New Format

[Richard Farrant]

It just goes to show, that upgrading does not mean that the forum is improved. In spite of the hints and tips on here it is still a clunky procedure and not half as simple and quick as before, or as other forums I use. There are features on this new format that are unnecessary and only help to confuse people. I cannot see that this is improved at all, improving should be simplifying, it is not very 'user friendly' at present.. There are a number of things that I am not happy about and I will not list here, but one that bugs me is having email notifications of replies in a thread I might have been using. On other forums you can have the feature either on or off. Now on this new format you have to click on every thread when you use it if you want it off. I do not wish for my email inbox to be cluttered up with replies when I can quite easily look at the forum when I wish to. Surely there must be an override setting to switch it off completely?

I have been a member of this forum since it was launched so quite competent in using it, but can well understand why members are not happy and drifting away.

[MatchFuzee]

37 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

Now on this new format you have to click on every thread when you use it if you want it off. I do not wish for my email inbox to be cluttered up with replies when I can quite easily look at the forum when I wish to. Surely there must be an override setting to switch it off completely?

Richard,

This should help:-

Click on the bell (notifications)

Click on "Notification Settings"

You are now on the page that you need and can select/deselect as you require

[Topdog]

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 12:04 AM, Lauren Child said:

Have you spotted the "condensed" button - it makes it easier to scroll through and pick out the interesting posts.

Nope not found that button at all.  I can only ask that question by pressing the quote button.  If someone would like to pm that would be great as I doubt that I will find this again otherwise.

David

[Topdog]

Its like being handed a smart phone having never had a mobile before.

Unfortunately, my default position is not to spend hours playing with it to try and get it to work.

Shame really as I don't know of a similar forum where I can transfer to but this is the hardest forum to make work out of the few that I use for various hobbies.

 

[GeePig]

I like the new forum, although getting images into a post was a bit tricky first time through. It looks like a forum, and runs like a forum, but not quite one like from 1997. I would rather people listed the problems they were experiencing, rather than just announcing their woes - because that is one of the functions of this forum, surely?

[sirhc]

We also have a like button now, which people kept asking for!

[gritineye]

Being positive it looks good and seems to work nicely on a smartphone, which is how a lot of people will be looking at it these days.

 

[MatchFuzee]

Hopefully this will make Ian L "unconfused"

Notification Settings.docx

[10FM68]

Well, I don't like change either! 

But...  the new format is actually an improvement.  Yes, it is better!  In particular, I do like the ability, by using "expanded" mode in "activity", to read the latest posts without having to click on them and open them up.  And this can be done without even logging on.  So far, I have been able to find everything and follow the threads I enjoy.  Some of the filler nonsense such as announcing changes to profile pictures is tiresome, but easy enough to tune out.

And I do hope those who have so much to offer the rest of us persevere - I would be very disappointed to see some of the outstanding restoration threads disappear.

I do understand, as well, that this was a change forced on you by changes in support - I've seen lots of that at work over the years and they have been a pain most of the time, but, after a week or two of using the new system, we're happy enough and the old one is soon forgotten. 

And, considering I have access to this vast resource for which I don''t have to pay a penny....

So, thanks Joris, good job, well done!

10 68

[Jack]

Thanks guys but to all those who are sadly complaining - you should have been here when we went through the first upgrade in 2006 (ish) the words were a lot harsher than this. The when we went through the big one - the same complaints as above but then the forum went from strength to strength. Those of us who are used to the other 'easier' forums - if they do not go through this change at some point then they will cease to exist - so their days are sadly numbered :-(

I am sad when we lose friends but HMVF has always had to evolve to allow it to survive. I can remember when we used to have B&W television and no remote control....times change.

Keep with it guys otherwise will miss you at the bar in the HMVF Clubhouse :-)

[David Herbert]

One of the problems with a thread like this one is that people who are unhappy have much more motivation to complain than those that are happy have to compliment.

I think that the automatic preview of a thread when you hover the curser over it is a big improvement over the previous version. Also it is a huge improvement that after posting and the screen returning to the thread (with your new contribution showing as the most recent) if you press the back button you go back a level to the list of threads, not to the page where you were writing your post as used to happen - much easier.

I think that the biggest thing that I miss is the location of people showing on their posts. As we are a very international forum it is usefull to know that they are on the other side of the world or if English is probably not their first language before commenting on what they have just written.

Once again I thank those that keep this forum going for the considerable number of manhours that they put in normaly, quite apart from the vast amount of extra work that the recent change has caused.

David

[Baz48]

19 hours ago, Jack said:

Thanks guys but to all those who are sadly complaining - you should have been here when we went through the first upgrade in 2006 (ish) the words were a lot harsher than this. The when we went through the big one - the same complaints as above but then the forum went from strength to strength. Those of us who are used to the other 'easier' forums - if they do not go through this change at some point then they will cease to exist - so their days are sadly numbered :-(

I am sad when we lose friends but HMVF has always had to evolve to allow it to survive. I can remember when we used to have B&W television and no remote control....times change.

Keep with it guys otherwise will miss you at the bar in the HMVF Clubhouse :-)

As one who remembers watching TV for the first time in black and white without a remote at the time of Queens coronation and since that day managed to get to grips with most technologies that have come my way - advances in systems /technology do not as a matter of course have to be more difficult to use - normally the opposite applies - example self parking cars - please take members comments positive or otherwise and move on   

[Tony B]

I remeber when telephones were stuck to wall by a wire, if you were posh enough to have one,  and you had to turn a dial, or even pick the phone up and hear an operator say 'Number, please?' The new forum took a bit of getting used to, but I've no problems now (Yet!) 

As for self parking cars, they couldn't be worse than some of the manual operated idiots I have to deal with everyday. 

Edited November 2, 2017 by Tony B

[GeePig]

I like the link at the bottom right of a thread that takes you to the next thread with unread posts in that section - I now find myself reading more threads than I used to...

 

trevor

[Joris]

On 11/2/2017 at 1:02 AM, David Herbert said:

I think that the biggest thing that I miss is the location of people showing on their posts. As we are a very international forum it is usefull to know that they are on the other side of the world or if English is probably not their first language before commenting on what they have just written.

I will try and fix this today, it has been on my to-do list far too long now.

[Joris]

On 10/29/2017 at 5:45 PM, Richard Farrant said:

It just goes to show, that upgrading does not mean that the forum is improved. In spite of the hints and tips on here it is still a clunky procedure and not half as simple and quick as before, or as other forums I use. There are features on this new format that are unnecessary and only help to confuse people. I cannot see that this is improved at all, improving should be simplifying, it is not very 'user friendly' at present.. There are a number of things that I am not happy about and I will not list here, but one that bugs me is having email notifications of replies in a thread I might have been using. On other forums you can have the feature either on or off. Now on this new format you have to click on every thread when you use it if you want it off. I do not wish for my email inbox to be cluttered up with replies when I can quite easily look at the forum when I wish to. Surely there must be an override setting to switch it off completely?

I have been a member of this forum since it was launched so quite competent in using it, but can well understand why members are not happy and drifting away.

You can change your notification options here:

http://hmvf.co.uk/notifications/options/

This is where you can find that option: 

 

[Richard Farrant]

Joris,

Thank you, but I did that days ago and it has started sending me email notifications on posts again. Just reset it to no notifications once more.

 

[Joris]

Locations are back!

 

[Ian L]

On ‎01‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 9:21 PM, Jack said:

Thanks guys but to all those who are sadly complaining -
 

Jack were not complaining merely stating that we can't get to grips with the new format, there must be dozens that have 'voted with their feet' because they are just unable to get their heads round it & so you wont hear from them again I suspect ?

Have you progressed from the stage of removing a spark plug to a full engine rebuild yet ? No I guessed not & I cant get to grips with this new format.

I am stuck on a PM reply, it wont let me type a message as the sender has sent me a photo. This forum is so difficult to use compared to all the other forums I'm on.

You can see why more & more people are moving to facebook groups.

Regards Ian  

[Ian L]

On ‎29‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 4:45 PM, Richard Farrant said:

It just goes to show, that upgrading does not mean that the forum is improved. In spite of the hints and tips on here it is still a clunky procedure and not half as simple and quick as before, or as other forums I use. There are features on this new format that are unnecessary and only help to confuse people. I cannot see that this is improved at all, improving should be simplifying, it is not very 'user friendly' at present.. There are a number of things that I am not happy about and I will not list here, but one that bugs me is having email notifications of replies in a thread I might have been using. On other forums you can have the feature either on or off. Now on this new format you have to click on every thread when you use it if you want it off. I do not wish for my email inbox to be cluttered up with replies when I can quite easily look at the forum when I wish to. Surely there must be an override setting to switch it off completely?

I have been a member of this forum since it was launched so quite competent in using it, but can well understand why members are not happy and drifting away.

Hi Richard nice reply.

 I have just tried to send you a PM / message but it comes back that your not receiving messages ? Regards Ian

[Richard Farrant]

2 hours ago, Ian L said:

Hi Richard nice reply.

 I have just tried to send you a PM / message but it comes back that your not receiving messages ? Regards Ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks, I am getting frustrated with all this, it wastes too much time, not as quick as it was before, too much clutter. Not an improvement. Just found out my mailbox is full, wait one and I will do a bit of culling.

cheers Richard

[Lauren Child]

Chaps,

It strikes me that a lot of this is rather moot.  

Whether you're techie or not, the team has explained that old forum was about to break.  As a techie, I can understand why, and I'd already noticed symptoms.  I have no reason to doubt them.

The new forum keeps the site alive.  If you find a better option, this is the place to recommend it.  If it costs money, maybe we can have a whip round.  

Otherwise lets all say "thanks dudes" for averting the inevitable disaster, start a wish list for features we want to add or change, and move the feck along.

[Richard Farrant]

2 hours ago, Ian L said:

Hi Richard nice reply.

 I have just tried to send you a PM / message but it comes back that your not receiving messages ? Regards Ian

Ian, I have sent you an email as it seems I have a mailbox that is now over 700% full, the limit must have changed on the update, something else not mentioned. I emailed you just now, less hassle.

cheers Richard

[ruxy]

1 hour ago, Lauren Child said:

Chaps,

It strikes me that a lot of this is rather moot.  

Whether you're techie or not, the team has explained that old forum was about to break.  As a techie, I can understand why, and I'd already noticed symptoms.  I have no reason to doubt them.

The new forum keeps the site alive.  If you find a better option, this is the place to recommend it.  If it costs money, maybe we can have a whip round.  

Otherwise lets all say "thanks dudes" for averting the inevitable disaster, start a wish list for features we want to add or change, and move the feck along.

Can you please expand to a non-techie , how the previous forum software was about to break  ?   Was it because it was no longer suitable for hand-held devices  ?

[Joris]

9 hours ago, ruxy said:

Can you please expand to a non-techie , how the previous forum software was about to break  ?   Was it because it was no longer suitable for hand-held devices  ?

I have explained this a couple of times now, but here goes again.

We were forced to move away from our old server because it reached its end of life.

The old forum system didn't work on the new server (and was outdated) so we were forced to make a choice:

1) We could either try and fix the problem, which could take forever and would be rather expensive
2) We could move to a new system.

When moving to a new system there were two options:

1) Migrate to a new version of the old system, which would be expensive, risky and very time consuming for me and quite frankly, I don't have the time anymore to work on this forum for full days.
2) Migrate to a new system that has a future, is managed (meaning there is a team of tech guys behind it), and where the whole migration is taken care off. And this all would be at a company that we are already working with and have proven to be very reliable.

Naturally, we went for option number two; why make life more difficult for us having to manage multiple forum systems? We don't and that is why we chose this.

Now I want to close down this whole discussion about that the old system was better. This is it, this is the forum that we are going to use.

If you have questions about why it works in a certain way, have a feature request or want to ask if we can change a setting then please do and I will do whatever I can to help out.