Seriously, the forum mechanics are awful

The way this forum works goes from a little odd to aggravating.

Who ever heard of a forum in which if you click ‘reply’ and then the back button, the reply window for the page you left is still on the screen, layered over the text of the page? You have to find the ‘cancel’ button, which is hard to see as it is lost amid text on the news page.

When this forum was new I remember so many people commenting on how fresh and great the set up was. No, it’s not. It’s one thing, and it’s terrible. Sometimes humorously so.

Right now, my preview pane shows what I’m typing, on your bizarre “in the bottom corner” default position, and featuring your bizarre “half-opacity” default. And it’s impossible to read; it’s superimposed over the text of the page because of the opacity. Why bother with a preview at all?

and the threads. I already have a scrollbar. It’s part of Windows. Why do I need a scrollbar inside the thread page too? So we can avoid multiple pages? Advantage none.

It’s simply a dumb setup, done apparently for the sake of being different. No other forum I have ever seen has this incredibly quirky set of mechanics. It’s a joke, right?

The world has a range of computing platforms, and these platforms have a range of browsers. Some platforms just change the front end a bit and the underlying browser tech remains…

As there is no consistant web page viewing platform (each having a range of plug-ins etc) what this forums offers- whether built a few yeara ago or ten years from now… will be unique.

It might play strange to what you are used to. … it does offer some useful features.

Every post I have made has been via my Android phone
If I had an adroid tablet with more screen real estate I would certainly use more of this web pages features.

Having worked a lot of places with IT constraints placed on the workers: anything a webpage can serve up can prove life saving (features).

Whilst it might not be for you… or aspects wastes a few pixels with added features/options… it is generally pretty self explainatory and consistant.

More reliable than the five front ends windows will force on us during the lifetime of the product anyhow…

Trying to please everyone. I’m sure you know the rest of the saying.

Obviously youve got that back to front (they are not pleasing you-hence you post your complaint against the free to use forum)

Your initial post postulated ‘to what benefit could it be’…

I gave to you that not everyone has YOUR setup and that the forum proves consistanly usable across devices (ios/android/playstation/xbox & win rt/mac OS and whatever browser peeps use under Win10 (typically not Edge)).

You are literally complaining that it gives too much capability and that is bad for you… i guess losing ten pixels to a secondary scroll bar is beyond your monitors capability?
Put your webbrowser in full screen mode and the problem ceases to be.
Not everyone uses your chosen platform and are familiar with your histoic usage of software.

Oh, I see you don’t brook dissent. Fine, I don’t suffer fools well. I also won’t apologize for being able to type quickly.

I stated “trying to please everyone”. “Trying” is the operative word. Nothing back to front here, unless you misunderstand use of the phrase.

The comment about “free to use” is rubbish. Just where do I present myself as entitled? Nowehere. In fact, that’s utter horseshit for you to say. You come close to a couple of straw men there right off the bat, which I don’t take kindly. And my browser is always fulscreen; the problem does not “cease to be”. Why people try to use uncommon or archaic phrasing to seem smart is strange to me. Look smart by saying intelligent things. My complaint as you so amiably put it is not against a “free to use forum”. It is how the forum is set up, and that’s my prerogative here. I’ll thank you to stop misrepresenting what I state.

When you say I have “literally” done something, you need some kind of evidence to show that I am doing it. In this case, that I am seeing too much capability and that is bad for me. You assume some things here. And losing pixels is not the point . You are assuming and jumping the gun too much.

During my time as tech support for bomb disposal robots, I learned it was never wise to tell somebody what his problem was on a tech level. I asked questions and let the other person inform me of what the problem was. by having him paint a picture with his description. Currently, I think it’s safe to say I too have worked at jobs with maybe a few IT constraints; based on what I did and who I did it for, I’d guess more than you might have run into. I’m not at my job right now, and it’s completely proper for me to state I thin k the forum is set up badly.

having a scrollbar in the code that forces me to use that scrollbar instead of the normal one if I want what I, as the user, would call proper functionality is one of my points, not the loss of pixels. That’s an utterly petty thing to assume on your part.; using the windows scrollbar is cumbersome on this forum. How this is me complaining about too much capability is not clear. It is a forced capability that takes the place of a (now) valueless standard one, not an additional capability. I can use only one at a time, in any case. And I am sure you are aware of the possibilities of code to allow less frustration and more normal platform functionality based on the platform of the user.

What you have done here, it seems to me, is to take my comments as a personal challenge to you. You might disagree publicly but pardon me for saying I won’t believe that. Now, it’s time for bed. 5 am comes early. Remember what I told you about not assuming.

The forum still hasnt cost you anything.
Changing it for you is a cost.
I stand by my rationalism that the forum suits a range of people and has enhanced functionality.

I understand you may not be on an android phone like I am.
Enjoy your rest.

2 Likes

I use my IPad to view and comment.
When I could see the icon for mobile app and clicked on it, the forum would display well, but I can’t always see that option, and the right hand side of the page is invisible to me, so I can’t see the Login button either, although that is not a problem, because the app either never logs me out, or it recognizes me when I access the forum page, which I have in my Favorites.

Could you move the Login and Mobile App buttons to the left of the screen? I have trouble viewing them in their present position on my IPad.

This forum is a little odd, but it works. Better than a lot of thin-client apps

1 Like

I like the way it works. It helps me to be able to navigate around while responding to a post.

I like it too. Easy to navigate and use.

if you’re using this on a phone, you’re doing it wrong. phones are for calling people

2 Likes

I would like not having to choose “Mobile Mode” on my iPad every time I log in.
It would seem the program could recognize me as such, or at least put the “Mobile Mode” option in the login menu.

I posted the above yesterday.
Today I logged in with my iPad, and I found myself in “mobile” mode.
Did you fix this already or was it something I did?
but I didn’t do anything.
So Thanks!

Pretty sure many tablet OSs give options for default viewing modes.

Many webpages in the transition to phones having webbrowsers simply needed to add ‘/m’ to address pathing to load mobile versions.

Ipad likely still had tab set to last way you left it?

Works fine for me.