I feel completely lost. Change is hard! New Forum

[bingbingbing]

Am I the only one that isn’t coming to the forums as much because of the change? I don’t like the one page for really long threads. I don’t know how to get to the end of a post I have been following. I don’t like the white background blending into the whole page. How do you know who the OP is in the middle of a thread?

I feel like I should be grateful for the forum. And I always was. But my brain just can’t easily navigate this change or the posts…it’s doesn’t seem worth the effort.

Anyone else have thoughts??? Is it just me?

[Bluey]

I hear you.

I don’t think there is anyone that is not struggling, it is a big change.

Then, considering that also others were quitting because the old platform was so “hitchy” and kept getting worse, more unstable and slow, well, either way, we are all grumbling and with good reason.

On the other hand, well, this is still COTH and once the changes are complete, we are still just trying to make this work, everyone is, eventually it will be ok, just as it has been before when big changes happened.

If you try reading some in the Technical Help forum, you will see how many are bringing questions and how those are answered, or told we are not that far along in the changes to be fully functional.

We are much better than the first few days, they were chaotic and slow.
Maybe when it all irons out, we will all be happier.

[trubandloki]

@bingbingbing

Am I the only one that isn’t coming to the forums as much because of the change? I don’t like the one page for really long threads. I don’t know how to get to the end of a post I have been following. I don’t like the white background blending into the whole page. How do you know who the OP is in the middle of a thread?

I feel like I should be grateful for the forum. And I always was. But my brain just can’t easily navigate this change or the posts…it’s doesn’t seem worth the effort.

Anyone else have thoughts??? Is it just me?

Have you checked out the FAQ thread? Lots of good information there that will make your browsing easier.

FAQ -- Tips for Using the Site

Here is a walk-through of many of the Discourse (our new Forums platform) features available, and below is an FAQ with help for specific questions. General Board FAQs

How do I log out?

Click your avatar in the upper right corner, then click your username. Click logout. [how do l log out]

How do I logout and log back in with a different username?

The forum pulls your user credentials from the main Chronicle of the Horse website. To login to the forums with a different username, <a href=&…

If you are in the thread and want to get to the end just hit the time (for me, right now, it is 11m ago) that is at the bottom of the scroll bar. That is the time of the last post.

(I would give you a screen shot of where I mean but I do not know how to do them on this computer.)

They are working on making it so we can tell the OP later on in the thread. It is on the list of things for the developers to look into when the urgent things are taken care of.

There is also a long thread in the technical help forum (started by me, if that helps you find it) where everyone is talking about the new forum. If you are into misery loves company, you will enjoy that read. You will also get some tips on how to do lots of things as you read.

You are not alone with being frustrated. I know the more I use the new set-up the easier it is to use.

[Simkie]

In addition to the great tips above, the whole tech help forum is generally the best place to check for help when you have questions/problems with the site software:

https://forum.chronofhorse.com/c/technical-help-forum/26

[cayuse]

Yes, I’m also having a difficult time and don’t check in much. Everyone has been helpful (Thank You!) when I had a couple of questions, but sometimes I stay “stuck” and can’t seem to use the options available. The green slide icon for example just does not work for me and I can’t move the page unless I scroll forever to find the spot I want. It’s almost like the new forum is set up counter-intuitive to the way I process things.

[Where_sMyWhite]

@trubandloki

You are not alone with being frustrated. I know the more I use the new set-up the easier it is to use.

This absolutely… Discourse is a very different style of BB compared to vB. I have found that the more I use it the more I like it and the more I learn ‘new’ ways to do what I used to do. Or, I find that the new way is actually better than what I was used to.

Please don’t leave the performance is so much improved… that alone keeps me here!

[Simkie]

@cayuse

The green slide icon for example just does not work for me

Can you talk further about why the thread slider tool isn’t working for you? There are a whole lot of ways to do things here, and we can help you find a way that works for you.

[poltroon]

Change is hard. I don’t like this software, but it does do the things I need, probably, when I learn new ways to use it. The old software isn’t an option; there’s only forward. The COTH team can and will do some more customizations to make it work a little better for us, but mostly there’s going to be learning.

What makes this community great are the people and the information here. As long as we can figure out how to get what we need, it will continue to thrive.

[OTTBs]

There doesn’t seem to be as much posting going on, so I doubt you’re the only one. I don’t like the one page thing either. I hate not being able to hover over the title and get an idea what is in the thread, or see the latest topic in each category.

[FitToBeTied]

I don’t know. It seems that every time COTH changes the discussion forum software it creates a worse user experience. This latest is horrible.

[clanter]

Really need to remove All Those Sticky Posts from the beginning of every forum…If They Are Really Needed put in Forum of Sticky Notes

[Simkie]

Easy enough, @clanter

@Simkie

How do I stop seeing pinned posts at the top of each forum?

There are a couple ways to clear the pinned posts, if you don’t want to see them at the top of each forum anymore:

Option one:

Click the pin next to the thread title. This unpins it.

Option two:

Navigate to the end of the thread, either by using the green navigation bar to the right, or by clicking “last reply” in the footer of the first post. Reaching the end will unpin the post.

[Simkie]

@OTTBs

I hate not being able to hover over the title and get an idea what is in the thread

This is a known issue, and will come back once the larger pieces are ironed out.

Known issues are listed at the bottom of the FAQ in the help forum, or at the top of the large ongoing thread of feedback on the help forum.

@OTTBs

or see the latest topic in each category.

What do you mean with this one? From the categories page, you can see the three most recent threads on each category.

[Bluey]

@clanter

Really need to remove All Those Sticky Posts from the beginning of every forum…If They Are Really Needed put in Forum of Sticky Notes

Good idea to put stickies in their own forum, but then, who would notice, much less read them?
Some seem to have missed the sticky notices in the old forum, in that same place as these, on top of forums, telling of the coming change!

The stickies are supposed to be one time thing, notice them once.
That is why they have an X on the right side you can click to make them go away.
At least in my format, that is how is working.

[clanter]

thanks… this place is like solving an Agatha Christie mysteries

[Simkie]

@clanter

thanks… this place is like solving an Agatha Christie mysteries

You can read ahead and find the killer early if you just go check out that FAQ

[Bluey]

@clanter

thanks… this place is like solving an Agatha Christie mysteries

Yes, a big puzzle, why NO ONE is liking this, but it is what we have now.

Many didn’t like the old one any more also, it was failing so badly, beyond repair.

Some times we don’t like any of our choices.
We seem to make do and carry on, more than give up and quit.
I think real life right now has everyone already sore and tired.
This one more change and a difficult one is not welcome, especially now, sigh.

I imagine that is double tiresome for those trying to get this up and running, to add to their problems fighting against the general grumblings.
Lets try to make our complains a bit more palatable for them and hope for everyone’s sake that things here will improve for all as fast as they already have, until it becomes the new norm.

COTH is still COTH, even in new clothes that don’t quite fit well yet for everyone.

[Posting_Trot]

After just reading this thread, I went back out to the Off course list, and the first topic heading I see is “Integrating a new horse into the herd.”

I think this thread is about “integrating a bunch of old horses into a new herd.”

I like the new forum in a lot of ways: I like being able to see the icons for the people who’ve posted on the thread, I like having the threads that I’ve posted on being tagged if there’s been a new post, and I definitely like how much faster the whole system seems to respond.

[JB]

@Posting_Trot

I think this thread is about “integrating a bunch of old horses into a new herd.”

Old dogs CAN learn new tricks

I was helping beta test this new platform. The first several days I was very lost, though a lot of that was for reasons you guys will never see because, well, that was part of why we were testing But even once the worst of the “omg what IS THIS?” was straightened out, it still took a couple days of playing around to get used to it. Even THEN, it was harder because there wasn’t real world activity, we were hunting and poking to make and react to activity.

Only by consistently getting in and clicking around to see what buttons do what, does anyone get used to a new format. This really is pretty simply once you familiarize yourself with what’s what. Moving around Categories (forums) is so easy. Seeing notifications is easy. Quoting is SO MUCH easier. We can do screen shots and paste them right into replies! Search is way better. So much functionality is way better, it’s just arranged differently.

This too shall pass

When you’re in a Category/forum, either read the sticky if you want, or click the pushpin and it will turn upside down and you won’t see that sticky again.

[JB]

@cayuse

Yes, I’m also having a difficult time and don’t check in much.

The only way to get past that is just set aside a little time to work through using the board. It’s a new game to be learned, and setting aside frustration and approaching it like a puzzle you’re choosing to put together, makes things much easier and faster