View of new posts

Greatdane · Jul 17, 2015

Does the new forum have a New Posts view as the old one? In the old forum, we could see what was new since the last visit and then jump directly to the first unread post in a thread.

Without that possibility it is rather cumbersome to see what is new and to follow a thread.

WRC-Admin · Jul 18, 2015

Perhaps what you are looking for is in the SE Asia Trip Report Forums menu on the upper right sidebar...

The 25 Latest Topics

Greatdane · Jul 18, 2015

No, it is not the same. I can see the last 25 updated topics, but I cannot go to the last unread post in that topic. And I cannot see which of the topics have new posts since my last visit.

Instead, the link takes me to the first post, which is not very practical. If, for instance, there are 85 posts in the topic, I would have to scroll to the newest and also have to remember, which I have read before.

I am not a great poster in here, but I usually do read the forum. Without an easy way to find new and unread posts, it will be too time consuming, and I think I will have to only use the forum with the help of Google when I am looking for something specific. Meaning I will not stumble over interesting posts and threads.

Greatdane · Jul 18, 2015

As far as I can tell, this plugin should give the forum one of the features, I am missing:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-unread-posts-v2/

WRC-Admin · Jul 18, 2015

Ok, thanks for that most helpful suggestion - I have installed that plugin for you (and everyone else).

Basically, every Topic is marked as unread. Therefore, you will have to use the new "Mark As Read" button at top right of each Forum or Topic listing...

Greatdane · Jul 18, 2015

I just found another plugin that may be better. It also include a link to take you to the first unread post:

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/plugin-bbpress-go-to-first-unread-post/

Javawa · Jul 18, 2015

Agree with Great Dane - a Button "New Posts" which shows the new posts after the last visit would help as now it takes ages to go through the forum to see if somewhere in the threads there is a new post. The "25 latest topics" on the top right only shows the last 25 threads where a new post has been added.

On the left side there is a section with "Latest Topics" which shows the first 5 topics of the "25 Latest Topics" on the top right side and on the left below the "Latest Topics" section there is a section with "Topic Posts" which shows the last 5 new posts. This resembles a little bit a "New Posts" button but only shows the first 5 new posts but you still have to go through the forum to see if there are more new posts

WRC-Admin · Jul 18, 2015

The "bbPress Go To First Unread Post" plugin is now installed. Its operation and purpose is not quite the same as the "Unread Posts" plugin. The two should work together to help you identify new information.

The other option newly added is the "bbPress Digest"

This plugin enables sending of digests with a list of Topics active in the last 24 hours or 7 days. You can choose Any or All forums and either daily or weekly lists...

Activate it from your profile.

Instead of trawling through all forums for new items, they will be sent to you automatically...

WRC-Admin · Jul 19, 2015

Dates in Forums: the Date display (or lack thereof) has nothing whatsoever to do with the platform and everything to do with the Design Theme.

I have lodged a support request with the developers asking if they can adjust the theme to display the following within the forums;
– the date the Topic/Thread was started
– the date the last Reply/Post was made
– the last post date under Freshness
– the poster's Avatar

Goran Phuket · Jul 19, 2015

Can't you just switch back to vBulletin forum type instead of going through all of this?

This is just not working.

Greatdane · Jul 20, 2015

The link on the latest topics that is supposed to go to the latest unread post is not working. This link:

https://www.gt-rider.com/se-asia-motorcycling/topic/view-of-new-posts#post-248631

Should lead to the post #248631, however the anchor is missing in the codes, thus one is lead to the top of the page. Not very practical if there are many posts in a topic.

I agree with Goran Phuket, it would be far better if there is any way to make the old forum work. To me, it is very clear that this is an attempt to add a forum function to something that is not a forum. Whilst vBulletin is a real forum with all the usual forum functions included from scratch.

CraigBKK · Jul 20, 2015

Without wanting to sound either critical or negative, I have to agree with the posters here.

If the forum loses it's functionality then it loses it's usefulness, which in turn will lead to a loss in contributions and visitors.

Be brave, take your time, but get it right.

DavidFL · Jul 20, 2015

[quote quote=250248]Without wanting to sound either critical or negative, I have to agree with the posters here. If the forum loses it’s functionality then it loses it’s usefulness, which in turn will lead to a loss in contributions and visitors. Be brave, take your time, but get it right. [/quote]

Not sure what you mean the forum loses its functionality as it all still works ok, just a slightly different layout.

If you go to https://www.gt-rider.com/ this is what you see

The forum integrated into the website. On the right hand side a big box S E Asia Motorcycling Forums with links to
[list type=decimal]
[*]Forum Index
[*]The latest topics
[*]The latest Replies
[*]Most Popular Topics
[*]North Thailand Trip Reports
[*]Laos Trip Reports
[*]Vietnam Trip Reports
[*]Myanmar Trip Reports
[*]Cambodia Trip Reports
[*]Malaysia Trip Reports
[/list type=decimal]
All links that take you direct into the forum section you may want to explore

Then on the left hand side 2 boxes for
[list type=decimal]
[*]the latest topics with the 10 latest new topics
[*]the newest topic replies with the 10 newest topic replies
[/list type=decimal]
click on any of these links & you can go straight top whatever you want to see. This is easier than the old Vbulletin set up I think.

If none of this is good enough, then back to the box on the right S E Asia Motorcycling Forums you can click on the link Forum Index to go here

https://www.gt-rider.com/se-asia-motorcycling

& you see the new forum set up like this

Click on the section you want to go & there it all is.

The major difference is the display of images, not the same as before.

But for admin they are more manageable, & better suited to Google SEO rankings.

I hope this helps you see a clearer picture of how GTR operates now.

It just takes a bit of getting used to a new system, but once it all becomes familiar you may not miss the old Vbulletin style at all, we hope.

WRC-Admin · Jul 20, 2015

Please note - none of this happened on a whim

The vBulletin system had - to all intents and purposes - passed it's use-by date. Read the following (expanded) post with some of the background information that forced us into making the decisions that not everyone is pleased with;

- https://www.gt-rider.com/vb-forums-burnt-out-new-software-new-passwords.htm

Greatdane · Jul 20, 2015

I have just spend half an hour answering DavidFL's post and detailing why this "forum" is not as good as the old one. Especially why the latest topics and the newest topic replies are not working. I attached an image and then pressed Submit.

As far as I can see, the post was not posted. Instead there now are two attachment in my first post in this topic - attachments that I did not send. I am sorry to say, this is goodbye from me.

jimmyklx · Jul 22, 2015

We've got latest topics and latest replies now.

Have some patience.

Greatdane · Jul 22, 2015

I[quote quote=252758]We’ve got latest topics and latest replies now. Have some patience. [/quote]

I believe they have been there all the time - they do not work very well.

From the latest topics, you cannot go directly to the latest unread post in a topic, you have to scroll down manually and also remember what you have read. Replies to an old topic is not shown here.

From the latest replies, you cannot go directly to the latest unread post in a topic, you have to scroll down manually and also remember what you have read. You cannot mark all as read here.

I wrote about the above and more in a post that disappeared after I pressed submit. Instead of posting that post, two attachments were added to my first post. I think this software does have severe shortcomings due to the fact that it is build on top of something else, that was not intended to be a forum. I understand that the old system was no longer viable, but this not viable either.

Javawa · Jul 22, 2015

I signed up for the Daily Digest and for two days I got an email message showing the new posts but then it stopped and for the last few days there was NO email message so maybe the Mods/Admin can have a look at what happened with the Daily Digest section.

Greatdane · Jul 22, 2015

Oh no, it is even worse than I though. If you answer a specific post, the answer is placed after that post and not as the last post in the topic. Look at Javawa's reply 22nd July 2015 at 5:24 am. That is placed above Forum Admin's post from 19th July.

This means that in order to find a new post, you not only have to scroll to the bottom, trying to remember what you already read. You actually have to skim through all the posts, remembering what you already have read, in order to recognize new posts. Imagine doing that in a topic with a lot of posts.

George HuaHin · Jul 22, 2015

[quote quote=250619]It just takes a bit of getting used to a new system, but once it all becomes familiar you may not miss the old Vbulletin style at all, we hope. [/quote]

I definitely miss the old style, which was much better structured and readable and I miss the "unread topics" function.

Hope is always good.... so I hope you may connect to the forum to Tapatalk to keep it attractiv.

In the recent condition it is more frustration than pleasure to read. Socalled improove-worsened.

I definitely prefer to discuss bike topics instead of matters about lousy and user un-friendly software, so I apologize for my frank words.

WRC-Admin · Jul 22, 2015

The "unread topics" function has been in place for a several days.

the indicator is the icon at left of the Forum and Topic heading. It dims if you've read everything, and brightens if you have not...
each Forum has a "mark as read" button at upper right... click that to set all forum posts to "read"

The real problem is: when you click on a link to the latest Reply, it takes you to the initial Topic post instead of jumping to the last post.

That has nothing whatsoever to do with the forum software per se - that functionality is built in as it should be.

The problem lies within the design theme, which seems to allow the link to open but not allow the jump to the text anchor in the latest post. The theme developer promises a fix in the next update...

Greatdane · Jul 22, 2015

[quote quote=253251]The problem lies within the design theme, which seems to allow the link to open but not allow the jump to the text anchor in the latest post. The theme developer promises a fix in the next update… [/quote]

You will also need to change the order of the posts, hopefully you can change this it the settings.

There's two problems, regarding the not working link:

The link is wrong, thus not leading to the anchor at the post. This can be fixed by making the right link. My main beef with this software is that this function is the very foundation of a forum software, thus it does not bode well that it is not working.

However, as new posts are placed between old posts, fixing the link will not help much. I hope, my explanation below is not too confusing:

Let's say, there are 2 new posts in a topic since my last visit. One is an answer to my first post, the other is posted later and as a new post rather than a reply. That will mean that the first post is placed near the top of page, while the latest post is placed at the bottom. If the link to the latest post in the topic is fixed, it will lead the new post at the bottom. Thus I will never see the answer to my first post. If the link lead to the first new post since my last visit, it will take me to the new post at the top, and I will manually have to scroll down and find other new posts while trying to remember what I have read earlier.

I do not know this software, but try to look for a setting for threading or similar, and then turn off threading. That should place the posts linear, so that new posts are always at the bottom.

Javawa · Jul 22, 2015

Greatdane, it is probably even more complicated as there is a difference in new posts for Existing threads and New Threads. New posts in existing threads will show up in "New Topic Replies" while new posts in a New Thread will show in "Latest Topics" but will NOT show in "New Topic Replies". You may say that is as it should be but it does make life for the people wanting to read new posts more difficult as they now have to look in both sections: "New Topic Replies" and "Latest Topics".

WRC-Admin · Jul 22, 2015

The link is wrong, thus not leading to the anchor at the post. This can be fixed by making the right link.

That is not entirely correct. There some links that reference the incorrect page, mostly confined to Topics with multiple pages of replies, and likely related to the threading issue you raised.

Where there are only one or two pages, the links are correct, but the jump to the Text Anchor is not working...

The text anchor is there
The link is correct, and includes the correct #anchor
Clicking the link opens the Topic page but stops before scrolling to the #anchor

According to the theme developer, he has just fixed that very same issue on another of his themes, and will do so on this one presently. My guess is that the issue is due to either jquery or JavaScript having been set to disable another "click-related" action and it is impacting on anchor text links completely by accident.

look for a setting for threading or similar, and then turn off threading

Found that and deactivated it - apparently, some people prefer threading and it was enabled by default...

Getting Replies into Non-threaded order requires that we run "Recalculate the position of each reply"

That is a database-intensive process and best done in the early morning when visitor traffic is at its lowest point. It is scheduled for tomorrow.

Greatdane · Jul 23, 2015

[quote quote=253684]

look for a setting for threading or similar, and then turn off threading

Found that and deactivated it – apparently, some people prefer threading and it was enabled by default… [/quote]

Great, that will make it a little easier to find new posts in a topic. I believe the default setting is because this is blog software and not forum software. In a blog it makes more sense to place replies directly below the post you are replying.

Maybe it is sort of drowning in the other problems, but please note the error I have mentioned a couple of times. I tried to post a reply with a quote to DavidFL's post #250619, but my reply was never posted after I pressed submit.

If you look at my very first post in this topic, you will see two attachments. I did not post those two attachments, and I did not attach them to that post. They are from DavidFL's post. So not only was my reply not posted, the two images from the post I replied to was attached to a completely different post. This is an indication that there is something seriously wrong with the database and/or the forum software.

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