Questions and answers about the TSSC MessageBoard.

As the MessageBoard continues to grow, we have decided to organise message postings into "sections".

We hope this will make it easier to find previous message postings, and takes us one step closer to providing an online archive written by TSSC Members for the benefit of fellow Triumph owners.

We have also added a, "Triumph Lounge Bar", to talk off topic about anything vaguely connected with Triumphs.

Comments and further suggestions welcome...

Rgds

Craig

Craig,
In the last couple of days, clicking on a forum on the messageboard home page gets a list of 'Most Recent Messages', that used to be the 'Sort by date' option available from the right hand column. The reverse, arranging the messages by thread, seems to have gone. If this is what you mean by your announcement, please put it back where it was! If there was ever a case of 'not broke-don't fix', this is it.

Previously the 'Sort by date' option was occasionally useful to find a new message in an old thread. With the messages arranged by thread, not date, it was easy to see what was happening, and choose which threads to follow and which not.

Someone suggested a new poll option - if there is a vote. mine is against.
John

Hi John,

Thanks for your message.

All the functionality of before is still there. This time we're showing you the most recent messages to a board at the top of the page, followed by all the previous messages archived under section headings.

This makes the board pages faster to load, shows you the most recent messages to a board, and makes it easier to find previously discussed topics by section heading.

I have overlooked the "sort by date" function once you're viewing a board section, but this will return.

I will be adding the ability to view an entire message thread in full on one page.

Let me know if that's still a problem.

Craig

Hum. Starting to get the hang of the new layout. I think it is better than the previous one, or will be once I get used to it :-)

Would it be better if the list of recent messages at the top of the page were grouped by thread and sorted by date within the groupings? That would make it a bit easier to know which ones I'd already read.

How do you define "recent" messages by the way? Presumably it's a fixed number of days. Can this eventually be linked to a user ID so instead of recent messages, I see messages posted since the last time I logged in?

By the way, am I the only one that finds this box to type new messages in to be a bit narrow? Even on this 1024x768 screen I'm using now it is a bit narrow. On my home PC there is a lot of wasted space around it. Having said that, I know that making it appear different sizes to cope with different browser resolutions is usually difficult at the best of times. Having it very narrow makes it difficult to see what your message will eventually look like on the page. This paragraph looks extremely long for example but will probably only be a few lines when displayed normally.

OK, sorry if I started getting technical on people there. I'll put my Triumph hat on again and shut up now.

Mik

Resizeable option. Thanks :-)

Craig,
I don't understand your answer:

"All the functionality of before is still there". If by this you mean all the DATA is still there , I agree, but arranged in an unhelpful, lewss functional manner.

"I have overlooked the "sort by date" function once you're viewing a board section, but this will return." You didn't overlook it - you forced me to use it to the exclusion of every other method.

The previous setup, by which:
Message 1
was followed by Message 2
And Message 3

was logical and followed the way our minds(mine anyway) think. We don't pick new developments out of the ether -we build on the previous.

Please allow us to choose how we view the mesage database, and not impose a method.
John

Craig,
the formatting has prevented my listing of Messages 1, 2, 3, being sequentialy indented. I hope you understand what I mean!
John

Craig,
Sorry to hog things, but further evidence of how clumsy is the new method.

On the Spitfire Forum, Paul Douglas asked a question on 10/5/03, at 0349 (Early Bird!)

Under his message the replies were listed as follows:

Running on unleaded. - Paul Douglas, 10-May-2003, 7:20pm

Running on unleaded. - Dean Whitehead, 10-May-2003, 10:23am

Running on unleaded. - Michael Davis, 10-May-2003, 11:07am

The first reply is the middle one, next the last then the first. Madness! I'm just glad there are only three answers - what if there were ten?
John

I have to say I prefered the old methods. It was easier to follow the replies.

Have to admit, I preferred the previous way of listing the posts although I have noticed a distinct increase in download times of the posts since the change!!

Regards

Chris

Ooops!! Sorry!! In my last post, delete "increase" insert "decrease" i.e. posts load faster!! One too many g and t's i think!

Regards

Chris

John,

I'll agree how the board is working right now isn't good.

However, I stand by my point all the functionaility of viewing messages in THREAD order is still there -

http://www.tssc.org.uk/messageboard.asp?board=anno...

Give me some time (a day or so), and I will improve the navigation.

All feedback is welcome - I'm not trying to impose my way of doing things on anyone - I want to give Members choice. Please bear with me.

Rgds

Craig

Craig,
Thank you!
John

Currently, each board shows at the top of the page the last 20 message titles posted in DATE order.

The ability to view RECENTLY posted message titles in THREAD order will return soon.

Please bear with me.

Once you have navigated into a section (such as "Engine" or "Bodywork") the messages are all shown in THREAD order.

Rgds

Craig

The introduction of MessageBoard "sections", saw the demise of the ability to view all messages in thread order.

Following demand from Members, we have brought back the ability to view all messages in thread order.

Simply click the "List All Messages" link on the far right.

Comments and feedback welcome..

Craig

Craig,
Thank you, for "List All Messages"!
Easy on the eye and simple on the brain.

John

I'm glad to report the pound sign problem is now fixed!

&163;&194;&163;&194;&163;

Craig

Following a few potential fisty-cuffs between Members regarding the nature of some postings, we have drawn up some "posting guidelines".

Click the "Posting Guidelines" link over on the right.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Craig

Craig,

Seems pretty reasonable and clear enough to me! Pity about the legal aspect of "naming and shaming" of companies - I presume if a question is asked about where to go for the best deal for something, this can be answered accurately without appearing to "shame" a company for "high" prices? Otherwise, I think the guidelines are an excellent idea.

Just one point - although I assume we all know the penalty for "digressing" from the guidelines, is it worth putting it in print at the bottom of these guidelines?

Regards

Chris

It is now possible to "Edit and Re-Post" messages.

Look out for the "Edit and Re-Post" link under the "Actions" section following your own messages.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

Craig

I might be getting old (twenty-three last weekend) and blind but I can't find the list ll messages feature, is it still there somewhere?
I don't like to say this because I can see a lot of work has gone into it, but I don't like the new look messageboard. I can see it has advantages. Firstly it's faster, secondly if I think "hmm there's a knocking noise coming from the back end of my spit" I can click spitfire, rear axel, scroll down and there we have topic 88 "Knock from rear on take up." I can have a look and there are some suggested problems and solutions.
The problems seem to come if you actually want to post a message and get a response. The way I use the messageboard is if I have a problem that's not lready there, I post it and hope someone responds. Mostly theydo and I get the help I need. I feel well chuffed that someone took the time to give me a hand, and now that I've been tinkering for three years or so I feel that I actually might have some snippets of knowledge that might help someone else, but I'm also keen to learn more. So if I had some spare moments I would have a look on the old style board at the first page or two of posts, If I saw anything that I thought I could help with then I'd do my best to help, plus if I saw something that I found interesting I would have a read of that too. Now when I browse the board I look at the first three or four sections or less if I'm short of time. Each one might have only a dozen new posts in but I have to load the whole page of threads then search through them to find which has new posts. It ends up taking me even longer (my a long way) than before even though the messageboard is faster. Plus I get sick of it by the time I reach gearbox so just run down the whole list of sections to see if there are any sections with a red post and have a look at that. So if someone posts in carpets (most of the way down the list) wanting to replace their old carpets and I happen to have just got a bargain new carpet set and fitted it learning a handfull of tricks along the way then unless the carpets post happens to be posted on the same day as I look (and be red) then odds are I'll never notice it and the poster won't learn where to get bargain carpets or my great tips for fitting them.
Ater all that my main point is that although the new look board seems good for browsing existing posts it is not good for browsing recent posts for interest or for people who want to pass on their knowledge to others who make new threads. That to me stuffs up the main point of this board.

Anyway I hope you don't think I'm getting at anyone (Craig specifically) I'm just trying to provide constructive criticism and help as the board develops, by showing examples o what I perceive as problems or otential problems. A couple of things that in my opinion would help no end would be: In each board allow people to view all threads. When showing threads put them in order of most recent post (Am I right in saying they are currently in order of when the thread was created).

Well now I've written all that I'm going for a cuppa. Most of all thanks Craig for actually putting the effort in to do all this work.

Hi Philip,

Many thanks for your message - it is always good to get feedback regarding how members are using the site.

I think the feature that you're most missing is the latest messages per board that used to appear above the board sub-sections. This feature will return very shortly.

I'll also try and make the section list its topics by date of last followup instead of date of when the topic started.

It's our intention that features like view topic in thread order, or view topic in date order will be saved along with your profile information (this was one of the main reasons for making profiles a necessity) so that members can view the MessageBoard the way they want.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome - and on my part I'll try not to take too long implementing them.

Craig

Hi Craig
I think you are probably right about the missing feature. Glad to know it's really not there nd it's not my eyesight that's failing already

Putting settings in profiles is definitely a good idea. I approve of that one

Cheers for the reply too. The longer my last post got the more I was getting worried it would look like I was moaning or getting on my high horse, which was obviously not the intention.

Good luck with the rest of the work on the site and hopefully everyone else will be easier to please than me

There is now a "Latest Messages" per board feature as per the original MessageBoard layout. Look out for the "Latest Messages" link over on the right hand side under the "Archive" heading.

You might get a "Sorry, no data available." message while the MessageBoards accumulate messages over the coming days.

Craig

Section : New Features

MessageBoard Overhaul

Followups :

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul

MessageBoard Overhaul - List All Messages

MessageBoard Overhaul - List All Messages

MessageBoard Overhaul - Pound Sign Problem

MessageBoard Overhaul - Posting Guidelines

MessageBoard Overhaul - Posting Guidelines

MessageBoard Overhaul - Edit and Re-Post

MessageBoard Overhaul - Edit and Re-Post

MessageBoard Overhaul - Edit and Re-Post

MessageBoard Overhaul - Edit and Re-Post

MessageBoard Overhaul - Latest Messages per Board

MessageBoard Overhaul - Latest Messages per Board