This new set up is rubbish! I tried to get on to a couple of very recent threads to be told I could not access previous replies. I clicked on the "latest" tab & got them in effect upside down with the latest post first. Other threads I can access directly have them with the latest post last as it should be.
What a crock of sh1te!

Sad to say, can't get away with this site anymore.

Sadly this is my last post for a while, at least until you get a functional, easy to use forum.

Hopefully you can get it sorted out, best of luck.

Agreed. Its horrible, to the point its so user un-friendly I hardly log on any more. Time for a rethink from admin.

Could the admins at least look into the possibility of using Discourse instead? The feedback on the new system has generally been quite negative and I just want to help out where possible by suggesting possible alternatives.

There’s been feedback both positive and negative, not just on here but also via messages on our Twitter and in person when I’ve seen fellow Boarders out and about.

Personally, I’ve used the new version on both mobile and laptop, and found very little difference in posting (Once we disabled a few bits and bobs which were there initially).

We’ve also fiddled with the shading to tone down the ‘white on white’ look, something that was more obvious via computer than mobile. I use mobile probably 75% of the time and the view for me is fine.

We currently have a raised issue regarding the viewing problem that seems to appear, we’re waiting for feedback on this to come back through. When we have it, we’ll update. We’re also looking at some of the modules involved to see if any tweaking here can help.

I’ve been monitoring usage before and after the change, and in terms of folk popping on for a look, there’s very little difference in number. In terms of number of posts, it’s lower, but that is also linked to the fact that very little things CUFC are happening at the moment - No fixture release, pre-Season games to look forward to, kit released delayed, little transfer activity. Add in that folk have debated the arse of topics such as Coronavirus and Politics and we’re in a traditional summer lull.

Do you own shares in Discourse Kess?!

This is really not good

I have a choice now between 'MS-DOS 92' and the 'Ad-Fest' that is the other fans website

The joys of being a CUFC fan - 'Do not think the despair will last forever...... it'll get worse'

There’s been feedback both positive and negative, not just on here but also via messages on our Twitter and in person when I’ve seen fellow Boarders out and about.

Personally, I’ve used the new version on both mobile and laptop, and found very little difference in posting (Once we disabled a few bits and bobs which were there initially).

We’ve also fiddled with the shading to tone down the ‘white on white’ look, something that was more obvious via computer than mobile. I use mobile probably 75% of the time and the view for me is fine.

We currently have a raised issue regarding the viewing problem that seems to appear, we’re waiting for feedback on this to come back through. When we have it, we’ll update. We’re also looking at some of the modules involved to see if any tweaking here can help.

I’ve been monitoring usage before and after the change, and in terms of folk popping on for a look, there’s very little difference in number. In terms of number of posts, it’s lower, but that is also linked to the fact that very little things CUFC are happening at the moment - No fixture release, pre-Season games to look forward to, kit released delayed, little transfer activity. Add in that folk have debated the arse of topics such as Coronavirus and Politics and we’re in a traditional summer lull.

Do you own shares in Discourse Kess?!

There's been very little going on since March so you can't blame that on the downturn in pots.

I tried to make a line bold there and that didn't work as it's all in bold anyway. Not very user friendly at all or good to look at.

There's been very little going on since March so you can't blame that on the downturn in pots.

The Coronavirus Thread was seeing anything from 20 to 200 posts a day from mid-March to the end of April!

We currently have a raised issue regarding the viewing problem that seems to appear, we’re waiting for feedback on this to come back through. When we have it, we’ll update. We’re also looking at some of the modules involved to see if any tweaking here can help.

I’ve been monitoring usage before and after the change, and in terms of folk popping on for a look, there’s very little difference in number. In terms of number of posts, it’s lower, but that is also linked to the fact that very little things CUFC are happening at the moment - No fixture release, pre-Season games to look forward to, kit released delayed, little transfer activity. Add in that folk have debated the arse of topics such as Coronavirus and Politics and we’re in a traditional summer lull.

Do you own shares in Discourse Kess?!

It's not a company lol, it's just forum software. CCU you can see the logs so will know more about visitor numbers, but I get the impression most people aren't happy with the new change and I was just wanting to offer help or support in any way that I can and that offer remains open.

I tried to make a line bold there and that didn't work as it's all in bold anyway. Not very user friendly at all or good to look at.

For some reason, and this will have been in place since Kunena was being used, the website body font was set as 600 weight...it is now regular - so bold should now be clear:

Bold sentence...

Very bold of you

If anyone has specific things they'd like to see or change, please let us know - some have worked out that we're now using EasyDiscuss from StackIdeas. Previously it was Kunena. Some changes might be options we can change in the backend, some may not be. Anything not a standard settings change will not be as quick to look into and possibly implement.

Kunena was a 'free' solution - whilst it generally worked, support was poor (almost non-existent). We had ongoing issues with not being able to use Polls, some post features not working and causing black screens with no way to get back but refresh the page or click the Back button.

There will be some features that Kunena had that EasyDiscuss does not, however the support from StackIdeas has been good so far. The permission to view posts issue is taking some tracking down - it isn't easy to reliably replicate so might take a little time to investigate and work out.

There are features which Kunena lacked that members complained about when the website first moved away from the original format many years ago - for example, Private Messages. That one was mentioned many times...EasyDiscuss supports PM's...but for now, admin have chosen to leave it disabled.

We also have the abilility to create a custom 'Forum Home Page' - if anyone is genuinely interested, we can build a number of 'modules' into what members suggest will be genuinely of use to them:

https://stackideas.com/docs/easydiscuss/administrators/modules/introduction (I don't think this is blocked unless logged in).

If there are readability issues for colour, layout...let us know, we will do our best to resolve them.

Are you paying for EasyDiscuss support?

I'm not affiliated with the Discourse developers, and I don't stand to benefit in any way if you use it, nor lose out in any way if you don't. I'm just suggesting it as an alternative because I don't think what we have now is all that good and I believe Discourse is easier to get set up and administrate.

You can try it out here for free https://www.discourse.org/ After 14 days it costs if you host it on their servers but if you self host it's completely free forever. Could you at least look into it? If you try it out and don't like it then fair enough, nothing lost, plus it will stop me banging on about it

There also seems to be a very active community for support with any issues as well

https://meta.discourse.org/

Are you paying for EasyDiscuss support?

Yes, the software is an annually licenced extension and the support is available because of it - support is officially restricted to fixing bugs as opposed to adding features, however they did help me sort out the date/time display on posts which some asked about.

Are you paying for EasyDiscuss support?

Yes, the software is an annually licenced extension and the support is available because of it - support is officially restricted to fixing bugs as opposed to adding features, however they did help me sort out the date/time display on posts which some asked about.

Have added more information to my reply, could you at least take a look at Discourse? The community does seem quite active so I think you could get support for issues without having to pay any annual fee or license, save you some money.

Are you paying for EasyDiscuss support?

Yes, the software is an annually licenced extension and the support is available because of it - support is officially restricted to fixing bugs as opposed to adding features, however they did help me sort out the date/time display on posts which some asked about.

Have added more information to my reply, could you at least take a look at Discourse? The community does seem quite active so I think you could get support for issues without having to pay any annual fee or license, save you some money.

It's kind of not down to me - I'm a Joomla fan and have used it for close to 20 years (from it's Mambo roots).

Changing to a different platform is up to the forum owners and isn't something I'd be able to look at, I don't have the desire or capacity to learn another solution

There were no migration routes from the original forum before Kunena - the Kunena site change started from scratch. New users, empty categories...

With the poor support from Kunena, and having used StackIdeas stuff for a long time (not just EasyDiscuss), the fact that EasyDiscuss had a migration path to retain users, categories and posts left it one I could help with. I don't believe there is a way back to Kunena without losing all added posts since, and I don't think there is a way to migrate the current platform to Discourse - it would be starting again.

What features of Discourse would you like to see here?

Fair enough. It's not about extra features really, I just get the impression from looking at the two systems and from what I've heard people say that Discourse is a lot easier to set up and administrate "out of the box" and seems to have a decent support community. Although I qualify all of that by adding that I haven't personally ran any Discourse forums so couldn't give first hand experience of the software back end.

This is really not good

I have a choice now between 'MS-DOS 92' and the 'Ad-Fest' that is the other fans website

The joys of being a CUFC fan - 'Do not think the despair will last forever...... it'll get worse'

https://getadblock.com/

There you go, no need to thank me.

Fair enough. It's not about extra features really, I just get the impression from looking at the two systems and from what I've heard people say that Discourse is a lot easier to set up and administrate "out of the box" and seems to have a decent support community. Although I qualify all of that by adding that I haven't personally ran any Discourse forums so couldn't give first hand experience of the software back end.

If we can get some suggestions from members on what they want to be able to do and see, we can look at the options - forums are generally 'boring' to look at...there are only so many ways you can organise and display posts. It's more the problems people are having and would like solved that I am keen to hear - just saying it looks like MSDOS isn't as useful as explaining why the way it looks is causing you problems - give us specifics

Just being able to see the last post you've read & able to reply would be a great start ...
Dont need bells and whistles

Just being able to see the last post you've read & able to reply would be a great start ...
Dont need bells and whistles

I'm looking into this one, I don't think it's a standard feature unless I'm missing something.

Also, for those who are getting the permissions message when viewing a thread, can you possibly take a screenshot and let us know exactly which thread this happened on? A link or thread title if possible.

This bit is proving very hard to track down as from what it seems, it is not affecting everyone in the same way on any given thread.

Thanks!

Have you changed anything during the weekend? I tried replicating the issue where you need to click latest to see replies, the one that to start with it just says "There are replies but you are not allowed to see them" last night. I wasn't able to, but could just be that some threads work and some don't. If it does happen again I'll get a screenshot and make a note of which thread.

Not allowed to see previous posts and not clear where you are when you return to a thread. Hope it gets sorted, it would be a great shame if this once busy, thriving site Peters out and people give up.

There's a distinct lack of flow to posts since the change I'm not overly keen on each one being boxed off also unless your logged in you can't view last posts.
Apart from that it's fine just going to take getting used to.

Hope you all understand why we’ve done it during the off-Season now!

I often think people over react to any change to something they are used to.

however this new forum is terrible. There are threads that say there are replies but I’m not allowed to view them. On the occasions I can view replies they are often in some weird order.

I hope it gets sorted before football is back otherwise I think this place will die out.

Have you changed anything during the weekend? I tried replicating the issue where you need to click latest to see replies, the one that to start with it just says "There are replies but you are not allowed to see them" last night. I wasn't able to, but could just be that some threads work and some don't. If it does happen again I'll get a screenshot and make a note of which thread.

It is still happening, I have some links to affected threads though I'm not sure it happens to everyone on them all - it did happen to me when viewing the ones passed over.

If you can't see something that previously worked before being logged in, for the error that says:

"There are replies in this post but you are not allowed to view the replies from this post."

Is the one we are working on with StackIdeas support and are updating them every time we find an issue with this specific problem. For some reason, clicking the 'Latest' option works and show them all. Clicking the 'Oldest' filter option again then shows them in the original order with no error, it's proving hard to track down.

Chris which threads is the error still showing for you, I'll have a look and see if I get it as well. It does seem quite strange, I'd have thought that an error should just display for everyone whereas this one seems selective. Could it have something to do with whether you have made a post in that thread?

It still takes me to the last post in the thread, i then have to scroll up to find the last post i read. When I click the latest tab it takes me to the very first post in the thread. Previously when i opened a thread it took me straight to the last post i read. It's very annoying.

Have a poll if you think it stacks up well to the previous format CCU/Chris

We all know the answer to that one CW. The result will be a landslide. The only ones who think it's been a good change are the Mods.

Some threads read from top to bottom and some from bottom to top for me.

Just clicked on the corona virus thread and it took me to the first post at the start of the thread and below it says there are replies and your not allowed to view. Noticed it was set on oldest?

Just clicked on the corona virus thread and it took me to the first post at the start of the thread and below it says there are replies and your not allowed to view. Noticed it was set on oldest?

That’s what we’re investigating. Cheers.

I've just tried the Covid thread and 24th Jan is the latest post I can view now.

I've just tried the Covid thread and 24th Jan is the latest post I can view now.

That’s the initial post, it gets pinned to the top of Thread’s now.

Guessing you got the ‘you can’t view’ bit when scrolled down?

I've just tried the Covid thread and 24th Jan is the latest post I can view now.

That’s the initial post, it gets pinned to the top of Thread’s now.

Guessing you got the ‘you can’t view’ bit when scrolled down?

It's a post by cocaineblues that crops up.
I think it may be a problem with threads pre changeover as recent ones are fine.

You can read latest replies on the thread when you first log in but can't return to last page unless you log out and back in again.

It's an issue when thread title isn't in Bold type and you return to it.

I think

Seems we have discovered and hopefully fixed a bug related to the permissions error message - the post ordering has been reverted and test fix applied - I'm more than sure people will be vocal enough and say if it keeps happening!

Seems we have discovered and hopefully fixed a bug related to the permissions error message - the post ordering has been reverted and test fix applied - I'm more than sure people will be vocal enough and say if it keeps happening!

Most of the fans at this club will just find it a novelty that someone actually listened to their criticism and took it on board. Should've just ignored it and told us to get behind the forum you [censored]


Now, I'm going back into exile again.

Seems we have discovered and hopefully fixed a bug related to the permissions error message - the post ordering has been reverted and test fix applied - I'm more than sure people will be vocal enough and say if it keeps happening!

Most of the fans at this club will just find it a novelty that someone actually listened to their criticism and took it on board. Should've just ignored it and told us to get behind the forum you [censored]


Now, I'm going back into exile again.

Not my style

I got a free upgrade to Sky Q - terrible and going back to Sky HD Plus which was fine.

The same can be said for this site - its terrible - go back to the last format or it will die.

I'm happy with my Sky Q but not this board. Seems to have put a lot of folk off

I got a free upgrade to Sky Q - terrible and going back to Sky HD Plus which was fine.

The same can be said for this site - its terrible - go back to the last format or it will die.

Got any constructive feedback? If you can point out what you want to see, we can look into whether that can be done.

I cannot make a decision to revert back to what was here before - only the website owner can. Kunena is still there, however there is no reverse migration option - any posts made on this new setup cannot be migrated onto the old setup.

Luckily there aren’t that many of them then

Chris - genuine question. What was the criteria you were trying to meet when you carried out the change? There must have been an essentials and wish list for the new layout. If there was not, why is the site so different to before?
To me, the good things (layout, ease of access, opening at last read posts, etc) have all gone, and the missing bits (edit facility, loading photos, spell checker) are not addressed at all.
It is a disaster, and so far away from being what it should be that it is difficult to see how it can be brought to an easy to use site. It is painful to try and use, and this is with very low useage.

For me, the layout is similar (In fact I may be biased but posts have more clarity for me) and ease of access no different (I click my bookmark and it takes me straight to the Main Forum!). The opening a Thread at the last read has been enquired about though.

Edit facility (Little button that says ‘Edit’ on your Post after you’ve posted it?) and photo uploading are simple, although a spellchecker has never been part of it.

Chris - genuine question. What was the criteria you were trying to meet when you carried out the change? There must have been an essentials and wish list for the new layout. If there was not, why is the site so different to before?
To me, the good things (layout, ease of access, opening at last read posts, etc) have all gone, and the missing bits (edit facility, loading photos, spell checker) are not addressed at all.
It is a disaster, and so far away from being what it should be that it is difficult to see how it can be brought to an easy to use site. It is painful to try and use, and this is with very low useage.

Criteria were polls did not work and the post editor has issues - support from Kunena was very difficult to get as it was self-serve - EasyDiscuss is a paid solution and hence support is baked in. Polls now work and the editor to my knowledge has no issues.

Post editing is still here - we missed a setting early on which we enabled very quickly.

You can upload photos still, so unless I'm missing something that standard users cannot see? I have this when I create a post or reply (though it's the Attachments tab at the bottom now).

Spell Checker - this is a browser thing you can add easily, I use Microsoft Editor which can be added to Chrome or Edge Chromium easily.

Still need the topics to be in date descending order, i.e. latest at top. On main forum page can we have users names under posted by and last reply instead of the stupid icons

I'm sure it is far from easy to create a new forum, but here are a couple of suggestions from me.

Could we maybe have the number of pages for each topic on the forum index index page, like at the bottom of the topic page itself? (There seems to be plenty of room)
Also the name and date/time of the topic originator underneath the topic title on the forum index page, with the last poster name and date/time on the right (similar to how it is now)
I think these couple of things would make it easier to navigate.

I do like the clarity and unclutteredness of the new site, but that is maybe because it is lacking a few things.