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March 28, 2011
by Hexorg
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Hello, NerdKit staff!

First of all, want to say great thanks for your kit. Ever since I got it I learned more about electronics then I did in my electronics engineering major. (sad isn't it?) Which is why I'm jealous for all of you going to MIT (I wanna come XD)

Anyway, everyone on the forums has been very helpful to me and others, and I really like the community support just as well as staff feedback. But it seems that forums are getting a little crowded with posts. It takes a good while to scroll down to the "Create a Thread" form, and sending all 300+ topic titles every time someone goes to microcontroller programming section probably doesn't do much speed to your server.

There are plenty of open-source phpbb style forums, that already have a great list of features and a nice gui.

Has there been any considerations to change to a different forum style among NerdKits staff?

Thanks. Stan.

March 28, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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Stan, others of us have expressed our displeasure with the forum.

I think we will just have to keep scrolling, which of course will get longer and longer as the forum gets more popular.

That has to change eventually they will probable just put the New Thread box on the top or at least put a button on the top so that one does not have to scroll through every entry to post a new thread.

One of the reasons the Nerdkit guys like this forum software is because of the control they have.

The problem with that is that it all has to be done (controlled) by someone, they cannot apparently take a blanket configuration and turn off features they do not want, as is done with most phpbb forum software but rather they have to institute every feature from scratch.

But thanks for the laughs,

Ralph

March 28, 2011
by hevans
(NerdKits Staff)

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Hi Hexorg,

We have at many points received complaints about our forum software. While there are many really awesome software packages out there, I have yet to hear a very compelling reason why any of them are vastly better than what we have (or heard of an alternative that actually solves all the issues one runs into when having an active community). Instead of going out and having to mess with someone else's software and making all that work, I would much rather embrace the DIY spirit that makes NerdKits what it is an grow the solution we have built for ourselves. That said, I absolutely agree that scrolling through 300+ posts is a pain. Thanks for pointing out, since we usually only reply to recent posts and rarely post new threads I hadn't noticed this problem at all. I'll think up a solution and let you know soon.

Humberto

March 29, 2011
by Hexorg
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Humberto, I'm sorry I really didn't mean to insult the current forum software, I like it too :D As a matter of fact I'd rather have improved version of this software then phpbb. Thank you for looking into it :)

Stan.

March 29, 2011
by Rick_S
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Maybe you could break everything into pages similar to other BBS's. So you may only see the most recent 20 - 50 topics with the remainder on subsequent pages. The same could be done for posts in a topic only those are typically done most recent last. Another feature sorely missing is an edit feature. I don't know how many times I've made a typo and don't catch it in the preview only to have it posted and uncorrectable by me.

I know you all have quite an attachment to this software as you've put a lot of sweat equity into it to make it what it is now. I hope one day it can be as fully featured as most other forums I frequent.

Rick

March 29, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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A [QUOTE] Your quote goes here[\QUOTE] feature would also be nice.

Ralph

March 29, 2011
by Rick_S
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+1 to that.

March 30, 2011
by hevans
(NerdKits Staff)

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The thread lists off of each of the main forums are now paginated. If you guys notice any weird behavior with it let me know.

Humberto

March 31, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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I would really like to have private messages. A option to "opt in" for other members of the Nerdkit community to send you a private message.

This would negate the need for people to post their email addresses, if we had a communications link.

Ralph

March 31, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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All so it seems as if a "edit" function could be added to the "Manage all my subscriptions" page. To enable editing prior post.

Ralph

March 31, 2011
by lnino
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I agree with Ralph. An edit button would be really great and privat messages could be also very helpful.

March 31, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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Humberto, the "main forums are now paginated" function looks great, thank you. I have not tried it yet (but I will believe me) but at least it appears to be be a great addition. You could put a "New Post" button at the top so you would not even have to scroll through the 20 or so prior post but hey what you did is a great improvement.

Ralph

March 31, 2011
by Rick_S
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Wow, thanks Humberto and anyone else involved!! Any thought of adding pagination to the threads as well?

Rick

March 31, 2011
by Hexorg
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Yea, I join Rick and Ralph, thanks for a fast response too! :D

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