Welcome to the Updated Forum
Monsen
Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
Welcome to the new and updated forums.
As you can see, the new version do look a bit different than before. The new version doesn't support the same template as the old, and have different elements, so the look has been recreated for the new templates.
Mostly, you'll find things in much the same place as earlier, but here is a short list of changes and new features to get you all started.
I'll write more detailed writeups of some of the features later.
New Editor
The post editor is now a new fancy rich text editor. It allows you to easily use different styles like headings and lists by using the tools in the editor itself, no more writing html codes. It also allows for easy uploads of images, in addition to clicking on the image icon to be presented with a file picker dialog, you can also drag and drop images, and paste them with Ctrl + C.
The new editor should automatically turn any pasted URL's into hyperlinks, and turn links to some special media like youtube into embedded videos.
Profile Data
Your username and password and email is exactly as before, but some of the user data, like real name and custom profile fields did not transfer over because the new forum versions handles things a bit differently. So if you want your real name showing on your profile, please edit it and add it. You'll also want to check your avatar. To edit your profile, click the avatar icon in the top right
Whispers
The new version no longer supports whispers in conversations. Instead, it uses a more traditional Private Messaging system. All old whispers have been converted to PM's. Click the envelope in the top right followed by the All Messages link in the popup to see these.
Notifications
Next to the envelope icon is the notification bell. By default, the forum notifies you of all manner of things. Click the bell and then the settings icon right below it to customize your notifications, and which will be shown just on the bell (popup) and which will be sent as email.
Image Uploads
The forum still has an attachment limit at 2MB for images and other attachments in posts, but now you also have a personal image gallery on your profile. Uploads in the gallery is limited to 5MB per file, which should give you a nice hi-resolution image if you stick to .jpg.
Reactions & Badges & Points & Ranks
You can now react to posts by clicking the like, awesome, insightful and lol reaction buttons. Please don't let these be a replacement for a friendly comment though, it is much nicer to have someone say something, but a like still shows you appreciate something even if you don't find anything to say. Getting reactions to your posts grants you points, which when enough have been accumulated will give badges and ranks, which showcase your community involvement.
Post Editing
A common way of spamming is to post a seemingly helpful post, and later go back and edit it. To prevent this behavior, there is now a time limit for editing your posts. If you really need to edit an old post rather than just post a new comment with an update, contact a moderator. Members with higher ranks have a longer period, since trusted members probably aren't spammers.
Old Links
Not all old links to various spots in the forums will work anymore. I'll update the various stickies and such in the coming days, but if you encounter a link that doesn't work properly, such as in the Interesting Resources sticky, this is why.
Have fun, and go on mapping :)
![[Deleted User]](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c75d9a245b74d9c59be0999ea81ca541/?default=https%3A%2F%2Fvanillicon.com%2F92add7f8c954488718110edc4896ad39_200.png&rating=g&size=200)
Comments
Looks interesting so far.
Congratulations, Remy! :D
It looks great!
I love the new look, very neat and clear. Kudos on a job well done, Remy!
Love the Private Messaging, real smileys, pop up notifications.
Still trying to find the Gallery you spoke of. I'm sure it's there somewhere and most likely as obvious as my nose.
Galleries are on your personal profile, Shessar.
Thanks Sue, I found it but can't seem to access it. It just keeps returning to the log-in page.
Yes, Remy has resolved that in the last couple of minutes. I've just created an album and uploaded an image.
Same here.
Thanks Remy, you are the best!!!!
Thanks for your work, Remy. I really love the way the site looks now. I've been meaning to come back and be more present in the forums, and this is definitely a good time to do it!
Not bad for a Norwegian who turns his nose up at getting wet sand between his toes. Translation into Aussie: Bloody brilliant
The PM system makes a lot of sense, and it's helpful to have options just to "Like", etc., a post, as this is very useful elsewhere.
Presumably, removing the Whisper system means if someone links to another topic on the Forum, the link will always now go to the same page as everyone else sees, which is also useful. Is it possible to easily link to a specific post within a topic this way? I'm thinking of some of the posts - such as JimP's recent Community Atlas topic - where there may be multiple items where comments have been requested.
Three questions.
1) Is the time-stamp shown on posts for a specific time-zone, or does it default to my own time-zone (for each Forum user/visitor)?
2) What's a "wall"? (Under "Notification Preferences" in "Profile".)
3) What's a "Quote tree", and what does "folding up" one mean? (Under "Quote Settings" in "Profile".)
[EDIT: Just discovered the "Edit" cog lets me delete a post, which is another improvement over the old Forum too! (And also how to change ordinary text to boldface!)]
Thanks Remy. I know different systems call things by alternative names sometimes. I'm sure I'll stumble on others, given time ?
Remy, I can only upload images less than 2 MB in the Gallery - all my images between 2Mb and 4.5MB fail to upload. Is this a bug, or just peculiar to denizens of Australis incognita
Yea, I know. There is something that doesn't behave the same here as on my test server, so gallery uploads obey the same size limits as attachments. I am looking into it, but for now you'll just have to wait with the larger images.
I'm having trouble updating my profile. When I try to save my changes I'm told someone already has my e-mail address.
That's because you have two users registered with that address. Guess the old forum allowed you to do that.
Should I just delete the inactive one? (I am assuming that will fix the issue)
I noticed when I first signed on to the new system it didn't accept my default password but when I checked my records and manually typed it in it was accepted. Did I accidently create a new account?
No, your other account was made back in 2011 and used until 2013.
Okay, delete it then.
It's been deleted. Give me a word if you still have problems editing your profile, the forum may cache something that needs cleaning.
This is nice. Two small comments.
That was a lot of work you accomplished in a relatively short period of time. Well Done!
No options like that are available for this forum software unfortunately, neither by default or as a plugin, so I wouldn't be able to do that without resorting to writing the plugin myself.
The avatar does show a little larger for the first post in the discussion, and of course even larger on your profile page.
Understand. I really think you did yeoman's work in a short period of time.
He absolutely did, Mike ;)
Is there a way of looking at Gallery pictures without going through each members' names?
Unfortunately not, there is no global registry of these.
Will there be an option to "like" pictures in galleries?
No, the gallery didn't come with any such feature. Would have been nice, but it is not something that can be easily done.
What is the best way to look at various galleries? Is there a way to see all galleries at once in temporal order? Can we post pics up to 5 mb at a gallery now?