Posting is very archaic

darenager · 2014-01-08T18:40:55.000Z

""inevitablecrafts"":

pfft … its a forum ^^

iam not going to call an ambulance via the forum so who cares if its slow or wastes space

i like it a lot, does what it should do

If you read through the issues people are having then you’ll see that it is not really to do with ergonomics or speed. Lets say someone is asking a multi-part technical question, as is often the case with this kind of subject, if I want to reply then I can’t see their original post, sure it is not a factor for people who just want to browse, but for anyone who wants to participate then it is a PITA.
With no-one answering questions, or posting, then a forum soon dies. When you make a forum that puts barriers in peoples way, then they won’t post.

darenager · 2014-01-08T18:43:18.000Z

""poonti"":

[quote=“void”]i think that floating window thing is actually an old implementation.
it was buggy and then changed to the solid screen that it is now.

maybe this is still stuck in your browser cache?
log out / clear browser cache / log in?

NO! Then I’ll lose the floating window thingy! I like the floating window thingy!! [/quote]
And this brings me nicely to another gripe, I was not able to quote this post in my previous post, because of the reply issue, so now have to start a new post BAH!
Anyway, not using any popup blockers here.

FreeFall · 2014-01-08T18:56:23.000Z

""darenager"":

With no-one answering questions, or posting, then a forum soon dies. When you make a forum that puts barriers in peoples way, then they won’t post.

I’m all for user feedback, good or bad, so they can improve the experience for everyone. And they really should make the experience as good as possible since they’re products are premium level. Every touch point with Elektron should make you feel good about dropping $1000+ on each machine!
But at the same time, I think Elektron knows that there is no ‘other’ forum where users are communicating. And there NEVER will be another forum where users can get responses from actual Elektron employees. This forum isn’t going to die just because it has some issues.
My hope is that the Elektron team is super busy working on much more important things. Like finishing up whatever is under that damned frosted box and fixing machine bugs.

inevitablecrafts · 2014-01-08T18:56:56.000Z

i dont get why you want to see the original post while replying ^^

i mean its a nice feature for sure … iam always for making things better

poonti · 2014-01-08T21:26:11.000Z

""darenager"":

[quote=“poonti”][quote=“void”]i think that floating window thing is actually an old implementation.
it was buggy and then changed to the solid screen that it is now.

maybe this is still stuck in your browser cache?
log out / clear browser cache / log in?

NO! Then I’ll lose the floating window thingy! I like the floating window thingy!! [/quote]
And this brings me nicely to another gripe, I was not able to quote this post in my previous post, because of the reply issue, so now have to start a new post BAH!
Anyway, not using any popup blockers here.[/quote]
True, it’s impossible to do multi-page replies, unless you open a new browser window on the previous pages of a thread and start copying/pasting. On most forums you have a way to add excerpts of previous posts that you can multi-quote.
These are definitely good features to have in a forum, but won’t stop me from visiting the forum.

darenager · 2014-01-08T21:37:24.000Z

So do you guys who were on EU really think this forum is as busy/good?

poonti · 2014-01-08T21:55:38.000Z

Not sure about the heyday of E-U, but this forum is way busier than E-U was for the past few years. Basically, you see it in Forum Activity every time you visit after a day or two of absence: there are 100’s of new posts. E-U had maybe 30 posts a day on the average.

As for “as good”, I like it better in terms of visual style, but the main aspect has to do with the people posting; we’ve lost some old great contributors like Tarekith and tIb, but gained new ones like void, avantronica and many others, so the forum vibe is equivalent (with a different cast in a sense).

To quote one of my favorite TV shows: Saul Goodman!

Anigbrowl · 2014-01-12T04:05:17.000Z

A lot of those posts are either chatter or duplicative content from having a different forum for every individual Elektron box (ie A4 and AK forums and going to wind up with lots f the same questions over time). I think ther’s also an increasing tendency towards shorter forum posts with less content.

I do find contributions of value but like Darenager I’m posting much less than I used to on E-U because I find both reading and posting unpleasant. I have 5 tabs open to Elektronauts all the time in my browser, but I read and participate far less than I used to at the old site.

I wish Snowcrash was in charge. The font issue was raised months agoand there’s still no option to change it; I’m also sick of 60% of the browser window consisting of empty space.

pseen · 2014-01-12T09:03:33.000Z

The signal-to-noise ratio has worsened, anyhow.

JimmyPulse · 2014-01-12T12:50:58.000Z

I agree with you, because navigation is terribly slow (I mean a forum needs to be quick, not having long load times), and knowing which post I already read isn’t as smooth as the ‘old’ forum, I have to admit that I am also less active nowadays…

jonah · 2014-01-12T15:06:32.000Z

not working on mobile is the big thing for me. i mean, generally if i have my laptop, i’d rather be working on tunes…

imo we need tags and less forums. (tags are good enough for the a4!) forum segregation (among elektron boxes) is imo pointless and i can’t really be bothered most of the time to check that many. gear, market & meta site is probably all that’s needed. good tagging and filtering would take care of the rest.

i don’t like pages, i think they encourage repeating info.

some forums i’ve used have weekly/monthly stickied topics (like sandbox from e-u could fall under this) to encourage interesting conversation and imo they work well.

elektron is all about the retro-future: make it look like a BBS.

i dunno if all the noob qs got worked out on e-u before i went there, but i mostly hate “tell me what to buy” threads. i don’t think they often help people that own the machines, people are gonna get what they want regardless, seems like it encourages stupid bickering about which is best. (answer: everything, just not at the same time)

seriously, i miss the old emoticons…not that i don’t like the new ones, there just aren’t enough.

jonah · 2014-01-12T15:11:29.000Z

[quote="“darenager” date=“2014-01-08 17:32:26"”]
And here is what it looks like on my iPad, so much wasted space which could be used for all the missing information, no?

enautspad.PNG768×1024 70.2 KB

Also on Chrome, on Safari it is worse!
[/quote]

that’s what it looks like to me if i have javascript off.

and haha, i kinda wish it was like that for me on mobile. the floating post box has broken on me multiple times where i can’t even post or copy what i wrote. there is a lot of space↓ not sure why it’s not a permanent post box…

darenager · 2014-01-12T18:41:41.000Z

I reckon I visit once every couple of days and post maybe 2 or 3 posts, on EU I used to visit daily. Also I have probably given up posting here about 50-60 times, all of these were answering questions, thankfully in most cases other members answered.

Also PM system is a bit of a step backward, you cannot get a preview of the message in the email, so you have to visit and log in to see the message, so if I am not on the computer then it means that it can be a few days before I am able to respond because of the mobile issues.

And really I understand that those guys not having any issues can’t see what all the fuss is about, but in my mind an active community is part and parcel of the enjoyment for many users, and it certainly does not do the company any harm either.

poonti · 2014-01-13T04:23:49.000Z

""pseen"":

The signal-to-noise ratio has worsened, anyhow.

Aside from some of the posts complaining about the forum, the content here is as rich as it ever was at E-U. Of course, all IMHO. Also known as the “grass is always greener on the other side” syndrome…

boboter · 2014-01-13T08:26:22.000Z

Sadly, I have to say that I also post way less than on e-u. Mostly due to the iOS inconveniences, since I mainly use my iPad for all the forums I’m visiting. Also, I find it harder to “discover” stuff. Hard to explain, but I think the layout and structure kinda keeps me from stumbling over interesting topics.

That’s why I don’t like the individual forums for each machine. I know there are pros and cons for doing it like that, but I think if I would be reading more about eg the A4, chances would be bigger that I would buy one

So for me the only useful tab is the Forum Activity.

poonti · 2014-01-13T14:58:55.000Z

I also use Forum Activity and it works really well for me - since I’m interested in all of the Elektron boxes, this is OK for me.

As an aside, I tested the “speed” of the old E-U (which has zero traffic) to the speed of this site (which has around 100 people logged in at any time), and they were comparable. I can’t see Elektron scrapping this for a phpBB site, but they can improve things like mobile views and reply functionality, and improve performance where ever possible.

The current state of this forum is just fine for me…any improvements are icing on the cake.

Dalski · 2014-01-13T15:49:26.000Z

""darenager"":

So do you guys who were on EU really think this forum is as busy/good?

No!

Hence, this is only my second post since signing up (during beta)

previewlounge · 2014-01-13T17:26:05.000Z

*Thread title is very archaic

hey if there was one thing i would ask for, it is the exact same set of emoticons as what the previous boards have. or just different ones to the current set. apart from that, much appreciation and gratitude for the forums and the game-changing gear.

edit: oh, and i like the notifications center… it really helps to find out what is going on, as in maybe someone posted something extremely helpful to some bizarre question i asked ten days ago … if so, then awesome! i want to know about it.

poonti · 2014-01-13T18:11:42.000Z

""previewlounge"":

*Thread title is very archaic

hey if there was one thing i would ask for, it is the exact same set of emoticons as what the previous boards have. or just different ones to the current set. apart from that, much appreciation and gratitude for the forums and the game-changing gear.

Very much agree with that! For me, the only aesthetically useable smiley is this one here →

previewlounge · 2014-01-14T14:55:31.000Z

""poonti"":

[quote=“previewlounge”]*Thread title is very archaic

hey if there was one thing i would ask for, it is the exact same set of emoticons as what the previous boards have. or just different ones to the current set. apart from that, much appreciation and gratitude for the forums and the game-changing gear.

Very much agree with that! For me, the only aesthetically useable smiley is this one here → [/quote]
oh i say, good show!

perhaps the previous set of emoticons, except with the current pirate emoticon also as part of the deal.