Conversations Maintenance

Blog Discussion in 'BeerAdvocate Talk' started by Todd, Sep 2, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    Please note that I'm removing a couple of third party add-ons that extended functionality of our Conversations (Inbox / private messages) and reverting to the stock functionality.

    Reason: Not only have the add-ons become bloatware over the years, but they're out-of-date/no longer supported and can't be replaced until our forum is upgraded. Removing them reduces potential issues and improves the overall stability of the site.

    This requires a rebuild of our forum search index, which is in progress right now. This process will take some time and results may seem off until completion.

    Updates to follow...

    Thanks.
     
    #1 Todd, Sep 2, 2019
    Premo88, unlikelyspiderperson, warrendietrich2001 and 1 other person like this.
  2. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    The process completed late last night. While this removed a number of notable features (last read, searching conversations, custom prefixes, functionality shortcuts, etc.), it reduced our forum search index by over 60% and greatly reduced the size of our database.

    You might notice that forum searching is significantly quicker now as a result.
     
    #2 Todd, Sep 3, 2019
    Premo88, unlikelyspiderperson and Sabtos like this.
  3. Sabtos

    Sabtos Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,920) Dec 15, 2015 Ohio
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I noticed this weekend I could no longer tell when someone last read a message. This feature was helpful, especially in trading, to know that someone is reading and receiving messages. Especially if they ghost you for those out there having to deal with BTs, but in general as well.

    Any idea if this was removed temporarily, or will it be back?
     
    #3 Sabtos, Sep 3, 2019
    eppie82, William_Navidson, flat_lander and 5 others like this.
  4. MattOC

    MattOC Pooh-Bah (2,100) Jan 13, 2013 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I noticed the same thing. I messaged Todd about this. Waiting to hear back.

    Heard back from Todd and apparently it's not coming back. Apparently I overlooked it in post #2, but I don't recall seeing it there originally. It's too bad as it was a helpful feature.
     
    #4 MattOC, Sep 3, 2019
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2019
  5. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    I merged your thread into this one.

    As noted, several features were unfortunately removed in the process.
     
    #5 Todd, Sep 3, 2019
    Sabtos likes this.
  6. colby600

    colby600 Pooh-Bah (1,919) Mar 24, 2015 Connecticut
    Pooh-Bah Trader



    It wasn't a solid reference as to when someone read a message as there was a way around it. I stumbled across it by accident and I'm sure others did as well.
     
    #6 colby600, Sep 4, 2019
    FBarber likes this.
  7. Sabtos

    Sabtos Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,920) Dec 15, 2015 Ohio
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Are you talking about hovering? If the message was more than 5 or I don't know how many words long that didn't really work well...
     
    #7 Sabtos, Sep 4, 2019
    FBarber likes this.
  8. MattOC

    MattOC Pooh-Bah (2,100) Jan 13, 2013 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I wasn’t aware there was a way around it, but it always seemed to work well for me with the people I engaged in conversation.
     
    #8 MattOC, Sep 5, 2019
    flat_lander, sjguglielmo, FBarber and 1 other person like this.
  9. FBarber

    FBarber Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,325) Mar 5, 2016 Illinois
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I have to second (or third) the concern with removing the "last read" feature insofar as it relates to beer trading. Reading through any of the bad trader threads will drive home how important that information was both in trading and dealing with bad trader situations. Is there something that could replace that aspect?
     
    #9 FBarber, Sep 5, 2019
    William_Navidson, flat_lander, sjguglielmo and 4 others like this.
  10. D09daryl

    D09daryl Crusader (446) Mar 11, 2017 California
    Trader

    Please add the last read feature back. Removing that was a bad move.

    Thanks
     
    #10 D09daryl, Sep 5, 2019
    Goatboye likes this.
  11. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    I've already outlined why the third party add-on was removed. Adding it back right now would be reckless. That said, it's something we could look at post-forum upgrade.
     
    #11 Todd, Sep 5, 2019
    deleted_user_950283 likes this.
  12. Goatboye

    Goatboye Zealot (562) Jan 13, 2015 Illinois
    Trader

    I haven’t been on the site in a while, I recently noticed I am not able to see when the other person in the conversation has read my reply. How long ago did it start, what was the reasoning?
     
    #12 Goatboye, Oct 7, 2019
  13. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    I just merged your thread in Beer Talk into this one. See above.
     
    #13 Todd, Oct 7, 2019
    Goatboye likes this.
  14. Goatboye

    Goatboye Zealot (562) Jan 13, 2015 Illinois
    Trader

    Agree100%
     
    #14 Goatboye, Oct 7, 2019
  15. brentk56

    brentk56 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,099) May 13, 2004 North Carolina
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Add me to the list of those who miss the "last read" feature. I never had a problem with the speed of searching through forums but losing that feature was very disappointing for traders.
     
    #15 brentk56, Nov 24, 2019
    sulldaddy and MattOC like this.
  16. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    @brentk56 I'm aware that losing some features is an inconvenience for some, however, keeping the site and its overall performance up is a priority right now.

    Note: If every trader became a Society member (like you did), we'd have the resources expedite a forum upgrade, bring the latest version of this add-on back, or develop a custom add-on to better meet our needs.
     
    #16 Todd, Nov 24, 2019
    Premo88, FBarber and johnInLA like this.
  17. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    So you're saying you'd work more than 24 hours per day plus weekends if there were more financial resources? :wink: I'm certain that I speak for all others when I say that we appreciate all what you and Jason and your staff do to keep this place going.
     
    #17 PapaGoose03, Nov 24, 2019
    micada, jvgoor3786, bmugan and 3 others like this.
  18. dbrauneis

    dbrauneis Grand High Pooh-Bah (8,071) Dec 8, 2007 North Carolina
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I think @Todd is implying that they could bring someone else on for this project or other projects (either contract/consultant or part-time/full-time employees).
     
    #18 dbrauneis, Nov 26, 2019
    PapaGoose03 likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.