The new one is difficult to perceive visually.
I am a creature of habit. (One who happens to like yellow.)
Voi hyvin, Thinlina.
Yes, I like this forum better. I guess I will change to the new forum and stay with FW, but this one is so much easier to use as I am multitasking. The new one has too many bells and whistles, options. It is fine if that is all you are doing but I normally just run FW as a background item as I do other things. So I guess I will just the new one, but I will likely not be using it as much. The nice thing is you don’t have to do all the tinyurl or markups.
DennisC – at 10:32
You can also use a Diaries entrance or a News entrance to get what you need. But this one will also stick around a while. Different strokes and all. ;-)
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/tag.do?subjectId=9 is the news entrance.
get some sun-glasses with yellow filter
LOL - anonymous@10:43 - darn near spit out my coffee all over my keyboard!
Heh. We are happy to help in any way (including that).
Perhaps building a “useful links” library would be best for those that wish to stay here. For example, this is the Area Preppers thread, and from there you can link and transport yourself wherever you want to go. it’s now here, so you don’t ned to search for it there. Just click and use.
Tell us what you want, and we can do that.
Area Preppers
Personal Preps
Lookout Posts/Indonesia news
Science
Go there, pick up what you need, come here.
I find the soft gray of the new forum is much easier on my eyes than these yellows. Different strokes I guess.
For what it’s worth I cursed at and struggled with the new forum for the first few hours but now I like it very much indeed. For me at least what was initially confusing and complicated now seems wonderfully flexible and useful. Of course your mileage may vary. :)
Thought the background harder on the eyes. Won’t use it for a while, just drop in now and then until I get the hang of it. Not computor savy and don’t want to be, also limiting time on sites as life is passing me by if I don’t.
Part of my problem is that I tend to read entire lines instead of word by word. The new forum just has lots of short lines and is too choppy as you read. The colors don’t bother me much. But, the columns are little narrow things (three columns) so you have to move your eyes more to read. That is what hard for these old eyes. And all the indented comments are just too hard to read when there are replies to replies. I still don’t know how to turn off the indentions.
The recent comments are lots of little short lines with no times. There must be a last 50 comments or something with times but I sure have not found it yet. In this old forum I would just get up each day and review the post since midnight, but here I cannot tell the dates or times of the “recent posts” so I don’t know if I a missing things or not.
OK I know, just get used to it or move on…
OK I know, just get used to it or move on…
Or stay with the old one until they close it, then move on.
DennisC – at 11:23
If you never use the new site again, i want to accomplish one thing, and teach you how to make the comments the way you want and turn off the indentations!
step 1: go to your personal page. The easiest way to find it is in the Menu. You can also click your name in any comment. (You need to be registered to do this - if you are not registered you can not change the indented look. And you don’t have a Menu).
step 2: click the rightmost link called “profile”.
step 3: click where is says comment prefs.
step 4: there is a pull-down menu; set it to (flat) unthreaded. There is another for ‘oldest first’ or ‘newest first’.
step 5: BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS PAGE, save it!
The comments will no longer be indented; they will appear as they do here.
DemFromCT ….DennisC – at 11:23…. Can’t help but to agree. I really hate to constantly scroll down because the sentences are only three or four words long in the middle section. I also tend to read the whole sentence at once. How about giving us the choice to shrink / resize the sections on either side allowing the middle section to populate fully?
OK folks—talk about slow, I knew there was talk about a new forum, if it is up how do we get to it, I have looked around and I can’t find it. I went to Dem’s link and it looks good but how so you get to the forum????? OK, I know I am old and slow so be nice!!!
Dem - I did turn off my indentations - only marginal improvement. I don’t see dates or times a lot of the time, and can’t tell what’s new from what’s old. There don’t seem to be any tweaks to make it look/act anything resembling the many formats with which I’ve worked before. I saw someone say that after several hours it began to make sense . . . I want my hours to be spent learning about H5N1, not learning about computer software. When I want to learn software, I go to a Mac forum.
As I say, I’ve never before seen a forum that required such extensive directions. It’s just not “user friendly” to my way of thinking - I’ll try to keep trying, but I’m afraid that this is going to mean the loss of a lot more intelligent people who just can’t handle the frustration. I know that a lot of posters recently left because of the perceived censorship issue, and I hate to see more of us fall by the wayside. I’m pretty sure that’s never been your intent, either.
Love Texas – at 11:58
This is the Main page of the new Forum site. This is the Diary view, similar to what we have here.
This is a primer (from this site) on how to navigate.
Clawdia – at 12:14
This place will stay. People will choose what suits them. If you don’t like the new place, stay here.
We have never looked for exclusivity. If people want to go out and start different sites or frequent different places that help different people in different ways, more power to you (and we will help if we can, by linking, directing or offering expertise).
That place will be different than this. It remains to be seen who else comes to use the site. There are many thriving sites on the internets, community sites, which are based on that kind of social software. So, we shall see. The benefits of that sort of community (which I have managed) are real and established.
Our goal and purpose remains the same - help people prepare for pandemic flu. If this site helps people to do that, great! if the other contributes, terrific! if the original Flu Wiki does its part, that’s fine (and more people should visit)!
I have my Comment settings as described by Dem above (indentations turned off -Flat Unthreaded) and dates and times are perfectly visible on all comments. I know exactly which are new comments and which are older ones…my settings are at oldest>newest same as here, so I just scroll down to read the new ones exactly as I do at this old site. Hmmmm. Wish I could help more than that, but being basically computer illiterate, can only relate my experience and it has been satisfactory using those settings.
After I log in, I click on Diaries in my Menu Box top corner and away I go…using those above described settings, I really don’t find the format that much different than here..which now seems surprising to me based on the problems others are relating in this thread and knowing that I am the definition of a computer dummie!
http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/ Sinä myös! :D
crfullmoon – at 09:21 Sinä myös! :D
(Sorry my keyboard doesn’t seem to feel well - control-C doesn’t work…) ;D
DemFromCT – at 10:52 Is it possible to make the spacing of lines tighter? The text is quite widely spaced.
Not that I know of, although the next upgrade may help with that.
DemFromCT---Thanks for the link and I looked around and it looks nice, I am sure it will take me a while to get used to it being old and all. I do find there is a glare but I see you are working on that. I will read all your posts on directions etc and hopefully I will be going great there too. Too much to learn and keep up with about the BF to not try. PS—remember everyone that learning something new is what keeps the brain young. Again thanks for all your hard work gang.
Love Texas – at 12:54
Everyone at the site is more than willing to help. Just ask, there or here!!
DemFromCT – at 12:16
The “Recent Comments” box on the lower right side bar is the closest to the “view of all threads” front page on this discussion forum. Is there a way to make “Recent Comments” a full screen so it looks similar to this forum?
Sorry, I meant Recent Diaries. But putting only Recent Diaries and Recent Comments to show on the page is what I am looking for.
Dem - I hope you realize I’m not ragging on the new site - I’m expressing my personal frustration at being unable to do what I’m trying to do (which is, as you say, to help people prepare for pandemic flu) without the software/format getting in my way. It’s really not so much that I “don’t like it” as it is that I have difficulty functioning within its parameters.
I’m sure, as you say, that different people will be attracted to different aspects of the Wiki, and the flubie world in general. I know there are lots of different sources for information - I just happen to believe that the Wiki has long been in the forefront of the sites, and I’ve come to rely on it and the people who post here. Aye - there’s the rub - for with the division that will occur between Old Yellar and the new Wiki, there will also be a division of the participants. The group mind that has been operative here will inevitably change because of that. The people who we are used to being part of “our” group may now either be part of that group, or part of the other, or both, or neither.
And besides - you know people are resistant to change. Sometimes, I forget just how resistant. We like what we’re used to, for the most part. I’m still trying to figure out if we did the right thing by buying a Toyota Prius hybrid as opposed to buying a “regular” car, so I guess that demonstrates my mind set. :)
No, that is fixed in this set-up. There is an upgrades coming that may allow us to change (not sure) but for now, the best way is to do what AnnieB suggests… go into the Diaries entrance (and click Diaries from the Menu to return).
Clawdia – at 13:36
I don’t take any of this personally. ;-)
Actually, I see many of us already jumping from one site to the other.. hey, did you see this? regarding revere’s review of Webster’s latest?
As always, diana’s right… she said somewhere (this place can drive you nuts looking for something!):
Oh yeah, it was on the “Advice for casual users” thread.
I think of the navigation aspects on the new site as follows (maybe this might work for others, too):
- the “Return to Main Forum Page” link (at the top of this page) = the “Diaries” link in your Menu box.
Want to see ALL the threads?..Log in and just click on that Diaries link and voila! Worked for me!
Fine tuning can then be had in your Menu Profile as to number of diaries displayed, etc…I’ve got mine set at 50 diaries and also have my formatting set exactly as Dem has described in other posts - Flat/unthreaded. The result is very similar to this forum IMHO.
I like it.
Dem @ 13:45 - About many of us jumping from one site to another . . . I guess I’d be really hard put to argue with that one since I’m a custodian at CE! :)
I see a lot of the same names at the Wiki as at CE - and I think that’s a good thing.
Clawdia – at 14:19
How come Fluwikie mods don’t comment about other flu boards and advertise Fluwikie over there? Isn’t it fair game?
anonymous – at 14:39
‘S okay. We’re not in competition. Over at CE, the posters there talk about us if they want, so we don’t need to. ;)
Poster neophyte was quite helpful with the new forum re suggestions and then brought links over to CE.
We’re one big family, y’know (with a couple of crazy aunts and a loony uncle or two in the attic).
I really didn’t mean to offend anyone - I’d not thought of mentioning another site as advertising for it. Anyone who has seen my posting history knows I don’t do things like that - I come here to participate, just like every one else.
Dem’s right, too - I frequently see someone there beginning with a statement that “over at the Wiki, they’re discussing . . . “, or, “I saw this at the Wiki . . . “ And, as I said before, I think that’s a good thing. The more people who are concentrating on processing information, the easier it will be for all of us to keep up with what’s going on, especially with regard to H5N1.
It’s called cross-pollinization, and it’s a very good thing for information societies.
Anon, let’s drop the kindergarten sandbox stuff and stick with the flu.
It’s not about silos or sandboxes.
non anon – at 18:35
It’s called cross-pollinization, and it’s a very good thing for information societies.
Just to trigger rule # 11.
Just don’t trigger rule #11.
Klatu – at 18:43
What’s your point?
Are you already performing triage culling the old and slow? While some are criticised for saying F* the Poor, you appear to be saying F* the Stupid, RTFM.
Everyday my concern is this, is there a threat against my family? What can I do about it? We don’t want our kids to die. Do you understand that? How is this forum helping facilitate GLOBAL discussion to that end? If you are in danger of losing your core constituency how do you think this is an improvement?
Dem, you are smart but should know better than to create 2 children you need to care for. If you need to explain a joke it is not funny and if you need to write a users manual for people to use a discussion forum it is too complicated and will impede discussion (that is the point of a forum). The power of a software’s potential can be exciting but if the number of controls is too complex then you have done a disservice to the cause. Why would you do that to yourself and us? There are millions of people to inform. Only a small percentage share your technical expertise. You wanted to reduce the burden of the old forum due to its slow speed, need to close old threads, vunerability to spam, and other reasons you know better than I. I understand you have put a lot of effort into the new forum. Don’t be fooled by your statistics. How many are actually posting? How many Actually contribute to the main FluWiki. You said yourself in the About page this is not a discussion forum but that is what the FW has remained (as opposed to evolved from). Maybe we should have this conversation privately but the volume of frustration makes me think an open discussion could lead to more ideas to overcome obstacles.
Most of the time I can only jump online briefly at work through a dialup connection. At home the greatest amount of my time in the middle of the night after the kids are asleep. Many people won’t have the patience to read the user manual and take 5 steps to make the site easier on the eyes. On another thread you describe 5 difference entrances. Give me a break. Someone mentioned you can figure it out after 30–60 minutes. That learning curve will not help enough people even though we have 1000′s of useful pages on the wiki side. You are impressed by statistics and we would be more impressed if the people who are looking for a means to communicate with others about surviving a pandemic were able to do so simply and intuitively. This just adds a third or forth reference to be checked for the latest news. If there is a significant development there will people left behind. Page hits do not save lives. When we have coherent advice on water and masks instead of 3–4 meandering pages, that will be a useful contribution to saving lives.
What do you have to say? How do you reach your audience in 15 seconds or less? Tailor your message to your audience to improve their comprehension. Don’t worry so much about what you want to say as about what you want them to hear and understand. http://management.about.com/cs/communication/a/GetPointOver702.htm
Keep It Simple by default. Comments? Diaries? Tags? Where is the damn discussion forum? Are we confused by a change in semantics? A simple menu (site map?).
Currently you have on the left column,
In the right column
WTF is all this? I am not familiar with any of this termanology based on experience from other forums. No, I don’t read Daily Kos. Not because we have different ideologies but because you are not using terms I am familiar with. We share your concerns but are having trouble understanding your choice of words.
I suggest you put menu controls entirely on the left. Why not make these Menu items drop down lists to simplify the presentation of information?
There goes another hour that I should have been able to spend prepping. Thanks for the help!
In Cyberspace No One Can Hear You Scream – at 09:26
Dem, you are smart but should know better than to create 2 children you need to care for.
I actually realy have two children, and when you have a second, you do not stop loving the first,you just expand the feeling. ;-)
Go back to the mission of the Flu Wiki (our third “site child”, which many of you don’t use all that much).
There is nothing about that which is incompatable with two sites.
Let’s put it a different way. We’re not trying to prepare just us. We’re trying to get more people to prepare, including our local folks. I would encourage more activism in that rgard, but no matter. Use THIS site for what you will and use the other for what it does. perhaps this one will be better for conveying and collecting information in an effortless manner. For those who wish more detail, there’s the other place. Specific links developed there can be brought to the relevant place here.
We currently have two separate threads here (this and Anyone NOT Going to New Forum. I’m going to close this and keep the conversation there 9and start a new thread if needed.
Thanks!