Forum date display ...

I've changed this as requested, previously it listed the time and day for posts less than 7 days old, then the full date for older posts.

It should now show the full time and date for all posts irrespective of age .. if anyone sees this causing a problem (formatting or otherwise) please let me know.

The link: "Show all recent activity" gives a list of recent postings to all Forums (Fora ?) and I would have expected it to be sorted by date, with most recent at the top.

This seems to be so, except that at present the top post is older than the one below it.

Is this an accident, or some other bug ?

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

I've changed this as requested, previously it listed the time and day for posts less than 7 days old, then the full date for older posts.

It should now show the full time and date for all posts irrespective of age .. if anyone sees this causing a problem (formatting or otherwise) please let me know.

 

Ahh! Seems to have corrected itself.  Must have been an abberation

 

Previously John Giddy wrote:

The link: "Show all recent activity" gives a list of recent postings to all Forums (Fora ?) and I would have expected it to be sorted by date, with most recent at the top.

This seems to be so, except that at present the top post is older than the one below it.

Is this an accident, or some other bug ?

 

"other bug" .. ? Previous behaviour re; the date display was by design and the change was on request, rather than to fix a bug (!)

Note; I believe entries are sorted in order of date last modified, hence you might see something that "looks" out of order, it just means that it's been edited since it was created.

If the system did not operate this way (i.e. if it sorted by creation date) you'd probably never notice people changing old items (!)

I did npt know that it was possible for me to edit an old posting of mine.

How does one do it please ?

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

If the system did not operate this way (i.e. if it sorted by creation date) you'd probably never notice people changing old items (!)

 

Mmm, once a post has been moderated / approved / published, allowing one to edit the post would obsolete the moderation process (!)

In other words: I can NOT edit a previous post.

So who is going to change/edit an existing post and hence upset the creation date ?

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Mmm, once a post has been moderated / approved / published, allowing one to edit the post would obsolete the moderation process (!)

 

Well, firstly anyone with administrator permissions. (with regards to posts)

Typically all items types (forum posts, pages etc) should provide the ability to "unpublish" an item, after which you can change it, then re-submit it for moderation, with changes.

Do you have a "Retract" button next to the forum post you wish to change? If you retract a post, you should then find an "Edit" button .. after editing you should be able to re-post / re-submit for moderation.

The only button on my posts is the "Reply" button, so I guess I am not allowed to edit them.

Thanks for the answer, Gareth.

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Well, firstly anyone with administrator permissions. (with regards to posts)

Typically all items types (forum posts, pages etc) should provide the ability to "unpublish" an item, after which you can change it, then re-submit it for moderation, with changes.

Do you have a "Retract" button next to the forum post you wish to change? If you retract a post, you should then find an "Edit" button .. after editing you should be able to re-post / re-submit for moderation.

 

Mmm, looks like one needs to be marked as a "reviewer" in order to see the 'retract' button .. I guess the forum software is engineered slightly differently to the rest of the site in that standard users can't withdraw historical items hence interrupting the conversation flow .. I learn something new every day ..

Previously John Giddy wrote:

The only button on my posts is the "Reply" button, so I guess I am not allowed to edit them.

Thanks for the answer, Gareth.

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Well, firstly anyone with administrator permissions. (with regards to posts)

Typically all items types (forum posts, pages etc) should provide the ability to "unpublish" an item, after which you can change it, then re-submit it for moderation, with changes.

Do you have a "Retract" button next to the forum post you wish to change? If you retract a post, you should then find an "Edit" button .. after editing you should be able to re-post / re-submit for moderation.

 

 

John, I would like to be able to find a list of 'recent activity', but try as I might, it remains elusive.  How do I find it? 

David.

Previously John Giddy wrote:

The link: "Show all recent activity" gives a list of recent postings to all Forums (Fora ?) and I would have expected it to be sorted by date, with most recent at the top.

This seems to be so, except that at present the top post is older than the one below it.

Is this an accident, or some other bug ?

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

I've changed this as requested, previously it listed the time and day for posts less than 7 days old, then the full date for older posts.

It should now show the full time and date for all posts irrespective of age .. if anyone sees this causing a problem (formatting or otherwise) please let me know.

 

 

In the right hand column you will see a box labelled "Recent Messages", at the foot of this box is a link entitled "More..." , this should give you a historical listing of postings in most recent first order.

Alternatively on the front page there is a "Recent Changes" box (this ONLY appears when logged in) which shows items from the entire site, most recently changed first. The "All recent changes" shows a historical listing of all changes made to the site.

Unfortunately the "Recent Messages -- More" doesn't always give the correct order as you state below.

Currently The first few entries vary from November to October dates in no apparent order.

Is this a bug in the software, or does the administrator have to check each time that the soprting has worked correctly ?

Seems a bit haphazard, and is another reason why I still prefer the Tarboard forum, which, though basically text without all the pretty pictures, frames etc, always has its Recent Postings list in correct order, making it much easier to navigate.

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

In the right hand column you will see a box labelled "Recent Messages", at the foot of this box is a link entitled "More..." , this should give you a historical listing of postings in most recent first order.

Alternatively on the front page there is a "Recent Changes" box (this ONLY appears when logged in) which shows items from the entire site, most recently changed first. The "All recent changes" shows a historical listing of all changes made to the site.

 

Items in "More" are listed in the order in which they were changed, they do not appear in  "no apparent order" nor do they appear "out of order".

I've taken a screenshot of "more" (attached) and there is an item that does not appear in chronological order. I will try to explain in more detail;

• Items under "more" appear in the order in which the conversation was last changed.
• The date shown is that of the most recently published comment
• Date of change and the date of the most recently published comment can be different, notably if a comment has been edited
• This is the order chosen by the product designers and in my opinion the only logical way to present a listing of recent changes.
  

In this particular case, someone has been trying to post SPAM to the conversation, there were about 8 instances including references to illegal drugs etc. There were moderated out, however while being moderated out they still exist as an invisible part of the conversation.

In practical terms it means that Geraint could moderate them out as they were obviously inapplicable, I could then see the changes in the recent changes box, then go in look at the items and try to trace the source.

Had the items just been deleted I would have been none-the-wiser and not have been able to trace the spammer. Had the item not been listed towards the front of the changes queue (i.e. if it had been listed in the order "you" expected) I would not have picked up on the change.

Not that this is a competition, but;

• If someone posts to a historical conversation on Tarboard, how do you know?
• If someone spams to Tarboard, how is that spam controlled and traced?
• Apart from your browser keeping track of which items you've read, how do you know which items on Tarboard are items you've seen before?
• How do you actually manage to keep track on Tarboard without reading every single post that goes up?

I have an RSS feed plugged into my Email program so I can scan new Forum posts without even loading a browser, yet for Tarboard I have to load a browser, visit the site and visibly scan many pages to try to spot what's changed - how does this even compare ?!

So, specifically;

Unfortunately the "Recent Messages -- More" doesn't always give the correct order as you state below.

• Yes it does
  

Currently The first few entries vary from November to October dates in no apparent order.

• I think there were two conversations that got spammed
  

Is this a bug in the software, or does the administrator have to check each time that the soprting has worked correctly ?

• Neither

Seems a bit haphazard, and is another reason why I still prefer the Tarboard forum, which, though basically text without all the pretty pictures, frames etc, always has its Recent Postings list in correct order, making it much easier to navigate.

• Sure, and sometimes I like to walk to the shops.. however that doesn't mean that the invention of the wheel was a step backwards!
  

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Unfortunately the "Recent Messages -- More" doesn't always give the correct order as you state below.

• Yes it does
  

Currently The first few entries vary from November to October dates in no apparent order.

• I think there were two conversations that got spammed
  

Is this a bug in the software, or does the administrator have to check each time that the soprting has worked correctly ?

• Neither

Seems a bit haphazard, and is another reason why I still prefer the Tarboard forum, which, though basically text without all the pretty pictures, frames etc, always has its Recent Postings list in correct order, making it much easier to navigate.

• Sure, and sometimes I like to walk to the shops.. however that doesn't mean that the invention of the wheel was a step backwards!
  

 

Ok. Explanation accepted. However, I look at the Tarboard latest postings list daily, so there are not too many posts to read. I have never seen any Spam on that list. Maybe because one has to be a registered poster to contribute, and Spammers can't be bothered (or are nervous of giving details) so don't register. As I understand it, at present the TARS Forum allows anonymous postings, which are the delight of spammers, thus giving you more work to clean up, and resulting in a mangled sorting of posts.

Gareth

Thanks for the explanation. I sent a reply a few minutes ago but I hadn't Logged In, so I don't know if you got it.

That is one annoyance which others have commented on: vis. that you are NOT prompted to log in before posting.  Tarboard DOES do so, and you have to be a registered contributor before you can post anything to it.  This may be why Tarboard seems to be free of Spam (at least in my experience).

I look at the Recent Postings list on Tarboard each day, so I don't have too much to read to keep up, and I am quite happy to let my browser keep a record of where I am in the list. I don't need anything more sophisticated.

I fully agree about the wheel, as I am old and infirm (and maybe just a bit grumpy !) these days, so use powered wheels to get around. That doesn't mean that everything I do has to be the very latest though...

 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

So, specifically;

Unfortunately the "Recent Messages -- More" doesn't always give the correct order as you state below.

• Yes it does
  

Currently The first few entries vary from November to October dates in no apparent order.

• I think there were two conversations that got spammed
  

Is this a bug in the software, or does the administrator have to check each time that the soprting has worked correctly ?

• Neither

Seems a bit haphazard, and is another reason why I still prefer the Tarboard forum, which, though basically text without all the pretty pictures, frames etc, always has its Recent Postings list in correct order, making it much easier to navigate.

• Sure, and sometimes I like to walk to the shops.. however that doesn't mean that the invention of the wheel was a step backwards!
  

 

Mmm, the reason anonymous posting is allowed stems from it being the default behaviour of the software when the Forum is set to moderated. (there is a certain logic to this) Changing this required the use of a metaphorical spanner and something I was hoping to avoid by switching the Forums to members only.

However ..