Hi everyone, I am not liking the new category format but you can change the filter at the top from category to all discussions but I think you must do this every visit?? Who is making these abrupt changes? Any one agree?
Not so abrupt. I'm the guilty party.
The entire forum will be changing in the near future. We are using ning which is not only full of glitches (some of which you have experienced) and gremlins (something that took the site down at least 4 times over the weekend) but is no longer supported by the company that wrote it. So with it no longer being supported It will soon go away. We have decided on a new company and are slowly getting ready to start moving to a new software base soon. The good news is that BAF will be one of the last communities to be converted.
Trust me as one of the folks that deal with this stuff I am less thrilled about this than anyone. I despise change. The new format will be more mobile friendly as the majority of our members are using mobile devices. Thats the good news. The bad news is there will be categories in order to optimize mobile searching and IOS.
I am trying to make the existing communities I work with (just 4 of 30) as much like the new format as I can. As you discovered you can make the categories disappear and go back to timed threads each time you check in.
Your other option is to use the home page which is the same as always.
tj1 said:
Not so abrupt. I’m the guilty party.
Tok thankshe entire forum will be changing in the near future. We are using ning which is not only full of glitches (some of which you have experienced) and gremlins (something that took the site down at least 4 times over the weekend) but is no longer supported by the company that wrote it. So with it no longer being supported It will soon go away. We have decided on a new company and are slowly getting ready to start moving to a new software base soon. The good news is that BAF will be one of the last communities to be converted.
Trust me as one of the folks that deal with this stuff I am less thrilled about this than anyone. I despise change. The new format will be more mobile friendly as the majority of our members are using mobile devices. Thats the good news. The bad news is there will be categories in order to optimize mobile searching and IOS.
I am trying to make the existing communities I work with (just 4 of 30) as much like the new format as I can. As you discovered you can make the categories disappear and go back to timed threads each time you check in.
Your other option is to use the home page which is the same as always.
ok thanks
ok if you are the one who changed it can you please change it back- this new way isn't working, my reply melted into your reply-- ireplied --"ok thanks and it went into your text??
tj1 said:
Not so abrupt. I'm the guilty party.
The entire forum will be changing in the near future. We are using ning which is not only full of glitches (some of which you have experienced) and gremlins (something that took the site down at least 4 times over the weekend) but is no longer supported by the company that wrote it. So with it no longer being supported It will soon go away. We have decided on a new company and are slowly getting ready to start moving to a new software base soon. The good news is that BAF will be one of the last communities to be converted.
Trust me as one of the folks that deal with this stuff I am less thrilled about this than anyone. I despise change. The new format will be more mobile friendly as the majority of our members are using mobile devices. Thats the good news. The bad news is there will be categories in order to optimize mobile searching and IOS.
I am trying to make the existing communities I work with (just 4 of 30) as much like the new format as I can. As you discovered you can make the categories disappear and go back to timed threads each time you check in.
Your other option is to use the home page which is the same as always.
just use the "reply to discussion" that has the red arrow pointing down. We can't change to the old threaded reply format because too many posts were being lost. We had members complaing that posts were being deleted that were not.
ok but I don't think that will work, lets see
ok thanks tj, you cannot reply to a reply only can reply to original author
I agree, Ron. I really don't like the new format - it is much harder to navigate (especially for those of us whose brains are not what they used to be).
ning was great, no glitches no gremlins- IF ITS NOT BROKE DON'T FIX IT!!!!!!!!!! and yes the changes ARE abrupt and disturbing and not wanted and adding to the ptsd by creating negativity like confusion, anger and the feeling of being overwhelmed, Pleease change it back whoever changed this. Look its simple- if you don't like change why do it?
Ning is quite broke. Our IT team spends hours a day patching it. As I said the entire site went down a number of times over the weekend again. I am trying to ease to the new format Ron to avoid as many problems as possible in the future. I really don't want to have to spring it all at once.
One of the biggest problems I am dealing with right now is making the search function work efficiently without freezing. As well as making it work for those on tabs and phones. There is a wealth of information here if our members can access it. Having 6000 plus threads in one category makes that difficult if not impossible. We had numerous requests for a post surgical category for example. The posts are there, they just can't be found. I would like to be able to sort through those six thousand plus posts and categorize them so they can help new members as they did the old but just don't have the time because of the other issues.
I don't think you have a concept of how many volunteer hours are spent by people you never see keeping this thing running. The good thing is you don't see what is broke and you have never had the search function freeze your system up. I thought though you were one of the folks that had a do-loop stuck over your personal page so you couldn't load photos. we are still fixing that for folks across the network.
Actually that is very helpful. The organic search doesn't go by category. but if you are in a category you can search just the category.
What do you think about closing threads after a while so they are just archeived?
search is working for me, just searched "sah" got 678 hits,
sure hope the new way works! this is whats wromg imo, the categories are un needed if you use the search feature- no need to wade thru 7 categories, I searched sah and yes it found tons, also the default should be discussions not categories and also default filter in discussions should be "latest discussions" not "recent activity" many times posts are resurrected from years ago and the poor unsuspecting author gets a flood of replies and notifications on usually mute points in their current lives~~ron 12/3/2014 718 pm est hope this helps
tj1 said:
Ning is quite broke. Our IT team spends hours a day patching it. As I said the entire site went down a number of times over the weekend again. I am trying to ease to the new format Ron to avoid as many problems as possible in the future. I really don't want to have to spring it all at once.
One of the biggest problems I am dealing with right now is making the search function work efficiently without freezing. As well as making it work for those on tabs and phones. There is a wealth of information here if our members can access it. Having 6000 plus threads in one category makes that difficult if not impossible. We had numerous requests for a post surgical category for example. The posts are there, they just can't be found. I would like to be able to sort through those six thousand plus posts and categorize them so they can help new members as they did the old but just don't have the time because of the other issues.
I don't think you have a concept of how many volunteer hours are spent by people you never see keeping this thing running. The good thing is you don't see what is broke and you have never had the search function freeze your system up. I thought though you were one of the folks that had a do-loop stuck over your personal page so you couldn't load photos. we are still fixing that for folks across the network.
Ron and tj1 I think you’re on to something with the archiving!
tj1 said:
Actually that is very helpful. The organic search doesn't go by category. but if you are in a category you can search just the category.
What do you think about closing threads after a while so they are just archeived? ***idk about that, I often wonder about deleting or archiving, tc-ron wow I was able to type here on your thing?? oh well whatever works!
ive archived baf e mails just to organize , im not sure what your intent or reasons for archiving
It’s what you both said, just different words - these are yours -"many times posts are resurrected from years ago and the poor unsuspecting author gets a flood of replies and notifications on usually mute points in their current lives~~ron "
Archiving would stop that flood, but still make the discussions available on a search.
Ron, to further clarify, the current platform that this community has had for the last four years is being retired by Ning. This is not a Ben's Friends thing. It is happening to everyone who uses Ning. It is not an option to keep things the same.
Ning has a new version (Ning 3, which you can google), but it is nothing like the current setup, and it is so limited that on the communities where we have given it a try, it has been a complete flop. It has been a work of months, not days, to find and customize a new platform that will do all the things that members look for in our communities. We are still working on and developing the new platform.
thank you d'mom , I am so sorry to hear that!! remember ease of access is the most important thing here- we are not very keen on computer related stuff, at least I am not. Is there any way to not make categories the default or we could maybe vote on this? Also maybe in the future a tutorial of how to navigate the site, things like searches, filters,areas etc etc? this site was so hard early on- I can't imagine what the new version would be like to newbies!! I did notice you changed the name from forum to discussions?? changes like this are confusing to us esp w/o a warning, I think I will delete this post since it is going on and on forever and we really can't say much more and would not benefit anyone to read this except your last clarification. I think you should e mail everyone of this- not many will see it here??
We'll make an announcement as soon as we know when the change will be coming. There will be video tutorials and plenty of assistance. I understand that adjustments can be difficult. We'll do our best to make it as painless as possible, Ron.