New forum Style

That's why I'm hardly here anymore. I didn't know a new competition had started. I didn't know who had one the last one. The competition is now completely separate from the forum, so I can only assume that they wanted it this way - i.e. it's not for us.

I've terminated my PU magazine subscription at my disgust with what they've done here. I cannot say how much of a relief it is to navigate away from here to a real forum where navigation and use is such a breeze compared to this 10 year old solution.

The fact that you cannot edit your posts anymore (this is almost the only forum in 20 years of using the internet that I've seen this draconian restriction used - and I have practically never seen it abused, even as a moderator of many volatile forums) means that I'm now unwilling to participate in discussions here and will now never post any photos to this site again.

The fact they still haven't fixed the numerous bugs or added needed features seems to indicate that this is it

There have been so many bugs fixed and so many changes implemented in the face of very hostile "requests" that I think you're being somewhat unfair.

No doubt the dust is settling and if things need further change then Pete and his team will be looking at it constantly to make it as successful as possible.

The Competition was moved to the Gallery to enable new features such as direct uploading, bigger image sizes, the potential of images being used in PU magazine, an automatic move from one week to the next competition so there is no loss of continuity and easier judging for the judges. I found it much easier to judge than in a forum setting.

I do however recognise that separating it out from the forum means a few clicks are needed to view the current competition. I did wonder if this would make it more detached and in a sense it does, but I can assure you that it is still ours and you know as well as I do that there's a current competition every week.

So far I reckon that 90% of what people asked for has been taken up and the remainder either have technical difficultues to implement or have been decided against. Let's see the positive aspects and just get on with talking Pentax?

Sorry, I completely disagree. Why should you congratulate someone for fixing something that they broke? I still won't post for the reasons I mentioned.

If they need to know what is missing and not working all they have to do is go to http://www.vbulletin.com and implement it. It's simple trivial and would take minutes to integrate (or add all the features it has - you know re-invent the wheel).

As it is, it's simply not reasonable to expect people to post without being able to edit their posts - and that's just one thing that is still broken.

You're free to disagree as you wish.

You can edit your posts now for a period of time and if you were really stuck with something you could always ask a Mod to edit it for you at any time.

I have noticed that since the issue arose you have felt the need to edit every post you have made. No-one else seems to do this, so I guess you're perhaps just trying to make a point. :

No, I just have problems with typing

I'm afraid your solution of 20 minutes to edit a post simply isn't workable to me. I'm not complaining for fun you know. I'm angry and upset that they have ruined a perfectly good resource - fixing what you have broken and giving back things you have taken away is NOT progress. It's dictatorial, disrespectful and simple arrogance, and shows the disregard that this company shows for the users of the forum.

It's still almost impossible to navigate these forums with the broken date sorting, the lack of detail, the horrible format and the archaic features.

You'll be relieved to know that I'll go back to the other forums now. I had come back in the hope that things had been fixed, which they haven't.

What I truly don't understand on the topic of editing, is why it can't simply be "have it the way it was, and change it if it becomes a problem".

Of course there would be a risk of abuse, but it wasn't a reality before, and there's no actual evidence that it would suddenly become so.

If it did, it could simply be switched back to the higher restriction, and there'd be no grounds for complaint.

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Edit: why is is that even though I always use preview, I still can't see the typos till I've posted?

ChrisA, since you use Firefox, why don't you have the spelling check switched on? Saves on typos.

I admit I do not visit the competition or the gallery much. I liked seeing the photos of people I "know" from the forum, but the gallery is full of first time posters who never make it to the forum, which is a shame. Because of that I visit it less, and so also miss the competition. There has been no thread started for chat on the comp, in the forum, something which seemed to automatically follow the new competition every week in the old format.
There is less banter, because there are less photos and I feel fewer people are contributing to the forum now. I miss some of the regulars. I know it is holiday time and some will be away, but surely not everyone is away at the same time?

To be honest I have no idea, but if it's a problem then do please make a Report and IT will have a look at it.

I review what I have typed before I press "Add Comment" which saves a step.

While we are on the new format I just did a search for 17-70mm and got nothing. It seems the - in the middle is not recognised?

I've brought this up with them and they have ignored it
Then you're lucky if you don't suffer from dyslexia.

I notice email notifications are still broken. Didn't get one for any of these updates.

Well I have, of course, ages ago.

Their position is that allowing edits at any time introduces the risk of abuse by people that change their posts after someone else has posted, in a way that changes the meaning of the thread.

As I (and others) have said until we're blue in the face, this was never an issue; there's no evidence that it will become an issue; it would be easy to change back if it did, and blanket restrictions as a way of dealing with the occasional miscreant are a bad solution.

Yes, so do I. Always. For some reason I still don't see the typos till after the actual post.

I do!

It's not spelling mistakes so much, it's missing or additional words... the sort of thing where you retype part of the text, and fail to realise that it now makes no sense with the rest of the sentence.

...or want to modify/update links or add additional information. It's just common courtesy on online forums to be able to edit your own posts.

The date sorting bugs are also really really annoying - which I've reported. which haven't been fixed.

I've also pointed out some legal requirements on their new site - which, as usual, have been ignored.

e-mail notifications are working for me. Is your e-mail address correctly recorded and have your preferences carried across OK? It might be worth double checking your profile.

I get updates, they're just not reliable (which they need to be), which means I miss updates on threads. I should always get an update after I leave the forum and this sometimes doesn't happen with this application. I also miss posts because of the broken date sorting and the 90's retro CSS look such that posts and threads are not delineated and merge into a single blob of text.

I wouldn't blame this application for everything! Just tell IT what the problem is, in proper detail, and they will sort it out for you. An accurate desription of the fault without contradictions is helpful.

I don't think anyone is seeing threads and posts mergining into a single blob of text, so a fuller explanation of that will also help.

The place to put the information is in a Report, and bear in mind that it won't get looked at probably till Monday.