Planned Maintenance 28/7/17

[bizzard]

Members signed in list at the bottom of the home page has disappeared, for me anyway. 

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, bizzard said:

Members signed in list at the bottom of the home page has disappeared, for me anyway. 

I've still got that in the Legacy theme, but have now lost the option to award reactions, only what others have given. So for me, I've lost more than I've gained and will have to put up with the Shift theme if I want to use reactions.

[RichM]

4 hours ago, bizzard said:

Members signed in list at the bottom of the home page has disappeared, for me anyway. 

Fixed, though it's now displayed on one of the side blocks as to decrease the overall length of the homepage and to reduce excess blank space on the side.

1 hour ago, BruceinSanity said:

I've still got that in the Legacy theme, but have now lost the option to award reactions, only what others have given. So for me, I've lost more than I've gained and will have to put up with the Shift theme if I want to use reactions.

It should work on the legacy theme. Would you mind posting a screenshot to show what you mean?

Cheers

RichM

[bizzard]

Leaderboard ''top members'' has gone bonkers too.

[RLWP]

8 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Leaderboard ''top members'' has gone bonkers too.

For those who haven't found it: http://canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/leaderboard/

Now, I wonder...

Richard

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, RichM said:

It should work on the legacy theme. Would you mind posting a screenshot to show what you mean?

Classic – it's now come back! But it wasn't there before, honest guv... Just one of those little oddities, I guess. I'm on a mobile data connection which has been a bit intermittent at times, may have got its underwear in a twist somehow.

Anyhoo, thanks for all your efforts, they are much appreciated.

[bizzard]

3 hours ago, RLWP said:

For those who haven't found it: http://canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/leaderboard/

Now, I wonder...

Richard

Its still berserk. I'm not on it anymore and I seem to have lost two rep points into the bargain. .

[tree monkey]

1 minute ago, bizzard said:

Its still berserk. I'm not on it anymore and I seem to have lost two rep points into the bargain. .

You have at least one back

[bizzard]

6 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

You have at least one back

Oh! thanks old bean.

[Starcoaster]

Seriously, the other thread locked mid-discussion!? Pointed to this thread with unanswered questions that were not covered there nor here.

Again, the red banner telling the children to mind their manners, which mysteriously disappeared without comment nor response to my question? Have you got me on ignore or something because you didn't answer my other twice-repeated question either until other people chimed in, despite giving direct responses to other, later questions.

Pretty sure the last time this modding style was tried out it fell flat on its face too.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Starcoaster

[RichM]

9 hours ago, bizzard said:

Leaderboard ''top members'' has gone bonkers too.

Bonkers? How?

1 hour ago, Starcoaster said:

Seriously, the other thread locked mid-discussion!? Pointed to this thread with unanswered questions that were not covered there nor here.

Again, the red banner telling the children to mind their manners, which mysteriously disappeared without comment nor response to my question? Have you got me on ignore or something because you didn't answer my other twice-repeated question either until other people chimed in, despite giving direct responses to other, later questions.

Pretty sure the last time this modding style was tried out it fell flat on its face too.

I have spent most of my Saturday replying to posts and making adjustments based on feedback given, wherever possible and it's now past midnight...

The banner you refer to was removed when the topic was closed. The banner was not intended as a warning though I appreciate it could have been seen as being a little abrupt (which I have now amended above) It was simply intended to encourage people to provide constructive feedback. I'm happy to work with members to make things better but there's not a lot I can do if people don't post constructively, i.e. comments like "It's gone crazy" or "It's rubbish" don't help me to make it any better... This was merely all I was trying to address with the notices but I apologise if my wording came across as being abrupt, that was not my intention. 

As for your question in regards to the users not being displayed at the bottom, this was fixed and I noticed other users had pointed this out so I felt no need to comment further. I don't have an infinite amount of time and as such, it won't help having the discussion spread across three different topics, hence why I closed one and provided a link for continuation purposes. 

Beyond that, if there's anything I have missed then I can only apologise.

RichM
 

[Starcoaster]

Other people are also involved in the discussion though, it is rude and bossy to declare "no more talking about this here" and locking a thread that was still in use and very active, and which had unanswered questions in it.

A member started the thread, this being a discussion forum, it was not started just for you. I would have thought that asking people's views on merging the thread rather than locking it so that the content vanishes into obscurity would have been more in the spirit of the moderator "caretaking" duties than simply closing it and cutting the membership off mid-conversation whilst adding links to other threads as an explanation when they do not contain the same information.

The requested explanation for the there then not there banner, for instance, was a valid one, my question was ignored until I asked again in the thread of your choosing.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Starcoaster

[RichM]

28 minutes ago, Starcoaster said:

Other people are also involved in the discussion though, it is rude and bossy to declare "no more talking about this here" and locking a thread that was still in use and very active, and which had unanswered questions in it.

A member started the thread, this being a discussion forum, it was not started just for you. I would have thought that asking people's views on merging the thread rather than locking it so that the content vanishes into obscurity would have been more in the spirit of the moderator "caretaking" duties than simply closing it and cutting the membership off mid-conversation whilst adding links to other threads as an explanation when they do not contain the same information.

The requested explanation for the there then not there banner, for instance, was a valid one, my question was ignored until I asked again in the thread of your choosing.

To my knowledge and at the time of closing the topic, the questions were either answered by myself or by other members. My intention was certainly not to ignore anyone and I'm sorry if I missed any questions, it has been a long day! While the topic was closed to consolidate the discussion, the matter itself is not closed hence the link to this one where the discussion continues. Nobody has been cut off from making further input though I am sorry if that's how you feel.

You are right in that the topic could have been merged and I'm aware that's something that is frequently done here but it has the risk of potentially jumbling up posts which was something I wanted to avoid. 

I appreciate you do not agree with some of my actions, but would ask that you raise those concerns to the Site Owner and address it separately. With due respect and going forward, this topic is intended to discuss the recent update completed during the planned maintenance break. 

Thank you

RichM
 

[Starcoaster]

You have locked a topic people were having a discussion in, pointed them here to discuss said issues instead, and then dictate what can be discussed in this thread, the exact thread you pointed us to after removing our ability to discuss in the other one.

As I said, not every post and thread is designed for your personal use and direction. This is a discussion forum. Members get to discuss things.

 

 

[RichM]

58 minutes ago, Starcoaster said:

You have locked a topic people were having a discussion in, pointed them here to discuss said issues instead, and then dictate what can be discussed in this thread, the exact thread you pointed us to after removing our ability to discuss in the other one.

As I said, not every post and thread is designed for your personal use and direction. This is a discussion forum. Members get to discuss things.

 

 

The original post in the topic in question (posted in the Site Administration section) was a request to disable negative reputation points which inadvertently became enabled following the update. This was done promptly by us. Given that only site staff can do this, I considered the topic to be aimed at and directed to the site staff but of course all members were welcome to contribute to it. Following the disablement of negative reputation (as per the request) the topic subsequently branched out to cover matters which we already had an existing topic for (this one). It also covered the changes to the reactions feature. In regards to the latter and due to the mixed opinions expressed in the topic relating to the reactions feature, I decided to run a poll on it so that we can get a better view of our members' opinions and thus, decide the fate of the reactions feature. (i.e. whether we keep, change or revert it) The creation of the poll necessitated the need for a new topic to supersede it. As such, I stand by my actions though in hindsight it could have been done sooner. If you wish to dispute this further, you may:

- Report my last post in the topic entitled "Character assassination". In doing so, the topic will be flagged to the moderators. You will be given the option to express your views upon submitting the report
- Raise it to the site owner directly, DHutch. I understand Daniel has commitments outside of Canal World at the moment so do bear that in mind though he will be in touch.
- You are of course more than welcome to PM me

In attempt to prevent this topic from derailing any further, please may I kindly request that you do one of the above if you wish to dispute this further. This will enable us to better deal with and respond to the matter in hand and address any further concerns/issues following the recent update. 

Thanks again

RichM

[DHutch]

I'm not up to speed with which topic was locked, I'm actually stood just off the dance floor of my cousin's wedding. However I'm sure no hard was meant but it however blunt it might appear.

Every one who runs the this, like thoughs who is it take the matter seriously and work hard to make the site as good as if can be but we need to work together not against each other.

Daniel

[RichM]

Further to the recent update, Canal World is now running over HTTPS/SSL and you should now see the associated padlock in your browser when accessing this site. In layman's terms, it means the site is more secure. It's a little overdue by today's standards in all honesty but there were some technical hurdles that delayed this.

Any issues, let me know.

RichM

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, RichM said:

Further to the recent update, Canal World is now running over HTTPS/SSL and you should now see the associated padlock in your browser when accessing this site. In layman's terms, it means the site is more secure. It's a little overdue by today's standards in all honesty but there were some technical hurdles that delayed this.

Any issues, let me know.

RichM

Well done that man, and thanks again for giving so much time, effort and commitment to the forum.

[David Schweizer]

6 hours ago, RichM said:

Further to the recent update, Canal World is now running over HTTPS/SSL and you should now see the associated padlock in your browser when accessing this site. In layman's terms, it means the site is more secure. It's a little overdue by today's standards in all honesty but there were some technical hurdles that delayed this.

Any issues, let me know.

RichM

Yes I noticed that this morning, and was going to comment but you announced it overnight. As you say overdue, but welcome.

[RLWP]

9 hours ago, Starcoaster said:

You have locked a topic people were having a discussion in, pointed them here to discuss said issues instead, and then dictate what can be discussed in this thread, the exact thread you pointed us to after removing our ability to discuss in the other one.

As I said, not every post and thread is designed for your personal use and direction. This is a discussion forum. Members get to discuss things.

 

 

The problem is, RichM, we all think your role is technical administrator - the person who takes on the important management of the software running the forum. We all think moderation is done by a group of moderators who discuss their decisions before acting.

Whatever is happening behind the scenes, to a user it looks like you are making unilateral moderation decisions without discussing with the other mods.

Now, I don't know if this is true. Unfortunately, this has happened here before and it always ends badly

Richard

[MtB]

On 30/07/2017 at 10:45, RLWP said:

The problem is, RichM, we all think your role is technical administrator - the person who takes on the important management of the software running the forum. We all think moderation is done by a group of moderators who discuss their decisions before acting.

Whatever is happening behind the scenes, to a user it looks like you are making unilateral moderation decisions without discussing with the other mods.

Now, I don't know if this is true. Unfortunately, this has happened here before and it always ends badly

Richard

 

This site simply has too few mods. There are bound to be long periods when only one mod is available (or none) when the rest of the few are indulging in real life. 

[dogless]

Starcoaster for chief mod please

Rog

[RLWP]

17 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

This site simply has too few mods.

Again

[Jerra]

1 hour ago, RLWP said:

Whatever is happening behind the scenes, to a user it looks like you are making unilateral moderation decisions without discussing with the other mods.

Surely if you want decisions discussed by mods there are going to be some spin offs.

The first is moderating will be slow while waiting for all mods to have time to respond.  This would mean things may get out of control in the thread which needs moderated.

Second if every decision is discussed you are greatly in creasing the work load of the mods as they will need to spend more time messaging back and forward.

You would also probably require many more mods as currently it would be possible (I am not saying this is the case)  for mods to agree " I will mod x & Y while fred does A &B Herbert can do G & H" etc.  So you would need teams doing that so they can discuss the decisions.

An other thought (which I know will be unpopular) we don't own the forum, in theory it can be run without taking any notice of posters.  Yes I realise it may not be as successful but it could be run like that.  The (for want of a better phrase) admin team have to make the decisions based on their understanding of the situation, technical,financial etc.  They will make these decisions for what they consider the best reasons.  Then the posters have a chance to suggest things they would like to see changed (if possible).

In any situation you will never please everybody and none of us have a god given right to have the forum as we want it.  There are times I feel the vociferous minority get there way perhaps over what the majority want and/or what is best/easiest for the running of the forum.

[Robbo]

16 hours ago, RichM said:

Further to the recent update, Canal World is now running over HTTPS/SSL and you should now see the associated padlock in your browser when accessing this site. In layman's terms, it means the site is more secure. It's a little overdue by today's standards in all honesty but there were some technical hurdles that delayed this.

Any issues, let me know.

RichM

Just noticed this so top marks.