Oh Boy!!! Replies, full of bugs and opinions!! I just got back, so it'll take me a bit to catch up!
Before I get to detailed responses, I'd like to point out that I lost my Internet at a very bad time during the site setup. The website is not configured completely nor looks the way I intent – it is the generic default theme that comes with SMF (the website is using SMF technology now, not Postnuke or phpBB2). I'll install some options, but the library theme is lost until I find a theme artist (at which point we'll make a main customized dragony theme, and redo the library and ivy themes that were popular with the last site). If anyone is or knows a professional at this, please let me know! This is a paying job.
I like how on the top of the page it shows my avatar picture along with the message "Hello Airy". It kind of make me feel important or something. :D
A thought on the discussion/debate forums.
It might be good to have an explanation about what a debate is and some rules/guidelines to follow in a debate or heated discussion. I think a debate should have some structure to it, and be distinct from a discussion.
Thanks for letting me know! I'll try to keep the avatar and “Hello†message at the top, and see if we can do anything more with it :)
The rules are still have yet to be written. Hopefully when I do these, it'll become clear what's heated and what's cooled, as well as what's debate and what's not.
I mean no offence at all to your efforts Sel', in fact I'm very glad you worked to getting the site back up. But I liked the old style of the home page. The layout was easy to see what topics are active (and you don't get repeated results of the same topic), you could see the active journal entries, it was easy to navigate, the side bars were clear and easy to use, and the news articles were right there in the lower pane of the page.
The layout will be changed a bit, but don't be surprised if it's not a lot. I may be able to work with the “recent topics†panel a bit more – we'll see. Journal entries haven't been active for some time and while I have plans to re-introduce it, it wont be done any time soon – sorry. News articles will be topics in the Draconity.org forum, with basic summaries at the top of the page. Often, people never looked at the main page of the old site anyway, so it wasn't an effective option.
I dislike PHPBB because even with themes, every single forum is the same generic design which I find annoyingly hard to navigate around. I liked PostNuke for that reason.
You're not making sense here. The last site was PHPBB inside of PostNuke. This is SMF. Also, you like PostNuke for what reason? I fail to see what you like/dislike. Also, this is not the intended theme of the site yet.
I also liked the easy controls on threads with the nice quick-reply box at the bottom with the 'post reply' button right near it if you needed to post something more advanced, the layout was clean, you can easily submit to watching threads with one button at the bottom of the page rather than having to go through those cascading menus, and it was even 'light brower' friendly.
The “Quick-Reply†Box will be re-introduced (I hope) because I liked that too. Also, you'll eventually be able to reply to watched topics via email, if I read something correctly. A future selection of themes will let you choose if you want light or heavy themes depending on your browser load and what device you use.
Though not easy, I was still able to navigate the site on my cell phone, or though a basic SSH/Telnet based browser if I had to very easily. PHPBB uses too much unwanted eye-candy, frames, cells, images, and so forth that makes it so clunky and bloated. I'd give up a month of access to get the old version back.
I'm again assuming you're confusing SMF (current) with PHPBB (old). And actually, these webpages are cleaner and more browser friendly compared to the old site. Anyway, if you disagree, there will be other themes in the future which will resolve your problem. And personally, browsing websites using SSH or Telnet is just retarded if you ask me. I'm not going to cater to that demand.
Draconomicon/Draconity is still the only forum I ever to go these days, I've grown too far attached to the nice old version.
Sorry about the old website no longer being available. Things change, and this website is still better than no website if you ask me.
EDIT: On top of that, another 'feature' I dislike is this thing doesn't have the decency to send me back to the page I was reading when I make a post, this one shunts me back to the general forum page so I have to navigate back again -.-
If I can't find a patch for this where you can select which re-direct you prefer in your profile, then I'll hold a poll and make a code change if that's what most people want. I kinda like it this way, as I usually don't re-read my post – I usually use Word and use the Preview button on the forum before I post. But, I understand most people don't.
EDIT2: Apparently it also smashed off my avatar, thinks I'm a 'newbie' again, and corrupted my signature.
Pure bugs. It was hard enough getting the posts and users and Pms and such to transfer – Avatars just didn't make the trip. Can't be perfect. Everyone's a newbie because I haven't configured that aspect yet. The signature is a bug that I hope everyone can just do a quick-fix for as I don't want to dig into the code for that and run into compatibility problems in the future.
(Note: a lot of these bugs came up because the old website was so old and out-dated, it simply doesn't comform to even newer versions of the same technology. It's like trying to shove a floppy disk into a DVD drive. It's obsolete, and unsupported, and I had to do many conversions in the database by hand.)
Also, I've noticed my post count went back down to zero but everyone else's is where it was before all this happened. How come?
Huh... Not sure. Anyway, I'll make a note to restore it for you! I know that can be rather disappointing :)
Some threads/sections have a wider "thread started by" then "topic name" Which just causes me to click on the username then the topic.
http://www.draconity.org/index.php/board,34.0.html
is the best example
http://www.draconity.org/index.php/board,18.0.html
is a 50/50 example.
Its more of a comfort thing in the form.
Or is it just how my browser shows it? (Opera)
I think it might be a resolution issue for you. I don't quite have that problem it seems. Anyway, let me know if a new theme doesn't fix it!
My user name didn't transfer over and I had to reapply! What's up with that?
Glad to see the site is back though.
Yeah, sorry. Admins lost their user profiles. I'll see what I can restore for you by hand!
[quote author =PhantomDragon]I just noticed something about my post count. I actually see the old posts that I have made here apparently, but the thing is it also has my old post count, it seems that I somehow have a duplicate account from the transfer. [/quote]
Ah! I think it's because you signed up onto the site right in the middle of the database transfer, so it got a bit screwy with you. I'll see if I can clean it up!
Humm.. I did however find another small issue. The old forum used to mask your e-mail address, but still allow people to e-mail you via the forum. In this version, my mailto:// is completely given away in plain view to members and web-spiders alike
Glad you got that resolved! I'll take it off my to-do. But the email issue... Admins and yourself are able to view your own email. Other members can if you select your email to be unhidden in your profile options. Guests will never be able to get to your email.
Fossi was an admin, and hence lost her account. She should be able to sign up again, and PM me to let me know to restore all her stats.
Whew!!! That's a long freekin' reply! I hope I answered everyone's question, even if I haven't had time to implement any resolutions just yet.