Forum Update

Peter Clausen

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
<p>The forum software is in dire need of an update again and will soon be updated. This will solve some of the spammer issues that ~plague the forum. A quick thanks to Hisserdude for always letting us know immediately when the spammers are posting. We are often able to delete the posts before most members see them.

There will no doubt be many changes and even though they are updates in the sense of "progress" and "technological improvements", they are always a bit frustrating (like getting a new cell phone...until you get used to it).

A few changes of note in the list below. I chose the following answers to the below: Display names kept, do not convert friends data, leave "solved" topics as-is

User / Display Names

Usernames and display names have been merged in IPS4. As the administrator, you may select which to keep during the upgrade process. Please note that this field will be the publicly displayed field for the user. Would you like to retain usernames or display names?

Friends / Followers

Instead of friends, IPS4 features followers. A member now has the ability to follow another member without that being automatically reciprocal. You have the option of converting friends to followers, but please beware that this option may result in undesired notifications based on new content from followed members and we do NOT recommend you opt to convert. Would you like to convert friends data?

Question and Answer Forums

Previous versions of the software allowed enabling of "Mark as Solved" on a per-forum basis. IPS4 enhances this functionality by allowing members to ask questions and rate their answers. Would you like to convert existing "solved" topics or leave them as-is?

 
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Interesting, I'm excited (and just a little nervous), for the change of software! :D I assume it's going to look similar to how Mantidforum looks now?

No problem, happy to rat out those spammers, good to know the update should help out in that regard. :)

 
Roachforum, Mantidforum and Beetleforum all run on the same software platform but look different because they are different versions or run different "skins" (just templates for how a forum looks). What you see for this forum and Mantidforum are the default skins. It would be nice for them to look a little different, if only so we can all remember which forum we are actually on. Sometimes the bugs can blend together a bit. ;)

 
Roachforum, Mantidforum and Beetleforum all run on the same software platform but look different because they are different versions or run different "skins" (just templates for how a forum looks). What you see for this forum and Mantidforum are the default skins. It would be nice for them to look a little different, if only so we can all remember which forum we are actually on. Sometimes the bugs can blend together a bit. ;)
I agree, it would be nice for them to be a little different from each other, if only to add to the uniquity of each forum. :)

Also, are the classifieds going to be like Mantid forum where you can't reply to your own adds? I like to announce when I have new species available for sale or when they go out of stock, and you can't do that over on MF. Makes it difficult to let people know when new stock is available, especially once your add gets buried by a bunch of other ones. Of course I could just make a new ad with an updated list each time I have new stuff available, but I'd rather keep using the same ad than make a bunch of other ones.

 
The forum is back up and running. It will take a few days to iron out the details and changes. 

Thank you for your patience. Please use this section of the forum to ask any questions, criticize the changes, praise them, etc. ;)

 
We are going to get our signatures back right?
There aren't signatures on the MF, so I doubt it. Gives the forum a more clean look IMO, and my signature was getting a bit long.  :rolleyes: You can post whatever you would put on your signature in your "about me" page on your profile, that's what I did.

 
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Oops, I was looking at the mobile version of MF, which doesn't show the signatures, there are signatures on the desktop version. So maybe we will get our signatures back, who knows? :)
If you don't mind me asking, do you know how to add a signature on MF? I can't find an option to add one when I go to "Edit Profile."

 
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 I fixed the signature area issue here on this forum. Thanks for catching that. Please note that we only allow 4 lines of text per signature area. There are some offenders in this very thread. ;)  The reason for this, you ask? It prevents excessive scrolling. For example, let's say somebody just threw in the word "thanks" and then had a signature line that was 12 lines long. That would take up most of the entire viewing window of my laptop. Admittedly, all the members of this forum are great and we never have issues with anybody and rules are loosely enforced. 

 
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