For the love of all that is decent and holy, please SEARCH the forums before POSTING A DISCUSSION.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 18, 2009 at 1:40pm

I think if we're talking about changes that will lessen repeat topics somewhat, and we're not limiting ourselves to things that are possible while locked into NING, then fixing the display so more threads are visible in one view would be at the top of the list. We've all gotten more or less used to the clunky format but it doesn make a search, or even reading through a single thread very clunky, and the removal of page numbers by the NING gods didn't help.

A simpler mini-fix would be to encourage more descriptive subject lines-- a good example is that damn thing that projects a bike lane onto the street that everyone kept "discovering" over a 3-4 month period-- most threads had titles like "hey this is amazing"-- how would you find that in a search?

I think, towards this end, it would not be the end of the world if the admins just went ahead and "fixed" a subject line to be more descriptive as a service to the user.

Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on December 18, 2009 at 1:49pm

SO TRUE!

H3N3 said:

the removal of page numbers by the NING gods didn't help.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on December 18, 2009 at 2:12pm

The display is just atrocious and it only got worse when the page numbers went away. "clunky" is putting it kindly.

As I've said before, I'm super grateful that the community here exists and I can see how Ning makes it easy to get something like this started, but its limitations exceed its value as far as I can tell. It would be great to move it off of Ning somehow. I'm guessing this has been discussed already?

H3N3 said:

I think if we're talking about changes that will lessen repeat topics somewhat, and we're not limiting ourselves to things that are possible while locked into NING, then fixing the display so more threads are visible in one view would be at the top of the list. We've all gotten more or less used to the clunky format but it doesn make a search, or even reading through a single thread very clunky, and the removal of page numbers by the NING gods didn't help.

A simpler mini-fix would be to encourage more descriptive subject lines-- a good example is that damn thing that projects a bike lane onto the street that everyone kept "discovering" over a 3-4 month period-- most threads had titles like "hey this is amazing"-- how would you find that in a search?

I think, towards this end, it would not be the end of the world if the admins just went ahead and "fixed" a subject line to be more descriptive as a service to the user.

Permalink Reply by RodimusPrime on December 19, 2009 at 2:04am

Posting. . and YOU

Permalink Reply by S on December 24, 2009 at 10:42am

Tony Adams said:

The display is just atrocious and it only got worse when the page numbers went away. "clunky" is putting it kindly.

As I've said before, I'm super grateful that the community here exists and I can see how Ning makes it easy to get something like this started, but its limitations exceed its value as far as I can tell. It would be great to move it off of Ning somehow. I'm guessing this has been discussed already?

It's been discussed before but given the number of discussions and people here, moving to another system is going to be tough unless Leah is willing to start off with a clean slate.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 24, 2009 at 2:02pm

It's not quite a "moving to another system" -- it's just another incremental service level from NING--but still a huge task that doesn't seem to be possible right now with the time and resources available. You have to 'uncouple' in order to be able to customize your modules. And then you have to be able to customize your modules . . .

S said:

Tony Adams said:

The display is just atrocious and it only got worse when the page numbers went away. "clunky" is putting it kindly.

As I've said before, I'm super grateful that the community here exists and I can see how Ning makes it easy to get something like this started, but its limitations exceed its value as far as I can tell. It would be great to move it off of Ning somehow. I'm guessing this has been discussed already?

It's been discussed before but given the number of discussions and people here, moving to another system is going to be tough unless Leah is willing to start off with a clean slate.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 25, 2009 at 8:43pm

I liked the page numbers better, too.

I know that redundant topics sometimes get posted because one person's search didn't match the phrasing that the original poster used. I usually try searching a few different ways, but short of having a smarter search algorithm, I don't expect us to be able to avoid all redundancy. The best we can ask is that people make an effort to search before starting new topics. None of us are perfect.

M.A.R.K. said:

I liked the page numbers too vs. the first-next-last deal, that was so much easier and enjoyable to navigate..

Also, on the discussion of searching discussions, is it possible within NING to change the settings or ad a tab where you can search discussion by topic only?

Permalink Reply by JeffB on January 7, 2010 at 12:51pm

Has anybody tested the functionality of the Search bar lately? I wanted to see if there had been a discussion on bike computers and got zero results (I searched for "computer"). Then, to test, I searched for "century" and "centuries" because I know there was a recent discussion on that and all I got back were the names of a couple users and a photo of the North Shore Century.

Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on January 7, 2010 at 12:54pm

That is a bit disconcerting. Hmmmmm.

Jeff said:

Has anybody tested the functionality of the Search bar lately? I wanted to see if there had been a discussion on bike computers and got zero results (I searched for "computer"). Then, to test, I searched for "century" and "centuries" because I know there was a recent discussion on that and all I got back were the names of a couple users and a photo of the North Shore Century.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on January 7, 2010 at 1:02pm

I've never found the search feature particularly functional, but yes, it's completely fubar at the moment.

Permalink Reply by Paul on January 7, 2010 at 1:59pm

Regardless of repostings, the blanket rant about what is decent and holy is very off-putting to the the casual reader. Posts about posts...not very informative for the bicycling community.

Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on January 9, 2010 at 8:43am

Paul,

I think you are going to find it hard over here if you find that topic, or "rant" off-putting. We do our best to keep things pleasant for all, not intrude on people's rights to speak and speak their mind, and try to make sure that things that can get people in trouble at work (nudity, excessive swearing, etc.) do not ruin the experience for users just checking in on a work computer, etc.

Of the various degrees of potential "controversy" over a post, topic, or title, this is as PG as can be.

Good day to you Paul.

Paul said:

Regardless of repostings, the blanket rant about what is decent and holy is very off-putting to the the casual reader. Posts about posts...not very informative for the bicycling community.

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