[JerryB]

I am trying to participate in a discussion in the Track Forum and was using the Quote / Rich Text Edior to reply. I was working with the usual problems of not being able to see the original posts and the fact that after hitting two returns for a paragraph feed, then typing the first character, the cursor moves up one line.

After struggling to type several paragraphs, i went to "review" and got the following message:

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object".

I gave up at that point. What does this message mean and what does it have to do with a discussion of track radius in a model RR forum?

Now in trying to generate this new post, the cursor is continuously doing its move up one line trick!

Sorry Shad, but the 'new' forum software is crap. I really have tried to participate, but this is just too difficult.

Happy RRing,

Jerry

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Posted By JerryB on 03/30/2008 3:30 AM
I am trying to participate in a discussion in the Track Forum and was using the Quote / Rich Text Edior to reply. I was working with the usual problems of not being able to see the original posts and the fact that after hitting two returns for a paragraph feed, then typing the first character, the cursor moves up one line.

After struggling to type several paragraphs, i went to "review" and got the following message:

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object".

I gave up at that point. What does this message mean and what does it have to do with a discussion of track radius in a model RR forum?

Now in trying to generate this new post, the cursor is continuously doing its move up one line trick!

Sorry Shad, but the 'new' forum software is crap. I really have tried to participate, but this is just too difficult.

Happy RRing,

Jerry


OK, so I just hit the Quote button.... I am typing this just fine.... no struggle to type..

Here is a second paragraph.... still no struggle...

Now, I am going to "review"..... I am assuming there are 2 possibilities.... that you really meant review.... ok, so I am reviewing what it typed... no problem....

OK, the other possibilitiy is "Preview"....   pressing that button now....


OK, I pressed that button and a smaller window popped up, showing a preview of the post..... it was fine, so I used the RED X in the upper right corner of the new window to close it.

I have no problems.

Jerry, it's your computer, not Shad's software....

You need to update your computer, fix problems, eliminate extra junk, and I swear to you it will work fine. I've been in the industry since 1969, I have 10 computers in my house, they ALL work fine on this forum. 

Regards, Greg

 

[Semper Vaporo]

Posted By JerryB on 03/30/2008 3:30 AM
I am trying to participate in a discussion in the Track Forum and was using the Quote / Rich Text Edior to reply. I was working with the usual problems of not being able to see the original posts and the fact that after hitting two returns for a paragraph feed, then typing the first character, the cursor moves up one line.

After struggling to type several paragraphs, i went to "review" and got the following message:

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object".

I gave up at that point. What does this message mean and what does it have to do with a discussion of track radius in a model RR forum?

Now in trying to generate this new post, the cursor is continuously doing its move up one line trick!

Sorry Shad, but the 'new' forum software is crap. I really have tried to participate, but this is just too difficult.

Happy RRing,

Jerry


Before I typed the "B" at the beginning of this sentence, I typed "Ctrl-End" to put the cursor below the quote of your message.

I then typed the "Enter" key twice before typing this sentence... it did not move the cursor up one line like you said yours did,  That is a new one to me... but I have seen some odd things happen when typing (and not just in this forum).  So I cannot help you with that problem... it just does not make sense (to "ME", anyway).

As for the silly message you got when you tried to preview your message.  That is because you took too long to type the message.  Seems this forum has a timeout on your typing and if you take a wee bit too long, oops, you is done been forgotten.

There is a "work-around:" for that timeout problem.  That is to type "Ctrl-A" to highlight all of the text in the window, and then type "Ctrl-C" to copy it to the clipboard.  Then refresh the page using your browser's "Refresh" button, and typing "Ctrl-V" to paste the clipboard back to the window.  THEN do the Preview and/or Submit.

One other Caveat here.  If you are doing a reply using the Quote function, then the copied text will include the quoted text.  When you do the Refresh and Paste operation you will get the quoted text twice.  You can get around this in one of three ways... 1. instead of doing the "Ctrl-A" to highlight the whole text window; using the mouse click at the top of YOUR text and drag the mouse to the end of your typing.  That will hightlight just your text and not the quoted stuff.  2. After the paste, delele either the new quoted stuff or the pasted back in quoted stuff.  3. instead of doing a "refresh", close or otherwise go back to the original post listing and then re-open the reply window using the Reply button instead of the Quote button.

As for seeing the other missives in a thread... look below the Edit window, just below the three buttons, (Submit, Preview, Cancel) and there is a check box that says Show Replies... check it and the screen will refresh to show the replies (in reverse order).  There is also a way to get the system to permantly check that checkbox for you, it is in one of the two Profile setups, but I don't remember which one as I type this.  I will post this and then go find where it is and edit this to add it in a few minutes.

EDIT:  Click on the "My Profile" text on the upper right area above the thread text.  It is in light blue on my PC.  This will show some of your profile settings,  At the bottom of that text is a light blue "Edit Profile" text... click that phrase.  This will open a page where you can change some of the settings.  It is divided into about 3 sections and in the second one there is a checkbox labled "Show Replies". Set that checkbox to show a checkmark and then when you do a reply or quote, all the thread will be visible below the text entry box.  They will show in reverse order (latest reply at the top).

Shad has said he is working on getting a new text editor for this forum, but won't release it until he is sure all the bugs are worked out.  You are not alone in having problems, but there are many people that are not having problems so it must be something to do with a differance in how your computer is setup versus how other's are setup.  It is VERY difficult to troubleshoot a problem when one cannot duplicate the experience... but I certainly feel bad for you (not that does YOU any good... sorry).

I would be happy to delve deeper into this if you want to take the time to help me understand what is happening... I KNOW it is frustrating.

 

[Gary Armitstead]

Greg and Charles,

The point a lot of us are trying to make here is that the software is "twitchy". The old forum worked great everytime. I'm not a computer guru like some of you, but I like coming here to discuss trains, not computers. I'll go to my Cad site to do that! I really know Shad is doing what he can to correct these problems, but I hope we don't lose our "brain trust" of modelers because this software is built for the likes of Bill Gates./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif

 

[JerryB]

(This reply generated using the "Add Reply" button. Starting time is 10:53:42 PDT)

Greg, Charles:

Thank you both for the thoughful and detailed replies. I truly appreciate your help.

Greg:

This is a two month old Apple MacBook running OS X 10.5.2 and using Firefox 2.0.0.12 as the browser. I haven't upgraded the browser because Shad reported an incompatibiltiy using the latest version. I mis-wrote when I wrote "review". I relly did mean "Preview".

I have just now had two occurances of the cursor jumping up a line while typing this. I had previously thought the cursor jumping up a line was limited to using the "Quote" + Rich Text Editor function but it also happens using "Add Reply". It doesn't always happen and is not limited to this platform. It also happens on my earlier system (Apple PowerBook running OS X 10.4.11 + Firefox 2.0.0.12) which I still use as my primary computer and access point for MLS.

As to cleaning up my computer, both these systems are very clean, both data and cookie-wise and I always use the latest OS and application versions--ALWAYS! I have been a member of MLS since another site died and Shad took the giant step of creating MLS.The PowerBook was used to access and post on MLS for the last 4 years. I can not remember a single problem during that long run.

I would certainly welcome any further suggestions. I believe my use of Firefox for access to the 'new' MLS software is proof of my efforts to work with this site's inadequate 'new' software. With the previous MLS, I was using Safari (always the latest version) without any problems. I continue to use Safari to access the other LS sites I am a memeber of, as well as all my work browsing. I only put Firefox on the systems at Shad's recommendation in order to have access to the 'new' MLS. It isn't a problem to have two (or more) browsers installed, but wasn't previously and shouldn't be necessary.

Charles:

First, thanks for pointing out the "Show Replies" choice. It is now turned on, thus making it lots easier to respond. BUT, we didn't have to turn on anything in the previous incarnation. Just one small example of how MLS has become more difficult and frustrating to use!

As to the timeout when replying, one of the things I very frequently did on MLS was to post replies with information either copied or pasted from my files or on-line files and / or post the url's of specific resources in answer to questions. This 'new' timeout 'feature' makes that very difficult, with the need to do a lot of copy and paste to overcome it.

I just now put in two line feeds, typed the first character and the cursor jumped up to the line above.

I am a systems designer and development engineer and the principle technologist (titles are VP-Technology & Technical Director) for two companies. As an aside, we ran an R/C controlled, battery powered firefighting vehicle I have done the systems engineering on for the first time on Friday evening. It is designed to be operated by an average fireman as a first response fire suppression tool. It has to be simple.

I understand and appreciate 'new', as that is what keeps our modern world turning. But 'new' needs to simplify and improve things, not make what previously was virtually seamless become so frustrating that common folks can't make them work. As an example, using Charles' cut and paste' suggestions will provide a work around for the inabilities of the 'new' MLS software, but why shoud it be necessary when it wasn't in the past. Advancement would make the forum easier to use, rather than more difficult and complex.

In summary, Gary has said it best in his post above.appy RRing, Jerry
H



On Edit: I have left an example of the cursor jumping back when I tried to sign the above reply. I also got the ""Object reference not set to an instance of an object" message when I tried to "Preview" my post at 11:18:42 PDT. I did use Charles suggestion to copy, delete and re-enter "Add Reply".

Now to see if this will post.

Happy RRing

Jerry

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Jerry, pardon the possibly insulting suggestion, but, based on my experience, since your Apple is a laptop, it has the possibility that errant light touches of your palm on the touchpad will make the cursor jump. I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that if you used an external keyboard, your cursor would never misbehave. This is a very common problem with laptops and touch pads. See if you can reduce the touchpad sensitivity.

Regards, Greg

 

[ShadsTrains]

Posted By JerryB on 03/30/2008 3:30 AM
I am trying to participate in a discussion in the Track Forum and was using the Quote / Rich Text Edior to reply. I was working with the usual problems of not being able to see the original posts and the fact that after hitting two returns for a paragraph feed, then typing the first character, the cursor moves up one line.



After struggling to type several paragraphs, i went to "review" and got the following message:



"Object reference not set to an instance of an object".



I gave up at that point. What does this message mean and what does it have to do with a discussion of track radius in a model RR forum?



Now in trying to generate this new post, the cursor is continuously doing its move up one line trick!



Sorry Shad, but the 'new' forum software is crap. I really have tried to participate, but this is just too difficult.



Happy RRing,



Jerry



You know what Jerry, I'm sick of your bitching. Really sick of it.. Beyond sick of it. It's been well documented that there are problems with the new forum. I'm painfully aware of your constant whining about how things aren't working the way you want them to. Your negativity and constant bellyaching is dragging the forum and its participants down more than any technical difficulties that are out there. Every time someone tries to present you with a solution or an alternative, you shoot them down and berate their suggestions. Instead of being positive and trying to find solutions, you just complain about the problems. As far as I am concerned, at this point, because of your constant negativity, you are part of the problem.

You mentioned all the feedback listed and the lack of response in another thread. Many of those feedback items are duplicates, or talking about the same thing. Many are not bugs or problems, but just features that are different or don't work the way that people expect them to based on the old forum. Some are non critical things like formatting. The resolved count reflects only the items I took action on... I have also been taking action on items that are not in the feedback. Most recently I have been working on the classifieds section. There were a number of bugs that were preventing people from actually communicating with each other about the items for sale. It was a high priority item.

As mentioned, I have been submitting bugs with developers. I am dependent on them to add additional features. Most items in the feedback section are addition features to this forum software and not "bugs" or problems. While the old forum was great and all, it had its flaws as well. They just weren't as visible to you. The snitz forum was open source, had gaping security holes, was prone to spam, had lousy server performance, and was built on an old, no longer supported platform... It did not use a fancy html editor, but a basic text editor that you could put forum code into. The HTML editor is where the majority of the problems lie in this new forum. While it's true that the current forum may not be as mature as the old, it has many more features.. Some of these features do need more work..

I've said on numerous occasions, as recently as a few days ago that I know there are problems and I am working on them. That doesn't seem to be good enough for you. Sorry. There are only 24 hours in a day. I'm not superhuman, and I have other responsibililties(like family and a real job) that have to take a priority over fixing every "issue" you find with MLS. Some items are the way they are and will not change. They are just a new different way of doing things. Other items can be fixed. I'm working on them. When will they be fixed? I don't know. I can't say for sure. I work on it when I can.

As a result of your bitching, I have turned off the rich text editor that everyone is used to and replaced it with a standard text box to make the site more "Jerry" friendly. Most likely I will also be turning off the quick reply form at the bottom of topics too, to prevent your "timeout issue". Hopefully you can post succesfully now and will stop the daily rant calling all my hard work "crap".

Your experince as a "systems designer and development engineer and the principle technologist" does not mean you have an understanding of what it takes to run a web site the size of MLS. Unless you've really walked a mile in my shoes, you have no place to say what should or should not be done. Most everyone that I know on the site that does have experience doing work similar to what goes on here at MLS is behind me. They understand the strain and stress that I'm going through, all for a web site that I do "for the fun of it". So lay off, go outside (or inside if you prefer) and run a train. That's what it's all about. I wish I could, but instead of actually doing my hobby, I run a website about my hobby, so I don't have time to enjoy it.