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New Engine for the Discussion Centre?

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23 replies

by russell cohen

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
TechRepublic, how about a new “engine” for your Discussion Centre? I would like to be able to skim through the entire discussion – including all the threads - instead of having to open each comment individually. This might not bea problem in environments where bandwidth is plentiful, but it is an issue where I am, with each pages taking half a minute or more to display. It gets even worse working with a dial-up connection from home, where the meter is ticking over while the page slowly rewrites. I’ve visited plenty of forums where one can choose how to display the messages, so this shouldn’t be a tall order.

23 replies

by road-dog

The current functionality gets tedious at times. Another problem I have is the drop dead timer. When composing a verbose posting, the submission will not got through. Many of us edit longer postings in Word and cut/paste into the comments section. When doing so, the apostrophies get hosed.

Another thing that the Discussions section needs is a mechanism to kill or move threads that belong in the technical Q&A section. Maybe TR should subcontract the thread monitoring function to the BOFH. That would be entertaining!

by road-dog

The current functionality gets tedious at times. Another problem I have is the drop dead timer. When composing a verbose posting, the submission will not got through. Many of us edit longer postings in Word and cut/paste into the comments section. When doing so, the apostrophies get hosed.

Another thing that the Discussions section needs is a mechanism to kill or move threads that belong in the technical Q&A section. Maybe TR should subcontract the thread monitoring function to the BOFH. That would be entertaining!

by timwalsh

Russell, while I think that everyone that uses Techrepublic on a regular basis will heartily agree with your suggestions, this is the wrong place to post if you want anyone in Techrepblic to reply to, or take action on your suggestions. All of these forums are essentially non-mediated/monitored by the Techrepublic staff. The quickest way to bring anything to their attention is to use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page and choose the appropriate option. Although they don't tend to reply right away, they will almost always get back to you eventually.

by timwalsh

Russell, while I think that everyone that uses Techrepublic on a regular basis will heartily agree with your suggestions, this is the wrong place to post if you want anyone in Techrepblic to reply to, or take action on your suggestions. All of these forums are essentially non-mediated/monitored by the Techrepublic staff. The quickest way to bring anything to their attention is to use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page and choose the appropriate option. Although they don't tend to reply right away, they will almost always get back to you eventually.

by russell cohen

Thanks for the response, I'll give it a try. This was very diplomatically put: "they will almost always get back to you eventually." The tip regarding "Print" button should keep me going for the time being; it was becoming too tedious to even follow discussions.

by thechas

If you click on the Print button for the discussion, a new Window opens with a printer friendly view of the entire discussion.

An added benefit, is that there is only 1 advertisement at the top of the page.

There have been several discussions on the web-site design and operation in the Technical Q&A section.

There are major issues with how their database is structured that limits how the site works.

One of TR's goals at this time, is to find ways to reduce the amount of access to the database files.

So, any good ideas for how to reduce their database access costs will be appreciated.

Chas

by admin

I think the new board should only post once when you press: "Submit My Comments" :)

by mrafrohead

That's probably the double vision problem. And if we're all seeing it, that means we've all been tipping a few too many;)

Hehehahaha - happy weekend!

by admin

I think the new board should only post once when you press: "Submit My Comments" :)

by admin

I think the new board should only post once when you press: "Submit My Comments" :)

by admin

I think the new board should only post once when you press: "Submit My Comments" :)

by thechas

If you click on the Print button for the discussion, a new Window opens with a printer friendly view of the entire discussion.

An added benefit, is that there is only 1 advertisement at the top of the page.

There have been several discussions on the web-site design and operation in the Technical Q&A section.

There are major issues with how their database is structured that limits how the site works.

One of TR's goals at this time, is to find ways to reduce the amount of access to the database files.

So, any good ideas for how to reduce their database access costs will be appreciated.

Chas

by russell cohen

Thanks for the tip about the "Print" button. I always use it when reading an article, but it never occurred to me that it also applied to discussions.

by thechas

I believe that is why you are seeing double.

I got an error message, hit the back button, then hit submit again.

Great way to give a discussion more visibility.

Chas

by tomsal

There is one profound reason why I'll never pay for the Techrepublic subscription service...ok I lied I just thought of another reason as well...

This is off mark a bit, but what the heck - gives me an excuse to lament over other TR issues...

1) They lie
2) They don't seem to care much about the community

For example, about the lying, you'll have to first understand that when I originally was usually TR it was a brand new site, I found out through conversation on these forums that thesite only opened a month prior to me coming here.

Back then they would literally have it posted on the site that the Tech Points would be redeemable for merchandise and/or discounts. Case in point today -- mention this to their staff and they'll think that you are from another planet. "What? Hum? What did you say? Can't hear you.."

As for the community, I never felt they really try to care or answer people's requests. Especially based on improving the site.

Finally, TR can certainly afford the cash for a real bulletin board system like VBulletin (which kills this forum software 1000 times over), so it puzzles me why a "high profile" site has such cheesey low tech forums.

But anyway..I'm done. later. ;)

by tomsal

There is one profound reason why I'll never pay for the Techrepublic subscription service...ok I lied I just thought of another reason as well...

This is off mark a bit, but what the heck - gives me an excuse to lament over other TR issues...

1) They lie
2) They don't seem to care much about the community

For example, about the lying, you'll have to first understand that when I originally was usually TR it was a brand new site, I found out through conversation on these forums that thesite only opened a month prior to me coming here.

Back then they would literally have it posted on the site that the Tech Points would be redeemable for merchandise and/or discounts. Case in point today -- mention this to their staff and they'll think that you are from another planet. "What? Hum? What did you say? Can't hear you.."

As for the community, I never felt they really try to care or answer people's requests. Especially based on improving the site.

Finally, TR can certainly afford the cash for a real bulletin board system like VBulletin (which kills this forum software 1000 times over), so it puzzles me why a "high profile" site has such cheesey low tech forums.

But anyway..I'm done. later. ;)

by tomsal

There is one profound reason why I'll never pay for the Techrepublic subscription service...ok I lied I just thought of another reason as well...

This is off mark a bit, but what the heck - gives me an excuse to lament over other TR issues...

1) They lie
2) They don't seem to care much about the community

For example, about the lying, you'll have to first understand that when I originally was usually TR it was a brand new site, I found out through conversation on these forums that thesite only opened a month prior to me coming here.

Back then they would literally have it posted on the site that the Tech Points would be redeemable for merchandise and/or discounts. Case in point today -- mention this to their staff and they'll think that you are from another planet. "What? Hum? What did you say? Can't hear you.."

As for the community, I never felt they really try to care or answer people's requests. Especially based on improving the site.

Finally, TR can certainly afford the cash for a real bulletin board system like VBulletin (which kills this forum software 1000 times over), so it puzzles me why a "high profile" site has such cheesey low tech forums.

But anyway..I'm done. later. ;)

by jennifern

Yes, this has been driving me nuts, and means I spend a lot less time on this forum than I would otherwise. I only spend all the time required if I REALLY HAVE TO.

I was just putting up with it...

Thanks for raising the issue!

by jennifern

Yes, this has been driving me nuts, and means I spend a lot less time on this forum than I would otherwise. I only spend all the time required if I REALLY HAVE TO.

I was just putting up with it...

Thanks for raising the issue!

by jennifern

Yes, this has been driving me nuts, and means I spend a lot less time on this forum than I would otherwise. I only spend all the time required if I REALLY HAVE TO.

I was just putting up with it...

Thanks for raising the issue!

by tomsal

There is one profound reason why I'll never pay for the Techrepublic subscription service...ok I lied I just thought of another reason as well...

This is off mark a bit, but what the heck - gives me an excuse to lament over other TR issues...

1) They lie
2) They don't seem to care much about the community

For example, about the lying, you'll have to first understand that when I originally was usually TR it was a brand new site, I found out through conversation on these forums that thesite only opened a month prior to me coming here.

Back then they would literally have it posted on the site that the Tech Points would be redeemable for merchandise and/or discounts. Case in point today -- mention this to their staff and they'll think that you are from another planet. "What? Hum? What did you say? Can't hear you.."

As for the community, I never felt they really try to care or answer people's requests. Especially based on improving the site.

Finally, TR can certainly afford the cash for a real bulletin board system like VBulletin (which kills this forum software 1000 times over), so it puzzles me why a "high profile" site has such cheesey low tech forums.

But anyway..I'm done. later. ;)

by tomsal

There is one profound reason why I'll never pay for the Techrepublic subscription service...ok I lied I just thought of another reason as well...

This is off mark a bit, but what the heck - gives me an excuse to lament over other TR issues...

1) They lie
2) They don't seem to care much about the community

For example, about the lying, you'll have to first understand that when I originally was usually TR it was a brand new site, I found out through conversation on these forums that thesite only opened a month prior to me coming here.

Back then they would literally have it posted on the site that the Tech Points would be redeemable for merchandise and/or discounts. Case in point today -- mention this to their staff and they'll think that you are from another planet. "What? Hum? What did you say? Can't hear you.."

As for the community, I never felt they really try to care or answer people's requests. Especially based on improving the site.

Finally, TR can certainly afford the cash for a real bulletin board system like VBulletin (which kills this forum software 1000 times over), so it puzzles me why a "high profile" site has such cheesey low tech forums.

But anyway..I'm done. later. ;)

This discussion is closed to new replies.