[chris (OP)]

25/6/17 - FINAL UPDATE FOR TODAY - SIMILAR TOPICS

I completed one other implementation today, which I've made live because it appears to be working stably. However, if anyone notices any bugs, please alert me.

As of today the forum offers you a list of 5 topics that are related / similar to that which you are viewing at any one time.

You can find it below the Quick Reply box at the page bottom (for logged-in users) or directly below the thread's last post if you are browsing anonymously.

It looks like this:

similar-topics.JPG (102.85 kB . 1189x679 - viewed 13831 times)

[chris (OP)]

29/6/17 - REQUEST FOR USER INPUT

I'd be grateful if users could tell me whether there is enthusiasm to have user avatars on the forum? These could be generic, or user-modifiable. I know some people like to have an avatar.

What do you all think?

[David Cooper]

They can save a lot of time if you're hunting back through a thread for something - it can make it a lot easier to find the post you're looking for if you don't need to look carefully at all the names. In fact, I currently look at the post count to identify people rather than their names when doing this because the large bold print used for that stands out better. What I don't like though are avatars using GIFs with things moving about in them - they're highly distracting when you're trying to read posts.

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 01.07.17
Hello everyone; here is this week's development and fixes update.

1) Send this topic

At the top of each thread is a green control bar; one of the options is to "Send topic"; this enables you to email the URL for the thread to yourself or a third party for future reference.

SEND_THIS_TOPIC.JPG (67.82 kB . 1177x417 - viewed 13870 times)

This function has been tweaked slightly so that it now sends you the body / text of the original post too, devoid of any distracting page formatting codes or special characters. Have a go and see what you think.

2) Bulletin Board Code (BB code) Support for Instagram, Tumblr & Facebook

You can now insert Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook posts within your posts here on the forum using the buttons in the post / reply to box.

TUMBLR.JPG (16.31 kB . 520x106 - viewed 13887 times)

Clicking these buttons generates a pair of tags like:

TUMBLR_TAGS.JPG (32.35 kB . 355x428 - viewed 13873 times)

To embed your post from e.g. facebook you post the URL for the post between these tags. You get this from Facebook itself by clicking the "embed" option next to a post; you need the "post URL" - it looks like this:

FACEBOOK_URL.JPG (37.29 kB . 709x387 - viewed 13842 times)

Paste that url between your two facebook tags and, hey presto, your facebook post, complete with working links, will embed within your forum post:

That's all folks! Have a great week and do please let me know if you discover bugs or things that are broken and I'll endeavour to get them fixed as quickly as possible.

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 02/07/2017

DRAFT POSTS

Today's update introduces a Draft Posts facility. Previously, when you wrote a message, either as a new post or as a reply, you were committed to posting it. Now, if you need longer to compose a reply or you wish to safeguard a long post against a potential future connection interruption or a power outage, you can save your posts in draft mode and they will be kept until you are ready to publish them.

To create a draft version of a post, you hit the "Save as draft" blue button below the text box in which you compose your posts. This sits beside the "post" and "preview" buttons. Please note that you do need to be connected to the Internet and logged into the site to do this. The data are saved on the server, not on your local device.

At this point you may continue to compose and publish your post, or move away from the present window. If you do elect to discontinue posting at that time and intend to return to your work later, when you next visit the forum and log in, click the "New topic" button as though you were starting a new thread. Or, click "reply" to an existing thread.

Now, scroll to the page bottom, below the posting text box, where you will see a list of any drafts and their titles you have created.

If you click "Edit" to the right of the draft with the title you are seeking to use, the post is presented just as it was where you left off and you may continue composing or reviewing it. You may re-save it as a draft again if you wish, or post it.

To abandon an old draft or drafts (to avoid clutter), you place a tick in the box to the right of the "edit draft" link and then click "DELETE DRAFTS" below; the ticked entries will be removed. Note that this deletion is permanent.

I hope you find this useful.

Chris

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 11/7/17

Hello everyone! This week I've implemented a system to allow you to highlight the "BEST ANSWER" from the responses to the questions that you pose.

This is intended as a badge of honour for the person who writes the best answer and is will help to guide visitors and newcomers to the best quality answers.

The nominated post will be decorated with a bright green outer and you will be cited in the heading as the user who declared it the best answer.

Please note that you cannot nominate your OWN answers or responses, for obvious reasons, and only the original poster (OP) or moderators may nominate posts as Best Answers.

To cite a post as the BEST ANSWER, use the ACTION drop down menu button in the top right of the post that you think is the best answer. Clicking ACTION looks like this:

BEST_ANSWER_NOMINATION.JPG (92.38 kB . 1175x506 - viewed 13652 times)

You then select "BEST ANSWER" from the menu and click on it.

The post will reload with its "Best Answer" decoration.

I shall leave you to discover for yourselves what this looks like!

Chris

PS - If you subsequently change your mind, or another post subsequently becomes more deserving of being the "best answer", you can use the ACTION button again to remove the best answer tag; you will then be able to tag your new choice of best answer as above.

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 15/7/2017

Hello everyone. Here's this week's update of changes, fixes and upgrades. A few things to tell you about.

1) A minor upgrage to the TAGS system
- I've made the thread tags system a bit more user-friendly and visually appealing. The top section of each thread now indicates the number of tags (either words or phrases) that have been added to a post; this is also a LINK, and clicking on it will take you to the thread bottom where you can add tags (if there are none, or supplement them if you think one is needed).

- It's helpful to add these tags for two reasons: 1) they improve the visibility of your posts, because tagged threads are listed in the tag cloud generated by the TAG link in the menu at the top of the screen. Thus you are more likely to get answers and engagement with your posts if you use a few good tags with your post. Note - you can add these at the time of first posting by populating the "Give your post some tags" box in the new message posting area. Or you can add them later as described above.

2) A minor upgrade to the BUDDIES system has been implemented
Formerly you could list only those people whom you'd declared as your own buddies. Now you can see who has made YOU their buddy. This is available under your profile settings.

3) The forum has been upgraded to the latest official production version of the core software.
You should not notice any difference. It should run smoothly and the upgrade merely tightens security slightly.
However, it you notice that things are not performing properly, because alert me via this thread or PM and I'll take a look urgently.


That's all for this week, folks!
As ever, please do let me know of any ideas or suggestions for further improvements or fixes.

Chris

[chris (OP)]

MINOR UPDATE 17/7/17

TAGs - A minor update to make everyone aware of; all users, with the exception of the most junior, have been granted permissions now to ADD and REMOVE tags on topics.

Previously you could manage only tags on topics that you started; however, we'd like to get as many topics tagged as we can now, so we're widening these access rights to encourage everyone to take part.

Please note that you can also remove tags too if you see something that is incorrect or inappropriate. But PLEASE USE THIS RIGHT RESPONSIBLY - we will end up undoing each other's work if we are not careful.

Many thanks

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 30/7/2017

TWEET NEW THREADS implementation

Hi everyone. This week I've set up a system that will Tweet to the Naked Scientists Twitter followers a proportion of the new topics started in the mainstream boards.

This means that, when you start a new thread, the tens of thousands of people following us on Twitter will be alerted and given a link to your thread.

To maximise the chances that the Twitter audience will engage with your post, please consider the following posting tips:

• Phrase the topic title as a short, succinct question. People are more likely to be motivated to answer or join in if they see a question to which they know the answer.
• Do not include assumed knowledge, which may be wrong, in the thread title. Specifically, rather than write "Why is the moon made of blue cheese?" (which is erroneous, the moon is not made of blue cheese, but the question implies that it is) - ask instead "Is the moon made of blue cheese?"
• In the main text of your post, give clear background information to the question so that readers can understand the context of your query or discussion point.
• Above all, make it really clear what it is that you are trying to find out or debate, and invite readers to share their opinions.

Good luck!

[smart]

Hi everyone. This week I've set up a system that will Tweet to the Naked Scientists Twitter followers a proportion of the new topics started in the mainstream boards.

This means that, when you start a new thread, the tens of thousands of people following us on Twitter will be alerted and given a link to your thread.

Very cool. Thanks for this update. This probably means there's now a way to fetch the Twitter feed and generate a RSS file of the recent posts on TNS.

[chris (OP)]

This probably means there's now a way to fetch the Twitter feed and generate a RSS file of the recent posts on TNS.

This URL will generate an RSS feed for the latest new posts on the forum:
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?type=rss;limit=50;action=.xml

If you want just new TOPICS (rather than posts) then use this URL instead:
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?type=rss;sa=news;limit=50;action=.xml

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 1/8/2017

TNS Latest content RSS feed
Hi folks. This is a mini-update and not strictly purely forum but it is relevant to the Naked Scientists and TNS followers.

Anyone following this thread will have seen that I published above the details of an RSS feed system to enable social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to be informed of activity here on the forum.

But it need not be just Twitter and Facebook users who benefit - the feed URLs above will work with any RSS aggregator.

Following a similar vein, an RSS feed detailing the most recently-published Naked Scientists main site content has been created. This feed is populated with the latest science news stories, long-form features, the latest podcast episodes and links to transcripts of the science interviews and science questions answered on the show.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to use this feed; again, this will work with any basic RSS aggregator.

For information about current, reliable and safe aggregators that you could use, this article may help: https://www.lifewire.com/top-free-online-rss-readers-3486649

And once you've got your aggregator app fired up, this is the URL to subscribe to:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/naked-scientists-recent-content.xml

Happy reading! 

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 11/8/2017 - MEMBER MAP

Hi folks; just a fun update for this week - a membership map; specifically, a map you can stick a pin into to show us where you are.

It's really simple. You LOG IN and then look at the TOP BAR at the top of the forum for the words MEMBER MAP

member_map.JPG (91.14 kB . 1152x744 - viewed 13315 times)

Or, you can go via your profile: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?action=profile

The display is a google map. You zoom to your neck of the woods, using the + / - buttons on the map, and then CLICK the mouse on the patch of the map corresponding to your location.

NB What you choose to share online is entirely your choice, but it is probably a good idea NOT to indicate the precise location of your own house. We would suggest that you choose the nearest village, or town, or perhaps your place of work.

Let's see how many pins we can get in the map this week! 

That's all folks. Have a great weekend!

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 21/8/17 - Links

Hello everyone; a minor update to report this week. I have tweaked the way that links are handled by the forum so that rather than rendering external links invisible behind an invitation to register or login, I have disclosed all of these links; now they are fully visible to all. And if users log in then the links will be made active enabling them to be followed easily. A note to this effect is posted alongside each link.

I would be grateful to hear user's feedback on this and any other updates we've made.

Have a lovely day! 

[yor_on]

I'll tell you what Chris. This new version of TNS is extremely slow updating every time I 'click' on something, filled with unnecessary functions for its purpose. To me it seems geared for the generation of thoughtless 'spectators' that clicks their way through life. I really miss the old version we used, that was fast, and to the point.

[yor_on]

And another question.
Can't find how to post a new question on this 'new' site any more?

Really don't like the direction TNS seems to have chosen.
=

Am I supposed to go through some moderator to post?
If that is the case I'm gone.

[David Cooper]

The forum was lightning fast until the adverts were switched on. Then my computer started freezing regularly, but I managed to reduce that a fair bit by disabling Flash. It's still slow, but at least it's usable.

Yoron - for starting a new thread, there's a dark blue box with "New Topic" written in it which should appear near the top and again near the bottom of the page when you open any of the forums, although it's not impossible that a bug could be hiding it from some people, so have a close look at the green banners - I get a pair of green banners each time, one long and one short, and the dark blue bit with "New Topic" is at the left hand end of the shorter one. It's in the same place that the dark blue "Reply" box appears once you've opened a thread.

Edit: having said that, ever since then, the words have disappeared from it and it's now just a confusing logo. Someone's pressed a button and changed the whole look of the forum.

[yor_on]

Thanks David, and yes, the logo exist, no words to it though. It is also so that you have to accept a lot of unnecessary stuff for it to appear. I'm using NoScript and it seems this whole site is a patchwork of different functions that you must 'allow' for it to work. That has nothing to do with the 'slowness' I find though, at least not the way I experienced it. five seconds, or more to change a page is not acceptable. Reminds me of the new way of 'forcing' you to allow a lot of useless connections to facebook etc, if you want to do anything useful on a site, that as they hide the simple functions you need as being the last ones showing up.
=

The worst thing about all this is that I doubt any of us needing them for the purpose of discussing. It's a marketing device in my eyes, with the old version we had working flawlessly, and fast.

[chris (OP)]

UPDATE 18/9/17

Hi folks

Just a minor update to tell you about.

I have overhauled the TAGS system a bit; the presentation on the tags page was a bit web 1.0 and quite hard to read.

I've modernised it a bit, including preventing it from repeatedly printing the thread title for every tag listed; some stripes have been added to improve readability!

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?action=tags

Thanks

Chris

[David Cooper]

What's the reason for the information depletion on the main forum page? It used to be easy to see if there were any new posts in each subforum without having to click through to it, but as that's no longer possible I tend to assume there will be nothing new in some of them. It's irritating opening a subforum every day and finding no change since the last visit, and all the more so when each page opened is accompanied by a long delay.

(Perhaps this change is to make it easier to fit the main page on the screen of a phone? If so, could there not be a simplified main page for phones with a redirect triggered by identifying the operating system used in the viewing device?)