• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

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Why would you want to have your threads displayed in reverse order?

Do you know you can click the button next to the thread that takes you to the thread's newest post?
 
Orphia Nay said:
Why would you want to have your threads displayed in reverse order?
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Newest post to the top makes more logical sense to me than newest post at the bottom of the last page of a 100 page thread.

Every time I go to a comments section on YouTube the first thing I do is click Sort By > Newest First; Reddit Sort By > New; Farcebook Most Recent


Orphia Nay said:
Do you know you can click the button next to the thread that takes you to the thread's newest post?
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Yes, I know that.
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Wowbagger said:
I have made a one-time donation. I'd like to see how progress goes, before I commit to a monthly schedule.
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Thank you - and the other 27 people so far - for the support!

We've had enough one off donations that I'll be proceeding with test installs of the new software this week.

 
Just donated, sorry for the delay.(used wrong nickname though - I am also Lorenathered on other sites lol)
 
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Gord_in_Toronto said:
I actually took a look at a number of "Best Of" sites before I posted. But was not much wiser afterwards. What I would like to se is a "features List" comparison to see what we would lose and what we we gain by a move to new software. smartcooky has raised some concerns for me.

:w2:
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I think my favorite part of xenforo is the link attachment feature. Just drop the link into the text box and it automatically parses the link with info from the linked site.

If you want to see what it looks like, follow the link below in my sig to my board.
 
smartcooky said:
Doesn't work. It only changes the order of the threads displayed, not the order of the posts in each thread. There is no "filters" link in each thread, and in any case, it doesn't "stick" - next time you log in you'll find it has reverted to the default... "Last message - Descending"

In this forum, you go to User CP > Edit Options > Thread Display Options > Thread Display Mode and choose "Linear Newest First" and every thread is sorted as the latest first.

Xenoforo is extremely limited - it has almost no user preferences other than style, timezone, email options and a bunch of notification options, all of which I have unchecked because I don't want to get an email every time someone a forum poster farts, coughs or sneezes.

For mine preferences such as post order, posts per page, and having ignored user posts not appearing are all Forum 101. They basic functionalities that are far more important than crap like Farcebook/Twitter integration or likes, thanks and mentions.
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Ah, my apologies. I didn't understand what you were looking for.
 
EvilBiker said:
Personally, I don't really care what forum software is used, as long as I can easily track a conversation/thread.

I wouldn't mind a better way to embed pictures - I really tired of having to use sites like imgur (who remembers photobucket??) to save pics to and then link to forum posts.

Monthly subscription set up.
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You can directly post images in Xenforo, either upload or link.
 
Emily's Cat said:
Meh. Those don't bother me. The only thing that has really bothered me with Xenforo is the infinitely nested posts. And that wouldn't be so bad if other people would bother to actually switch to edit mode and clean it up once in a while.

On the other hand... I also get frustrated with how much effort has to go in here to get more than one quote nested. There's pros and cons to both, but I find Xenforo to be comparable. There are a lot worse out there.
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Here is a xenforo add on that says it will limit character/word counts. I wonder if it would help alleviate the multi-quote problem.

I just sent the link to my sysadmin for evaluation.

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/ap-character-counter.207291/
 
Emily's Cat said:
Meh. Those don't bother me. The only thing that has really bothered me with Xenforo is the infinitely nested posts. And that wouldn't be so bad if other people would bother to actually switch to edit mode and clean it up once in a while.

On the other hand... I also get frustrated with how much effort has to go in here to get more than one quote nested. There's pros and cons to both, but I find Xenforo to be comparable. There are a lot worse out there.
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Grinder used to quote in italics so the quote was carried when people reply.
 
ZiprHead said:
We went through that too. One of the mods wrote a sticky with instructions on how to quickly edit long posts and there has been far fewer incidents since then.

OH, BTW. Donated.
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It's really easy to edit long posts. All you have to do is click the [] button, that takes you into vBulletin-style format. Then delete all the in-between stuff, and click back out to a more word-processor-style mode. Easy peasy.

But a whole lot of the members are just plain lazy. That's really all there is to it.
 
Orphia Nay said:
Why would you want to have your threads displayed in reverse order?
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That's kind of my question. The upside-down thread reading is something my brain can't get behind. I don't recall what forum or what software, but there was one that did that and I just couldn't manage it. It's entirely brain-breaking for me.
 
I agree, but my inability to understand why this is desirable is not an argument against having the option available.
 
arthwollipot said:
I agree, but my inability to understand why this is desirable is not an argument against having the option available.
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If 99% of users will never ever use it, then there's no good reason to have it. It adds complexity and upkeep costs.

Not that such common sense things keep Apple from constantly "upgrading" my phone to do things I never wanted it to do, and nobody I know would ever want it to do.
 
I'm in. Just don't make it difficult for me to learn. I'm elderly and "new stuff" challenged...
 
Emily's Cat said:
If 99% of users will never ever use it, then there's no good reason to have it. It adds complexity and upkeep costs.
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If 99% of users will never use it, that can't be adding complexity for those people. And if that 1% really likes it, it's probably worth it.

And storage is cheap. The change in upkeep would be negligible.

Emily's Cat said:
Not that such common sense things keep Apple from constantly "upgrading" my phone to do things I never wanted it to do, and nobody I know would ever want it to do.
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That's because it's not about you, or me, or about any of the individuals we happen to personally know.

Bing chat tells me that there is between 1 and 1.46 billion iPhone users in the world. 1% of that is still a very large number of people. Apple caters to that.
 
Emily's Cat said:
It's really easy to edit long posts. All you have to do is click the [] button, that takes you into vBulletin-style format. Then delete all the in-between stuff, and click back out to a more word-processor-style mode. Easy peasy.

But a whole lot of the members are just plain lazy. That's really all there is to it.
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If you just highlight the text you want to address, it automatically pops up with either quote the text or reply to it. Very simple really.

When members realized they could do that it reduced the multiquote problem significantly.
 
I'm glad to see so many willing contributors. Might I ask for a reckoning now?

Raised - Spent & Balance shouldn't be difficult.
 
bluesjnr said:
I'm glad to see so many willing contributors. Might I ask for a reckoning now?

Raised - Spent & Balance shouldn't be difficult.
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Well, it's about 7% of the active membership at present, so not that many, (though obviously thank you to each and every one of them)

Working out how much I've spent over the past X years to do your "reckoning" will take quite a while.:cool: So short answer, no.

Either I come through and deliver something worthwhile for now and the future, or I don't. Your mileage may vary.
 
icerat said:
Well, it's about 7% of the active membership at present, so not that many, (though obviously thank you to each and every one of them)

Working out how much I've spent over the past X years to do your "reckoning" will take quite a while.:cool: So short answer, no.

Either I come through and deliver something worthwhile for now and the future, or I don't. Your mileage may vary.
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I think it would be a good idea to say what your expected expenses will be in the next year or so (think budget). Like the cost of the upgrade, maintenance, cost of attracting new members.

7% of active members is a good number.
 
Interesting move of the goalposts.

Your OP said:

ISF Staff said:
International Skeptics is alive and kicking, and plans for growth are afoot! We are now launching fund-raising to further develop the platform.
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Yet now...

icerat said:
Working out how much I've spent over the past X years to do your "reckoning" will take quite a while.:cool: So short answer, no.
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That looks very much like you want payback for the time you've owned the forum before you start looking at spending money on the growth.
 
The Atheist said:
Interesting move of the goalposts.

Your OP said:



Yet now...



That looks very much like you want payback for the time you've owned the forum before you start looking at spending money on the growth.
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Where do you get that from? He's been paying out for the forum for many years, why anyone thinks he should give us figures for that is beyond me.

Perhaps there is some miscommunication, I think Bluesjnr was meaning to account from when this fundraiser started?

I would caution icerat not to get into specific costs or how much he earns from the forum. People should either contribute based on whether they want to support the forum or not. Consider it like YouTube channels that have patreon members as well as casual members. I can't think of a single one that gives out the figures of how much they raise and what their costs are. They will often have fundraising activities with things like "If I can get another 50 patreons I can move to weekly videos". People should decide to contribute to the forum based on its value to them or how they perceive its overall value. If you don't "trust" the owner to spend your contribution as they see fit, don't contribute.
 
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Darat said:
Where do you get that from? He's been paying out for the forum for many years, why anyone thinks he should give us figures for that is beyond me.
Perhaps there is some miscommunication, I think Bluesjnr was meaning to account from when this fundraiser started? I would caution icerat not to get into specific costs or how much he earns from the forum. People should either contribute based on whether they want to support the forum or not. Consider it like YouTube channels that have patreon members as well as casual members. I can't think of a single one that gives out the figures of how much they raise and what their costs are. They will often have fundraising activities with things like "If I can get another 50 patreons I can move to weekly videos". People should decide to contribute to the forum based on its value to them or how they perceive its overall value. If you don't "trust" the owner to spend your contribution as they see fit, don't contribute.
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You are entirely correct, I wanted nothing more than how much we'd raised from the fundraiser and what the projected costs would be for known future upgrades.
 
Agreeing with Darat and bluesjnr. It's not our business to know how much icerat nets or not, but it would seem nice to have some ideas of what funds are being targeted as being needed, and how much will be needed to maintain. That's a factor in how much members might be willing to chip in.

So far, it seems to be a call-out for cash. Ok, cash is needed to do stuff. My concern is far more exactly what will be done that will build the forum, and whether it will be cost effective to maintain and attract new and vibrant members.

The Xeno thingy is Greek to me. It sounds expensive, is all I've gathered. The other stuff proposed ranges from vague to counterproductive. Advertising and meetups, for instance, cost money but will not change what visitors find here. We are still skipping over that critical product R&D step. There's talk about Army of Truth and all, but it seems like that should be up and running in at least a preliminary beta form before bothering with advertising.
 
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Darat said:
Where do you get that from? He's been paying out for the forum for many years, why anyone thinks he should give us figures for that is beyond me.

Perhaps there is some miscommunication, I think Bluesjnr was meaning to account from when this fundraiser started?
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I'm certain that's what he meant, which is why it was quite surprising to see Icerat start talking about costs to date as part of the "reckoning", which to me says he's looking to claw some of it back.

Anyway, maybe he could answer the question rather than have others speculate on his behalf?
 
Thermal said:
Agreeing with Darat and bluesjnr. It's not our business to know how much icerat nets or not, but it would seem nice to have some ideas of what funds are being targeted as being needed, and how much will be needed to maintain. That's a factor in how much members might be willing to chip in.
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Trust me that I don't personally give a rat's arse - none of it's my money. If people were giving me money, I'd want to very carefully specify what it was being used for to ensure nobody thought I was taking the piss.

I found the juxtaposition of points made by Icerat somewhat interesting, and thought I'd comment on it. He might even answer.
 
Still find myself wondering how much we raised and how it compared to what's needed?

Only now do I find myself wondering why a perfectly reasonable request like mine has been ignored despite being clarified?
 
bluesjnr said:
Still find myself wondering how much we raised and how it compared to what's needed?

Only now do I find myself wondering why a perfectly reasonable request like mine has been ignored despite being clarified?
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As I noted, enough has been raised to proceed with the upgrade, but not yet enough to cover monthly running costs - though exactly how much that is going to be is not going to be clear until it's fully operational and the hardware demands become apparent. The core software and media management extension has been purchased and testing is in process. I aim to have a sandbox platform available for users within the next 1-2 weeks (Delayed thanks to a flooded kitchen and a car crash. Yay.). I'll be opening it to moderators first.
 
slyjoe said:
Donated - amount was in euros (?).
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Yeah, I originally set it up in USD, but I discovered that Stripe in their wisdom treats a USD transfer to a USD bank account with a US bank as a foreign transaction because the Stripe account holder is not in the US. So they charge more, transfer less often, and have a much higher minimum payout.

Do we get JREF mugs now? ;)
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No, but I'm considering IS ones!:thumbsup:

As an aside, AI is really bad at generating Newton's Cradle images.
 
icerat said:
As I noted, enough has been raised to proceed with the upgrade, but not yet enough to cover monthly running costs - though exactly how much that is going to be is not going to be clear until it's fully operational and the hardware demands become apparent. The core software and media management extension has been purchased and testing is in process. I aim to have a sandbox platform available for users within the next 1-2 weeks (Delayed thanks to a flooded kitchen and a car crash. Yay.). I'll be opening it to moderators first.
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Please keep us posted. Like
- what is your timetable
- how much has been raised
- how much things cost
- what you plan to do and when

Remember the more information you give out like the above, the more money you will raise.
 
icerat said:
As I noted, enough has been raised to proceed with the upgrade, but not yet enough to cover monthly running costs - though exactly how much that is going to be is not going to be clear until it's fully operational and the hardware demands become apparent. The core software and media management extension has been purchased and testing is in process. I aim to have a sandbox platform available for users within the next 1-2 weeks (Delayed thanks to a flooded kitchen and a car crash. Yay.). I'll be opening it to moderators first.
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Thanks for the update.
 
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