Old link here. Anyone who wants to beta test the new Forum, email me at demfromct@earthlink.net
for anyone who comes to visit, rememebr right now we’re doing housekeeping and not much flu talk. that’s why we call it beta testing. We’re changing colors, moving things, and doing a lot of geek talk.
But we’re also teaching MaMa and AnnieB (bless them both) how to format in the new system, as we teach ourselves.
The point is that if it feels geeky, be patient. Soon enough the talk will go back to flu.
I hope no one got too attached to that blue ‘cos it’s been disappeared. We went to a darker colour so we could use more of it to help visually organize the space. It’s certainly a bit busier for the eyes than this place and we’ve just finished some tweaks to try and deal with that.
btw, pogge’s wonderful to work with, in case you haven’t noticed.
Well, the new forum is fun and it’s not that hard at all. It’s just different. (And lightning fast.)
I suggest that those of you that are apprehensive are the very ones that should come over now and start playing. This seems to be a very quiet time for AI news and there’s not as much posting going on over here as usual. That’s because most of the movers and shakers among the posters are over there learning how to move and shake in the new environment. The first thing to do is just learn the nomenclature and how to move around. It will pay you to learn to do this before the main wiki forum moves over.
Posting is EASY if you just want to do a plain post. We can pick up little refinements one at a time as we go along. Gardner has made a list of simple things like how to bold and change color. Thanks, Gardner. It’s going to be a real help. Annie B and MaMa and Okieman are learning to do harder stuff. I’m just happy with baby steps right now.
Come on in! The sand is fine!
bgw in MT-
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Must go over. O.K. Mods, direct me to the site.
cottontop – at 22:50
email me at the addrss in the top post and the site is yours ;-)
You folks are amazing. I asked for a few beta testers and in 2 days there have been 11,194 page views. That’s around 50 page views per person! This forum, in comparison, gets around 20,000 page views a day, and 6 page views per person.
My next task for tomorrow is to start building the “listening post” diaries so folks can find them when they come.
bump
Dem-
Have you recieved my e-mail?
no; try also to send it to
forumadmin at fluwikie.com
and
demfromct@earthlink.net
I just started looking and reading. Lots to see on how to play there. There are directions and how-to’s and personal choices. Many thanks to Gardner and others for their insight into this new world. And Fast!! We’re going to like it there. It’s different, but I think it could be a good different, like hamburgers to fillet; or sparkling grape juice to champaigne. Try it, you’ll like it. Pick a name, think of a password and go on over and learn. The sooner we all go, the sooner it will be up and running for real.
The new forum is so much fun! And it’s faster! And it’s not yellow! And…
Seriously, it is so easy to work with, everybody will be in love with it in no time at all. I’m probably one of the least educated and most computer illiterate people here and I caught on right away. If there are others like me out there reading about the new forum and feeling scared, I’ve got two quick tips:
Don’t feel intimidated by the platform. You might be used to this one, but the other one is WAY more functional and you’ll be used to it in no time. I had to buy a new microwave today and that thing is more complicated to operate than the new forum.
If you don’t know anything about HTML and don’t care to learn about it, you don’t have to. But it sure is fun to try. I made part of my text blue and I wouldn’t know HTML formatting if it snuck up and bit me in the… Check out Simple HTML under the swan and you’ll be doing all sorts of funky stuff right away.
bump
farm girl provides a hint; I have never cared to own to a microwave oven
;-) (but I may end up finding a big one, thrown away; I hear they’d work as a farraday cage)
When will it be up and running??
it’s up and running now,. but we’re still tweaking aappearance and adding content.
We’ll open the doors Friday.
Farm Girl I didn’t make it over to your site — I’m STILL working on my questions for today…..I got slowed down & then just ground to a halt last night.
See ya later!
Two things have become very clear for me: the new Forum is evolving it’s appearance and is starting to look more like the old site- familiar, and that’s cool! But there’s still a lot for me to learn, which brings up my second point. I’ve only started typing on a keyboard a few years ago and not very often, at that. I’m not a bad typist- or so I thought. I seem to have lately developed some sort of recognition problem! It blows my mind how many mistakes I’ve make, while I thought I was going great. For instance the HMTL codes should really not cause me problems as they’re not that difficult, but I just don’t get it??!!??
Is this what dyslexia is, or am I becoming prematurely senile?
I have to recuse myself on that one, Ocean2.
:o?
Ocean2 : If you use Firefox 2 as a browser, there is a built-in spelling checker which flags your mistypings and easily helps you to correct them by right-clicking on the underlined words.
maybe a good idea would for us to make a “tag” list on our profile in the new forum, as a resume of what related knowlegde Interestes and experience we have, both proffesional and life skills. that way newcommer may get a clue on who to ask about special things. and its also maybe helpfull to relate the conversations based on it?
my tags would then be something like this. alternative energi, camping, fishing, cooking, waterfilters, electronics, design, mechanics, activism, etc etc..
of course there is the risk this may make the whole wiki into a dating service :D
your profile has a bio space where that could go.
Re the Beta Test forum:
The more people tell me how easy it is, the clearer it becomes to me that I must be a bit slow.
I am one of those people who gets attached to a familiar web interface. When my bank or my favorite online newspaper tells me about a new and wonderful upgrade, or revised site organization that I’m going to LOVE, I hide in the closet.
Later — sometimes much later — I realize that I have grown accustomed to the new system. Usually this happens right before they announce another “upgrade.”
Because I have a lot of trust and confidence in the Flu Wiki editors and administrators, I will keep the faith during this change.
But telling me how wonderful and easy it is — that only tells me how easy and wonderful it is for YOU! I’m going to have trouble for a while — I always do, with internet changes.
We all do… adjustment reactions are not just for flu… but coming around and looking eases the pain.
Don’t forget, no one is obligated to master this by tonight. Think of the enthusiastic people as volunteers for the Welcome Wagon… or as volunteers to be Teaching Assistants (TA) rather than feeling like you’re being left behind. You know them, they’re not strangers. They’re part of this community… and so are you. ;−0
So far it’s a Spam Free Zone. Excuse me while I do a little happy dance.
Come on over folks the water is fine ;-)
I have been in there again just puddling about and found myself zipping around like an old pro - that is saying something for me!
It is so easy as you have your own page where you can check out replies to your comments. And the Mods are doing a great job of creating new threads (diaries) so we don’t have to start from scratch when we all get there.
And there is speed and no spamming - big happy happy dance pogge ;-)
A huge thanks to those over there doing hours and hours of work to get it going - your efforts are not under-estimated let me assure you.
The new site had me excited at first, then I got frustrated by the newness (it just wasn’t the same as Old Yeller), then excited again as I started to learn my way around, then frustrated as I found out I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was and other testers were doing things that left me in awe. Determined to be a good tester I sat down for an hour and just played. I’m not going to be one of those who can do all of the fancy HTML stuff, but an average user who is at fluwiki to learn what I can, and contribute when I can. The new wiki is the same as the old wiki, it’s just a newer, fresher look with a few more choices and a lot more speed.
…a LOT more speed. ;-)
‘Opefully, then, people will have time to help with Forum.TranslateGoodHomeTreatment. ;-)
The new forum, hmmm. Well, my frustration level is through the roof, as I knew it would be. Hoping once it settles down, I can work this out. 1. I feel really isolated from the other posters. This forum, we’re all right here it seems. We see all the threads at once, and we see the posters all at once. If that makes any sense. 2. I’m not going to mess with learning how to do the diary, soapbox, ect. For now, that can wait. I need to learn how to post, and find the threads. But, in time, I will get the hang of it, hopefully. 3. the site looks great, and has a lot of good features that the more computer literate people will enjoy. I think it will work out just fine.
Hi Cotton, You aren’t alone in how you feel. I just started pushing all the buttons to see what would happen and some are very obvious and others aren’t. The more advanced guys are so helpful. All I had to do is read some of the comments others made in answer to other’s questions and Ifound out more. Any yes you can see all Threads (diaries) at once. And you can see all the posters at the same time. You can even see the actual date set to the time zone that you want. One of the things about fluwikie is you never knew what the date was until you finally see it on one of the posts.
I posted 2 posts (dairies) without using HTML, just using regular typing to see what a mess I’d made. They came out fine. I will use HTML at some point probably but you sure don’t need it. Yes, the page looks messy when you first see it but it makes sense after a while. Another good point is you can do a search easily for whatever suject you want e.g. water, recipes, heat, etc. All of the posts (dairies) will come up with that subject’s postings.
If you like a certain poster then you can ‘subcribe’ to that poster. Then you don’t have to be concerned if you have missed any of that guy’s posts as you will have a list in your own personal menu. Try it again and see if I’m right. If you have any questions and I can help, then just ask me. My name is the same as here. ( I still don’t know where the sandbox is but I guess I’ll find it somewhere. I never used it here either.)
Newname-
….I just started pushing all the buttons…. LOL!! That’s what I was doing! Oh, feel stress level sinking. I think sometimes I really don’t need to be near a computer. I am so, well can you get any lower idiot, when it comes to this stuff. And I took two years of electronics in high school and did well. Go figure. Considering my Dad’s occupation was aviation navagation and computers was his life, I would have thought I’d learn something. Nope. Anyhow Newname, you’ve made me feel better, and have explained somethings in my lanuage, and I promise to keep trying. I don’t want to be left out when everyone transfers over for good. Thanks for your help.
Cotton --- You made me laugh as when you said you took electronics and was good at it , it reminded me of my husband. He makes computers from scratch and can repair all kinds of electronic equipment, etc. But, all he ever really does on a computer is play solitaire.gggg If he wants to find something out or buy something, he asks me to do it. (I think he isn’t so dumb after all… a built-in servant.)gg
thanks, folks… this is neighbors helping neighbors, and consider it’s only been one day (two at most) for you two. newname has already written a couple of diaries and posting a comment is as easy as here… type and post.
But what we can do there that we can’t do here is show pics and movies very easily. Imagine the teaching about handwashing and sneezing into your elbow we can do!!
We built all the Lookout post threads and gathered them into one table, just like MaMa does in the news threads.
And no one laughs at you (or me) when we make a mistake (which we do - I broke the internets three times today).
We’re trying to make it as friendly as this place… it’s a new pair of slippers that have to be broken in, when you know the old comfy pair have a few extra holes in them.
Demfromct
I emailed you last night because I want to try the new forum. Wonder if you received email?
I did not get it, but go here and see DemFromCT – at 13:19.
newname and co - yes it is good fun over there but, like so many new things we are exposed to, it takes some getting used to for some of us - but I have got the “new slippers shaping up nicely” - I volunteered to help move some data and that certainly got me focussed on the learning stuff!
But, as said again and again, you can go there as you go here - look around and say nothing, or post a comment without any html knowledge whatsoever. (for those going to do html stuff, remember the codewords are american - ‘colour’ does not work (need color) - that took about 40 minutes for me to resolve!) As I said to DemFromCT - yeah, what a lagh!
newname - if you want a sandbox - you just create your own - in fact a lot of the pages over there already are people’s sandboxes where they are trying things - and we are happy to share our space and our toys. In fact - haven’t you already created one? - I think I went looking …
Apologies for not spending much time here but we want the new home looking welcoming for you all when you get there - think of us as the advance party who are opening the windows, airing the place out, making up the beds, arranging the furniture and giving it a good coat of paint and a thorough clean and polish … See y’all soon.
what a great analogy, AnnieB! BTW, AnnieB is on the welcome wagon and will be available, as so many other will be, to help.
As of now, we’re aiming for Friday AM to open the doors.
Mods AnnieB
I think it’s going to get interesting, and exciting, when this goes full force, and new people start to join. I don’t feel as frustrated as I did, and just clicking on this and that.
AnnieB Thanks for everything you’ve done to help us. Without people like you, we would be stuck, (and not in the sandbox!) ;-)
Dem, and will you let me download the whole archive for offline statistics
and keyword search , as I’m doing now ?
the source code is not available and there is probably no chance to implement possible improvements in the future
it takes -maybe- 15 minutes for a newbie who just wants to post one question or contact info. Which might well be an improvement for regulars in the long run, is pretty much unacceptible for newcomers with interested only in a small range of topics.
is it possible to get the list of new posts from the right bar on the main page on a larger screen ? And maybe not only the subject line but also the first line of the body ?
We’ll have virtual coffee and doughnuts ready to greet you. And for those in appropriate time zones — and for those who really don’t like changing forums — there will be virtual BBRWFK if you want it or need it.
gs – at 23:07
Do you mean from here or from there? We don’t have access to the source code there, so i don’t know how to say yes.
is it possible to get the list of new posts from the right bar on the main page on a larger screen ? And maybe not only the subject line but also the first line of the body ?
Can you? I don’t think so.
Path Forward – at 14:06 Is that closet big enough for 2?
ConnectRN – at 18:14 The new wiki is the same as the old wiki, it’s just a newer, fresher look with a few more choices and a lot more speed.
No CRN, the new wiki is NOT the same as this old wiki…..the contrast is worse because of the stark white background & the print is always so much smaller than here. And there just is no clutter on this site here. I knew this here was too good to be true because it was easy on the eyes & readable.
Telling us back here that it’s just the same, when we can look at it and see that the valued attributes here are missing there, is just not convincing me of anything.
I set my preferences to show me 50 threads — I had wanted to be able to click on one of those 50 threads and see the thread start to finish like I see a full thread here. Apparently though, I only get the last thing posted and have to make another click in order to get to the top of a thread — or maybe it’s just taking me to the top of the last major indented comment…..seems like it’s functioning more like the ‘last 50 posts’ here, which I never cared for either because it was too cluttered for my taste. I just needed to be able to open a thread. Just see a thread without having to hunt the top of the thread like Sherlock Holmes. My ADHD personality doesn’t enjoy multiple clicks when they’re not necessary — or at least they shouldn’t be necessary….either I don’t get it or I’m right…. and I don’t like either of those options.
I remember why I am a little fond of Yahoo groups. I don’t mean to be ungrateful for something that the bulk of you guys are thrilled over, I just like the leisurely approach here…pick a thread, click, read & scroll, click back, choose another thread, click, read & scroll, click back, etc. Now it takes 2 clicks in place of one to get where the top of the thread is. OK, I guess we’ll live with that, I just still regret the lack of background everywhere & the size of the font. It would be one thing if the diary titles on the left were the only things small, but they’re small & so is what you open to read. And what you read is not on a softened background. I never realized I liked being “inside the box” as much as I like the boxes here. Nothing was more clear than the yellow strip where someone’s name is & the shaded box where their comments are. How simple and sweet & clean it is. And readable.
Path Forward, where’s the key to the closet, I wanna lock myself in.
Actually I think I’ll just go to bed now & quit being crabby.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 00:26
Just be sure you are clicking threads (i.e Diaries). They are on the right. When you click on the left you are clicking on individual comments. That’s why you wind up in the middle of the page and you don’t go to the top. ;-)
the new forum is down now ? I can’t access since a few minutes
DemFromCT – at 23:23
from there.
You must have some big archive-file, where everything is stored.
If it’s not encrypted and can be used for keyword-search, that
should do it.
OK, the new forum works again now for me.
gs – at 01:03
they are not our servers. we rent, not own. same with the software.
So, they factually own our posts.And we only get limited access through renting.
That’s bad.
I don’t like it.
Why would you accept that ?
Guys, you gotta see the new video on the front page of the new Fluwiki! It’s a scream amd a very clear demonstration of the possibilities of the new site. I’m breathless from the giggles!
I’m-working-on-it, Please, keep trying it! It DOES get easier! I would find it a great loss not to hear your voice there!! Try this reading trick I learned from pogge-hold sown on the Control button and roll the wheel on your mouse away from you- this makes the letters bigger. To make them smaller, hold down the Control button and roll the wheel towards you.
If a real dope like me can get started, I’m SURE you can do it! What I’ve learned so far is, once you get your temporary password from Dem, you can ask for your own password: after that you have to log in each time you want to comment. Then, you click up your own diary WHICH IS THE SANDBOX!! You get your own sandbox to play and learn in! All the others diaries are also ‘sandboxes’; those are used as threads. You can also cut ‘n paste as you make your comment (I use Control + C for ‘copy’, Control + X for ‘delete’ and Control + v for ‘paste’. The more I’m there the more familiar it becomes. And it’s looking more and more like ‘Old Yeller’ every day- the mods are tweeking it constantly. Don’t give up! Ocean2
That should read ‘hold DOWN the Control button’. Ocean2
So, they factually own our posts.And we only get limited access through renting. That’s bad. I don’t like it. Why would you accept that?
Mods should have copies of everything in any case. I hope the software is free software, but I don’t know; if it’s not free software, then at least the API (how to get at the data) should be explicit, open, really usable.
I’m not sure I fully like the new thing. I need a couple of days to get used to it and find ways around whatever limitations there are.
Can we see posts in flat format - e.g. “recent first”?
I’ll get myself a sandbox, yes. I was trying other things first. Me gets old. :-/
And yes, I looooooove the video. Is it downloadable and copyiable on a CD?
Ah, yes - comment prefs - flat, unthreaded, oldest first - then I just read. Good. Not easy on the newbie, but good.
http://www.soapblox.net/blog/showDiary.do?diaryId=20
v1.0 RC1
it looks like mods don’t “own” the software at all
a backup would be pretty useless, probably
is the license “GPL” or what?
it’ll probably be easy, powerful and good + we can see a number of communities flowering
but I hope these issues haven’t been overlooked - quite sure they haven’t, but here are my eyeballs in case they are needed ;)
The point of the FluWiki is the wiki part. The editing interface for the main wiki has been an obstacle for greater participation. I would hate to see that become true for the forum as well. I admit I haven’t spent much time on the new forum but please keep in mind most people are starting from scratch. The audience includes people from all backgrounds. To survive on the web you need to hook them quickly or they will click away. Please keep it simple and obvious. If we have to plead for experienced FW contributors to stay something is wrong. We need all the help we can get.
I do appreciate all the effort put in. I just wonder if the experienced developers may underestimate the learning curve. It is hard enough to convince people about the threat of a pandemic. For this site to remain a cornerstone of collaboration we need to facilitate its ease of use for all skill levels.
maybe have a simpler set of default “comment prefs”? or be able to switch between “outline” and “flat, oldest first” with the click of a button?
i’m jotting down notes as they pop up in my mind (or whatever’s left of it) - mods know i appreciate the effort and all that
lugon, yes, my idea too. To have an easy configuration for newbies to get started. Activated by a single click. That flat-unthreaded has the disadvantage, that you can’t figure out which post
a post is replying to.
Go build it, guys.
my plan is for this to stay and the other new forum to stay as is.
We have 3 billion people to reach. Stop thinking small. ;-)
No one thing will satisfy everyone.
I have my preferences over ‘there’ set so that I can see 50 of the ‘comments’ on the left side of the page & up above here I learned that the ‘threads’/diaries are on the right (thank you for clearing that up) so I went to preferences & set that to 50 too.
I think one thing that bothers me that I hadn’t really realized before now is that the mods get the nice big center section over ‘there’ to put stuff in and it seems pretty static so far, not changing, meanwhile the threads that I’m interested in are crammed over on the right & have 1–1/2 inches of space so that the titles have to be shown in 3–4 lines of type, not straight across and I can’t change that like I can change column width on some pages. I dunno, the colored graphs and charts are nice, but they’re not why I came to this old location or why I’d go to the new section.
They DO appeal to my ADHD love of color, but once I’ve seen ‘em, I’ve seen ‘em and don’t need to keep on seeing ‘em, but that’s just me and I’m probably the only person in the world that would feel that way. Until they changed often enough to be noticeable (god forbid) they’re just the same thing every time I load that page and no more interesting than the header “Flu Wiki Forum” to me-I know others thrive on all that type info and that’s great. I’m just more interested in what people are saying. I am really impressed that MaMa and AnnieB and everyone is learning to do those graphs and tables so quickly since it’s an integral part of the forum, it’s just not the thing that draws me (pun intended) to the site.
If it were me making recommendations, I’d rather see in the larger section what there is to read on the boards -sort of like newspaper headlines, rather than see the same graph or message in the middle of the page every day.
I really had no trouble figuring out how to post over ‘there’ — yes, that’s as easy as it is over ‘here’. And HTML doesn’t worry me since I’d rarely have to use it & when I did I’d stop and learn or just go back to tiny URL, even though I saw a comment by lugon this AM to not use it anymore for sensible reasons he pointed out. It’s not the posting part that concerns me at all — it’s simply the reading that’s just not as fun ‘there’ as it was ‘here’ because it’s not as easy to read.
It’s sweet of you guys to try to explain to me how to make the text larger, but apparently you haven’t tried what you’re recommending yet or you’d know already that it doesn’t work. Works HERE on THIS forum, not over there.
I know that you can use the control button & the scroll feature on your mouse to make print bigger on some pages-but not on the new forum’s pages. I tried it & when *I* did it the only thing on that page that got bigger was the title FLU WIKI FORUM and since I already know that’s what it is, I don’t need that portion enlarged any more. I would have chosen to have the TEXT enlargeable, not the name of the forum. So unless you know a trick that I don’t know to make the TEXT, not just the main title page header, larger, what you’re suggesting hasn’t help. Works HERE, not THERE.
I also know that I can choose Text from my computer’s toolbar and choose ‘larger’ or ‘largest’ text on a lot of pages & that will make some pages easier to read. That does NOT work on the new forum either. Works HERE, not THERE.
Apparently someone went into their control panel and changed the handicapped settings and got larger print, but the problem with that is it changes every single page you view on your computer all day long, every day, until you cange it back again…..since I’m supposed to be using my computer for work as well as leisure, that’s not an option for me.
Here on this forum, I pop in throughout the day when I get a pause from doing other things that I’m ‘supposed to be doing’. I usually stop in here every time I stop to check email in 2 locations, which can be up to once an hour during the day.
It’s not practical or pleasurable for me to have to go to my control panel every time I want to read the other forum and change my settings then have to go back and reset them every time I want to read something.
Maybe I just need to hang a magnifying glass in front of the screen. Seriously, I don’t know what other people do who actually have vision problems (I don’t other than nearsightedness), all I know is that when I came here back in April or May one of the things I liked was uncluttered pages, & another thing that struck me as nice was the larger print in what I was trying to read (not large down here in the comments box as your write, but when it posted, it turned out larger) and that was nicer than the Yahoo groups I usually hung out in.
I really appreciate you guys trying to make suggestions & I did try them, they just weren’t the right tools for the job over there. There are just some things that aren’t going to change & it appears the font size isn’t a variable so I’ll have to either live with it or not.
Ever post a specific question to somebody on this forum and never get an answer? Ever realize that somebody asked you a question a week ago and you didn’t know it because you forgot you posted on a certain thread that has since sunk from sight? All of that can be prevented in the new forum, and that’s just a small part of the new features. Don’t worry about not being able to do any of the HTML stuff, you can either learn it or not depending on how adventurous you feel. Come on over and get familiar, then we will get back to saving the world.
It’a a learn as you go process. That’s the only way to do it. The more time I spend with the new forum, the more I get use it it, and my anxiety subsides. I like having my own personal page. I’m just having trouble getting use to the new terms, “diaries”, ect. I write any helpful comments down, and refer back to them when I have a question. That has been most helpful. We will get use to it. Anything new takes time to learn and get use to.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FLU CREW!!!!!!
yes, but not good for newbies.
I assume Dem had this in mind since long, but didn’t tell us…
Else we could have checked and commented earlier.
Now we are confronted with fait accompli.
gs – at 09:40
You think everything that happens is a conspiracy theory? ;-)
No, that’s not right. I think it’s more that you are a linerar thinker and can’t appreciate chaos theory in action.
There is NO way to make a site that 3 billion people agree is perfect for them. People need options. Those that in the end prefer here will have here, in some variation. But we are at the limits of what we can do her, and we must change. That’s a fact.
What do we change to? Well, what’s our goal? If it’s to reach as many people as possible we need to offer more. More speed, more server, more video, etc.
Now keep in mind, some of you never actually go over to the wiki side. Some of you go right to the Forum and never to the Main page. If you went there, you’d see a video link called “why don’t we do it in your sleeve?” over in the tips of the week. It’s been there for some time, yet when I posted it as awatchable video yesterday, people saw it for the first time. ;-)
Get the hint? The goal is to see the video and it wasn’t happening!
I appreciate I’m-workin’-on-it’s comments (gs’s, too), and here is an example of another communitiy’s approach to the small print diary issue - <a href=“http://www.dailykos.com/tag/diary%20rescue”>click the link</a>. This community has hundreds of diaries a day, and the rescue rangers volunteer to pick the good ones and put them in the middle.
This is a service we can offer to the community once we have more content there.
Another issue that’s come up is Open source vs proprietary software. I prefer Open source whenever possible, but our Open source software didn’t meet our needs, so this is commercial stuff we are renting. No cost to you, just to me. There will never be a fee to join. But the features are not available any other way. The time and effort are donated by everyone.
Finally, you can’t bang all the sqaure pegs into the single round hole. Some things will just be okay and some things will just not work. We may need to keep Old Yeller here open for posting for those that prefer it, but the new platform is going to be where most of the action is. We can port stuff over here to keep current, and we can link here to go there for something. again, see ocean2 and cottontop. In only 48 hours, the comfort zone is expanding. it can be done. But it doesn’t mean we force everyone. Rather than force evryone in to the little box, we are making the box bigger. ;-)
oohhhhh, I just realized since HTML won’t work here, we can post here and show folks copy-and-paste code!!!!
oohhhhh, I just realized since HTML won’t work here, we can post here and show folks copy-and-paste code!!!!
There is a lot of work to do and a lot of people who need to be educated.
Discussion forums could be established using esisting software platforms that many people can manage using Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. That can always link to the wiki. There is no need for the forum to be in wiki format. The wiki work could be done on Wikipedia. These are stable platforms which require no development.
No offense to Dem but his familiar refrain of “go build your own” fails to recognize that we didn’t need to.
I just had to get that off my chest. I do wish we were not so fractured in different discussion groups Flu Clinic, FluTrackers, PandemicHelp, BirdFlu Beacon, etc.
Dem-
Side scroll in Websites for Prepardness Supplies. Thanks.
(since this is where the mods are at the moment.) ;-)
When i say go build your own, I mean that when you actually try to use the existing platforms, they all have flaws and shortcomings, so we balanced those and chiose the way we did. It’s not out of pique that i say that, it’s an invitation. Come up with something better.
In the meantime, keep in mind we don’t all read the same paper or watch the same networks. But we have visitors and readers to the other forums and we go there.
That’s why some folks will migrate to their comfort zone, and some will stay here. But we also want to attract new viewers.
On another note, I posted a link to a diary rescue post. I put one up on the new site for I’m-workin’-on-it and gs to check out.
You’ll have to get used to some degree of change, but the new site is very flexible.
Thank you Dem.
Speaking as your typical “computer illiterate” type, I think the mods made a great choice. I’ve been taking a look around and did not find it to be intimidating. Even though I am not familiar with HTML and am the furthest thing from being a computer geek, I can envision the increased potential with the new forum… Way more organized, looks great and FAST!
We’re all learning as we walk. Soapblox wasn’t even in my radar, must admit. And regarding square pegs and round holes, making the two things match is our speciality, no? I mean, we’ve (re)invented “bump”, “poster at hours:minutes”, and a few other things. A bit like hammering a nail with a screw-driver.
Dem, if you haven’t done so already, please do ask the soapblox developers for regular backup copies of our data, in neutral format. We intend to keep fluwiki for another hundred years so we may outgrow any software. :-)
And of course, forum threads are one outcome of our activity, but we want to be effective in the real world. So if a video becomes visible then that’s an outcome too. Even if the data is eventually lost. In fact, I’d rather forget all this data and have us ride the next pandemic better.
Also, I hope we’ll find ways to “wikify” threads. (Yes, I know I’m a bit obsessed.)
lugon, the Forum doesn’t wiki and that was part of the thinking. If the new forum organizes better, the wiki can just link there. ;-)
Dem, could you please send me a link to the new forum?
lohrewoks @ yahoo dot com
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 09:04
I think one thing that bothers me that I hadn’t really realized before now is that the mods get the nice big center section over ‘there’ to put stuff in and it seems pretty static so far, not changing, meanwhile the threads that I’m interested in are crammed over on the right & have 1–1/2 inches of space so that the titles have to be shown in 3–4 lines of type, not straight across and I can’t change that like I can change column width on some pages.
If you go to the ‘Menu’ box on your top right and click on ‘Diaries’ it will show all the diaries in the order that they were made, similar to the ‘Last 50 changes’ here.
I also know that I can choose Text from my computer’s toolbar and choose ‘larger’ or ‘largest’ text on a lot of pages & that will make some pages easier to read. That does NOT work on the new forum either. Works HERE, not THERE.
I had exactly the same problem. I’ve tried it and you are right. It doesn’t work with internet explorer, but it does with firefox. That may be one good reason to switch to FireFox, which is what I did in the end. You can download it for free from here
Dem- Sorry I was gone for the weekend. You asked me way back there what I was “scared” of… getting lost in the “change”! I am glad y’all know what your talking about, but I am only following enough to realize I’m not following! Will this be self-explanatory for those of us that just read and periodically post when we switch?
HillBilly Bill – at 09:19
Ever post a specific question to somebody on this forum and never get an answer? Ever realize that somebody asked you a question a week ago and you didn’t know it because you forgot you posted on a certain thread that has since sunk from sight? All of that can be prevented in the new forum, and that’s just a small part of the new features.
I found that particularly helpful, even though I’ve only posted a few comments, but I can find out immediately if someone has answered my question on thread X.
Don’t worry about not being able to do any of the HTML stuff, you can either learn it or not depending on how adventurous you feel. Come on over and get familiar, then we will get back to saving the world.
Same here. You don’t need to learn any of that if you are just posting regular text. Of the basic stuff that you might want to use, the only one to learn is how to post a link, which Dem’s goof on 10:07 already shows you exactly what to do. LOL. Just cut and paste that somewhere.
If you don’t even want to learn that, you can always email the link to one of us and we will post it for you.
or you can just copy and paste a link and the new software automatically shortens it.
okcinder – at 12:19 and anyone else who wants to peek, just go here.
I’m workin’ on it: I have progressive myopia too. Can’t hardly see at times. So, I know where you are coming from.
For some reason the text is big enough for me as it is. I do have my settings on 800X600 tho. I use IE6 and I am able to enlarge the new place’s text with the scroll mouse button.
There might be another solution for you. I have a mouse that has a magnifier button on it. It is Very useful when you come across a web page that the print is so small that you can’t read it. You can make the whole page larger or just a small portion of it. When you move to another site with larger print, then you just hit the magnifier button again.
This mouse is Microsoft model 1007 and it’s wireless.
Hope this helps abit.
DemFromCT - at 10:20 - Is that why it says “invalid password”? I registered and was sent one. But I get that message?
no, that should not happen. I’ll send a new one.
Thank you. The new forum almost brought me to tears. I knew I shouldn’t have gone there until things settle down for me with my move. I’ll try again. But you guys may not hear from me for a long time - maybe never? I read thru the instructions, (that’s actually when I started tearing up…..) but I am better at trial and error.
Thanks Dem, I’m in. Now I’ve got my Menu and things are looking up!!!
Could the clock on the new forum be set correctly. It (like this old one) is about 7 minutes too fast. OK,it is not a big important thing but it sure is confusing sometimes.
DennisC – at 17:50
i’ll pass it along… i thought that was set at the server level…
I am discovering things as I go along. On Day 1 I wanted the fonts to be larger. Then I found that it was very confusing and overwhelming, and I started trying various things. Now I find that it is easier with smaller fonts to get an overview of where everything is.
So there’s a bit of trade off between small fonts (good overview, easier to find stuff, harder to get information), bigger fonts (easier to read details, but more confusing when you are trying to find anything, cos you have to scroll up and down so much that the stuff on the sidebar just irritates the hell out of you/me).
I’m still experimenting, but right now I’ve set my browser (FireFox) to smaller fonts, display preferences to fewer recent comments and diaries, so that there are fewer things that flash by on the front page when I’m scrolling. If I find a particular piece of information hard to read or understand, then I switch to a bigger font just for that.
It’s not the most efficient, and I’m still working on it. But I just wanted to share what I’ve learnt so far, given that I have just about every single problem that has been brought up in the last few days.
the color scheme is still being adjusted.. we started with blue on while and now we have maroon on yellow (sound familiar? Sorry about that.
bump
Hope you don’t go to mustard gold- please? The pale green on the wiki side is very nice and calming. (I couldn’t get it on the Forum, though.)
When I get a password, can I use it when I’m using someone else’s computer?
Jane – at 22:18
yep.. we are not going mustard gold. We are looking at a grey-green combo, but had to stop for today. we want a soft look that won’t bother people on for a while.
There’s a clock?! Missed that. Must go look for it.
Anon_22….Now I find that it is easier with smaller fonts to get an overview of where everything is.
See, that’s where individual use plays a role - my use has to be totally different from the way you use the wiki because I could do without so much of the stuff “here” — I never use the 50 most recent, I rarely study the graphs, etc. I just read the threads! :-)
So I probably only make 1/3 of the use of this site than you do. So I can see where you wanting an overview would be important to you. I just head to the threads….like when I was a kid I’d head to the comics section of the newspaper, then later if I wanted to read something else, or something in the comics directed me to another section of the paper (just having to say that to make the analogy work right) then I’d find myself in another section of the wiki here where there might be charts or graphs or whatever.
Just an observation of how different people use it different ways.
Comfort level really smoothing out now. Just finished my Bio, and speaking of which, folks, come on. You could at least give a one-two line about yourself. We all spend alot of time talking to each other. I believe it really helps to know who you are talking to. I have gotten a couple of pleasant surprises about people, and for those of you who have posted something about yourself, thank you. It helps me to understand you more.
O.K. I’ll slink back over to the new forum.
Happy Thanksgiving Flu Crew!!
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 23:48
:-)
I’m working on it at 9:04. You’re correct about changing the font size- I was zooming back and forth between the old and new sites plus reading links; I got it mixed up. My sincere apologies for adding to the confusion.
(O2 slinks back to lurker and learner mode and leaves the teaching to those who’ve got it down pat!)
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 23:48
You might want to link directly to the Diaries page the equivalent of these threads with brief summary, rather than the Main Page, which has all the bells and whistles.
The above can be done for any of our reeaders more comfortable with the threads listed one by one, as we do here.
I will start a new thread…