Forum upgrade complete

[Mojo]

The time period is actually 28 days and not three weeks.

This is not a “new” feature and is something we previously had, until the software was updated 2 years ago or so, the time back then was also set to 28 days.

The forum staff team will be looking into how it works in reality (we have already granted one exemption for a member in the Quiz forum), as it is understood that many members have joined the forum in the time in which we have previously not been running this and posting patterns have changed since then.

I personally have never heard of these blogs being linked to on the forum, but it is also worth noting that I personally would have previously manually merged double posts where they are seen, so this is not really a major change as it just automated something that the forum staff were already doing.

 

[507021]

I personally have never heard of these blogs being linked to on the forum,

There's plenty of threads where members make a posting to say that they've updated their blog.

 

[Crossover]

I haven't tried it myself, but do we know that the double post prevention doesn't trigger the thread to be shown as having unread posts again? I have a vague recollection that on vB it did still trip it and showed the merged post as unread (but of course, it has been a while!)

 

[The_Train]

I haven't tried it myself, but do we know that the double post prevention doesn't trigger the thread to be shown as having unread posts again? I have a vague recollection that on vB it did still trip it and showed the merged post as unread (but of course, it has been a while!)

If that is the case, and it then shows in the 'New Posts' section and notifies anyone watching the thread then it wouldn't be half as problematic as it seems to be now. I've literally had to wait for someone to post in a thread so that I could post again so people would see I have posted

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The time period is actually 28 days and not three weeks.

This is not a “new” feature and is something we previously had, until the software was updated 2 years ago or so, the time back then was also set to 28 days.

The forum staff team will be looking into how it works in reality (we have already granted one exemption for a member in the Quiz forum), as it is understood that many members have joined the forum in the time in which we have previously not been running this and posting patterns have changed since then.

I personally have never heard of these blogs being linked to on the forum, but it is also worth noting that I personally would have previously manually merged double posts where they are seen, so this is not really a major change as it just automated something that the forum staff were already doing.

I have been posting on the forum for quite a while I see.

On occasions it has been necessary for a moderator to merge my posts. I apologise, I wasn't aware of the 'netiquette', I appreciate moderation is done on a voluntary basis and these things take up time. I'm an older person and not really into this new fanged social media malarky - I tend to go out and talk to real people (or did).

Two points:
Firstly, I often read a persons point, reply to it, then read another persons point and reply to that. Hence multiple posts. I cannot fathom how to 'multi-quote' once I have replied to the first point. I can 'multi-quote' before initially replying. I will try harder! Long multi-quote posts can be difficult to read though.

Secondly, 24 hours would seem to me to be an appropriate time-scale for new posts. That way I would receive a notification that a post had been added, or it would be in in my 'unread posts' list. An edited (or merged) post would not show up the same, so there would be no way of knowing it had been added to significantly (rather than simple editing). I'm not at all bothered by the post count, it could be deleted entirely, except perhaps to indicate newest members (say reach 1,000 and stop counting - Messages: > 1,000). The grading of 'member', 'established member' and 'veteran member' perhaps ncourages those who are competitive about things. Regarding the example in a previous post, if someone wants to type a single word, every 24 hours and one minute, into every thread, good luck to them. I'm sure others will be most impressed (not)!

 

[Peter C]

Firstly, I often read a persons point, reply to it, then read another persons point and reply to that. Hence multiple posts. I cannot fathom how to 'multi-quote' once I have replied to the first point. I can 'multi-quote' before initially replying. I will try harder! Long multi-quote posts can be difficult to read though.

This situation happened to me on a thread I made the other day. I received several posts from people all answering my questions and, naturally, I went through and read one, replied to it, read another, replied to that, and so on, only for all of the posts to be merged! I was reading them on a mobile, granted, so using the "multi-quote" and whatnot was quite difficult and just replying to each one was easier and I took the easy route. If I'd have been on a laptop, I could have replied to them all together, but that, as you say, can make for a long post and in my experience from reading other people's long posts, it can put em off reading them as I'm concerned about then replying and remembering everything I read!

-Peter

 

[Jordan Adam]

If that is the case, and it then shows in the 'New Posts' section and notifies anyone watching the thread then it wouldn't be half as problematic as it seems to be now. I've literally had to wait for someone to post in a thread so that I could post again so people would see I have posted

Likewise I had to ask someone to post in a thread just so my new post wouldn't be merged with an unrelated one from weeks ago!

28 days is far too long. I really hope the mods will rethink this, albeit the replies from them thus far imply otherwise.

 

[yorkie]

Likewise I had to ask someone to post in a thread just so my new post wouldn't be merged with an unrelated one from weeks ago!

If it's an unrelated post then it would make me wonder if the post might be off topic

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I just tried to add a post and then do another one a few minutes later but they were consecutive. It auto-merged them - now this is a VERY useful feature indeed.

 

[A Challenge]

While I know there have not been many score updates recently, would it be possible to be granted an exception for The Next Station Is...! for duplicate postings to allow for someone to make a post finishing a leg and then start the leg in a new post please, for use with the scorer, which can't cope with the same post ending one leg and beginning the next leg, although there is a workaround?

 

[scotrail158713]

If it's an unrelated post then it would make me wonder if the post might be off topic

Not necessarily. Take the West Lothian buses thread for example. A post a couple of weeks ago might have been about service changes from mid-August, whilst one more recently perhaps being about the date First take over a council contract route in September.
Both are on-topic as they relate to buses in West Lothian, however more specifically they can be seen to be unrelated to each other.

 

[yorkie]

Not necessarily. Take the West Lothian buses thread for example. A post a couple of weeks ago might have been about service changes from mid-August, whilst one more recently perhaps being about the date First take over a council contract route in September.
Both are on-topic as they relate to buses in West Lothian, however more specifically they can be seen to be unrelated to each other.

I see no reason why such postings should not appear as one post.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Wonderful, I remember the old "double post prevention system", and I'm glad it's back

Same - remembering to do it manually is not something I'm very good at!

 

[Jordan Adam]

If it's an unrelated post then it would make me wonder if the post might be off topic

Not at all. The specific example I was referring to the last post from 2-3 weeks ago was a reply to a question about a certain route being reinstated, the new post was about repaints. Both entirely separate points but very much on topic. I dont see why they should be merged given they're weeks apart, it's just annoying and will drive people away from the forum. I agree with the majority of other posters here that it should be 24 hours.

 

[scotrail158713]

I see no reason why such postings should not appear as one post.

But they’re not really related to each other, and could be posted a couple of weeks apart. Why should they be merged?
I must say though that this is probably my only “complaint” (if it’s even one as it’s not a massive issue). Overall the forum is a fantastic place for discussion, and it is very well run.

Not at all. The specific example I was referring to the last post from 2-3 weeks ago was a reply to a question about a certain route being reinstated, the new post was about repaints. Both entirely separate points but very much on topic. I dont see why they should be merged given they're weeks apart, it's just annoying and will drive people away from the forum. I agree with the majority of other posters here that it should be 24 hours.

Agreed

 

[Peter C]

If it's an unrelated post then it would make me wonder if the post might be off topic

You can have posts which are unrelated but still on topic, as others have said.
An example which is specific to me is my model railway thread, where I post updates on my layout. I update it every so often, and I want people to be able to see what I've done. If no-one responds to my post (which has happened from time to time), and then I want to share another update which is about something different (e.g. the first update was about track plans and the second about coaches), having to wait for 28 days to share it so people can be notified is ludicrous quite frankly. If people aren't notified and can't carry on a conversation, what's the point in starting a thread or replying to it only for posts to be merged?

-Peter

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Here is another matter to think over. On certain quizzes on the Quizzes and Games forum, if a wrongly-made posting is made, the rules advice is to strike-through that posting and to replace it with a new posting.

Can the website staff discuss this with the forum quizmasters, as the reinstated ruling we are discussing at present militates against the posting of a new posting that the rules insist be made.

 

[BenW390Fan]

I have to agree with the majority of people here, I'm trying to post an update log on my thread but I can't until somebody else does so

 

[Peter C]

I have to agree with the majority of people here, I'm trying to post an update log on my thread but I can't until somebody else does so

Same with my model railway thread.

-Peter

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

I think changing it to a few days (at a push) would be appropriate. 28 days is far too excessive.

The most "double posts" seem to happen when someone replies to three different posts in a thread, not using the multi-quote function.

 

[Huntergreed]

I agree that double posting just to increase the post count or to spam a thread is completely unacceptable and measures should be put in place to avoid this

But

it's important that these measures don't prevent regular, honest forum users from being able to update their own threads in a completely appropriate and informative way, I would argue the maximum time limit for this should be 7 days as an absolute maximum.

 

[ExRes]

I can't understand this change at all, two posts a week apart being merged into one post with no indication that the thread has been updated, it seems totally counterproductive to me

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Is it not the case that software glitches have occurred in the last six months when website members making a posting have found the same posting appearing duplicated because of something untowards happening with the website software that caused that to occur.

Website members should not be held to account in cases such as that, which is naught to do with them.

 

[Peter C]

Is it not the case that software glitches have occurred in the last six months when website members making a posting have found the same posting appearing duplicated because of something untowards happening with the website software that caused that to occur.

Website members should not be held to account in cases such as that, which is naught to do with them.

I remember when the forums seemed to go through a day or so of being really slow to update when you'd posted, so people would press the 'Post reply" button twice and therefore have two identical posts.
I fully agree with you that, in these cases and similar events, we shouldn't be penalised for something we have no control over (we didn't know what was happening in the event I mention, for example).

-Peter

 

[Iskra]

When I try navigate to the forum, I'm not getting the normal screen; I'm getting a tech login screen asking me to upgrade the forum. Only when I chop the URL back down to railforums.co.uk do I get to the actual forum. Is anyone else experiencing this?

 

[Mojo]

When I try navigate to the forum, I'm not getting the normal screen; I'm getting a tech login screen asking me to upgrade the forum. Only when I chop the URL back down to railforums.co.uk do I get to the actual forum. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Maybe your bookmark is out of date?

 

[Iskra]

Maybe your bookmark is out of date?

Ah okay, I will delete it and start again Thanks for the tip

 

[Belperpete]

I see no reason why such postings should not appear as one post.

If you are replying to separate points made by different posters, what is the benefit in merging them? It results in one, potentially very long post, that people are less likely to bother reading. Personally, I don't have the time to read the kind of post where someone responds separately in minute detail to every individual sentence, and the more a post looks like that, the less inclined I am to read it.

 

[yorkie]

If you are replying to separate points made by different posters, what is the benefit in merging them? It results in one, potentially very long post, that people are less likely to bother reading. Personally, I don't have the time to read the kind of post where someone responds separately in minute detail to every individual sentence, and the more a post looks like that, the less inclined I am to read it.

People can add a suitable amount of white space between parts of their post, as appropriate.

The software automatically does this. What you describe suggests you've not seen how this works; here is an example: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...pool-to-nottingham.208023/page-2#post-4732520

In fact, the gap is no smaller than the standard gap between posts anyway.

...I fully agree with you that, in these cases and similar events, we shouldn't be penalised for something ....

People are not being "penalised"; if you are referring to the 28 day limit, that's something we need to discuss as we've not yet decided what the limit should be (though my initial thoughts are to agree with others that 7 days sounds sensible), but as a general principle this system is not "penalising" people and is simply a return to the way the forum was until relatively recently.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

People are not being "penalised"; if you are referring to the 28 day limit, that's something we need to discuss as we've not yet decided what the limit should be (though my initial thoughts are to agree with others that 7 days sounds sensible), but as a general principle this system is not "penalising" people and is simply a return to the way the forum was until relatively recently.

That poster was not referring to the 28 day limit to which you make reference to above, but was responding to my posting that made reference to times when the website software seemed to go astry and people ended up making two identical consecutive postings through no fault of their own. Fortunately, there have been no recent such occurrences