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Forum software upgraded: please report any issues here
September 16, 2012
1:22 pm
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Hi all,
I've upgraded the forum software now. The look is a bit different but the functionality should remain mostly the same. If you experience any issues, please post them here and I will be sure to look into them!

September 16, 2012
10:16 pm
Yatti
Guest
Guests

https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/chart/

In Chrome 21.0.1180.89 m / firefox when I attempt to sort by Rate doesn't appear to be working.. Nor is rate history bubbles.. I'll restart everything and look at it again in the morning..

September 17, 2012
7:40 am
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Thanks for pointing that out! Both issues should be fixed now.

September 17, 2012
8:25 pm
Yatti
Guest
Guests

From the main page, when you click on the latest update to the thread you don't get the last thread, but the last page of the threads instead.
Also the e-mail address of the previous thread's author is fully visable to me as I am typing this thread.
To be honest, I preferred the old format's appearance much better.

September 17, 2012
10:59 pm
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
Member Since:
December 12, 2009
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Thanks Yatti for reporting the e-mail address of the prior author being visible as well. I reported it in another thread so no point in reporting here as well. To add to that, when you reply as a "guest", it also prefills the prior guest's name in addition to the e-mail address.

One thing I like better is the faster-loading of the site and the post URL format, very Google- and SEO-friendly (which is, in part, likely what attracted Peter to it, I'm sure!). I noticed you use "Simple Press". Did you know Autommattic (owners of WordPress) produce the BuddyPress forum software? I've always been partial to that one or, my favourite, which I used a few years ago when I ran my own forum, was Vanilla Forums. :)

Cheers,
Doug

September 18, 2012
9:23 am
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Thanks all. The pre-filling issue should be fixed now. I've applied my own patch and am waiting to hear back from the forum authors for a more official solution.

When you say that the e-mail address of the prior author is visible, are you referring to anywhere other than the pre-filled "guest" post form?

When you click to view the latest thread, it should send you to the latest page, but with an anchor tag to the last post. Can you please provide a specific example where this is not the case (unfortunately I can't find such a case)?

As for the forum software itself, I agree -- the new design will take some getting used to, but at least it has a bit more red in it, so it matches better with the rest of the site :) Doug: I did look at BuddyPress and a few others, but Simple:Press won for the exact feature set (meeting my requirements for being a forum but not trying to over reach), but also for their incredibly responsive support! Of course, there are quite a few things I'd like to change about it, but then there are also limits to one's time, sadly!

And also to Doug: I sent you a PM to follow up about your user attribution request.

September 18, 2012
11:38 am
Jordan
Guest
Guests

Peter said
When you click to view the latest thread, it should send you to the latest page, but with an anchor tag to the last post. Can you please provide a specific example where this is not the case (unfortunately I can't find such a case)?

Hi Peter,

With Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), when you click to view the latest thread it sends you to the latest page but not the last post. With Internet Explorer 8 running in Compatibility View, it works as you describe (tested with IE8 on Widows XP SP3).

An example is the "MBNA Smart Cash Card - BEST CASHBACK CREDIT CARD EVER!!!"
discussion. From the home page, with IE8, clicking on the latest post link takes you to the top of page 14 (the latest page). With IE8 in Compatibility View, clicking on the latest post link takes you to the latest post by 'New MBNA User' (page number and latest post were accurate at the time of this posting).

Hope the above helps,

Jordan

September 18, 2012
11:46 am
Jordan
Guest
Guests

Hi Peter,

Clearly, I goofed up on quoting your comment in my post and managed to make the entire post appear as a quote. Please feel free to clean up my quote to make the posting more readable.

I looked for a way to edit my post, but I could not find it. Is that another difference in the forum software? With the previous software, as a guest, I could edit my post (as long as it was shortly after making the post).

Jordan

September 18, 2012
3:55 pm
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Thanks for the report, Jordan. I've fixed the quote formatting now. I've also implemented a test fix for the "latest post" link. Can you please see whether that solved the issue?

Regarding the edit functionality, the option is marked as "Can edit own posts until there has been a reply" although now that I test it, it no longers appears to work for guests. I'll follow up with the forum authors on that one!

September 18, 2012
8:59 pm
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
Member Since:
December 12, 2009
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Thanks Peter. Got your PM - replied to you privately. Thanks! Will reply to your other point later.

Regarding the pre-filling bug, no it only happened when replying as a "guest", it pre-filled the previous thread guest poster's nickname and e-mail address. ;(

Another bug: when searching the 'members' list for a specific member with wildcard character, when I click for page two, it directs me to the discussion forum page with the various forums and threads, instead of page two of the members' results from the specific search.

Also, is it possible to add functionality to sort the members' list by column?

Cheers,
Doug

September 18, 2012
9:00 pm
Jordan
Guest
Guests

The test fix for the "latest post" link works with both IE8 and IE8 running in Compatibility View.

September 19, 2012
7:11 am
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
Member Since:
December 12, 2009
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Add to bug report: another instance of "Jim" showing up - when using "Members" section as "guest", it shows Jim's name in parenthesis after the word "guest". Could be an issue with the way the forum software handles cookies?

Cheers,
Doug

September 19, 2012
7:21 am
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Regarding "edit your own post", it looks like that isn't available for guests. I was told it wasn't before, although I also have a vague recollection that it was. Either way, it's a good reason to register on the site :)

And on the topic of registration and members: I saw that bug report on the Simple:Press tracker for browsing through the members list. But that also reminded me that I meant to remove that functionality here anyway. I don't see the value in the reasons for having it. Are there any "must have" reasons?

September 19, 2012
10:44 pm
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
Member Since:
December 12, 2009
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hey Peter,

RE: "edit your own post" - was this referring to my 'bug report'? At any rate, we used to be able to edit our own 'guest' posts, which was a nice feature as it was unique to Simple::Press. That said, it's not crucial.

I was more concerned about the privacy implications in the bug when replying to a post as a 'guest', it brings up (presumably) the last 'guest' who posted's name and e-mail address. However, that seems to have been fixed as I was not logged in and, when I tried to reply, the 'guest name' and 'e-mail' fields were blank. Glad to see you've retained the 'guest posting' ability!

On the 'Members' list, while not a 'must have', it is kind of a nice feature when you need a quick way to PM a particular member and can't remember a recent thread they've posted in off hand and need to search for them via their member name. I'd recommend keeping it, so long as e-mail addresses aren't directly visibile on the site (one should have to use a contact form or PM button link).

Cheers,
Doug

September 20, 2012
6:57 am
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Hey Doug,

The "edit your own post" was a reply to Jordan's report.

I'm going to keep the Members list disabled for now while thinking through the implications...

September 20, 2012
6:05 pm
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
Member Since:
December 12, 2009
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Oh okay, sounds good. Thanks Peter! :)

Cheers,
Doug

September 23, 2012
8:02 pm
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
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December 12, 2009
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Another "Jim" bug: on the login screen, when you login from a thread in order to post a reply, it says, "Welcome Jim (guest)".

Cheers,
Doug

September 23, 2012
8:20 pm
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Hi,

1. Can you please clear your browser cookies for highinterestsavings.ca and then test to see whether it is still happening?
2. Where exactly does this appear? At the top right of the page where it says "Logged in as ____" and "Please consider registering" or somewhere else?
3. Was this happening only on certain posts? If so, can you please paste a link to the post where this is occurring?

October 16, 2012
4:50 pm
Doug
British Columbia, Canada
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 4275
Member Since:
December 12, 2009
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Hi Peter,

Apologies for the delay in responding to this. To answer your question, I've cleared all my cookies for the "highinterestsavings.ca" and "www.highinterestsavings.ca" domains in my main Web browser Google Chrome (Chrome sure makes it nice and easily to delete specific cookies and actually tell you, sort of, what each cookie does).

If you're curious by the cookies set by the forum software, they are listed below. Note that I have obfuscated (in bold) Jim's full e-mail address for privacy reasons but, as you can see, it was definitely a critical issue in the software for that reason. Did we ever deduce why Jim was the unlucky "guest" to show up for multiple users?

Name: guestemail_cbf5e66303e44d40a08d196f5277a6f5
Content: jim@....com
Domain: http://www.highinterestsavings.ca
Path: /
Send for: Any kind of connection
Accessible to script: Yes
Created: Monday, September 17, 2012 5:35:15 PM
Expires: Friday, August 30, 2013 10:55:15 PM

Name: guestname_cbf5e66303e44d40a08d196f5277a6f5
Content: Jim
Domain: http://www.highinterestsavings.ca
Path: /
Send for: Any kind of connection
Accessible to script: Yes
Created: Monday, September 17, 2012 5:35:15 PM
Expires: Friday, August 30, 2013 10:55:15 PM

I haven't checked all areas where the problem(s) was(were) happening; however, to answer your questions #2 and #3, yes it did occur in each of the above but also when replying to a thread as a "guest". No it wasn't limited to specific posts. That said, in a couple areas I've checked, now that the forum software patch has been applied and my cookies deleted, I do not show up as "Jim (guest)" any longer. A suggestion to the forum software makers, would it not be possible to have a feature in the forum software to allow the administrator to delete/flush/refresh the main "guest" cookie(s) on a user's next visit? In a sense, to log everyone out and then delete/flush/refresh/whatever their "guest" cookie so users don't have to manually delete specific cookies - or all cookies, for that matter? It's just a suggestion maybe. It's also kind of sad that, with the forum update, the ability for "guests" to edit their own posts has been disabled. I guess it was forced one thing, like having me login each time (since I often need to edit my own posts). A sign of the times I guess, (sigh). Has there been any thought to disabling all guest posts? It would also cut down (if not eliminate) spam posts.

Also, I had to search for this thread. As a suggestion, could we increase the number of threads (again) on the main page to 15 (the current 12 is a weird number to use, 10 is too little and 20 might be too many)? Secondly, is there a way to view multiple pages of the discussion forum when you click on the "discussion forum" link? I can't see a way for the life of me (perhaps I'm missing it).

Cheers,
Doug

P.S. Thanks again for linking my "guest" posts to my "member" posts. :)

October 23, 2012
1:15 pm
Peter
Admin
Forum Posts: 1443
Member Since:
May 15, 2007
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Thanks for the extra debugging! Thankfully the bug is fixed moving forward -- I think it was a coincidence that several people had Jim as the guest cookie. The nature of the bug was that the first (or last) guest poster in your first forum thread visit was being stored in a cookie.

There are still many people who make useful posts as guests on this forum, so I'll still allow guest posts for now.

Regarding your other suggestions / requests:

1. Increase the number of threads on the main page to 15: done
2. View multiple pages of the forum: do you mean so that you could paginate through the latest posts in reverse chronological order? Unfortunately there is no such feature native to the forum, but here's a page that shows the latest 50 posts, for those who need to catch up: https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/last-50/

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