Institute of General Semantics

Hi there!

"Excitement" I think best describes the feeling I have about the new GS Discussion Forums. I think you'll find a lot of it much, much improved from the prior discussion-forum software, and if you use other message boards on the internet, these forums will mimic a lot of their behaviors.

IMPROVEMENTS FROM PRIOR DISCUSSION FORUMS

- standardized tags for formatting your posts

- quick-reply boxes and the ability to quote another post's text

- 20-minute window for editing your post before it gets "finalized," with a 10-minute grace period (I have personally chosen to augment it to these levels)

- avatars (a photo or image representing you)

- two different viewing styles for the forums--flat (default) and threaded

- online indicator

- "Report to moderator" link

- improved moderator abilities (stickying threads, better maintenance ability, more intuitive controls)

- plus a whole bunch more.

In launching the new GS Discussion Forums, we also realize we still have a few things to iron out, tweak, and fix. Some limitations we know of, some we do not. Some limitations we can fix, some we may not have the ability to.

I've listed below some of the known issues. No need to send me a message if you experience them. However, should you find something not listed here (I aim to update this list as issues emerge or go away), please start a thread in this forum with a subject heading summarizing the issue. I will continue to edit this post as I find and correct issues.

If you have a website issue as opposed to a forum issue, please post it in the Questions about the IGS Website forum.

KNOWN ISSUES

- You can subscribe to threads, but you cannot subscribe to forums.

- PDF creation of a thread does not currently work, at least using Internet Explorer 7.

- If you put a smiley/emoticon in the final line of a post, a scrollbar will appear. If the post does not conclude that way, the scrollbar seems to go away.

- Private messaging ( "PM" ) doesn't work as yet.

- Emailing a moderator/admin may take some time to get a response. I think you'll get a faster reply if you post to these forums.

- No proper instructions for Boardcode, Help, etc.

- Should you upload an avatar but then decide to change it, in order to see your new avatar, you may need to clear your cache as well as refresh a page containing your avatar.

- On the user page which shows all of the members, if you try to navigate to a table of greater length, you get a JavaScript error. On a separate matter, the text below the opening table doesn't display properly.

That covers what I know of for now. In light of these issues and any others that might emerge, I will call this opening release of the GS Discussion Forums its "beta" release.

Again, if you encounter an issue not listed above, please start a thread about it in this forum.

Cheers!
Ben Hauck
Moderator

Hi there!

I think I will take the "Beta" label off of this release and call the General Semantics Discussion Forums (or "GSDF" for short) now officially "released."

I do this because I don't expect any major enhancements or improvements in the software or its configuration for a while, and I think most of what I can get to function, functions.

However, we still have some known issues, and perhaps a few other unknown issues. Please continue to report things in this forum as you find them. I can fix some things; other things I can't.

KNOWN ISSUES

- You can subscribe to threads, but you cannot subscribe to forums.

- PDF creation of a thread does not currently work, at least using Internet Explorer 7. (I may have a fix for this eventually--stay tuned.)

- Private messaging ( "PM" ) doesn't work as yet. (You may or may not see a PM button; as of yet, it does not work.)

- Should you upload an avatar but then decide to change it, in order to see your new avatar, you may need to clear your cache as well as refresh a page containing your avatar.

- We have a nice amount of issues with respect to displaying Latest Member and Userlist. We can't seem to display more than the first 30 users. Plus, clicking on the Latest Member only reveals tables and code. I have tried to seek a resolution from Fireboard, and as of yet, I haven't gotten an answer.

- Threaded View does not function as well as Flat View. (I encourage the use of Flat View.)

I may amend this list as I think of things or find new issues.

Ben
Moderator

Milton has brought to my more immediate attention some login issues when you receive an email from the forums.

For a discussion of this issue, go to this thread:

www.generalsemantics.org/index.php/forums.html?func=view&catid=13&id=386#386

Ben
Moderator

On August 15, 2009, I upgraded the General Semantics Discussion Forums software from Fireboard (a now unsupported software) to Kunema (a new supported software).

Kunema looks and feels a lot like Fireboard, but it has its own issues.

I will update this post and/or thread with Kunema issues as I find them.

KNOWN ISSUES

- Noticed 8/16/09: New posts land above older posts rather than below.

I noticed this behavior in this thread.

Opening Theory: This behavior only happens when writing to thread created under Fireboard and continued in Kunema.
Revised Theory: However, this behavior does not happen in THIS PARTICULAR THREAD.