Problem children / punch list for fixes / TIPS AND TRICKS

I just noticed that searching Google and DuckDuckGo for my new underscore redolent name turns up links to all the relevant threads (so I assume the search engines have indexed the pages) but when I click on a link, I get an error message that says, " Oops! That page doesn’t exist or is private." I’m worried that potential new users might not be able to find the boards anymore.

I appreciate TubaDive taking a big, bold step to fix the board’s infrastructure and I’m sure I’ll adapt to a lot of the other unfamiliar changes over time. Best wishes! But I still hate infinite scrolling.

The only thing I miss so far is the hover over preview for the threads, err…topics. It is a minor thing and certainly not worth complaining about. Everything else I can get accustomed to and may end liking even better than the old place.

So there is really no way to not have to scroll through all the messages you’ve already read?

I see that for new threads, it saves my place when I go back to them. But because now everything shows as unread, the first time I go to any thread, I have to scroll? That sucks.

Infinite scroll is the absolute worst. No one likes it. Why, for a board that heavily features long threads, did you choose software with this “feature”?

And the dates don’t show when something was posted, it just lists the hour. How are you supposed to hover over the date in mobile?

Hate infinite scrolling on the new Dope? Maybe this will help:

Once you’re in the thread, a fast scroll bar appears to the right showing the date the thread started at the top and the time of the post recent post at the bottom. Click and slide that slider down to the bottom, and you’re at the bottom of the thread fast.

Also once you’re subscribe to a thread, a little circle will appear with the number of new posts since the last time you read it. Click that little number, takes you to the first new post!

The error message does exist, but it will hopefully be fixed. And it can be bypassed if one clicks the logo picture link.

You can however delete an entire post from wayyyyyy outside the 5 minute window. I just deleted then restored a post from May 13th. The post does show two edits and the date of the most recent edit.

I agree about the hover-preview; it is something I used a LOT. But I also am enjoying some of the new features of the board (like auto-refreshing posts if I sit at the bottom of the thread).

Probably not. Well, there is a “possibility” but probably involves the powers that be changing things. The other board caters to younger people and has more volunteer people that do adventurous things.

On the same subject, I do request more “themes” in different colors, only so I don’t mix the two message boards with exactly the same color scheme.

Edit: fixed the quote

There seems to be a strange behavior with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-F. What I expect is that I get my browser search bar of text on the screen. The forum as setup hijacks that function and uses it as a shortcut to go to the forum’s search page.

Another vote for “likes” please! Also “dislikes” and a clickable “barf” emoji. I’d really like a way to show general agreement/disagreement with a poster & give him/her an “Atta boy/girl” without bloating up the thread typing a “+1” response. I think it’s got to be reassuring to the poster to know that his/her post is being read and excites some kind of emotion.

That’s how likes (and similar) are used on other message boards – they’re part of the general communication of the board, not “gamification” or anything like that.

I can’t tell which threads I’ve read and which I haven’t (and not just in the older, imported threads). If I click into a thread and read it, then click back, there is no indication that gives me a clue that the thread has been read and another hasn’t. At least not in the the Theme I’m using now (Discourse Classic)

Exactly! In any sane world this is where I’d hit the “thumbs up” emoji to respond to you instead of bloating up the thread!

Even commited hold-outs would get used to likes if they were reintroduced. All the bad stuff people think will happen with likes … well, those things don’t happen.

Am I the only one getting threaded replies? Can I turn that off?

Threaded replies?

I have not noticed threaded replies…

Yeah, super annoying. I figured out (by accident because I was banging my keyboard in frustration) that hitting CTRL+F twice in a row will bring up the regular search.

Unfortunately, since the threads themselves aren’t loaded as plain text you still can’t easily search for keywords inside of them - only in what has scrolled onto the page at the precise moment you search.

Yeah, I don’t mind the Likes feature. I use that for Primetimer.com (which used to be Previously.tv, which used to be TelevisionWithoutPity) and it works fine there.

Oh, this is neat. I like seeing a preview of what I am posting on the right when I use the site on a computer (rather than phone). And I like that I can see replies instantly appear when the thread is open!

The reason I do not like them is based on experience with a forum that implemented them. They were nominally meaningless to how the forum operated…and still annoying. They seemed to help empower a junior high like cliquish atmosphere. Some users seemed to go out of their way to collect them with popular fluff. Some users referenced like totals as if they were a badge of social standing. With time the result seemed to affect the board culture. It was one of the things that made me stop interacting there.

Maybe it was just the specific and rare subset of people there. Maybe we can mitigate the risks. I would not dismiss the risks entirely. Been there watched the trainwreck.