I've been participating in internet forums for nearly ten years. This is one of the best I've ever found and the only forum I have ever paid to participate in. MOST of the members here are adult in their actions, willing to share and appreciative of the effort put into the site. I was a little confused by the emails at first but I sure am glad that all of those old PM's are gone. That must have been a huge drag on the system. I don't even know what to say about some of the posts here other than my hats off to you Fred. You sir have a LOT more patience and restraint than I do.
BodieAngels wrote:
Also, as I stated before, if it was you THANK YOU for making it possible for us to access our PM folders in between receiving PMs.... I "Really" appreciate that...
Many times we are too busy to deal with an issue when the PM arrives but can not re-access it if we do not keep the original email letting us access it.... so this is a "Big" improvement....
Nelcha
There has been a link to the PM folder at the top of the page for as long as I have been a member. You have to be logged in though.
Thank you Fred and brainiac for the improvements, much appreciated.
>May I ask you to clarify something else? My INBOX has always told me when it considered itself "Full in Big Red" letters....at which time I would dutifully delete some messages....So now you are saying there is NO limit?
So this is now something new?? OK, just seems strange.....
I haven't ingested all of the code for that kind of thing. Fred will be able to tell you more about the way it has worked in the past.
>Please note..I am not yelling..I am just stressing a point as we lose vocal intonation and body language with the written word...OK?
Maybe you could use studly _underlining_ or even the <em> tag or bold for emphasis. Caps is generally taken to mean shouting, partly because its ugly to read.
>It "was" my Sent folder that was deleted so I did get the copies....
and you are now questioning if the Sender should receive an auto-delete PM?
Initially I told it to send copies of deleted messages to both the sender and the recipient. Fred asked me to only have them sent to the recipient, so I changed it.
>If you are asking if we should receive copies of "anything" deleted I would respond emphatically "yes!"
I agree with you. I think any auto deleted message should be sent to both the sender and the recipient, provided each has her "Email on PM auto-delete" set to 'yes'. But Fred is my boss so I do what he says ;-) We are feeling our way with this new code, as your reaction demonstrates, so feedback is very welcome. Fred clearly wants to make the site even better, and that means making the users happy, so keep the feedback coming.
>Also, as I stated before, if it was you THANK YOU for making it possible for us to access our PM folders in between receiving PMs.... I "Really" appreciate that...
Many times we are too busy to deal with an issue when the PM arrives but can not re-access it if we do not keep the original email letting us access it.... so this is a "Big" improvement....
I don't understand what you mean here. Can you explain it more clearly?
>.......but not being informed of the changes prior to things starting to happen was a "Big" shock.....I think the failure to communicate "this event" and it's changes in advance was the biggest issue
There have been literally hundreds of changes to code all over the site in the last few weeks. It's not always easy to know which changes are going to horrify users and which will go largely unnoticed. If we sent out an email every time we changed something that would be annoying too. Certainly a mistake was made. The emails should have had the explanation at the top from the beginning, and for that, I apologise.
Members have been very patient and helpful as we make changes. Things break, then get fixed, rinse repeat. That's how we make progress. Many of the changes are quite deep, involving addition to and removal of fields and tables in the database. The site code is very old and convoluted and it is very difficult to see how pulling on one string in the tangled ball will knot up something elsewhere.
Jack M wrote:
There has been a link to the PM folder at the top of the page for as long as I have been a member. You have to be logged in though.
Just like at the top of "this " page there is "no" PM link.....
only in Special places does it show up...not "inside" the forums..
and that is where I spend 99% of my time....when I am here.
and I am "always" signed in.....
BodieAngels wrote:
Just like at the top of "this " page there is "no" PM link.....
only in Special places does it show up...not "inside" the forums..
and that is where I spend 99% of my time....when I am here.
and I am "always" signed in.....
The PM information link was added about 8 months ago. It only shows on "viewboard" (Page that shows a list of threads inside a board) as well as the original place "index" (Main forum page). It does "not" show in “viewtopic” (Page that shows posts from a thread)
Regarding the "Your Inbox is full" message: It only shows up to remind members to delete some of their pms (Whenever reached a "x" number). However there were no consequences for not acting and that created a problem. This code will be removed now.
Did you guys like the new changes to the PM inbox? Now we are able to send an individual PM to our email address, Undo a deletion, see a preview of the message, etc...
Spydweb wrote:
Fred,the changes to the pm inbox are great,but how would you undelete a pm??
I have to agree here
Somehow I have missed this and some older PM's are gone. I don't keep all of my PM's just important ones and some of these have now gone. I thought my "housekeeping" was in order and my personal inbox should not have been a drain on the system
I have recieved an awful lot of assistance here on FM and probably 8 PM's that I was truely thankful to receive have now gone
Maybe an option to archive via email could be used ? - given the choice there is no way I would have wanted to lose those few messages
Somehow I have missed this and some older PM's are gone. I don't keep all of my PM's just important ones and some of these have now gone. I thought my "housekeeping" was in order and my personal inbox should not have been a drain on the system
I have recieved an awful lot of assistance here on FM and probably 8 PM's that I was truely thankful to receive have now gone
Maybe an option to archive via email could be used ? - given the choice there is no way I would have wanted to lose those few messages
Spydweb,
If you click on the Delete button, you will be able to Undo it. However once you leave the PM Inbox, all PMsmarked as "DELETED" will be gone. If you really think a particular PM is very important, you can now click on the "@" link and email that PM to your forum address.
Mark, if any PMs in your inbox was deleted, you should have received an email with a copy of it. Perhaps you didn't check your "forum" email?
I agree that the pm inbox/outbox link should be always visible.
I only added it to viewboard thinking adding it to more places could slowdown things...If that is not the case, I agree that having the PM information link in viewtopic would be useful (It saves a click). Similarly having a jump dropdown inside the PM inbox could bring members to their boards in one click instead of two.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Mark, if any PMs in your inbox was deleted, you should have received an email with a copy of it. Perhaps you didn't check your "forum" email?
Thanks Fred
Looks like the work mail server isnt on form then
I will have to make sure they weren't stopped at the corporate firewall - though I doubt it would be an issue as I always get PM notifications at work
Hats off to you Fred for the investment you're making in improving the site. I really appreciate the changes under way and the growing pains are worth it for what is being gained. Keep up the great work!
brainiac wrote:
Maybe you could use studly _underlining_ or even the tag or bold for emphasis. Caps is generally taken to mean shouting, partly because its ugly to read.
I guess that is why beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
I have never taken Caps as being ugly or yelling.....
to me "bold" would be louder ... that must be a "techie" thing?
I am a photographer not a code writer and I don't wish to be one.
I will have to ask someone what the underlining or tag
means or does?
They (like bold) are a pain to use cuz you have to put everything you want
in the box,
and then it shows up at the bottom of the page and then you have to
Cut & Paste it up where you want it...
Seems like more work, and a waste of time.....
I have run another forum for years and no one has ever suggested those or complained?
Apology "definitely accepted" As I previously stated it was the shock coupled with the mistake that caused the upset.... I make small changes to my forum
also, but I do "not" make "big" changes w/o telling members first...
as a matter of courtesy and respect for their sanity, and they do not pay me.
I guess I am the only idiot that was deleting PMs from my Inbox when
I got the Box is Full message...to me the Red was yelling and I listened.....
.....and I still think when making "big" changes it would be courteous to email members first....definitely not all of the small changes but something big like this....yes !!
Now, instead of just "knowing" I only have 10 in my Inbox
that I wish to keep there...and that "all is well" I will be forced to check it
more often to look at the darn date. AS my 5 clones I ordered about 5 yrs ago
have not arrived yet, I do not need anyone to give me more to do.
I feel this will make using PMs a bother and I personally will try to use them
as infrequently as possible...I am willing to delete when it says my box is full
but I am not willing to "babysit the date" !!!
That makes it like waiting for one more bill to arrive...no thanks....
Time passes much too quickly as it is...
to be given another thing I didn't as for to do.
Thank You for everything else you do, but this is just my 2 cents IMHO
And "thank you" to you and Fred for reconsidering and making the PM
link visible all the time.
>I guess that is why beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
I have never taken Caps as being ugly or yelling.....
to me "bold" would be louder ... that must be a "techie" thing?
BodieAngels wrote:
Thank you Brainiac for your reply.
May I ask you to clarify something else? My INBOX has always told me when it considered itself "Full in Big Red" letters....at which time I would dutifully delete some messages....So now you are saying there is NO limit?
So this is now something new?? OK, just seems strange.....
Please note..I am not yelling..I am just stressing a point as we lose vocal intonation and body language with the written word...OK?
It "was" my Sent folder that was deleted so I did get the copies....
and you are now questioning if the Sender should receive an auto-delete PM?
or do you mean copy of the PM deleted? Sorry, but I am not a coder so I do not speak your language....If you are asking if we should receive copies of "anything" deleted I would respond emphatically "yes!"
Also, as I stated before, if it was you THANK YOU for making it possible for us to access our PM folders in between receiving PMs.... I "Really" appreciate that...
Many times we are too busy to deal with an issue when the PM arrives but can not re-access it if we do not keep the original email letting us access it.... so this is a "Big" improvement....
.......but not being informed of the changes prior to things starting to happen was a "Big" shock.....I think the failure to communicate "this event" and it's changes in advance was the biggest issue.....having been a paid member for years.....
You might want to reconsider your usage of "Quotes". There is a very common editorial use of quotes called "Scare Quotes", often used to denote sarcasm or irony... an example of this would be: Many scientists believe in the "Theory" of Evolution... or My "vicious" toy poodle likes to hide from visitors...
When looked at in this context, your above statement could have a very different meaning... Using bold, italics or underline would be better for emphasis...
We are now down to about 22000 pm's, which is what 60 days' worth turned out to be, and the numbers look pretty stable. From now on, auto-deletion, and the accompanying emailed copies, will be more of a trickle than a flood. Thanks for your patience.
Agreed with Paul. Let it go folks. Fred, you have done a great job in the past and your efforts to update and improve the site are very, very much appreciated. In particular it is much more convienent to be able to delete old individual PMs without having to open them. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
