Forum Changes on the way

[pilotbob]

Over the next week or so starting today you will be seeing some changes in the forums sections. We are reorganizing things in order to make sure there is a place to discuss all your topics, favorite devices and books.

If you see that a forum is missing or closed the messages are in the process of being moved to another section.

So, what's happening? Here are some hints:

To start with the two Sony threads and the two iRex threads will be merged together and device prefixes will be added to the section. This has proven itself to work well in the new Sony section so it will become a common fixture in all of the device sections where it makes sense.

We will also be collapsing some of the sub-forums into their parents to simplify forum navigation and prevent that deer in the headlights feeling of what sub-forum you should use for a trouble shooting question about an accessory.

I'm sure it will make you happy to hear that there will be several new device forums and a General Discussion area so those types of discussions won't dilute the News section.

We have been working very hard on the new layout and I want to thank all the members that have helped us. Your ideas were all taken seriously and considered important. I wish we could make everyone 100% happy but some ideas just conflicted with others.

So, please pardon our dust while we remodel... It should be well worth it.

[kacir]

I have got a suggestion.
There are two different forum named PocketBook.
An English speaking one and German forum.
When I see the "Latest Forum activity" list on the main page I can not tell which one the newest discussion belongs to unless I visit it. Unfortunately I do not speak German, so I am interested mainly in English one.
Could we rename the forums to
PocketBook En
PocketBook De
or something?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kacir

When I see the "Latest Forum activity" list on the main page I can not tell which one the newest discussion belongs to unless I visit it.

What page (got link) are you talking about?

Do you use the "new posts" list? If so, you can go into your CP and tell it to ignore whatever sections you don't want to participate in.

BOb

[kacir]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

What page (got link) are you talking about?

The main page at https://www.mobileread.com/
at the bottom there is "Latest Forum Activity" section.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Do you use the "new posts" list?

I do not know what do you mean. Could you post an URL please?

Originally Posted by pilotbob

If so, you can go into your CP and tell it to ignore whatever sections you don't want to participate in.

I do not want to ignore the German PocketBook forum. Sometimes a post is so interesting that I use Translate.google.com to get translation, so I do not want to switch it off.

I am suggesting that
this forum https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=206
and this one https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=212
should have different names, or something that would let me distinguish between forums when I look at the "latest activity" section on the main page or here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/spy.php
or here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sea...archid=3272498

There are other forums in different sections that are named using the same name.
For example
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=100
and
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=189
and
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=199

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kacir

I do not know what do you mean. Could you post an URL please?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/search.php?do=getnew

This is the link in the "New Posts" menu when you choose "All New Posts"

Originally Posted by kacir

I do not want to ignore the German PocketBook forum. Sometimes a post is so interesting that I use Translate.google.com to get translation, so I do not want to switch it off.

It is only ignored in the newpost search. You can still see it in the forum list.

I see what you are saying. We'll take a look at it.

BOb

[Ea]

The new way of organising device forums looks really great. It was a good idea to delete most of the subforums, and the idea of being able to sort by prefix is really good too. Thanks for doing all this work It's appreciated

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by kacir

PocketBook En
PocketBook De
or something?

I see the problem. We'll contemplate possible solutions.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Ea

The new way of organising device forums looks really great. It was a good idea to delete most of the subforums, and the idea of being able to sort by prefix is really good too. Thanks for doing all this work It's appreciated

Thanks for the kind words Miss. You don't know how many times we went back and forth on that issue.

BOb

[acts_as_david]

If you're redesigning things, you should consider adding support for OpenId. I've stopped getting too involved in forums because it's such a hassle to sign up for very specific forums and keep track of all your login information. I like these forums enough that I signed up for an account. But I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't end up commenting because it's "just another account to sign up for".

Consider adding OpenId to your registration system?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by acts_as_david

If you're redesigning things, you should consider adding support for OpenId. I've stopped getting too involved in forums because it's such a hassle to sign up for very specific forums and keep track of all your login information. I like these forums enough that I signed up for an account. But I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't end up commenting because it's "just another account to sign up for".

Consider adding OpenId to your registration system?

I hear you. That would help.

I am in the same situation as you are... most web properties don't support OpenID... especially banks and brokerages because there are security issues.

One thing I might suggest to you is to get a password manager. I use LastPass from lastpass.com. It is free, and cross browser and cross platform. I lets you remember only a single password. It stores the encrypted forms of your passwords online and will sync between computers. I don't know any of my passwords except 1 or two like email and my bank... other than that they are all randomly generated by lastpass and stored for me.

BOb

[JSWolf]

So what happened to the general purpose reader section that we've been needing?

And what happened to splitting News and Commentary so it's actually just news? Commentary would go in the general purpose section we don't have yet, but should.

[LCF]

Thank you very much for the constant efforts to keep the forums optimized!!!

Ahm... is there a chance to change the Hanlin icon while reorganizing everything? (link in my sig.) Just curious...

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So what happened to the general purpose reader section that we've been needing?

And what happened to splitting News and Commentary so it's actually just news? Commentary would go in the general purpose section we don't have yet, but should.

It's coming very very very soon. I will finalizing the re-org of the device sections and general sections today... We were just finalizing which way we wanted to go... I made the changes we were 100% sure we wanted.

BOb

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by LCF

Thank you very much for the constant efforts to keep the forums optimized!!!

Ahm... is there a chance to change the Hanlin icon while reorganizing everything? (link in my sig.) Just curious...

Alex is in charge of the icons...

BOb

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

It's coming very very very soon. I will finalizing the re-org of the device sections and general sections today... We were just finalizing which way we wanted to go... I made the changes we were 100% sure we wanted.

BOb

Once News and Commentary is sorted, the non-news should be moved out just to make News really News.