Grumble upgrades

Mike Labbe

Administrator
Forum Support Team
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Posts
19,500
Location
Lincoln, RI
Business
Get The Picture
Over the past few months, you may have noticed some improvements and upgrades to the forum. The support team has been slowly working on, and introducing, these improvements. Some include:

-The forum migrated from HTTP: to HTTPS: connections, to keep your content secure and encrypted.

-A forum support team was created, with volunteers from the industry. This is the group that is here to answer questions about the forum, and help stimulate (but not stifle) discussion. The management style is very laid back and friendly. If you have a question, these are the folks to help. CONTACT US at the bottom will email all of the support team. Current team volunteers include Ylva Callewaert, Greg Norris, Wally Fay, and Mike Labbe.

Forums:
-Some older low activity sub forums were merged together, and new ones were introduced. Some of the new sections include HELP! Searching For (discontinued mat and moulding finder), Picture Framing Equipment and CMC HELP, Tech Support Squad (software, etc), and Covid-19 Business Discussions (temporary, as a crisis resource)
-Merged 1998-2004 grumble archive with grumble forum and erased archive sub forum (5033 posts)
-Merged 1998-2004 warped archive with warped forum and erased archive sub forum (2525 posts)
-Manually moved thousands of old miscategorized posts to their respective areas.
-Increased security, so less content is viewable to search engines and non vetted folks.
-Added custom images next to each sub forum

-The registration process has been improved, with easier questions, while still protecting from spammers. Some folks had difficulty with the old method, and became discouraged from registering. They either didn't know the answer to the industry question, or their selected username was too short to meet the minimum size. If we see someone having trouble, the support team volunteers are happy to assist. We can always be reached by clicking CONTACT US at the bottom of any page. The system was further modified to email staff members when someone registers.

-A new RESOURCES feature was added. The resource system supports periodic updates from the volunteer who maintains each resource, with each update documented. Each resource also has an associated discussion thread on the forum, for general questions. Resource managers have a special "resource manager" banner on their posts, as a thank you. Some of the featured resources include Larry's database of picture framing equipment manuals, David's list of companies that are re-open since the Covid crisis, previous grumble survey/poll results, and soon there will be The Grumble Cookbook, POS Software, and CMC vendor product lists.

-New coding was added that will let members change their nickname once, and it will update all previous posts with the new name. If you find that you would rather use a real name instead of a nickname, or maybe the CaSe sensitivity isn't what you like, you can now make a one time change. (Click your name on the top right, click ACCOUNT DETAILS, to see the option)

-Forum registration date and number of posts fields now appear on posts.

-Support for PUSH NOTIFICATIONS was added, as you would see from social media platforms. This lets the forum notify you when you receive a PM or a reply to one of your discussions. Notifications can be sent to your desktop browser, phone, or tablet.

-Extended post EDIT TIME from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. This is how long you can make corrections to your posts on the forum.

-Widened how much space the forum will use for desktop computers by about 30%, for those with higher resolution monitors.

-Support was added to directly support linking embedded content to most major platforms, within posts on this forum. Some of the ones we now support include:

8tracks, 247Sports, ABC News, Amazon Product, Anchor, Audioboom, Audiomack, Bandcamp, BBC News, Bit Chute, Bleacher Report videos, Break, Brightcove, CBS News Video, CNBC, CNN, CNNMoney, Comedy Central, Coub, Dailymotion, Democracy Now!, dumpert, ESPN, Facebook, Flickr, Fox News, FOX Sports, Funny or Die, GameClips.io, Gamer DVR, Gamespot, GameTrailers, Getty Images, Gfycat, Gifs.com, GIPHY, GitHub Gist, Global News, GoFundMe, Google+, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Hudl, Hulu, IGN, IMDb, Imgur, Indiegogo, Instagram, Internet Archive, JW Platform, Kickstarter, Kontinental Hockey League (КХЛ), Libsyn, Liveleak, Livestream, Mail.Ru, Medium, Megaphone, Metacafe, Mixcloud, Mixer, MLB, MRCTV, MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Video, NBC News, NBC Sports, NHL Videos and Highlights, NPR, Orfium, Pastebin, Pinterest, Podbean, Prezi, Reddit threads and comments, Rutube, Scribd, Sendvid, SlideShare, SoundCloud, Sporcle, Sportsnet, Spotify, Spreaker, Steam store, Stitcher, Straw Poll, Streamable, Streamja, Team Coco, TED Talks, Telegram, The Atlantic Video, The Guardian (obsolete), The New York Times Video, The Onion, The Wall Street Journal Online, TikTok, TMZ, Trailer Addict, Trending Views, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter, Ustream, VBOX7, Veoh, Vevo, Video Detective, Vimeo, Vine, VK, Vocaroo, Vox, Washington Post Video, Wistia, WorldStarHipHop, Youku, YouTube, İzlesene.

-Support for full UNICODE was added, to support emojis

-We purchased and added a brand new ad management platform, which is how the forum handles its operating expenses. The forum will always be free for framers. The new ad platform lets vendors set up and manage their own ads, which will randomly display with other vendors between every 5th post. Vendors can also monitor how many impressions and clicks their banners receive, and direct those clicks to any URL they wish. Vendors are also rewarded with a "featured vendor" banner, on their posts. Please support our generous vendor sponsors! :)

-The forum is now able to accept credit cards and Paypal directly, from vendors and from members who wish to make an optional donation. Folks who donate are rewarded with a special "Forum Sponsor" banner on their posts, as a thank you. The "become a sponsor" link is located in the account settings area, if you click your name on the top right.

-The most current version of the forum software (Xenforo) has been installed, and is updated regularly. The color/layout is periodically changed, to include major holidays.

-We moved to a new server in March, which is using SSD (solid state) faster drives, the newest PHP 7.4, Litespeed / Litespeed Cache platform, Storpool technology (forum is spread across multiple servers and will immediately 'self heal' if equipment fails), etc. Four different backup methods are employed daily, to make sure the databases are safe.

-A new SIMILAR THREADS feature was added, that will list discussions similar to the one you are participating in, down at the bottom of the screen. This is helpful when trying to find information, showing previous discussions with similar content.

-Increased the allowed sizes for picture uploads, to 300% higher.

-Added BOUNCED EMAIL management system, as well as UNSUBSCRIBE email management system, to automate these processes.


That is the short list :) If you have any suggestions, we are always open to hear them. The main thing we need is your participation, to bring the activity and participation levels up for all areas of the forum.

We appreciate ALL of our members. Thank you for your participation!
 
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This is wonderful. Thank you! :)
 
Really appreciated, and thanks for all the hours you put in, as well as the thought. Have a question: you mention vbulletin above, and I see Xenforo below. Are these related?
 
Really appreciated, and thanks for all the hours you put in, as well as the thought. Have a question: you mention vbulletin above, and I see Xenforo below. Are these related?

vbulletin was the software for a previous version of theG. Xenforo is the software theG presently runs on.
 
Really appreciated, and thanks for all the hours you put in, as well as the thought. Have a question: you mention vbulletin above, and I see Xenforo below. Are these related?
Oops!

Thanks for catching that typo, since fixed. I have some vbulletin forums, too. Xenforo is superior in every way. In fact, many of the original developers of vBulletin left to form their own company (Xenforo), after VB was sold.

We used to use vbulletin here, but Bill upgraded to Xenforo several years ago.
 
The things Mike does are incredible, I can’t even pretend to understand half of it. He is the best!
We, Greg, Wally and I try to help as much as we can. We do run everything by each other. I’m am honored to be part of the support team, and part of this amazing forum.

Mike, you are amazing!
 
We haven't noticed any new nick changes, yet. Did anyone try the new feature to change their username, or change the case sensitivity of their existing name?

If so, let me know. I hope it works! :)
 
I like your expanded descriptions of forums, but members keep using the "Tips" forum to ask for help that should be in the main "Grumble" forum. :kaffeetrinker-2:
 
I like your expanded descriptions of forums, but members keep using the "Tips" forum to ask for help that should be in the main "Grumble" forum. :kaffeetrinker-2:
We are currently discussing that and may just merge it with the main forum.
 
There will be another major software update coming this summer, when Xenforo 2.2 is released. (after we test it first)

Some of the new features will include:
  • An optional progressive WEB APP, for our mobile guests
  • A brand new and improved WYSIWYG editor for composing posts, with MANY improvements.
  • Optional 'Activity Summary' emails can be sent by the forum every couple weeks if you would like a periodic update of hot topics.
  • Virtual "search forums" to present discussions by topic, can be added, regardless of which subforums the discussions are in
  • Profile banners will be more configurable, including background images
  • Unregistered guests will be able to compose a reply to a post before registering, and it will keep it on hold until they finish their registration
  • Members will be able to change their forum username, without staff assistance. (we do have this now, but it is improving)
 
-Added support for the WINDOWS_KEY + . (period) command in the new version of Windows 10 from Spring 2020, to call up and support the EMOJI menu. You can now use that command and insert them in posts.

Examples: 💩🥰😆😴🥱👩‍🦰👮‍♂️👨‍🚀💪🎪👓🥨🍔🍕🥩🍗🎂🍺🍓🍑🍏🚗🌈💘☢☣⚠🚸
 
-Added support for the WINDOWS_KEY + . (period) command in the new version of Windows 10 from Spring 2020, to call up and support the EMOJI menu. You can now use that command and insert them in posts.

Examples: 💩🥰😆😴🥱👩‍🦰👮‍♂️👨‍🚀💪🎪👓🥨🍔🍕🥩🍗🎂🍺🍓🍑🍏🚗🌈💘☢☣⚠🚸

Works for me. Not that I'll remember it. 😊😂😍😒💖🐱💻🐱🐉🐱👓👀😃✨🐱‍🏍🎉🌹🎗🎭🧥🥞🦽🚅🚊

Now why are yours larger than mine?
 
Works for me. Not that I'll remember it. 😊😂😍😒💖🐱💻🐱🐉🐱👓👀😃✨🐱‍🏍🎉🌹🎗🎭🧥🥞🦽🚅🚊

Now why are yours larger than mine?


I figured it out. You can use the font size to change the emoji size.

😍🤣 Size 9

😍🤣 size 12

😍🤣 size 15

😍🤣 size 18


😍🤣 size 22

😍🤣 size 28

 
Hey Mike, I have a little question.

Does the Grumble really need the Quote feature? Seems to me there are usually only a handful of people responding to most threads and since we are all (presumably) function adults, does anyone really need to quote reply #3 if they are going to be posting reply #4? Not to mention some people don't seem to understand how the thing works and end up quoting entire posts instead of the salient part they wish to point out or respond to.

Doesn't that end up taking up a lot of bandwidth over the years?

And if a person really felt they needed to quote someone's post, they could always copy and paste, couldn't they?

Just thinking out loud. Quotes have been driving me crazy for a long time.

Carry on.
 
Mar, quotes are necessary if responding other than in the next post. I read the Grumble several times a day and often have to refer to posts further back in the list. I agree about the nonsense of quoting whole posts, especially long ones or those with pictures. It's easy to edit posts to remove unnecessary lines or graphics and surround the relevant lines with ellipses where edited.
 
Does the Grumble really need the Quote feature?

Well people can do cleaner quotes, like I did here, to only quote the point. I think theyre kind of important when discussions have ADHD and go all over, or if there are multiple points in a discussion.

The new version (which went into testing today, by the author) has a completely new editor, and a new way to handle discussions. Some of our sub forums will be set up in a Q&A format in the future, with the question kept at the top always, and people will be able to UP VOTE or DOWN VOTE answers as the "best answer". This may eliminate the need for much of the quoting.

There are so many changes coming this summer, for the software. We will privately beta test it for some time, before we put it live on the G.

Mike
 
...When you reply to a post, you don’t need the “quote” function

When there are multiple posts between your answer and the referred post, how else would you make your point? Note that I only quoted the applicable issue in your post.
 
Note that I only quoted the applicable issue in your post. Then my quote was edited and made no sense whatsoever.
That^
Yes you can both edit out and edit into in a quote. Traceable, but still has potential for mischief.
 
When there are multiple posts between your answer and the referred post, how else would you make your point? Note that I only quoted the applicable issue in your post.

Not sure what you mean. What I referred to is that when you hit “reply” it quotes the post itself. Quote is used when you want to reply to several posts in one post.
With reply, you can still edit the quote anyway you want.
 
Well people can do cleaner quotes, like I did here, to only quote the point. I think theyre kind of important when discussions have ADHD and go all over, or if there are multiple points in a discussion.



Mike

Like so
Right, I could have added a [sic] for the missing period. 😁

And so
 
If you are using the Quote feature to quote multiple posts over the course of a lengthy thread - I am fine with that.

It is when I make a post and the VERY NEXT POST quotes what I just posted.

In case you had yet to encounter this feature, if you are in the process of composing a lengthy , when you get ready to hit "Post reply" and other people have posted since you began typing, the Grumble will inform you that there are new posts since the last one you read.
 
When I am replying to a specific statement, whether or not the statement was in the previous comment, I prefer to have statement quoted.
When reading the thread over the coarse of days/weeks/months/years... one does not always reread every previous comment before reading the knew ones.

When I am replying to the post in general, no need for a quote.

Until mentioned in this thread, I had not even noticed the +Quote option before.

Brian
 
Not sure what you mean. What I referred to is that when you hit “reply” it quotes the post itself. Quote is used when you want to reply to several posts in one post.
With reply, you can still edit the quote anyway you want.

This is a "reply".

There appears to be no difference between "reply" and "quote" when quoting a single post. I've never bothered with the reply button. I sometimes just respond without "quote" or "reply" to the last post in a thread in the manner of a continuing conversation. Why bother dispensing with either option?

I like the word quote better than reply... 😁
 
It's all changing soon anyways. The post editor is being scrapped with a brand new system that is much more flexible. It is in beta right now, and should be out within a month. New posts will be able to have pictures inserted with text to the right of left, among other changes. (similar to a magazine layout) There will be a plus sign to the left of any blank line that you can click to insert content there.

A mobile app that can put a shortcut on your phone, is also coming soon.

Mike
 
I just noticed the new "most posts- last 7 days" heading.
I already know the folks who "post the most" ( I'm a poet but I don't know it :cool: ).
I kind of like it but I think that it will pretty much stay the same and it won't change.
I would post more except that I'm so busy herding cats during the day that I often even miss lunch at work.:oops:
I only usually check in late in the evening.

Thanks for the hard work, Mike!
More framers joining every day.:thumbsup:
 
-Added new QUICK SEARCH feature at the top of main menu, sub forums, threads. It lets a member QUICKLY search titles for specific content. Note that this is just a quick search and only searches TITLES, not a complete replacement for the full search feature on the top button. This should be useful and is an area we would like to improve more work in the future, with an enhanced search system.
 
-Added new MOST POSTS widget on main menu, recognizing avatars of our top members (posters) for the past week.

1594154519412.png
 
-Added new COUNTDOWN widget on main menu, showing a countdown to a future framing event. This will be turned off normally, but active in the future.
 
He could sell tickets!
 
Is there a spot to make suggestions for minor grumble changes?
I don't look at the commercial posts very often, but I'd be more likely to do so if they had the location of the seller listed on the main "For Sale" page.

Thanks for all the hard work.

Brian
 
We do ASK folks to mention prices, location, and a way to contact - in the posts within that groups where someone is selling. Most of the time they do. The support team was discussing this just a day ago, about a possible future enhancement that will ask folks those questions and type them in the message for them.

Feedback is always welcomed!
Thanks
 
If it could be listed on the main For Sale Page, it could be helpful for people looking to make local purchases only.
I just noticed, that if you scroll over someone's name, it will give their location.
That helps quite a bit.

Brian
 
I just noticed, that if you scroll over someone's name, it will give their location.
That helps quite a bit.
I didn't know that. Thanks!
 
Yea we can put a special banner on top explaining that, and suggesting some guidelines when posting a new item for sale.

Thanks for the great advice.
 
Mike - these fireworks are the best! Nice looking and totally silent. Won't scare any doggies or kitties.

🇺🇸
 
Me too! The entire site is just so cool! My cat is now a Yankee!

I love Exclamation Points!
 
Great fireworks and thanks for the top hats, Mike! :beer:
 
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