Yet Another Site Bug?

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
December 30, 2016 - 10:09pm
It's bad enough I can't post links without resorting to the dial-up grade text editor for the sheer sake of having something that works for anyone reading my posts, but now my entire posts are disappearing?

Re: http://starfrontiers.us/node/9598

Quote:
I had made a post about that in this very thread along with a reference to her appearance in The Man With One Red Shoe, what happened?


These wonderful features aren't likely to keep active members around if they continue. Seriously, the extra work involved just to make a link work out of basic respect for anyone who reads the post (in light of the recent bug I just can't muster up said respect in this post) --- just to have the post disappear after being posted --- this is not a positive endeavor for healthy site activity.
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website
Comments:

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
December 31, 2016 - 12:41pm
I agree.  The problem is the site is a 10 year old hack that does not have a clean upgrade path. It's a great site but some of the design design decisions (it was Bill's first attempt) are causing It to slowly implode under it's own weight.

The main problem is the projects.  That was a custom designed thing by Bill that I can't easily replicate.  And the truth is I just don't have the time to spend hours trying to figure it out.  I'm lucky to get a couple of hours a week to devote to this site and the magazine.  If someone wants to try to figure it out I"m more than happy to let them have a crack at it.  I'm hoping to get to it in February once the next issue of the Frontier Explorer is out.  I'm already a month behind on that.

As to the disappearing post. That is a new one.  I know my system crashed a day or so ago and I wonder if that's when it happened.  And I understand the frustration I have 3 different posts and a comment disappear off of various places on Google+.  My only condolence is that if Google can lose things I don't feel bad when this site does occasionally.

So I'm working on it but it is a long process.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
January 2, 2017 - 12:14pm
I'd posted in that thread some time between Jedion's two posts (Dec 28 & 29), and I have seen some site issues since then as well - lengthy loading times that end up timing out/unable to access the site.

I do recall talks from the prior owners (Bill & Larry) regarding projects. IIRC they were looking to merge a few and prior to that there was a lot of pleading regarding starting new projects when the topic could fit into existing ones.
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

jedion357's picture
jedion357
January 2, 2017 - 5:50pm
Would it be possible to redo the site and not the projects?

New site with no projects. Leave up the old site with everything but projects disabled.

This would get a new site up and running and leave the projects available to access. at least temporarily.

 Latter as time and opportunity permit a new projects section could be built?
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
January 5, 2017 - 2:32pm
I could do a new site with just forums and chat very quickly.  And I could probably even migrate all the data over and hide the project forums and such initially.  They are just standard data, the difference is in how they are accessed and organized.  The problem is that if I did that and left the old ones live and editable, I'd never be able to resync them (or at least not without hundreds of hours of work which I don't have).

I actually think I have a solution to the project issue, I just need a bit more time to work on it and figure it out (which will happen after FE 19 is done, so February).  It might not be automatic to start but given the rate of project creation, that shouldn't be an issue if I have to do them by hand at first.  That will give us most of the content and I'll just need to figure out the Characters stuff.

Also, does anyone actually use the Quicklinks or Buddylist menu items on the side menu?  Those are other things I'd need to look into to figure out how to implement although I'm pretty sure those could be done after the transition.
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine

jedion357's picture
jedion357
January 5, 2017 - 5:45pm
I nerfed the buddy list on my UI a long time ago. Dont need to be reminded of who my buddy's are.

the Quciklink I use and like. it functions like a short cut to projects I'm interested in.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
January 5, 2017 - 7:18pm
Ditto, a large majority of the names on my buddy list don't visit here anymore --- and honestly I don't even recall how to reactivate it anyways --- but I do like the quicklinks for projects. OTOH if QL was nixed it would be a simple matter of bookmarking the projects I like.
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

JCab747's picture
JCab747
January 5, 2017 - 9:48pm
Quicklinks are useful. I tried the buddy list just to see who was on, but it doesn't seem to be that useful of a feature.
Joe Cabadas

iggy's picture
iggy
January 6, 2017 - 10:58pm
I haven't added or subtracted from the buddy list in years.  I used it when the chat function worked as a quick way to start chats with friends. 

I don't use the projects quick links.  I find what is going on in projects with the what's new button and have some bookmarks for important project threads.

Arn't the projects just other forums like game talk and rules questions?  What extra do the projects loose by porting over?
-iggy

jedion357's picture
jedion357
January 7, 2017 - 9:20am
I use the who's on line to see who's active in the forums and I just noticed that there is a green dot that's labelled Who's in Chat

the who's on line feature is certainly valued by me. Of course Terl Obar is listed on line 24/7 for some reason so that bit of data is never considered.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

JCab747's picture
JCab747
January 7, 2017 - 11:32am
iggy wrote:
I haven't added or subtracted from the buddy list in years.  I used it when the chat function worked as a quick way to start chats with friends. 

I don't use the projects quick links.  I find what is going on in projects with the what's new button and have some bookmarks for important project threads.

Arn't the projects just other forums like game talk and rules questions?  What extra do the projects loose by porting over?


Now, keep in mind that I've only been on this site for almost two years now. But, I think I read somewhere that you have to be a member of a certain project to get any notices that its been updated. So I went and joined a bunch of them, even if they appeared to have died 5-6 years ago.
Joe Cabadas

iggy's picture
iggy
January 7, 2017 - 11:39am
Yes, I subscribe to a lot of projects. 
-iggy

TerlObar's picture
TerlObar
January 7, 2017 - 1:58pm
Yeah, the advantages of the projects is organization.  They are just standard forums, a book object, and a group of downloadable objects. I could port them over without any loss of data, just the organization and ability to limit access.  However, I think I've found a solution, I just need to do a little experimenting.

The who's online is a standard feature of the framework so that's easy (It shows my 24/7 because I always have a tab open to the site on my home computer).  I'll figure out how to do the quicklinks stuff. 
Ad Astra Per Ardua!
My blog - Expanding Frontier
Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site
Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine
Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine