Poll - Do you Like the New NCRA Forum?

 

Kind of hard to do a blanket yes, no.   The timing out thing cancels out so much of the positive for me.   I really like everything else about it.   I'm going to vote yes, with aggravation.

Janice, you need to revise your poll to add a "meh" option.  Some things I like; some things I don't.  It's certainly not the best forum platform out there; it's certainly not the worst.

How's that for an answer?  Maybe I should be a politician.

I'll vote yes, simply because it's so much better than the old forum.  But it's a yes with a meh attached ;-)

I must agree with the qualified "yes" vote.  The site is a little unwieldy and doesn't seem to grasp the many instructions I try to give it!

Lisa

I have to vote yes, with qualifications.  I really like the formatting you can put in a post -- it's very fun!  I like that the vendor forum is on the same page and you don't have to navigate somewhere else to get to it. 

 I don't like the timeout or the navigation. I would change it so that the threads under each topic are visible, like the old forum.  I use the "threads not read" function, but it doesn't tell me what topic the thread is under, so if someone's topic is "AudioSync doesn't work" we don't know which software it is until we click on it. 

Greta,

I used to use the "threads not read" thing, too.....till I discovered an easier way.   Well, easier for me.  

When I first sign in, still at the home page of this forum, in the gray box on the right I click on the link that takes me to messages I've particiapted in.    (especially if I'm short on time.  Easy to follow up on threads/mssgs)  Then, after I've read those, I go up to the top banner to click on "Forums."    It's really easy to see what threads have new mssgs because those will be bolded.  Under NCRA, for example, there's three choices - Information and issues, NCRA Online, and test area.  If any of them are bolded, I'll click.  That'll bring you to a page that shows all the threads in that section.  Again, the ones with new mssgs are in bold.

There's no way (far as I know) to know how many mssgs are new, but I find it's easier for me to track what's going on.  Oh, you'll be able to see how many mssgs are in the whole thread, just not how many are new mssgs.   One you click on the thread you'll still have to scroll around till you find where you left off last - not the most efficient, IMHO.  I'd like an easier way to know where I left off last, especially when it's a really active thread. 

So not sure that'll help or whether that will be to your liking, but might be worth trying (if you haven't already).

 

I HATE it.  It CONSTANTLY times out on me when I'm writing a long post.  I have to copy it because if I lose it, then I can paste it again.

Why does this site always time out?!  I write a post, click "post" and I ALWAYS get "waiting for ncraonline.org" at the bottom.  I have to stop, reload and then it works.  It's doing it now with this post.  And naturally no one is doing anything about it.

It's awful.
 

I voted NO too because when I weighed the pros and cons, especially in light of many other "forums" I've seen, I was hard put to come up with any pros. I've read that this gets the best reviews of Microsoft server-based forum software, but the selection for those servers is terribly, terribly limited

Chuck,

Yikes!  That has GOT to be incredibly frustrating.  I'm glad you're still coming back here.

I've never seen the "waiting for ncraonline.org" thing you're referring to.    The only times I've ever been timed out is when I've been away from the computer for a fair length of time and I have to re-sign in.  Never during posting a mssg.   I'm most certainly not a computer guru, but seems to me there's got to be something that can be done.  Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure where to begin the troubleshooting.    I'm hoping other computer guru kind of people will pipe in, but let's start with the basics of your computer's operating system and forum settings.

I'm on XP Home.  My laptop's about three years old.  I'm using IE7.  These are my settings for the forum under "edit profile" - "site options."

Site Options

Sort Posts:	Descending
Font Size	Largest
Content Editor	Enhanced
Forum Posts Default View	Flat View
Enable Display Name	Yes
Display in members list	Yes
Enable Post Mouse-Over Popup	No
Enable Collapsing Panels	Yes
Enable Emoticons	Yes
Display user avatars	Yes
Display user signatures	Yes
Show Help Tips in Control Panel	Yes
Items per-Page in Control Panel grids	50
Control Panel Manage View	Grid

 

Happens to me, too, Trish, as soon as I'm done typing the message and I hit that "post" button, I get the "timed out" message!

I definitely think it's a forum thing, not an individual's computer settings thing.

Lillian,

THAT, thank heavens, is not one of my complaints right now. But I think it's a function of your (and Chuck's) connecting to the 'Net. Whether it's your ISP's fault and the "hops" required to get to the NCRA, your modem, router, PC's processing speed, I have no clue, I do see the "waiting for NCRA" message, but it's gone relatively quickly and the page loads.

 You could try a tracert to see if there's kind of a long delay or time-out in any of the hops it takes from your PC to NCRA. That might give you a clue if that's where the problem lies.

 

 It takes me longer to view less.  It used to be like going to the common market.  YOu see people and hang around those that seem to have interestingconversations

  Now it's like going to a mall.  I have to take the time to go into a store and see what is going on.  It's particularly frustrating to click on a thread I'm interested in, only to find that it's banter.  I don't have a problem with people bantering.  It's fun.  It's part of community bonding.  But it takes me about 3 clicks for something totally irrelevant to me.  On the old system I could easily tell I didn't need to follow up on those posts.  The solution is to check in on each thread less often so that there is a build-up of several posts.

  Also, the thread title is so much more important.  Sometimes people put titles that are uninformative (so who knows what I am missing, I don't have time to check all the threads) and on at least one occasion one title was intentionally misleading to get us to peek.  I understand the person was very well intentioned and a good member of this board, but it was frustrating for me.

  Bottom line is I particpate in fewer threads, and learn less and I don't stumble upon things I didn't know I should be interested in.

   I'll still stick around, best I can. It appears that many people do like this new board so perhaps I need to give it more time and learn more how to make it work better for me.  Change can be difficult and takes time.  

Laura Van Nostrand:

   The solution is to check in on each thread less often so that there is a build-up of several posts.
  

Laura,

I think therein lies your frustration.  If you have a buildup of several posts, it takes you a long time to wade through it all.   I find the best solution is to check it frequently, if possible.  I know if I go a day and a half or two without checking in, it is extremely time-consuming to check the threads.  If, however, I pop in for a minute or two several times a day, when possible, of course, I find only two or three threads, I can jump in there, read it, respond if I feel the desire, and jump out and go on about my business. 

 FWIW, I have it bookmarked where I go to the Not Read page, and I see only the threads that have new comments in them.  I hope it works out better for you.  I did like the "New Messages" feature of the old forum, but I've come to love this one just as much.  It's just a little different, and you have to learn what works best for you.

Good luck!

I'm using an iMac and use Firefox.  And I think it happens with my MacBookPro and Firefox.  This is the only forum I have the timing out issue while reading or writing posts.  It doesn't happen with CompuServe or any other site on the Internet.  It never happened on the former NCRA site.  Just this one.  It's been like this since day one.

 
This is taking a few tries to post right now because of the "waiting for ncraonline.org."

This new forum totally, totally blows.

 

 But, Chuck, really and truly, I've never seen the message.  So the question is:  Why does it occur for only a few of the log-ins?

 

<G>AllenSonntag