Bottlehead Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Grainger49 on October 21, 2009, 08:05:51 AM
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There wasn't an obvious place for this so General seem like it.
I would suggest that there be a "folder" for non Bottlehead tweaks.
Anyone with other suggestions should post in this thread.
Thanks,
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With so much flexibility every post may become a sub catagory.
What if we keep the "General" as "general audio". and moved the no-audiorelated in an Offstopic section?
Then General audio could cover tweaks and so on ,everything on audio,but not kit specific?
Best regards
Balle
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Right. There could be a forum question and suggestions area that can be deleted when the startup is over.
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I have seen a lot of posts about Legacy products, Paraglows and Parabees, that I am not familiar with. How about a brief description of these in the Legacy section?
Thanks,
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I have seen a lot of posts about Legacy products, Paraglows and Parabees, that I am not familiar with. How about a brief description of these in the Legacy section?
Thanks,
I concur, sounds like a great idea.
Alan
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I have seen a lot of posts about Legacy products, Paraglows and Parabees, that I am not familiar with. How about a brief description of these in the Legacy section?
Thanks,
When you get up to NY, come to my place for a listening session. I'll show you a 'glow.
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Honestly, I would recommend condensing down the number of topics. I personally find it hard to manage when new comments come in. Also, usually a good search function makes a hierarchical folder structure an out of date strategy for finding posts of interest. Ironically, email systems are moving towards a monolithic folder structure and rely on great search (GMail, for example) resembling the monolithic forum we just left (minus the great search). I would recommend trimming down to: "Announcements", "Current Products", "Legacy Products", "Other Designs", and "Off Topic".
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I have seen a lot of posts about Legacy products, Paraglows and Parabees, that I am not familiar with. How about a brief description of these in the Legacy section?
Thanks,
When you get up to NY, come to my place for a listening session. I'll show you a 'glow.
I'd love to. I can't say I'm headed North any time soon. But I will remember.
Thanks,
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I have a suggestion for the forum administrator, though it may just be me not knowing how to do something.
When I get replies in my email, I can't figure out who sent them. In all other forums I can see who posted. That is a great convenience.
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I'd love to. I can't say I'm headed North any time soon. But I will remember.
Thanks,
Cool. I have a picture on the wall I'd like to show you.
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I like to bring up the 'For Sale' page, that lets inmates buy and sale 'bottlehead related' items only.
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I have a suggestion for the forum administrator, though it may just be me not knowing how to do something.
When I get replies in my email, I can't figure out who sent them. In all other forums I can see who posted. That is a great convenience.
When I get notification it tells me who the poster was on the end of the first line of the email. Is that what you mean?
Capt.Z, rule four: "Fourthly, no for sale or want ads..." I don't blame Doc, his site is here to promote, sell and support his kits. This will send his children through college. We hope!
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When I get notification it tells me who the poster was on the end of the first line of the email. Is that what you mean?
Yes, it tells who owns the thread. But once you're following a thread, it's more important to know who posted what it says in your email (the reply) than who started the thread, at least to me.
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When I get notification it tells me who the poster was on the end of the first line of the email. Is that what you mean? (2)
Oh, maybe the poster name is the one who replied. I assumed, since it said "a thread you were watching by ...", that the thread was by ...
I guess if it said "you have a reply by ... to a thread you are watching" it would be harder to spot the name of the poster. So the topic name is in the subject line, and the poster name is on the first line of the body of the email. Then when you cllick on it, it goes to the page, and it comes up on top (I changed that default from bottom) if nobody else has posted since.
Okay, I'll get it eventually. Thanks Grainger.
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Honestly, I would recommend condensing down the number of topics. I personally find it hard to manage when new comments come in. Also, usually a good search function makes a hierarchical folder structure an out of date strategy for finding posts of interest. Ironically, email systems are moving towards a monolithic folder structure and rely on great search (GMail, for example) resembling the monolithic forum we just left (minus the great search). I would recommend trimming down to: "Announcements", "Current Products", "Legacy Products", "Other Designs", and "Off Topic".
I disagree. Searching only works when you know what your looking for. A hierarchical folder structure facilitates browsing for topics on related subjects, allowing the user to explore posts that might appear tangential to their initial interest, but which contain valuable information nevertheless.
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My take on this is that along with a some very unique posts the old forum also has ten bazillion posts asking the same questions again and again over the years. That indicates to me that the search function isn't being used as thoroughly as it might either because it doesn't work too well or because folks don't bother. My breaking the forum down into the subcategories I chose is intended to reduce the redundancy in posting by making a given subject like (Gott im Himmel) "what's your favorite Foreplay output capacitor?" (AUUGGH, OK I'm alright now) more easily sorted through.
As for sifting through the new posts that come in, there is a link near the top of the page - "Show unread posts since last visit". I'm finding that very useful, and I hope others are too. One can also be notified by email of new posts to particular topics of interest by clicking "notify" at the top of the thread.
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Hi Doc, good points. Responses:
1) We should use the star feature of forums to indicate users to commonly asked questions. Headwize (headwize.com/ubb/forums.php) is currently pretty idle, but it used to be a good example of this.
2) I've also found "Show unread posts" useful, but that flattens the folder structure and kind of defeats the purpose of any hierarchy!
Best, Brian
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I just thought of this because Java did an install. How about a child board under General for PC related subjects?
Most likely there are other subjects that could be put into child boards. Do any of you have suggestions for other child boards?
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Doc,
I have discovered a lot of features that I have not known before. This software is far more sophisticated than the AA. But I guess as an official old fart it has taken me a while to find most of it.
How about a "How to use this forum" thread, sticky????
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I tried to wait for a while before sending this so as not to jump to conclusions, but I think the old forum was much more "experimenter friendly". I have gotten back into electronics recently after a hiatus of many years. I used to read the forum as a part of my daily routine: personal email, business email, Bottlehead forum, etc. Even though I did not think I was not interested at the moment by the content of many posts, their content got me thinking about aspects of audio construction or theory that I never would have considered looking up specifically. My wife calls it tangential thinking; I call it relaxation. It is very hard to do the same thing on the current forum; too many divisions that cannot be viewed (easily) as a whole on a daily basis. I would suggest that you have a section for all daily posts irrespective of content. They could be deleted after a given period of time, one day, two days or whatever.
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I would suggest that you have a section for all daily posts irrespective of content. They could be deleted after a given period of time, one day, two days or whatever.
I click on "Show unread post since last visit", which is kinda like what you are saying. But I agree with you, that would be a good thing, to have them to look at for a couple of days instead of them disappearing once you look at it.
There are pros and cons to the new format. I think this forum makes it easier to dig deeper into a subject, since the discussion doesn't scroll off the page and out of everybody's awareness before it's resolved. You just keep the thread going until everyone's happy.
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I used to read the forum as a part of my daily routine: personal email, business email, Bottlehead forum, etc. Even though I did not think I was not interested at the moment by the content of many posts, their content got me thinking about aspects of audio construction or theory that I never would have considered looking up specifically.
I couldn't have said it better but the same happens to me and it's definitely not the same with the new forum.
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Several of these posts seem to indicate a how to use this new, to old Bottleheads, software might be in order.
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Several of these posts seem to indicate a how to use this new, to old Bottleheads, software might be in order.
The forum uses Simple Machines software, probably the most common free bulletin board software. I am surprised that folks are having issues with it because from what I see it's pretty much vBulletin or SMF that is used for most forums on the web these days. There is a user guide for members here:
http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?P=5e441ea8e7a6e4c7c62ffd45814d7995&board=5.0;sort=subject (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?P=5e441ea8e7a6e4c7c62ffd45814d7995&board=5.0;sort=subject)
We have been using this same software for the Tape Project forum for three years without the kinds of complaints I am seeing here. It's curious that some of the folks registering issues here also participate on the other forum without problems. I would suggest that perhaps someone who is unfamiliar to this format and learning some new tricks might turn this thread from the complaint desk into a list of interesting features that they have discovered. I'll start it:
At the top of the page is a bottlehead logo. Clicking the logo will, as found on most websites, take you to the home page, where you can navigate to our shopping cart and other locations.
A link next to the logo says "show unread posts since your last visit". That will do what I think a lot of members are asking for - show you what's been posted since your last visit.
You don't like the color scheme? Use the menu bar - click PROFILE, then under Modify Profile on the left side of the page click Look and Layout Preferences. Near the top of the box titled PROFILE you will see
Current Theme: Forum or Board Default (change)
click (change) and pick a theme you like better.
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Following DocB's lead....another cool feature.....statistics!!!
*the new forum already has:
Total page views: 122975
*the quickie is the most popular thing at Bottlehead! almost as busy as the general discussion board.
Top 10 boards
General Discussion 283
Quickie 218
S.E.X. Kit 97
Speakers 78
Technical topics 77
Paramount 53
Gallery 47
Legacy Products 36
Foreplay III 31
Seduction 31
*and Grainger should be getting paid for the hours he puts in reading and writing for us!
Top 10 Posters
Grainger49 154
Doc B. 86
Paul Joppa 84
Len 65
Wardsweb 43
Caucasian Blackplate 43
Dr. Toobz 34
jrebman 33
booangler 32
dmannnnn 21
You can find this at the bottom of the forum home, you can click on [more stats] takes you to this link: http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?action=stats (http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?action=stats)
(text from the bottom of the home page)
Forum Stats
Forum Stats 1022 Posts in 175 Topics by 298 Members. Latest Member: greexulfuse
Latest Post: "Re: Space Chair slightly..." ( Today at 18:51:06 )
View the most recent posts on the forum.
[More Stats]
JP
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some of the folks registering issues here also participate on the other forum without problems. I would suggest that perhaps someone who is unfamiliar to this format and learning some new tricks might turn this thread from the complaint desk into a list of interesting features that they have discovered
I guess that one was addressed to me.
My point that "it is not the same at the new forum" was not meant to be neither a complaint nor a suggestion. Just my experience. Please apologize if you thought it was either inappropriate or otherwise negative.
I guess that to some of us the BH forum has become a part of our daily routine (I was about to write "a part of our lives") and thus we have to adjust to its changes and we feel we can comment about it. Maybe we're wrong.
The new format has definitive advantages, particularly when one is looking for specific info related to a specific product or subject. But ducatiguy's view that it was nice to go in every morning and be able to skim through all the previous day's posts was nice in the old forum. I also do that at the TP forum, unfortunately there's much less activity there so usually going to the "Recent Posts" frame will do.
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Creepy but lots of fun at the same time!
try this link:
http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?action=who (http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?action=who)
it is the link from the icon beside the list of users who are online, found on the left side of the bottom of the home page.
can you imagine, some "guest" just viewed my profile!
not much there, but the just the thought... ;)
enjoy, JP
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You don't like the color scheme? Use the menu bar - click PROFILE, then under Modify Profile on the left side of the page click Look and Layout Preferences. Near the top of the box titled PROFILE you will see
Current Theme: Forum or Board Default (change)
click (change) and pick a theme you like better.
Actually, Doc, I don't find the "current theme" tab any where on my profile pages. Is it possible that this shows up in your profile because you are an administrator? This is not a big deal, just thought I would ask after trying unsuccessfully.
I don't mind the colour scheme. And everything else seems to be working well on the new board. I have signed up for notification in some cases and I find I am spending more time on the new board than on the old one.
One can get the impression that the new board is not as active as the old one because we do not "see" every post, but I would bet this is a false assumption. Based on the 100,000+ page views to date, I think there are more people reading and posting than ever before. Any comparisons being made of activity levels between the new and old boards at botthead headquarters?
JP
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We had the ability for a member to choose a different theme turned off. I have switched it on. We won't be supporting the other themes in terms of modifications to their look, those are just canned themes from SMF.
As for comparative stats between old and new, that's another reason I decided to move away from AA. I had not been able to see stats on the AA forum for several years. Every time an upgrade was made at AA features like that would tend to fall off. It certainly seems to me that we have as much, if not more, traffic here.
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I think if you were able to analyze statistics from your old forum over the years, you might very well find that there has generally been an uptick in traffic following each release of a new product into the stream. For instance, the newest product at the moment is the Quickie, and I think that the stats would bear out that that is where the traffic is highest. So, if you want to spur traffic on your forum, just keep releasing new products!
I do have a curiosity question: There seems to be a discrepancy between the number of registered members reported at the bottom of the home page as opposed to the number reported on the "Members" page. Does this indicate that there are members who are not listed on the "Members" page?
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I guess that to some of us the BH forum has become a part of our daily routine (I was about to write "a part of our lives") and thus we have to adjust to its changes and we feel we can comment about it. Maybe we're wrong.
Of course you can certainly comment about it. I now understand your point about it just being different than the old one.
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About a third of the time when I come back to the home page, I hit refresh and click on "Show unread posts since last visit" I get nothing. That is no new posts. But the individual subjects show new posts and the new posts are there.
Any idea why this happens?
Edit: This has been fixed.
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Thanks for turning on the themes, I like the Bottlehead black/orange/white. It
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About a third of the time when I come back to the home page, I hit refresh and click on "Show unread posts since last visit" I get nothing. That is no new posts. But the individual subjects show new posts and the new posts are there.
Any idea why this happens?
I've been wondering that myself. I'll let you know if I figure something out.
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Thanks for turning on the themes, I like the Bottlehead black/orange/white. It
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Once you have read a post, the color of the title changes to orange against a gray background. Not much contrast, maybe its the gray that could be tweaked
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About a third of the time when I come back to the home page, I hit refresh and click on "Show unread posts since last visit" I get nothing. That is no new posts. But the individual subjects show new posts and the new posts are there.
Any idea why this happens?
I've been wondering that myself. I'll let you know if I figure something out.
Are the new posts ones that you have authored? Your own posts are not shown in "Show unread posts since last visit".
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Len,
No, they are ones authored by others. The topics show new posts but the show new posts hot key comes up with an empty search. Really quite odd.
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Len,
No, they are ones authored by others. The topics show new posts but the show new posts hot key comes up with an empty search. Really quite odd.
Happy Holiday Grainger.
I hope that's fixed soon. The only way I read posts is from the show new posts link.
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Today it worked.
Thanks, for the holiday wishes. I hope you got sutffed. It is a tradition. I did.
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Doc. Et al.,
Just letting you know that I'm really digging the Dark-f theme, however, the image displayed at the top of every page is a Dark-f logo, and not the Bottlehead logo. Thought you might want to change it.
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I'm thinking, is there an area for either FAQs or for Assembly Manual Corrections?
If there is where? Maybe these could be new folders on the main page?
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Another thought struck me, didn't hurt, while listening a minute ago.
How about a forum for Musical Recordings (talk about the recordings themselves) and one for Recording Artists (Discussions of their backgrounds and happenings)?
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And on the subject of folders, how about one entitled Unreleased Projects or Bottlehead R & D?
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I wold suggest the same thing Len suggested earlier: Under the Phono folder a folder about step up transformers, use, impedance matching, loading, turns ratio/gain and reflected impedances.
There could be a sticky in both the Seduction and Eros folders that refer you to that folder, or child board.
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There ought be a food and spirits section. That is why I will make my next post in General.
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Excellent Idea! Along those same lines you need to have a HomeBrew section
Dave
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yeah - I'm looking for the gin recipe that Doc posted once upon a time and can't seem to find it.
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I have looked through the forum help links and have not found a specific answer to this:
Can I search a specific thread? For instance, if I want to search for references to the RCA 6AS7G tube in the Tube Rolling w/Crack thread is that possible? Right now, it seems that I have to search the entire Crack sub-category.
Am I missing something or is this how SMF works? Most all other forums I visit have a drop-down when in a thread that allows such a search.
Thanks,
Bob
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Looks like there is a SMF mod called Search Focus Dropdown that might be the thing you are looking for. I'm still working on getting the web site migrated to a new server. Once that happens I will update the forum software and add some mods to improve its functionality.
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Thanks so much Doc - it is such a pleasure dealing with you folks at Bottlehead. The next time I come to Bainbridge to visit my sister (she lives about a mile from your new digs) I'll stop by to say so in person.
Bob
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Dan,
Reviving an existing thread. I am getting a diamond with a question mark inside instead of an apostrophe. What am I doing wrong.
I know that computers don't like me. See my newest thread in my corner for proof.