What do you think of web forums instead of newsgroups?
Comments
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I prefer the newsgroup format, much better. I like opening my Windows Mail and go down to the news reader section and read the ones that I like to read and response.
For me it is a big NO!
God Bless
GeorgeT0 -
I greatly appreciate the change, for now I can post my thoughts. I have read the newsgroups for years, but whenever I tried to post a comment, either I wasn't able to do so (technical problems), or (once I thought I got it working) I was afraid of releasing my email address into the land of spammers. So, though it may be more cumbersome a medium, I feel now empowered to join in the conversation and add my $.02 when appropriate.
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One of the reasons that I do not like the forums is that invalid statistics are being posted. Here are the forums that I see available:
As you can see, the stats at the bottom of the image report 21 threads. I only see the five threads listed under "Threads/Posts". If there are more than the four forums listed here, that might explain the descripancy - but I cannot find additional forums.
Back to the newsgroups - I hope.
Yours because His,
Floyd
Blessings,
FloydPastor-Patrick.blogspot.com
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Hmmm. Not bad, not bad at all. It's very similar to the only other
message board I use so personally it won't be hard for me to get
used to.You do need a way to link directly to the last page of a
thread though (a "Last Reply" link). Most people just want to see new
replies once a thread gets going and those extra steps required
(linking to the top of the thread and then navigating with the page
buttons at the bottom) are kind of annoying.You need a spellcheck as well. I don't know about you but I don't want people knowing what a horrible speller I am.
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As I mentioned in the NG, I think anytime you respond to a comment, the comment is treated as a new thread. I'm responding to your comment, so it will create a new thread.
Making it a little harder to determine if that's correct, the stats don't update automatically. It appears they update every few minutes rather than with every post.
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A few comments on first use.
Advantages:
- Rich Content. Get to see pictures of Dave's TV box. I don't know how many times I have woken up at night wondering about this
- Portable. Can log on anywhere to see the forums with my settings
- Perhaps it is easier and more likely that people will trim their replies and not include everthing ever written on a thread in the next reply.
- Richer formatting.
- Avatar potentially lets you see pictures of who you are conversing with.
Disadvantages/ Questions
- The "recent topics" listing on the first page - is there a way to indicate which forum the post is from.
- Is there a way to have your editing and viewing settings listed on one
screen for all forums. EG I only want to see topics with new posts when
I go into a forum. It seems I have to go to each forum individually and remember
which forums I have set the filter on and which ones I haven't. The same is true for RSS subscriptions - When viewing a topic, how do you tell which posts you read last time when you next go into it? Is this even possible with a forum, as there can be many posts on a screen and just because you have the screen visible, does not mean you read the bottom post on that screen.
- RSS solves the problem of knowing which posts you have read, but in the reader I use (google reader) you loose the ability to group the various replies by thread.
- The "email me" replies to this post box worries me. If I make a few posts and forget to uncheck this, it seems that I will have an open ended subscription to things which will spam me till the day I die.Given how you set up subscriptions and settings, it seems that this will be a killer to manage.
- Given my understanding, I now have to use 3 tools to track what used to be tracked with the news reader in a single place:
- Web browser to set up subscriptions and see posts in context of a thread. No knowledge of which are new/old from the last time I viewed the thread is available.
- RSS reader to group new posts into forums.
- email to easily track replies to my posts
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Hello
I'm interested in your feedback on our new web forums.
Do you prefer this to the NNTP newsgroups? Are there advantages/disadvantages?
yes, I normally prefer forum to newsgroup
There's a "sign in & redirect to forum" trouble which someone else already mentioned .... the problem could perhaps be easily solved by making sure that the list of links to various areas of the Logos website which is located at the top left corner is the same in all areas of the website (because currently the link to "forums" is missing on the sign-in page and the main section of the Logos website.
I also have difficulties to read the forum "as is" with the current default font-size and theme ... will need to check out if there are options in the personal profile for making adjustments to achieve better readability
Thanks for making forums available
Cheers,
Wolfgang
Wolfgang Schneider
(BibelCenter)
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Okay, I tried. How do you set this up as an RSS feed? I tried clicking the RSS at the bottom of the page and it doesn't seem to do anything.
Thanks in advance.
I posted this by posting a reply to Rick Brannan's post re RSS feeds. But it was put at the end of the list. I'll have to check to see if "view by threaded" is an option (sure hope so).
Being able to edit your own posts is an advantage over NNTP
BTW, selecting "preview" and then returning to a previous page by the browser "Back" button, kicks you out of the editing window and you loose all your formatting.
Yay, forums! Particularly with RSS feeds and especially if the "Search this site" box (above right) is quick.
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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I find that the web page in defined in a manner that forces me to either widen my window or scroll horizontally. I much prefer pages that don't have any fixed widths.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I'm interested in your feedback on our new web forums.
Do you prefer this to the NNTP newsgroups? Are there advantages/disadvantages?
After playing around and trying to make this work a bit more the way I'd like it to, I want to share some continuing observations:
Disadvantages:
One obvious difference is that in Thunderbird, I can quickly scan a threaded discussion list, and visually determine how the discussion is moving. I can't seem to find a way to sort these posts by thread. (Filter: "Threaded by Author" doesn't seem to change anything.) The last post goes to the bottom regardless of to whom the poster is responding. Clunky.
Too few posts on one page, with no way to change this.
Each post uses up considerably more screen real estate than an NNTP post.
I can set Thunderbird to check for new posts every 'n' minutes. I may be able to do that with RSS feeds too (though I haven't been able to get them to work yet).
In Thunderbird I have a setting to mark all posts from logos.com as bold & red. That way I can easily see an official response/post in the middle of a discussion, or an official announcement, query, etc., from Logos. I don't see a way to do this here.
With breeches in the newsgroups recently, I'm concerned that eventually we may see a jpeg displayed that we ought not to see. At least with most NNTP readers, you have to choose to view the picture.
Advantages:
You can edit your own posts. That's pretty cool.
Probably easier for some (most) people to participate.
You can make your posts look prettier (which could also be listed under disadvantages for some.)
What do I prefer?
For me, NNTP is a simpler and more elegant way to go. The fact that some people can't use this simple technology that's been around since before web browsers baffles me. It's as easy to setup and use as email. What's the problem? Then again, more people use MSWord than WordPerfect too (which though behind in some respects (unicode,e.g.) is still way ahead in others).
There are a few software companies that only have forums (no NNTP groups). I hardly use them -- mostly because it just takes too much time to find anything useful. I am quite certain that my use of these groups will diminish greatly, if Logos switches to a forums only approach.
Please keep the NNTP groups for the 1st year with the forums and see how it goes. Maybe "both and" will be a better solution than "either, or."
Help Needed:
I looked at my options for my profile and I really don't know what some of the options are.
Under "Profile Options:"
What might I put in the "Gallery" box -- and why would that be helpful in these groups?
What happens if I put an email address in my Public Email box? Does this make it available to anyone on this group, or is it open to a larger public audience?
What are shared RSS feeds? And why would I want to share them, or know about anyone else's RSS feeds?
Under "Site Options:"
What is the difference between a Standard and and Enhanced Content Editor?
What does "Display in members list?" mean? Display what?
What are "Mouse-over Popups?"
What Panels are Collapsible?
What does "Enable Conversation/Comment Notifications" actually do that's different from the Email notifications below?
Why doesn't the "Items per-Page in Control Pallen grids" seem to change anything? (I'd love to see 100 posts per page, rather than the default 15 or so, since loading a new screen takes too much time).
Under Email Configuration:
How does "Receive Emails" differ from "Send Notifications?"
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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One problem with the newsgroups is that you won't get any feedback or questions from the less techie masses. Another problem with NNTP is that if you want to search the newsgroups in your reader for a topic previously discussed, you have to download ALL of the discussions for the past WHO KNOWS how long. Not a problem for those nerds (a proud label [;)]) who are on the newsgroups every day. But it's not really feasible for those who rarely check in from time to time or pop on to find an answer.
It's funny and ironic to find tech-nerd dinosaurs. [read in a shaky cartoon old man voice] "Back in my day, we did just fine with NNTP. We didn't need all your fancy formatting and pictures. We used our imaginations. AND WE LIKED IT!" I bet some people are still eagerly hanging on to boxes of punch cards, just waiting for Y2K to strike again. I'm sure I'll be there some day.
I say, "more success to web forums!"
With that said, I think at least one thing on the web forum could be made a bit clearer. Instead of having to reply to a specific post in a thread, there should be a general "post reply" box at the bottom of the page.
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Awkward to use . . . hardto discern threads and pick and choose posets to read or ignore
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I initially would agree that I prefer the Newsgroup. Perhaps it's simply inertia or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can see all the other topics while I'm responding to one.
george
gfsomselיְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן
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You need a spellcheck as well. I don't know about you but I don't want people knowing what a horrible speller I am.
What about the Firefox spellchecker? It works quite well.
Bohuslav
Bohuslav
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I was streaming KING-FM when I decided to try your test. Either they had a glitch in their program or I like your music. I tend to think it was a problem with KING though since they've been having problems all day.
george
gfsomselיְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן
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No problem getting logged in.
Logos 9 - Win 10 - I7 8700 - 1TB SSD - 1TB HDD - 32G DDR4 - Still have Libronix running on an old laptop
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Paul
I really liked the video. I'm not sure yet that I like this forum. Seems much more difficult to navigate than other forums I visit regularly.
Jack
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Cool video.. this seems to be working. Will just have to get used to the change.
Jim
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Can someone tell me where the "edit your own post" button is?
How do I delete my own post?
May be I am blind .... but as a regular user of various other forums which use different open source forum software, I am rather confused with this forum software
This forum has all kinds of "whistles and bells", but seems rather user unfriendly
But then ... maybe I am just blind and my monitor screen size isn't big enough to get all those things up on a screen
Currently, I am rather disappointed
Wolfgang Schneider
(BibelCenter)
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Wolfgang,
You can edit your posts by clicking the "More" button next to the "Reply" button at the top of the page. I don't see an option to delete.
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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Richard,
Wolfgang,
You can edit your posts by clicking the "More" button next to the "Reply" button at the top of the page. I don't see an option to delete.
Hmn ... I did not see that under "More" on my post from yesterday ... but do see it now with the post from today ...strange. Indeed, I do not see a "delete" either ...
I would have thought the "edit" and "delete" would be right next to "reply" on one's own posts ...
In addition, that need for horizontal scroll is very irritating ... and I haven't even set any fonts to large etc. It looks like this forum requires a 21" monitor and 1900x1600 resolution ? [*-)]
Well ...yet another forum software to get used to :-(
Wolfgang Schneider
(BibelCenter)
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Hi Wolfgang,
What resolution are you running at on your monitor ? I only get a horizontal scroll if I drop to 800x600 on a 19inch monitor. Anything greater and the horizontal scroll goes away.... even if I select largest for text size from view menu.
Richard,
Wolfgang,
You can edit your posts by clicking the "More" button next to the "Reply" button at the top of the page. I don't see an option to delete.
Hmn ... I did not see that under "More" on my post from yesterday ... but do see it now with the post from today ...strange. Indeed, I do not see a "delete" either ...
I would have thought the "edit" and "delete" would be right next to "reply" on one's own posts ...
In addition, that need for horizontal scroll is very irritating ... and I haven't even set any fonts to large etc. It looks like this forum requires a 21" monitor and 1900x1600 resolution ?
Well ...yet another forum software to get used to :-(
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Rich,
I can see an option to delete under "More" now, but haven't look for it previously so not sure if someone has fiicked the switch to turn this option on recently or it has always been there.
Wolfgang,
You can edit your posts by clicking the "More" button next to the "Reply" button at the top of the page. I don't see an option to delete.
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Personally, I greatly prefer the NGs because they're much easier to see what you want to see quickly and skip the others, and it allows me to prefetch and mass download attachments on the files newsgroup (I haven't tried downloading here yet).
However, I think forums probably are the way to go into the future for most users, since they're more familiar and easier to figure out to typical web/pc users. Maybe you can keep some of the more technical NGs going (automation, files, etc) while moving things like suggestions primarily to the forums?
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Hi Andrew
Hi Wolfgang,
What resolution are you running at on your monitor ? I only get a horizontal scroll if I drop to 800x600 on a 19inch monitor. Anything greater and the horizontal scroll goes away.... even if I select largest for text size from view menu.
Hmn .... I am using FireFox and have browser window set to 1024 x 768 pixels, and with my other normal settings, I have jhorizontal scrolling while composing this reply, I have horizontal scrolling with my normal browser font settings. When I switch fonts to smaller, the horizontal scrolls disappear ...
Overall, this particular forum software is "somethign to get used to" ...[:@] whereas I have not had such trouble with forums based on phpBB3 or other forum platforms used by a number of christian websites
Wolfgang Schneider
(BibelCenter)
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I have actively followed newsgroups for four years. There are both advantages and disadvantages to newsgroups/forums. I had Thunderbird set to only show unread messages. I normally only looked at new messages and only rarely went back to see previous messages. Newsgroups are easy to see what is new and what you haven't read. The disadvantage is that everything needed to be downloaded to the computer.
There were at a given time about 20 who were actively posting and another 50 who toasted sporadically. Only a few of those who were posting four years ago are still posting. The group was fluid yet developed a common bond relationship. Many will miss this relationship.
It was also easy to be selective on what one read on a topic. When there were 50-60 posts on a topic, I soon learned who would make the most significant comments. I had Thunderbird set to mark all messages as read, when I exited the program. I read less than half of the messages normally. It was efficient way for an active reader to follow every thread.
Forums are web based and likely will attract more followers, especially the occasional reader. They will look for the topic that interests them. It will be big advantage to those who want to search out a particular topic. But when you read a thread you end up needing to read every message in that thread. For example, I read every post written by Bob Pritchett. Bob is an effective communicator and it was good way to know the opinion of the president. The home page only shows the last one to post. It doesn't show the sporadic post written by Bob, unless he was the last one to post. His posts always generate replies and so he is not likely to be listed as the last one who posted.
Hopefully web groups will attract less spam. That happened from time to time on the newsgroups.
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Don't get that with any of my posts - yet!
Dave
===Windows 11 & Android 13
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Now I do!
(Edit)
I can't edit posts prior to these two, nor delete my previous post!
(Re-edit)
Nor delete this one anymore - presumably because it was edited!?
Dave
===Windows 11 & Android 13
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I can't help but notice that there is no way to attach files to posts nor any other method for sharing files on this site. Now there's a huge chunk of very often used functionality gone when the newsgroups disappear.
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Look for the icon called "Insert Media", close to the smiley!
Dave
===Windows 11 & Android 13
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