NEW FORUM STYLE - SUGGESTIONS/COMPLAINTS

[MuffyBee]

   I love this place and the friendly people here.  I'm getting used to the constant refresh, it's kind of like a chat/forum cause it's in real time.  Everyone is nice and nobody makes you feel stupid (even tho I am) or ignores you.  They always respond  to my dumb posts and that makes me feel welcome!!   Thanks monks,  you're the best!!!

Auntiem, I am glad you are here, adding some pizazz to the forum. 

[GreatOwl]

I decided to try the chat program this morning.   I log in, see everyone's chat and even use the icons.  When I send, the only thing I can send is the icons.  In attempting to type a message in the bottom box I do get a cursor, but it does not allow me to enter any text.  Just icons.  I have my settings at Mac X and Mac aqua.     

I am running 10.4.10 with the latest flash and other media programs on this iMac.  This is the only chat site I have run into that I can not seem to type in a response.

any suggestions?

[GreatOwl]

While I am at it I might as well convey the other differences I am seeing with the forum.

It does not seem to be as Mac friendly as the other forum.  I need to constantly sign in.  I get notifications of having e-mail when I know we don't have such a program here right now.  I constantly need to manually refresh the screen and when I do it always takes me back to the top of a page and I need to manually scroll back down to the bottom.  This was not the case with the previous forum.

Again, I like the look and feel of this.  I just have found that it is a little bit more unfriendly user wise than the past program that was used.

I am operating on an Intel core 2 microprocessor Macintosh using an operating system of 10.4.10.  All the latest versions of media plug ins are operational.  I use both Firefox browser and Safari 3.0

[2NJSons_Mom]

While I am at it I might as well convey the other differences I am seeing with the forum.

It does not seem to be as Mac friendly as the other forum.  I need to constantly sign in.  I get notifications of having e-mail when I know we don't have such a program here right now.  I constantly need to manually refresh the screen and when I do it always takes me back to the top of a page and I need to manually scroll back down to the bottom.  This was not the case with the previous forum.

Again, I like the look and feel of this.  I just have found that it is a little bit more unfriendly user wise than the past program that was used.

I am operating on an Intel core 2 microprocessor Macintosh using an operating system of 10.4.10.  All the latest versions of media plug ins are operational.  I use both Firefox browser and Safari 3.0

FWIW...I am finding the same thing happening to me with IE 6.0...I respond to a post and it returns me to the top of a page, or I refresh and it brings me back to mid-page....not to where I was last reading.

I also have trouble with chat, but will address that when I have screen shots to show Dugga...

[GreatOwl]

I thought the chat forum part was solved.  Last evening I was able to chat, but today again I can do everything but enter my own text and send it.  it is like my keyboard is not connected at all.  The cursor is there and I am able to send emoticons, but not text

[MsVada]

I noticed that everytime I visit here, I have to log on each time, even when it says to stay logged in forever

I am still having intermittent problems with it being seriously slow to load pages.  I was told to be patient with this as it will get better,so,I'm still waiting patiently.  Thanks

[Dugga]

Heya, folks. I was able to finally see a few of the issues that Mrs. Red was having, and that others were having also. And I nailed it down a bit...

The chat program has a lot of "bells and whistles". You've got a bunch of backgrounds, different levels of transparency for those backgrounds, sometimes 40 or 50 small pieces of animated art (avatars), and of course the chat program also has to monitor incoming and outgoing data to display the actual words people type. All of this adds up to a hefty bit of computer power that's needed to make it all run smoothly.

Being the nerd I am, I've got a super-dee-duper fast computer, so none of the bog that others have experienced ever reared its head on my system. However, other users on slower machines with less memory and slower CPU's saw crazy bog that made the chat really annoying to use.

So, our solution to this issue could be one of two things...

1: Everybody that's having a problem can go out and drop about a thousand bucks on a new computer. Even the cheapo new ones have plenty of power to run the chat. A saw a really nice Dell with a free LCD display for $600 last week, and Dells are really good computers in spite of what some people say.

or, our other option is...

2: I go in and remove all of the features that make chat all glamorous and strip it down to the bare bones. No custom backgrounds, no colors, no avatars, no smileys - just chat in a box. This will help about 3/4 of the machines that are having problems keeping up with things.

Shoot, if enough people decided they wanted them, I'd even buy up a bunch and sell 'em as a Scared Monkeys Special Edition. Complete with SM wallpaper, preinstalled "safe-surfing" utilities to keep away the nasties, and a certificate of authenticity signed by Red and Dugga! 

Either way is fine with me. I like the extras, but I don't like that some people aren't able to participate. What do you guys think?

[2NJSons_Mom]

Well, right now, #1 would be on my wish list, but it's there with a lot of other things.

I wouldn't want you to remove the bells & whistles for me, because I'd still have the same problems...I tried when you had them disabled a few days ago.  and was only able to get a few messages through, but I did notice the default blue background with white text was easy for me to read...some others had customized theirs & blue text, for example, I had to highlight to read....so between the old computer with failing memory & my vision...I wouldn't last too long in there, anyway. 

Maybe Santa will surprise us...ya never know.