Topic: AutoCAD Discussion Newsgroups go byebye

[rkmcswain]

Well, it's been about 6 weeks since the change over to the new format.

Any different thoughts at this point?

[dgorsman]

Its... different.  In some areas, its better, like quickly seeing who replied to what under the pseudo-threaded view.  In others, its worse, like the lack of a "true" thread view, or the default email when posting.  I don't spend all day there (or here, for that matter), so its mostly a "meh".  You?

[Jeff_M]

Well, it's been about 6 weeks since the change over to the new format.

Any different thoughts at this point?

Nope, I still dislike it. While it does seem mostly better than it's predecessor, it still lacks too many things to warrant me spending as much time there as I used to via nntp.

One thing I don't understand...and this has NOTHING to do with the Adesk newsgroups, but I thought it fits best here....with all of the programming which has been done in the Web Forum Arena (SMF, vBulletin, etc.) it strikes me as odd that not one, that I could find anyway, has attempted to give the end user a format even close to the simplicity of a newsreader. Can anyone explain that to me? I've seen Web Mail readers that look a lot like standalone mail/news readers, why can't that same functionality be carried over to forums?

All this hype about "give the users the rich Web experience they've come to expect" is bunk, IMHO. I don't WANT a rich Web experience, I want to post/read/search/answer questions in as little time as possible, without having to constantly use the Back button, refresh button, re-hit the bookmark because the re-login has negated using the Back button, hit a link that takes me away from the current message just to view a screenshot, etc, etc.

[sinc]

I was already using the web interface before the latest changes.  And the latest changes fixed a bunch of the problems they've had ever since they switched forum software last year.

It's still slow, but it works better than before.  And I already used the web interface before, because I'm not a fan of NNTP.  I like being able to read newsgroups from multiple computers, and having the read/unread indicators update appropriately regardless of which computer I happen to be using.  I also never liked the search functionality in NNTP - it seemed to involve downloading a lot of message headers, and then the search would only search the message headers.  The Search in the AD forums still kind of sucks, but Google searches it pretty well.

So all in all, I view things as better now than before.  The web side works better, and the death of NNTP is a non-issue for me.

[sinc]

ing I don't understand...and this has NOTHING to do with the Adesk newsgroups, but I thought it fits best here....with all of the programming which has been done in the Web Forum Arena (SMF, vBulletin, etc.) it strikes me as odd that not one, that I could find anyway, has attempted to give the end user a format even close to the simplicity of a newsreader. Can anyone explain that to me? I've seen Web Mail readers that look a lot like standalone mail/news readers, why can't that same functionality be carried over to forums?

This argument has been raging over at RPLS.com (a Land Surveyor site), where they recently replaced the old, fast, board with a new-fangled Facebook-style board that is worse than Autodesk's.

One of the members started a competing forum, which works much better.  It's much like a newsreader format, and is very fast.  Check it out:

http://beerleg.com/

[Jeff_M]

One of the members started a competing forum, which works much better.  It's much like a newsreader format, and is very fast.  Check it out:

http://beerleg.com/

Now that's not too bad. Add a few adjustable frames so that with a click on the message it would show in another frame instead of another window/tab, and show all of the subscribed categories along a side, it would be pretty darn close.

[rkmcswain]

This argument has been raging over at RPLS.com (a Land Surveyor site), where they recently replaced the old, fast, board...

Well, you got the "old" part right. That was almost the worst message board type forum I had ever seen. I can't comment on the new one since I have not seen it, but the old one was bad....

One of the members started a competing forum, which works much better.  It's much like a newsreader format, and is very fast.  Check it out:

http://beerleg.com/

That looks almost as bad... But if the users there like it, that is all that matters...
What is wrong with vBulletin people?

[JohnK]

> What is wrong with vBulletin
It's proprietary. It's bloated. It tries to be smart. It looks horrible. I dont like the shape of its button for...  Prolly not much overall but its all up to the admin (how long is a string); whats wrong with SMF?

[Jeff_M]

I have nothing against vBulletin people.

One of the biggest hangups I have with every web-based forum I've ever used, including the Swamp, is the need to "click, read, back, click, read, back, click, read, etc." in order to read multiple threads. With a newsreader I can select the message to read, do so in the lower pane, click the next one to read, read in the lower pane, etc, without ever needing a "back" button. And if I ever wanted to re-read that message, even offline, I just have to scroll back to that message and read it. not relevant to current discussion, sorry

FWIW, I really don't like the AUGI forums, either, and those are powered by vBulletin. Perhaps it's the layout, I don't know...they seem fast, and do allow inline images...sort of, normally have to open in new window to actually see them... but I don't frequent them very often for some reason...

[rkmcswain]

... whats wrong with SMF?

The only irritating thing at the moment is that there is no way to 'unsubscribe' from a thread.

[JohnK]

This smells a lot like the Editor wars. ...*blink* are you a member of the Cult of VI?!

[JohnK]

... whats wrong with SMF?

The only irritating thing at the moment is that there is no way to 'unsubscribe' from a thread.

wha? R U sure (that sounds pretty...beta to me)?


EDIT:

Ah, I see. Let me check around a bit.

REF: http://www.theswamp.org/index.php?topic=15482.15

[sinc]

Now that's not too bad. Add a few adjustable frames so that with a click on the message it would show in another frame instead of another window/tab, and show all of the subscribed categories along a side, it would be pretty darn close.

Did you notice the "Preview" feature (the little balloon in the thread title)?  It's close to that, as long as you only want to see a single post.

[sinc]

Well, you got the "old" part right. That was almost the worst message board type forum I had ever seen. I can't comment on the new one since I have not seen it, but the old one was bad....

The funny thing is, the "old" RPLS board sounds a lot like what Jeff is asking for...  It had a newsreader-style thread list in the pane on the left side, and when you clicked on a thread, the messages appeared in a pane on the right side.

Of course, it was also pretty minimal, since it was developed many years ago now.  The big thing was the way it forced users to hand-type any desired HTML, and a malformed piece of HTML could easily "trash" a thread, preventing others from posting to it.  It also did not allow inline images, and users had to post any images to some other public server, and post a link to the image in the forums.

[Matt__W]

Wait a sec.... the discussion groups are still around?  Is Bean Saladhead still there?