# Read this before commenting on the upgrade (please?)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [January 13, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224 "2004-01-13T02:56:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/61 "2004-01-23T00:08:40Z")
I neither like nor dislike the new format. The new search engine is slightly more versatile – e.g., you can now search for only the threads started by a given user. Beyond that, I see no real improvement and I can’t imagine what the point of this “upgrade” was supposed to be. It’s like dealing with a highway that jams up every afternoon by mowing the grass on the shoulders and putting up nicer lamps. This board is still TOO SLOW. In fact, it seems to me that it’s slower than it was before. Not only does every page take twice as long to load, but, twice as often as before, I can’t get taken to the page at all, or I can’t even log on to the board at all; and, in addition to the old familiar “Page Cannot Be Displayed” message, I now sometimes see a new one:
There seems to have been a slight problem with the database.
Please try again by pressing the refresh button in your browser.
An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, who you can also contact if the problem persists.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
The one time I tried the e-mail link, the message was returned as undeliverable. Apparently, when you can’t log on to the board, you can’t e-mail the tech staff either.
I also find that, with the new format, I’m twice as likely to get a post eaten – that is, I write a post, hit “submit,” and then I see “Page Cannot Be Displayed” or “There seems to have been a slight problem,” etc. – the post is gone, no way to get it back, unless I had the foresight to block it and save it with Ctrl-Alt-V. Which I rarely do. This particular post, I have been trying to make for the past half hour, getting blocked several times as soon as I hit “Post Reply,” and then not even being able to get back the previous page.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/62 "2004-01-23T22:09:04Z")
> [@notquitekarpov](#):
>
> The functionality is much better but much preferred the old look - I see not need for a, what, 24 pt font for the poster name, nor which number post it is in the thread…
>
> please please please reintroduce the location of the poster, it helped many debates to get an instant idea of the probably nationality of the poster - especially in great debates.
I second **notquite** wholeheartedly. Location is often also very helpful in GQ, especially w/r/t the frequent legal questions. One other thing I’m sad to give up is the reply box at the bottom of a thread, allowing you to save a click (and the concommitant page loading time) if you weren’t quoting. While I love the speed that this new upgrade has brought, if my past experience on the SDMB is any guide, that won’t last forever, and the ability to post without having to reload the page can save a _lot_ of time – not to mention placating the hamsters.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2004, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/63 "2004-01-25T09:28:49Z")
Same problems as **BrainGlutton** here.
And have you seen the address of the ‘technical staff’ ? It’s : nobody@ [chicagoreader.com](http://chicagoreader.com)
No wonder it was turned as undeliverable.
This board is slow and has a contempt for it’s users. Same as the old one, but worse.
But, who cares, right?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/64 "2004-01-25T20:52:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And have you seen the address of the ‘technical staff’ ? It’s : nobody@ [chicagoreader.com](http://chicagoreader.com)
You shouldn’t be surprised by this. Consider how often, of late, the board has been down. Now consider how many people read these boards. And then consider the fact that the techs probably find out about the board problems even without those e-mails, both from reading the boards themselves and from the mods e-mailing them directly. Honestly, would you want to get ten thousand e-mails a day telling you something you already know? Putting a fake e-mail address (and an obviously fake one, so that the intelligent members here should be able to figure it out) into the database for “technical staff e-mail” is probably the easiest way for Jerry and company to keep from getting swarmed, so naturally, that’s the way they do it, since they’ve got so many priorities higher than finding a more elegant way to handle it. It’s not a symptom of an unhelpful tech staff, rather it’s a symptom of a tech staff stretched far beyond the limits of any sane human in their helpfulness.
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/65 "2004-01-25T21:00:47Z")
Norman Obody is probably going to be insulted to hear that you think he’s imaginary.
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### Author:  [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/66 "2004-01-25T22:47:59Z")
_hehehe_ **Achernar**
**Chronos** I’m not surprised. Merely a tad disapointed.
You’d think that, with all the suggestions about paying for this board, or other ingenious tricks to make this a faster and better place, someone would actually acknowledge the - what; 200? 300? - posters on this board.
_[Yes, I know it’s free. I’d rather pay for something good than get a crappy free thing]_
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/67 "2004-01-26T01:11:28Z")
I used to be able to **Save As HTML only** a thread, when I wanted to keep a copy on my hard drive for future reference. Now when I try to do this, I get an error:
> [@](#):
>
> The web page cannot be saved because one of its files is missing.
What gives?
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### Author:  [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/68 "2004-01-26T06:55:26Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#):
>
> I used to be able to **Save As HTML only** a thread, when I wanted to keep a copy on my hard drive for future reference. Now when I try to do this, I get an error:
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > The web page cannot be saved because one of its files is missing.
>
> What gives?
Are you using IE5? It did that to me even before the upgrade. My solution was to install IE5 over IE4 in compatibility mode, or instead you could use the “show printable version” link and save target. (If the thread has many replies you may need to click the link first, then save target where it says “show all X posts on one page.”)
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/69 "2004-01-26T06:56:11Z")
> [@Lobsang in the OP](#):
>
> IANA Moderator or admin but I think these need to be said if I may be so bold…
>
> The new layout is temporary. The Straight dope modifications are not in place yet. When they have been made it may look more like we are used to (or not, I don’t know) but until then I think we should wait and see.
So, what’s our status with this? Is it still in the modification stage or what? Can we start criticizing yet? 😛
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### Author:  [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/70 "2004-01-26T07:14:18Z")
Maybe we should wait till the Casper smileys go away. 😃
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### Author:  [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/71 "2004-01-26T11:56:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> You shouldn’t be surprised by this. Consider how often, of late, the board has been down. Now consider how many people read these boards. And then consider the fact that the techs probably find out about the board problems even without those e-mails, both from reading the boards themselves and from the mods e-mailing them directly. Honestly, would you want to get ten thousand e-mails a day telling you something you already know? Putting a fake e-mail address (and an obviously fake one, so that the intelligent members here should be able to figure it out) into the database for “technical staff e-mail” is probably the easiest way for Jerry and company to keep from getting swarmed, so naturally, that’s the way they do it, since they’ve got so many priorities higher than finding a more elegant way to handle it. It’s not a symptom of an unhelpful tech staff, rather it’s a symptom of a tech staff stretched far beyond the limits of any sane human in their helpfulness.
One extra step–and I’m not sure it’s feasible, but it would seem reasonible–would be to change the actual message to indicate what is actually going on.
By the way, I just noticed in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=1926&page=1&pp=40) that a lot of the early posts are attributed to **guest**. Has that been mentioned before?
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### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/72 "2004-01-26T11:57:51Z")
> [@Achernar](#):
>
> So, what’s our status with this? Is it still in the modification stage or what? Can we start criticizing yet? 😛
Yes, we are still modifying. Shall let you know when we’re done. Thank you for your support and patience.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-this-before-commenting-on-the-upgrade-please/224224/73 "2004-01-26T18:07:49Z")
> [@cityboy916](#):
>
> Are you using IE5? It did that to me even before the upgrade.
I’m using IE6 at work and AOL (whose browser is IE-based, I believe) at home, and in both cases I have this problem now but never did before the SDMB upgrade.
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