p=101#101
goes back to the first post in this topic (in a new browser window.)

Here is an example of a link directly to the third post in the topic "MT13 video animation" (it is post number 73): http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=73#73

Hopefully, one of these options will suit your needs!

-Scott

P.S. For more info on BBCode, please see the help section on this site.

[scott]

Hi All,
Just wanted to let everyone know that I made a slight upgrade to the board recently...

Previously, the "unread" flags for messages only lasted as long as a single browser session, meaning that if you didn't read all of your new messages before closing your browser, those messages would not be flagged again as new on your next visit.

Now, the unread messages for each user are stored in the database, so the flags will remain persistent across browser sessions.

Hopefully, this will be more convenient and help improve usability of the board.

-Scott

[Jonathan]

I like that, sometimes I accidentally exit and then I don't know what I haven't read when I come back.

[Jeff1]

Scott,
I have tried logging on with my user name and password, and I get a message that I have used an incorrect user name or password. What is wrong? To make sure I have entered the correct info I cut it from the email account info you sent and pasted it to the log in. It still will not work.
Thanks,
Jeff

[scott]

Scott,
I have tried logging on with my user name and password...

Hi Jeff,
I periodically go through and deactivate accounts with bad email addresses. Just send me an email and I would be happy to reactivate your account.
Thanks,
Scott

[scott]

Notice: 1 / 26 / 2004

Hi All,
Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm currently working on upgrading the ranking system to be based on post percentages rather than absolute amounts (with the gracious help of a php expert).

Until he and I work out the kinks, the ranks system on the site might be broken for a while.

-Scott

[Fletcher]

Hi Scott,

Just some house keeping. As happened the other day I was half way thru writing a post when something came up & I had to drop it. Seems I couldn't ditch the half completed post i.e. trash it & do it over later. Any suggestions about how to back out once started ?

Fletcher