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State of the forum(s) + changelog


Christopher

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Apparently when I installed the custom ranks MOD it didn't process all the way through. That has finally been corrected and is 100% functional now. There was a similar issue with the online/offline MOD as well [specifically in topic viewing] that was also fixed.

p.s. Fixed a good bit of phpbb vulnerabilities so the baddies don't blow this place to smithereens.

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Whatever error that was with the login has been fixed. Phpbb is a real pain in the arse sometimes..[spare me the IPB advertisement, D. :rasp:]. Also, I would offically like to welcome BJ to the moderator team. This is definitely the last person I am hiring for the forums, unless some of the old moderators come back and are interested in rejoining the team. Hopefully Roland [MDX400] will be active soon and help you guys out with the difficult technical topics.

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Decreased the font size for the main index by one

When the board is barely readable now you make changes to elliminate forum readers with older eyes.

Some forums go out of their way to use software which follows the MSWindows mandate of enabling View>TextSize>Larger because they know not everyone has youthful 20/20 vision. Not an insignificant number of us must use a magnifying glass, 19" monitors and 600x800 resolution and squint.

My world changed after losing my good retina leaving a damaged one. I've been on (arpa) internet since 1978 when there was only one font...yet only in the last two years a crop of youngsters suddenly insist on doing the 'Bible on a pinhead' thing for each webpage. Since the ink is free and the tools are bountiful, why not focus on enhancing communication rather than adding barriers.

Thank God (big G for the big Guy) that the trend of black backgrounds has reversed. Try reading dark blue font on black regardless of size. Just hope that war stays won.

If you've read this far, the is rant over...turn the music back up.

Traveling to Japan regularly, I used to get my Sony product info at the Sony building on the Ginza in Tokyo where a dedicated group would gather with their favorite vinyls on the 3rd floor where Sony's latest was on working display. Anyone else BTDT? Incidently, there was an area of Tokyo called Sonyville with combined living/work buildings where Americans/Aussies worked at less than minimum wage (foreigners were exempted from Japan's min wage) doing translations for Sony's instruction manuals because Sony wanted manuals which were correct technically and grammatically. Now American companies contract foreigners to write instruction manuals in broken English. Duh Does anything ever improve? You think I'm done? Well my doctor does...to be continued later in next life.

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Okay, so what would you like me to do? On my browser, I "increased text size" and it worked quite well. Please follow suit and you should be fine. If this does not work on Microsoft Internet Explorer, then I suggest you download the latest version of Mozilla FireFox, which seems to correct this issue. Mozilla Firefox is a much more advanced browser and carries features that will compliment your internet usage, espesically for someone who has used it as long as you, and it's free.

http://www.mozilla.org

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Decreased the signature size to 25 until I fix the formatting.

Also added a little animation to the private message icon.

I don't think I ever mentioned this, but a while back I implemented a more advanced new reply/topic system; "View posts since last visit" will cache all posts you haven't read that are new until you read them.

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When the board is barely readable now you make changes to elliminate forum readers with older eyes.

Not to step on your toes, but how about using a different Browser?

Try Opera and you will be amazed, how you can adjust the display to fit your eyes. Including magnification up to 1000%. And that includes graphics and Flash-thingies as well.

Just wibble over here:

http://www.opera.com/

Available for : Windows, Linux, Mac, OS/2, Solaris, FreeBSD, QNX and Smartphone/PDA.

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I tried using Mozilla for almost a year but it presented lots of problems where web designers have used advanced features and optimized pages to IE. I soon started switching back and forth but keeping the 'favorites' updated was a real hassle as well as the damn fight between them as to which is the primary browser. Then I went to using 2 pc's (I already have 2 monitors) with a keyboard/video/mouse switch. There just is not one best way. Thanks for the suggestion though.

The real solution lies in the (forum) software writers awareness. By using the H1 H2 etc, rather than specifying a font size, things work great. Many forums and web pages do this but strangely Microsoft Front Page does not follow Microsoft guidelines in this regard. Such is life. But do this, measure the screen area, then measure the area set aside for communicating the message, and calculate the pctg. As I sit here, I have 260 sq inches of display area and 25 sq inches of text box to work/read. That's why I love dos and I used qemm for multitasking and multiple program display. I'm a nut about enhancing communication, not glitz.

And this is all fleeting anyway. Ten years from now half of us won't have pc's. Internet communication will all be built into your satelite cell phone which is part of your wrist watch with a probe into the nerves of your wrist. Seems other half or us will be living in caves as leaders are taking to doing, or perhaps avoiding the advancing glaciers and the greys from Pluto or just to avoid the taxes.

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I tried using Mozilla for almost a year but it presented lots of problems where web designers have used advanced features and optimized pages to IE.

'Optimized for IE' == breaking W3C compliance == bad.

Luckily, more web developers have started to realize this, to the relief to us who contribute to OSS.

[shameless pimpage]

Mozilla FireFox 0.8. Faster than the Mozilla suite, since it's a standalone browser. Conforms to W3C standards. Renders pages quickly. Light and zippy. Best of all, free and no security holes. And there are ways to get around 'this page cannot be viewed because you don't use the crappiest browser ever, Internet Explorer'. Like this, which fakes the useragent string.

[/shameless pimage]

Web designers who break compliance should be stabbed. Repeatedly. Until they bleed out.

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The real solution lies in the (forum) software writers awareness.  By using the H1 H2 etc, rather than specifying a font size, things work great.

You DO know, that these tags are deprecated and that the W3C discourages their use?

And the future is XHTML and CSS, that includes fixed fontsizes, etc. By separating text and styling, the webpage becomes screenreader and braille-compatible as well. And that's the area, where the Internet Explorer has the biggest deficiences.

Second, the Internet Explorer is broken. By design, I have to add. Think vendor lock-in. And it's old. A big gaping security hole as well...

Third, Frontpage always delivers broken HTML. You can't use that as a reference. If you run a Frontpage-generated page through a validator, you're getting atleast a screen full of errors, no matter how simple the webpage is...

I don't know, what Sites you visit, but 99% work well in Opera AND Mozilla(Firefox). A few more work by switching the Browser ID, just press F12 in Opera and click the one you want.

My experience is that those pages, which don't work in Opera are usually not worth visiting. But that's a personal opinion...

So I suggest instead of going against the forum admin, you'd use better tools, tools that fit your needs.

But finally, it is your decision, I cannot prescribe what you do, I can only give advice.

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Here are some crappy ranks and the images associated with them:

0 posts - Beginner user posted image

25 posts - Novice user posted image

50 posts - Amateur user posted image

75 posts - Competent user posted image

100 posts - Experienced user posted image

150 posts - Versed user posted image

200 posts - Well-Versed user posted image

250 posts - Specialist user posted image

400 posts - Adept user posted image

500 posts - Professional user posted image

600 posts - Virtuoso user posted image

750 posts - True Minidisc Connoisseur user posted image

900 posts - Swami user posted image

1000 posts - Maharishi user posted image

Better than nothing, and I know they're not that great. I'll probably replace them later on in the year.

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Here are some crappy ranks and the images associated with them:

[schnipp!]

Better than nothing, and I know they're not that great. I'll probably replace them later on in the year.

I think, I have an idea...

What is the maximum width allowed for these images?

150 pixels, like the Avatar-Icons or less?

And state the maximum height as well.

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Hi All,

I just wanted to drop you guys a note telling you how much I enjoy this site. I'm sure you don't get enough thanks for what you do here. I'm new to the Minidisc world. I bought my first one about a month ago and a second one yesterday. I use them primarily for recording speaking sessions at various tradeshows and conferences. I've gotten great, accurate, and worthwhile advice here. Keep up the good work! :grin:

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Created a new forum for FAQ's and such, entitled "New to the format(s)?". Slowly a database of information for those who are new shall reside within, and hopefully make this a better learning experience for those who desire such.

The visitors of the last 12 hours is now below the users who are currently online at the bottom of the main index. I also changed the little logo next to that, you may have to press "refresh".

p.s. Also fixed a little bug that was was associated with the forum you're in; a mod had screwed up Moderators: + Users browsing this forum:, but that has now been corrected.

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Simpler and much nicer ranks, this time split into groups:

0 posts - Beginner

25 posts - Novice

user posted image

50 posts - Amateur

75 posts - Competent

100 posts - Experienced

user posted image

150 posts - Versed

200 posts - Well-Versed

250 posts - Specialist

user posted image

400 posts - Adept

500 posts - Professional

600 posts - Virtuoso

user posted image

750 posts - True Minidisc Connoisseur

900 posts - Swami

1000 posts - Maharishi

user posted image

------------

Like I said before, I will add more as it becomes necessary.

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I changed the forum font to Arial, sans-serif. I hope that this change is okay with everyone.

I did make a few other modifications, but a good number of these are for the moderating team and will not effect the users. I added a security feature as well, which protects user accounts; i.e. if you login incorrectly three times you will not be able to log in again for another 15 minutes. I will probably change this to half a hour or sixty minutes if I notice infractions are persistant. Honestly, I don't think we'll ever really run into any security issues here..

I also added a stop all-caps posting script, which will give you a warning if you compose a message with exessive caps. I am still tweaking this to make sure it doesn't become more of a nuisance than an actual benefit.

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Changed the forum font back. Sorry for the identity crisis, but it really seems like this is the best font for phpbb. In the future, when we're on IPB or vBulletin, the font will be less plain. For now we're with this. I did lighten the shade of the overall "black", however.

Changed the mod buttons with newer and most likely more-confusing ones. Only a few will notice this, of course. :rasp: I did however change all of the other icons like profile, pm, email etc etc in the topic view. Press refresh if you're still on the old ones. It's not a huge improvement, but I like 'em better.

Behold, statistics.

Also, here's the new banner for the front page of minidisc.org, and should be up sometime soon [i hope].

user posted image

I like that little color scheme there. Maybe I'll make another template [for choice] with such..

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Okay, so we now have Minidisco, Minidisc Access, and Minidisc Australia with Inquiries/Support Forums. Hopefully people will use this nice resource as direct communication with the related e-tailers.

General non-NetMD Recording is now General non-NetMD Recording/Pre-NetMD Unit Discussion, and The Past folder is now The Past + Storage Bin. I've also locked and moved Non-Sony MD/Hi-MD Equipment Discussion there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, finally fixed the damned formatting error that existed with the forum index > forum > subforum > thread in topics. You may or may not notice this, but I did and it bothered the heck out of me.

As you've noticed, we now have an affiliate banner to audiocubes.com on the top of the forums. If you click this link and purchase something at audiocubes, it will give us a small sum [comission] and that money will go towards supporting the forums. I will be adding additional sites as I figure out rotating banners and such. I'll try to make it as unobtrusive as possible.

I removed the links section. Just wasn't doing anything for me.

Removed the link to minidisc.org + the "Minidisc Community" listing above it. We all know this is the forums of minidisc.org, and we all know the address for it. No need to re-emphasize it. :happy:

There have been some speed issues as of late, and I'm making sure that the architecture of the forums is not at fault [it is, in a sense]. Hopefully we can get a hardware upgrade soon, as Hi-MD's upcoming arrival will surely equal a population explosion for the Minidisc community as a whole.

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The board experienced slight errors whilst I uninstalled the "Keep unread" mod. Sorry about that, but hopefully it'll speed up the board a bit.

EDIT: Crap. The forum is having issues pulling new posts. I am working on it and it should be resolved ASAP.

Final note: Done. I really hate *.php. Board is FLYING now. :happy:

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  • 2 weeks later...

As you may or may not have noticed, I removed Minidisc Australia's and Minidisc Access' forum. It just wasn't seeing any use.

Monthly news forums have been consolidated into six month blocks.

Banner rotation is in, and it seems to be working well. I believe that other than optimizing issues, there really isn't too much more I need to address. I am going to build a new template for the forums soon [as an alternative], and it will be of a blue/white theme.

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Forum speed is quite tolerable with my recent clean-up, I've noticed. In light of such, I've added a Quick Reply at the end of topics for easier/faster posting ability. :happy:

p.s. Inverted the forum colors and overall font layout. Please tell me what you think..

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I have removed the old logo and replaced it with a new one. I also moved the general user config under the new banner, and made the right side emphasis on ads. I also added a google adsense ad. I believe that this is about it for me and this template, time to work on the next..[blue].

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The forums now has two caching systems working in unison together; how seriene, eh? Regardless, it has decreased the overall number of queries and the forum seems to be running at a decent rate. I will be working on enabling gzip [which will effectively compress a page like the index, which is 49.3kb, to about 10kb. Delicious.

Did I mention we're now #1 for these two google searches:

minidisc forum

minidisc forums

This is due to some manipulations I made in the formatting. I can definitely tell that we're #1, too..our hit counts have been 2x since this occured a few days ago. I'm glad the board isn't as slow as it was.. :happy:

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  • 2 weeks later...

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