# Problem children / punch list for fixes / TIPS AND TRICKS **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 22, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044 "2020-06-22T01:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/284 "2020-06-24T04:42:41Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > I was able to delete my post after 9 minutes. I wonder what the limit is?  > > Probably not one. If it’s the OP, it usually can’t be deleted after someone replies, but I haven’t tested that here yet.  And it just let me delete the post even though you’d responded to it (I restored it). ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/285 "2020-06-24T04:42:57Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > > [@Spiderman](#): > > > > someone just bumped a very old [Cosby thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-cosby-rapo/289339/102) in the Pit (there was news on his case today). Before the current post, the last post was from Feb 2005. The current post says “13m”; how long ago **madriscool** posted in it; however, the previous post (& all of the other ones) have “Feb '05”. I know someone posted a screenshot of a “15 yr” ago entry but it looks like we are able to have when it was posted (June 23 @ 4:35PM) as opposed to how long ago it was posted (13m). > > Please, please, _please_ put it on the punchlist to make all posts show the date/time of the post as the old vBulliten board did rather than how long ago like Discourse is doing right now. > > Yes, please do this if at all possible. Do this EVERY place a post time stamp appears! In the meantime, if you hover your mouse over a time stamp (any place you see such a time stamp), you will see the actual date-and-time. (If you are using a mobile device with no mouse, somebody somewhere posted another equivalent way to accomplish the same thing.) > > ETA: What’s this “15 yr ago” screen shot you’re talking about? Are you referring to that one line, just before the new post, that says “15 YEARS LATER”? That’s injected there by our friendly Discourse nanny-bot when zombie threads are resurrected! I know one can hover over to get additional details; however, those detail were in plain sight before. I have to do _something_ (move the mouse) to get information that was just _there_ before. What I’m seeing from Discourse is that it’s very mouse dependent; constantly scroll up/down to see more than two posts on your screen at a time due to all of the wasted real estate, scroll over an approximate age to see exactly when something was posted. I’m not a big mouse user; I tend to use all of the keyboard shortcuts in place of using the mouse, so anything that forces me to use the mouse more is a negative. That’s why my PC is still running Win7; much, much, _much_ better than that @#$%& Win10 ribbon (but that’s a separate rant). As bad as the “go to some random post” button, errr, ummm, “go to first new post” button was in vBulliten, I’m kinda in the habit of, “well, I left the house at \_\_\_ time, so I need to search for that time & read any posts from around or after that time; that’s what is new.” What I was trying to say is that the vast majority of posts are 13 mins ago; 4 hrs ago, 2 days ago, 5 months ago. Someone, & I forget who, took a screenshot of a zombie post where it stated 15 yr ago. However, the bumped Cosby thread is _not_ doing that. The older posts actually have “Feb '05”, & you can still hover over to find exact date/time. If we can display when some posts were made that gives me hope that we can display when _all_ posts were made as opposed to how long ago all posts were made. Given what I’ve seen with the Cos thread, I’m hoping it’s a controllable setting that TPTB can update as part of the shakeout. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/286 "2020-06-24T04:44:32Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > > > I was able to delete my post after 9 minutes. I wonder what the limit is?  > > > > Probably not one. If it’s the OP, it usually can’t be deleted after someone replies, but I haven’t tested that here yet.  > > And it just let me delete the post even though you’d responded to it (I restored it).  OPs. I think any random reply can always be deleted. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/287 "2020-06-24T04:46:21Z")
> OPs. I think any random reply can always be deleted Yeah, I understood you meant OPs. Just thought it was odd to be able to delete a post after it’d been replied to. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/288 "2020-06-24T04:55:38Z")
If you wish to discuss something that you want, that you think should be part of a “Theme”, please look here: [One Theme To Rule Them All](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-theme-to-rule-them-all/912639) I’ve created this thread so we can all discuss, in one place, our wish-lists for what a Theme should be like. I hope we can all come to some more-or-less agreement on what a good theme should be. If you’ve tried various themes, tell us what features of which themes you really MUST HAVE and which things you could do without. For example: The two SD themes now have mouse-over and a good-looking banner, but the thread list page lacks some good stuff that Sam’s Simple theme has. OTOH, Sam’s Simple Theme, on the thread list page, shows the name of the OP in plain-text and the time-stamp, and the name of the latest poster in plain-text and the time-stamp, which the SD themes lack, but Sam’s has an ugly banner and lacks mouse-over. Ideally, we could at least agree on a lot of the most important details, and then TPTB could pull together one theme with all of that! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/289 "2020-06-24T05:30:50Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > **I just posted this in the “vBulletin or Discourse” poll thread.** FWIW, it may be a useful tip or trick for someone, so I’ll re-post it for posterity here How did you post only a link at the other thread referenced here? I can’t link to it because all I can see is just a link, no posting box. It looks to be around post #6-ish there. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/290 "2020-06-24T05:48:16Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@Senegoid](#): > > > > **I just posted this in the “vBulletin or Discourse” poll thread.** FWIW, it may be a useful tip or trick for someone, so I’ll re-post it for posterity here > > How did you post only a link at the other thread referenced here? I can’t link to it because all I can see is just a link, no posting box. It looks to be around post #6-ish there.  Not sure exactly what you’re asking here. But quite possibly, the answer is: It happens automatically. Are you referring to [Post #9](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-or-discourse/912161/9) in that thread by madsircool which has, just following it, a link to my quote of it in this thread? If you’re asking how that link got there, it happens automatically. When you post a link on one post to another post, Discourse automatically adds that cross-reference link at the bottom of the linked-to post. At least, I think that’s what you’re asking. (It may only happen depending on just how you create the link to another post. (?)) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/291 "2020-06-24T06:37:05Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Try this search link The search results don’t have the names of the posters. That is very strange. We see all these search reult posts and then… no names of posters… only a big letter or icon. weak. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/292 "2020-06-24T06:41:44Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > > [@Senegoid](#): > > > > > > **I just posted this in the “vBulletin or Discourse” poll thread.** FWIW, it may be a useful tip or trick for someone, so I’ll re-post it for posterity here > > > > How did you post only a link at the other thread referenced here? I can’t link to it because all I can see is just a link, no posting box. It looks to be around post #6-ish there.  > > Not sure exactly what you’re asking here. But quite possibly, the answer is: It happens automatically. Are you referring to [Post #9](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-or-discourse/912161/9) in that thread by madsircool which has, just following it, a link to my quote of it in this thread? > > If you’re asking how that link got there, it happens automatically. When you post a link on one post to another post, Discourse automatically adds that cross-reference link at the bottom of the linked-to post. At least, I think that’s what you’re asking. (It may only happen depending on just how you create the link to another post. (?)) Yes, that explains it. Thx! ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/293 "2020-06-24T17:54:37Z")
What’s the best way to find threads I’ve posted in, that have new activity? On the old board, I’d so a search on “Grey” and just run through the ones with new posts. Here, I’ve tried using activity or search but it feels clunky. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/294 "2020-06-24T17:59:36Z")
When you enter a forum (or category), there will be a thin red line separating the threads with new activity (at the top) from those with no new activity (at the bottom). Also, you may want to underpin the threads pinned on top. Also, the threads that you have visited or participated in will always be presented as suggestions at the bottom of the page when you visit a specific thread. I hope I have understood and explained this well. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/295 "2020-06-24T18:00:49Z")
I think so. A simple listing would seem better but I can at least give this a try. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/296 "2020-06-24T18:36:18Z")
So, frankly, this looks like a mobile site running on a desktop. There are acres of unused space on either side of the page. Is there any way at all to get the text to use more of the width. I am finding it quite uncomfortable to read. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/297 "2020-06-24T21:12:42Z")
not a big deal could w e the categories new post ect header on all the pages? i use the new post feature but it disappears when you click on a thread … ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/298 "2020-06-24T21:22:07Z")
Retry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/299 "2020-06-24T22:21:43Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Oh, another thing: If you quote the immediately previous post in its entirety, the quote gets automatically deleted (as happened in this post). I was coming here to post about quotes disappearing. I hadn’t noticed the connection with it being the immediately preceding post. I did find that you can override this. When the software deletes the quotes, you can edit the post and re-insert them and they’ll stay. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/300 "2020-06-24T22:37:08Z")
But there should be no reason _to_ quote a post in its entirety in the following post. So that functioning of Discourse is actually doing the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/301 "2020-06-24T22:52:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But there should be no reason _to_ quote a post in its entirety in the following post. So that functioning of Discourse is actually doing the right thing.  Opposing opinions have been expressed on this. I’ve tended to agree with you. This was commonly done this way on the Eldritch SDMB – If replying to the previous post, just Reply without the Quote. Most often, the conversation flowed smoothly. It’s objectionable, however, that Mrs. Disco-Nanny-Bot is making these decisions (and many others) for us. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/302 "2020-06-24T23:05:02Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But there should be no reason _to_ quote a post in its entirety in the following post. So that functioning of Discourse is actually doing the right thing. > [@Post A](#): > > Are you insane? > [@Post B](#): > > You don’t really believe that, do you? > [@Post C](#): > > Are you serious? If I say Yes, who am I replying to? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/303 "2020-06-24T23:22:35Z")
What I found was, if you reply to the immediately previous post without quoting it, it was (usually) fairly clear and obvious, and the conversation usually flowed smoothly. And in fact, that was quite commonly done that way in the Olden Days. ETA: This post itself is an example. Even if someone else got in a post edgewise, and your reply addressed a post or two earlier, it was usually easy for other readers to figure out. I didn’t think that was much of a problem. Usually. I still don’t like that Disco-Nanny-Bot makes decisions like that for us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044.md?page=16)