Site Problem - Polls - Are we supposed to be able to create them?

You're making your point in so many ways Sleepytom, it's getting boring.

(or maybe it's being done under the cover of PMs, who knows?)

"The Company" don't appear to be  interested in your skills which, to me, seem rather impressive. What do I know? I'm just a forum member.

Someone needs to bang some heads together here.

Thanks for your reply to my USB post.

Sorry if you think i'm making a point. I'm not trying to have a go at anyone nor appear to be clever, or better than anyone else who posts here. 

I'm simply trying to use my experiance to help improve the site. If "The Company", "The Site Owner" or Martin the admin want to tell me to stop then i'll happly go away and let them get on with it. 

In my experiance of running internet communites it is best to have a specific forum where people can report bugs and issues with the site. Using PMs to report issues isn't very open and means that you get multiple reports of the same issue, worse you get reports of similar issues which you tend to assume are the same and don't always see a subtle difference which can be the clue which lets you fix it properly. Also some issues are a matter of opinion, and without the users having input into the direction it is easy to waste time with solutions which prove to be too unpopular for the set of users which make up the website. 

I've not really intended to go off on one! I wanted to post a thread about some observations i've made about the editor interface and the type of HTML it is generating. When I went to create a new thread for this i found the theme was broken so i changed the thread to be about the theme issue, because of this I wanted to post a screenshot, when i tried to include an image in my post I found this function is also broken! Because the edit comment permissions are not right I cannot go back and edit and end up replying to myself to add additional info which i would normaly add to a post by editing. The net result of this is I sound like a nutter ranting away to myself! 

Really I'm just trying to help, I've been suprised by Gary's reponse to my attempts to help, but haven't let this put me off as I feel i could contribute usefully in a way few other users can. I've a lot of time for the DV Doctor community, I used to read the magazine back when i was getting into video, and knowlege gained from reading posts here has really helped me develop my skills as a video professional. 

Really I'm just trying to help, I've been suprised by Gary's reponse to my attempts to help, but haven't let this put me off as

Ok , last pop at me that you make.

I have explained who the only person who can alter things here is.

Surely we all know that Martin's in charge of the software, and is doing his best, unpaid. And given that he's on the west coast of America, we can't expext instant replies or action. It's thanks to him that we're here at all, and with all our archive intact. We need to be patient, but it will improve.

Gary I do not see how you think that is having a pop at you? I AM surprised that you think i'm having a pop at you, or anyone. I'm not having a go at anyone, my posts have been focused on reporting technical issues with the website in a way which I hope will be helpful to Martin (who I know is the only person who can do anything about them)

I know Martin is doing his best to get things working, and that he is unpaid and working alone without the help of anyone with detailed knowledge of the problems he is facing. I also know that he NEEDS detailed technical reports of the problems with the site to have any hope of getting it to work properly. I do not know how experienced he is with Drupal, but I know that my experience with using this software to build websites and forums could well be helpful to him.

I know the problems i'm reporting may take some time to fix, some of them may never be fixed or may involve considerable work to get working in a way which is acceptable to the users of this website (who have high expectations based on the previous forum software - vBulletin is extremely good and very user friendly, getting a Drupal forum up to the level of VB will take a hell of an effort from a team of people)

I also know that without bug reports its even harder for Martin to fix anything. He will be logged in on an Administrator login, using modules such as Devel to provide extra information about what Drupal is doing behind the scenes. Thus it will be hard for him to spot things such as permissions issues (such as users ability to post polls or edit comments). He may not even be viewing the pages using the theme that regular users see and so it is easy to miss bugs relating to layout and design.

It is precisely because i understand these things that I want to help. My help could be really useful to Martin, I know this because in the past other Drupal users have helped me with sites i've developed and their help has been crucial to fixing the kind of problems that this site is currently having.

I'm very sorry if anyone doesn't understand this, and feels that i'm being unhelpful in anyway.

It seems to be the case that sleepytom1 is pissing off the mods, so I've taken the executive decision to ban him.

If anyone thinks that's unreasonable, please comment here.

Bob C

Yes I do.

I think Sleepytom was offering his skills to the benefit of everyone here in an entirely reasonable fashion. For him to be banned for his efforts is beyond the pale. My goodness I've seen less sensitivity in a class of teenage schoolgirls!

What a load of wimps the mods are if Sleepytoms generous offers were pissing them off. They should be ashamed of  themselves for this displayof pique (and it's not the first time). Disgraceful!!

Dugi.

Any more?

Any more?

Look at the recent posts Bob. There's hardly anyone left!

Agree with Dugi, sleepytom at least appeared to know what he was talking about even if he wasn't diplomatic about it -  I understand it's all new for the Admin's but I would have thought they would take any help offered, especially if comes from someone who is well versed in Drupal, sorry to say but at this moment in time, these boards are now a shadow of their former self.

I second everything that Dugi has said in Sleepytom's defence. Banning him is daft. Especially daft when he's been trying hard to help - help which is obviously desperately needed - and all he's supposed to have done is hurt someone's feelings through lack of diplomacy.

I know Sleepytom from other forums as well, and he's always helpful and informative. People on those forums would ridicule this board for banning him!

Furthermore, he's exactly the kind of contributor I want on this forum: he's an industry professional with practical experience that he's happy to share. And he cares about this forum: hence his offer to help. You ban people like that, you might as well close down the forums. I'd certainly stop visiting and contributing.

Unbanned. Sorry to sleepytom and the community.

Bob

I'm happy with that, I wouldn't have considered banning to be suitable. He could think about being a bit more diplomatic, but that's all.

Why not just ask Martain if he would appreciate some help from sleepytom,there will be a time difference but hey what's a few hours

Having been offline for a few hours, I'm now catching up and I'm glad that Sleepytom is no longer banned. He clearly has useful skills and I hope these can be used in getting the site back to a good state.

Ray

The real problem that I don't think has been grasped is that we loved the old forum, we liked posting and reading and it was genuinely useful as a resource and help source. As a member of a forum, we have no idea who owns it, who runs it, who the mods are or any of the behind the scenes stuff. What happened was it vanished, and we missed it - I can't speak for the others, but I'd regularly test to see if it was back, and eventually it reappeared. The first version was not pleasant to use, and people obviously got fed up. From the backstage perspective, we're ungrateful buggers for moaning and groaning - but from the users perspective we have no idea if the thing is working less than optimumly, or is faulty, or broken, or a beta or just not quite finished. Few of us understand forum software or how it works. I'm a mod on another forum, and some of the behind the scenes stuff I just can't follow - all the talk about coding and that kind of stuff.

I have no idea who to ask, or moan at? It's really odd to get upset by people who ask questions because they simply are being kept in the dark. We were DV Doctor, now we're not - a name change is a pretty big thing, but no real attempt that I can see to consult or explain. Somebody pops up who offers help and he gets banned for upsetting the mods. As the new forum software doesn't say MODERATOR in big (or small letters) how was he to know he was upsetting people - especially when there's no feedback to the dozens of complaint style posts. Surely - when somebody posts and says XYZ doesn't work, the best solution is a reply saying - yep, we know and it's being fixed - or a new post asking if people value certain features? 

We really do appreciate the effort that goes into keeping it running - but frankly, I have no idea who Martin actually is? I assume the owner and technical wizzard - but he's obviously a person who is not able to take part in discussions - which seems a bit odd. Surely when the one person who has the ability to change things is trying to fix it, communication with the people who will use the forum is really important - even if only to stop him wasting time on features we don't use - but he could be in the dark as to what we do like. 

The forum has rules somewhere I think that says what we must do and not do - and if the rules mean people canned be banned for raising issues and offering to help - that's a bit rich.

Surely the entire point of a forum is to service the members, not to alienate them? The new forum is at the moment a sad alternative to the old one, it's just less pleasant to use - navigation is more complex, and just less friendly. Maybe the new one will grow with added features, but not quite there yet.

Sorry if we appear to be moaning, but mushroom syndrome never makes people happy. If I was sleepytom, I'd be quite miffed to see that everyone was told he'd been banned, then reinstated. Personally, I think his ban should have been communicated to him privately, so he could if he have had wishesd, make his own case. We did not need to know this as it's none of our business - but now we do know, it's pretty clear we feel this was quite unnecessary and a bit nasty, to be honest.

It does seem a lot of users have simply vanished, which is the worst bit. I preferred this forum to others because we are mainly British oriented, and rarely have to worry about foreign matters.

Well spoken, Paul.

I believe you are also associated with the Blue Room, which has a similar ethos to the old DV Doctor - a lot of people keeping an eye on it every day, leading to very fast responses when a member has a genuine problem.

Like the Blue Room, DVD Doctor had a large proportion of working professionals who were accustomed to the rough and tumble of the real world and who brought in very valuable experience.

I hope we can return to that situation. The route can only be through an open and relaxed attitude by those building the site again.

Ray

As we cannot yet, it seems, edit our own posts, in the third para of my previous message I should have said DV Doctor, not DVD Doctor.

Ray

Yep - that is me. I too made some typos (as I always do) and not being able to edit is annoying.

I think what really confuses me is looking at the entry page, seeing a topic with a message saying 2 new posts, clicking on it, then finding loads of topics with new posts? Very difficult to work out what is new, what is just unread or old. Forums have a number of protocols they can follow. Some allow anonymous posts, others require registration with instant access to post, some need registration with moderator approval. Each extra stage reduces the quantity of posts. Instant registration seems to generate the best option for many, because answers to questions can be done simply. Introducing any delay at all drops new member count drastically - people don't like delay of any kind. We now have a system that makes browsing more difficult, and member tools are minimal at the moment. It's obviously NOT our place to decide these things, but it is our choice to make sure the organisers know our feelings so they can consider them. At the moment, if I understand it correctly, the moderators (who at the moment are unidentified) can't access any of the day to day running tools, and the owner is in absentia - so we're stuck with what we have. Having a look at Google shows the forum has dropped well down the list in searches - so the facts would appear to be pretty obvious. 

I started an internet group and encouraged people to join. Almost every person suggested something, or told me about mistakes, or errors and requested changes. It was (and still is) a pain in the bum to keep going - but if you don't want the hassle, why bother in the first place.

In a way, it's a good job we can't do polls, because I think we all could predict the results in advance and not have to even do it.

Please - could we have back as many of the features of the old forum, and handy features to make browsing easier. 

The simplest and most useful addition would be a "view new posts" type single button that takes you to all updated topics. Virtually every forum has this - and with the current navigation system, it's pretty important - so please, when the technical person has a moment, before anything else, could he look into giving us this feature - without it, many of us are giving up and posting elsewhere - which is NOT what we want to do. I've found quite a few posts from new members that haven't had responses, because we simply haven't found them!

I've spoken to Martin on email. He is very busy with his fulltime day job. I'm going to try and have a skype chat with him this week. 

Hopefully he will be able to give me the permissions i need to fix some of these things. However I will post an imediate disclaimer in that not everything that the old forum could do can be done easily with drupal. Some features will be a pretty simple fix, others would require weeks of development time and will not happen (unless someone wants to stump up a few grand to actually pay developers to write the nessacery code - which seems unlikely really!) 

Thanks for your help and getting involved, Tom. Can I ask, are we stuck with Drupal now? Or would it be feasible to go back to VBulletin (patched and up to date, of course?).

Even if we lost the posts made since this Drupal forum was launched, I'd be happier with a return k to VBulletin and getting back the format and the features that we had before.
I am not an expert - though I have created and migrated two VB forums - and I would have thought it not a huge job to migrate the forum (from the point when it was hacked) to a secure and modern version of VB. Probably a smaller job than trying to recreate everything in Drupal.

Many thanks to Martin Butt for getting me logged in.

However. It's nice to be back, but…….

Lots of empty space on the left!

Text too small even on a 19 inch monitor.

Reading blocks of small text is hard work. I am sure this will all be sorted out in time, and common sense will prevail.

I hope those who caused this catastrophe are either behind bars, or floating in cyberspace without their pc`s.  I expect this is too much to hope for…….

However. Thanks for all the hard work….

Yes I do.

I think Sleepytom was offering his skills to the benefit of everyone here in an entirely reasonable fashion. For him to be banned for his efforts is beyond the pale. My goodness I've seen less sensitivity in a class of teenage schoolgirls!

What a load of wimps the mods are if Sleepytoms generous offers were pissing them off. They should be ashamed of  themselves for this displayof pique (and it's not the first time). Disgraceful!!

Dugi.

I have been away for a short while and I agree with Dugi, what harm is there in taking a bit of help.

I am unable to access any of the forums forums 99% of the time. I can log in and access individual live threads in the live thread column on the left which is why I am on this particular thread. On the odd occassion when I am able to access the forums I am seeing the absence of many familiar names and I wonder if they are having similar problems. If I dont acknowledge any replies it is because I cant. Cant even do smiles or frownies :(