NationStates Jolt Archive

Bring Back The Old Forums!

Maybe it's just me, but I find these new forums particularly crap. How shall I list the ways? They're ugly, slow :headbang: (but hopefully this can be improved), visually confusing, hard to navigate (it took me almost an hour to work out how to make a new thread), and I'm not particularly fond of the way we're a part of a massive forum which is home to tons of other non-related forums and such.

EDIT: Just another thing that annoys me inherently is the fact that you can't leave your pointer anywhere on the screen without a pop-up box coming up and annoying the crap out of you! More so!

What I mean to say is bring back the old forums! We loved them! :fluffle: They were cooler than your grandad in Speedos! And that's cool!

i have to agree i cant do business here, sure the old ones crashed alot but they got the job done. other then crashes i had no problem with the old ones

The forums aren't that bad, I think they are better than the older ones in a few ways. Once we get over the growing pains, and maybe link up nations with their Nationstates page, so I can see what their stats are without having to open another window and search.

Overall though I think they are better, it just takes some getting used to.

It's not THAT bad, but it's not a whole lot faster either.

WARNING: This post contains ranting observations that are probably only of interest to myself. The problems described herein may already have workarounds devised which I've not heard (if so, please inform me). However, from the standpoint of this user, they are all valid reasons to simply abstain from these fora and concentrate my RP to my regional fora, where these issues don't exist at all. With that disclaimer out of the way, I present my findings:

In additon to what The Blue Viper II said, the old fora (1) worked with my regular browser¹, (2) didn't keep logging me in this puppet², (3) used images in a sane manner, (4) could be fscking logged out of, and (5) could be used directly from NS³. And that's just off the top of my head; I could probably come up with more if I could actually use the blasted thing.

1. Konqueror, for those of you who are wondering. Which leads me to wonder (maybe someone can fill me in here), do these fora work with Safari (lots of shite programmers still cater to Macs)? Unless it's a problem with my proxy (which it shouldn't be because it's config'ed not to be used for the jolt server.

2. The end result being that I now need three browsers if I want to use the fora as my parent.

3. As opposed to having to register for another system, then be told that my e-mail address isn't "valid", whatever that means, with no success, repeated ad futilitum for a week and a half until suddenly it decides the address is okay, but by then it's moot because of reason (2) above.

From what I can tell, the advantages of these new fora boil down to:
Not so slow/Stabler

and

Appear to support Unicode

The latter is nice in RP situations if your countrymen's names may use certain characters (I can actually write the name of my Minister of Defence, Gen. Mordeĥaj Ĉikofilo, for example). Still, big whoop, as there exist other othographic conventions for getting around that. That means the speed/stability performance gain is the only positive note I see.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Give us back the old servers! They might have been slow and slightly crash-prone, but they were at least usable, dadgummit!

I like the new forums. We have profiles and signatures and for most of the time the forums are faster. I think you should let some of the bugs be ironed out first before you make judgements.
The link to the forum from NS will be sorted out if it hasn't already been for you (it now works for me).
Also you can log out, there is a link at the bottom of the main jolt page. Alternatively you can click here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/login.php?do=logout

Now that we have the search and edit features back these forums are great. The other forums dont really bother me since we're nothing to do with them and their members dont 'invade' us. The skin I didnt like at first but it's beginning to grow on me (as weird as that sounds) and OK, it isnt as good as the old fourms' skin but it isnt a big deal. The board doesnt crash every 10 mins like it used to on the old forums and people dont double, triple, quadrouple post things without realising it. They are a bit slow but they're faster than the old ones when you factor in the crashing, and Jolt are working on that. They do seem to randomly log me out, but it isnt that bad. I think you people have just forgotten how the old forums were. Go back and you'll be screaming for Jolt.

The link to the forum from NS will be sorted out if it hasn't already been for you (it now works for me).
Okay, I went back and tried it again, and it actually did work from my regular browser. I retract that point.

Also you can log out, there is a link at the bottom of the main jolt page. Alternatively you can click here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/login.php?do=logout
I had discovered that in another thread, but its functionality was deterred by the autologin rendering it impractical, if not impossible, to switch nations in the fora. Still, I shouldn't have to bookmark a logout link in order to be able to get to it quickly, it ought to be on every page.

These forums are better in a certain way, but pictures?

I like these forums because they don't come up with the "Unable to find page" page, but I like the old forums because they had all of those wonderful guides... *sigh*

These forums are better in a certain way, but pictures?

If you can't see pictures go to your User CP, then options and check the box labelled "Show Images"

I don't know why people are saying it's slow. It's lightening fast for me.

Perhaps because these servers are located in Britain, not the US.

I don't know why people are saying it's slow. It's lightening fast for me.

Perhaps because these servers are located in Britain, not the US.

I think they are much faster as well, however, I don't really like the look of them, or the fact that people are disappating into the other forums. But I don't really care that much, on the whole they probably are better.

It would be nice if the override user skin preference was turned off, then people could use the standard Jolt skin if they dont like this one.

1. Konqueror, for those of you who are wondering. Which leads me to wonder (maybe someone can fill me in here), do these fora work with Safari (lots of shite programmers still cater to Macs)? Unless it's a problem with my proxy (which it shouldn't be because it's config'ed not to be used for the jolt server.

2. The end result being that I now need three browsers if I want to use the fora as my parent.
You might want to try Firefox, I use It and it works just fine. Now admitted, the only real advantage is these forums are faster and stabler, but this was such a MAJOR annoyance with the last forums, I think this should be given extra weight. The only real problems I have is 1. It instantly kills quote pyramids, which makes involved conversation really hard. 2. there is no bridge BACK to NS. Other than that its mainly format things that I have already gotten used to.
3. The new things below our name, these seem to be based partially on performance in the Jolt Arcade, which I have zero interest in.

You might want to try Firefox, I use It and it works just fine. Now admitted, the only real advantage is these forums are faster and stabler, but this was such a MAJOR annoyance with the last forums, I think this should be given extra weight. The only real problems I have is 1. It instantly kills quote pyramids, which makes involved conversation really hard. 2. there is no bridge BACK to NS. Other than that its mainly format things that I have already gotten used to.
3. The new things below our name, these seem to be based partially on performance in the Jolt Arcade, which I have zero interest in.

Erm... There is a bridge back to NS. Try clicking the big banner with 'NationStates' on it.

Main problems:
1) silly titles
2) located on jolt forums with unrelated stuff

i have no problems with the speed or other stuff. Go UK!

Erm... There is a bridge back to NS. Try clicking the big banner with 'NationStates' on it.
Well I was more refering to clicking on a poster, then clicking on a link to their nation on NS

I live in America I like them they're:
Fast
Simple
They don't crash
It looks nice
Shooting smilies! :mp5:
I don't like quote pyramids *shrugs*

Things I hate:
No shortcut to nation >.<

Meh, and I use 56k @.@

:mp5:

I live in Wisconsin and it's been lightning fast. It's a much better improvement over the previous iteration.

I think people sometimes are afraid of change. Change scares us! :eek:

Meh, well, I liked the look of the old forums better....but here at least we can blame all our troubles on the jolt people while backing our local tryants to the hilt with support. Go hometown mods! lol...now when do we start invading the other damned forums in this place. We can do it! By jingo, we've got the threads, we've got the posts, we've got the members too!

Actually this new skin is growing on me. I used to think it was boring, but I am now beginning to think of it as quite stylish.

At first, the new forums pissed me off. They had an unfamiliar layout, confusing "buttons" to get to different places and no way to link back to NS. Then they stopped working all together for three days (for me) and that made me hate them. But, ever since the admins fixed it, I have liked the new forums. Starting a new thread was a pain to figure out, but once I got, its pretty easy. And we get the dashboards where we can mod our own sigs and avatars.

They're still ugly, but they don't crash (anymore) which is pretty important to me.

Um....you guys know that you can minimize the "other" stuff on the Jolt boards? Click the double arrows on the right.

Odd question, but how DO you get smilies IN the posts? The shooting smilies look kick a$$, but I can't get em'!

What I don't like about the new forums is that when you post a post, you have no option to go back into the forum. Rather, it takes you straight into the thread.....that's really annoying.

But still, we shouldn't be ungrateful.

What I don't like about the new forums is that when you post a post, you have no option to go back into the forum. Rather, it takes you straight into the thread.....that's really annoying.

But still, we shouldn't be ungrateful.
and the forum jump at the bottom of the page then?

I'll admit that the ad banners at the top are a tab off-putting, but I'm not paying any money for this, so It's not like I can do anything about it.

I'm glad of the new forums. The reason I stopped playing becuase I was fed up with "The Document Contains No Data" appearing a million times before I load a page.
Is it really being said that these forums are slow? They may not load instantly, but there's thousands of users, so that's to be expected, and they're a hell load faster than the old forums.

The problem of Pop-ups can be remedied by simply switching to a better browser (i.e. Mozilla Firefox) which has built-in popup blocking.

Just my thoughts

Nibbleton

Odd question, but how DO you get smilies IN the posts? The shooting smilies look kick a$$, but I can't get em'!

There are two methods:
1. Profile > Edit Options > Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Miscellaneous Options section > Change Message Editor Interface to Standard Editor using the drop down menu > Save Changes. Now whenever you type a message you will have clickable smilies at your disposal.

2. Go Here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/misc.php?s=&action=faq

Shotgun method here...
There's no popups, just banner ads. And, if they're flashing and irritating, scroll down a touch and they're gone.
People continuously bitched about how the old NS forums looked. The skin was no good, it was too plain, couldn't have a different one. The moral? You can't upload a personal one, so make the best of it.
As mentioned above, the bridge works.
We're hoping to have nation links, but the 'guest' problem is a bit more pressing right now.
The forums are running faster everyday, and no longer crashing at non-peak times, to say nothing of trying at 10pm GMT...
The forum titles are on the list, but nowhere near the top.
Quote pyramids are evil and wrong, and I don't miss them at all.
And youCan alwaysBuild them Yourself.
And, really, it's not like we're going back.

phpbb was designed as an open-source forum for small websites that dont get alot of traffic, which is somthing NS isn't. NE is a massive site, listed at 11k something in the alexa site rankings.

Vbullitien was designed to serve large websites that get alot of traffic, such as NS. VBullitien is a much better option as it can handle all those hits much easier then phpbb.

if you knew these facts, you see why Vbullitien is much better for NS then phpbb is.

We cant go back as even on this sort of beefy hardware, we would still crash alot

Even though I have helped you in the past, I cannot help you hear. I like the new forums a lot better. Why? Because they actually work.

Overall, you will get use to the new ones. And plus, you can change the look of it.

You might want to try Firefox, I use It and it works just fine.
I already do, that was browser no. 2. Konqui, however, generally suits my preferences better. I have found, however, that when I use Konqueror, the Unicode issue mentioned above is lost, as somewhere along the line non-ASCII characters get converted to ?s.

3. The new things below our name, these seem to be based partially on performance in the Jolt Arcade, which I have zero interest in.
That would explain why I'm just a "new member".

Incorrect.

The 'guest' listing (or any other for that matter) have nothing to do with Arcade activities. New nations and newly ressurected nations (and some others) are having problems with forum integration. Things aren't connecting quite right, which is why some members are a Guest with n/a posts, and others have titles and true post counts (and profiles, etc).

[violet] and Salsa-man are aware of the problem and are working on it.

right...these forums...

they are faster than the old one..
i don't mind the layout either.

but it's not friendly for people on 800x600
and i can't see any list of smileys (okay, so maybe i'm not looking good enough)
and you have to ask to see more threads, it's standard on "last day"

and is the search function online now?
edit: i also miss the list of online users at the bottom, now you can only see it when you go to jolt's forums, and have to dig through their users too..

and i can't see any list of smileys

Profile -> Edit options -> Misc. options. -> Message Editor Interface.

Just set it to standard, and you already begin to smile :cool:

Hmm, bring back the old forums? A review of our options.

1. Everyone load up their internet banking website and view their bank accounts.
2. Find me where this months payment to Max is listed and how much.
3. Show me where we are paying for this.
4. Show me why things must be tailored to suit those that do not pay for this site.
5. Repeat above until you can prove it all.
6. Life never goes as we want it too. Deal with it or leave the log out button is just on your nation page. Nobody is forcing you to stay here, nobody is paying for this except max. If you dont like it log out and never come back we wont miss you and sure as hell jolt wont.
7. Quit complaining.

Those are the options for us the free users of nationstates. Until we start paying to play I say deal with it and get over yourselves. There was mountains of complaining about the original forums 'wah they always crash, boohoo they're slow. Waaah waah waaah' atleast here I dont have to be up until 4am just to view and hopefully post a reply or start a thread. You always have the option of leaving so reasses how much you truly want to play and either stay and learn to live with the fact that not everything will be tailored to suit you or just plainly log out and never come back the door wont hit you on the arse cause it's busy doing other stuff.

Goodbye and farwell to those that leave. :sniper: :fluffle:

Here here!

I get increasingly tired of people who complain about a service THEY DONT PAY FOR...!

These forums have been a bit slow on the uptake, but now seem to run almost flawlessly. Ive not had a single issue of multiple posts, I was able to create a signature, and Ive not found myself incapable of accessing them every so often as I did with the old forums.

Subscriptions allow me to track threads, and offer me email notification if I so choose. The ONLY thing I would like to see is something that shows the users who are on at the moment. Even so, I can live without it.

But in the short run of this is the UNDENIABLE fact that WE DONT PAY for the service. While our nations may be democracies, there is nothing saying that the great MAXLAND who has worked to build this for us is.

I agree that we don't have much right to complain for a free service, but since I'm a whiny bastard, I'll do it anyway:

- The old smileys were better (imo)
- It's impossible to insert smileys anywhere but at the end of any text you're typing (except by typing the codes manually, duh)
- Overall bloatedness of the layout (esp. the reply screen)
- No nice blue color set
- It's more difficult to see who posted a topic. This was easier on the old forums, and annoys me because I often scan a page for well-known names.

They are stable and fast, though :)

Is there anyway to "View your Own Posts"???????????????????????

Is there anyway to "View your Own Posts"???????????????????????

Click your own profile in a post, then click on "Find all posts by Apple Zer0" (or whatever the nation is called)

since im so helpful, here is a link to your profile :D :
http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/member.php?u=115236

eh the old smilies were kinda boring some of these are quite fun. But as for it hard seeing who started a thread, it sits right under the thread title. I find this place more easier to navigate than the old.

The colour scheme I changed to one that is simply named nationstates which removes alot of the jolt colouring and is much easier to read.

smilies, well who really uses them in a serious RP anyways? or anything that constitutes a serious thread on any of the forums? it isnt that hard to write in the code it's what an extra word or so not that difficult.

Anyways I'm more or less annoyed at the people that are all 'waaah I want the old foums back 'cause I cant adapt to something new. Waaaah' I think the layout isnt permentant and that it might change depending on what max feels like doing. My advice to people, just wait and see if not then well I've said above what to do ;)

I agree with Iraqstan stop bitching the game is free for gods sake. Plus I don't see where the old is better. I hate having to stay up all night to read one post, now I don't have to and no one else does either!!


To all who bitch about Jolt:

:mp5: :mp5: :mp5:

:sniper: :sniper: :sniper:

The only problem I have with the new forums (aside from the guest bug, which I trust is only tempory) are the ads. But as I use Firefox with the Adblock extension, I can filter them out ;)

The only problem I have with the new forums (aside from the guest bug, which I trust is only tempory) are the ads. But as I use Firefox with the Adblock extension, I can filter them out ;)


I've been useing Mozilla Firefox since it came out which is most likley why I don't see any ads, or are you just filled with Spyware? :confused: :confused:

The only ads I see is the one at the top but its not a problem.

it takes forever to even get to the initial forums... and it was nearly impossible to check on old threads I had started to see if there were any new replies... and whats up with being part of a big online forum?! bring back the old!

I've been useing Mozilla Firefox since it came out which is most likley why I don't see any ads, or are you just filled with Spyware? :confused: :confused:

The only ads I see is the one at the top but its not a problem.
Those are the ones i mean, They didnt ruin my life or anything, it's just that the word "Clanserver" annoys the hell out of me for some reason.

it takes forever to even get to the initial forums... and it was nearly impossible to check on old threads I had started to see if there were any new replies... and whats up with being part of a big online forum?! bring back the old!

There's actually a very easy way to check threads for new replies- I suggest checking out the Subscriptions in your profile- threads you are subscribed to are listed there, and you can sort them however the heck y'want, and if you check that list, it'll show which ones have new posts.

I rather like the sorting subscriptions, myself =} Got all of my stuff sorted into very handy categories: Open RPs, Closed RPs, Intel threads, Mod Stuff, Misc. Stuff, and To Be Sorted. Very handy. ;)

Those are the ones i mean, They didnt ruin my life or anything, it's just that the word "Clanserver" annoys the hell out of me for some reason.


"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
"Clanserver"
#800

:p :p :D :D

There's actually a very easy way to check threads for new replies- I suggest checking out the Subscriptions in your profile- threads you are subscribed to are listed there, and you can sort them however the heck y'want, and if you check that list, it'll show which ones have new posts.

I rather like the sorting subscriptions, myself =} Got all of my stuff sorted into very handy categories: Open RPs, Closed RPs, Intel threads, Mod Stuff, Misc. Stuff, and To Be Sorted. Very handy. ;)


Yea I have my sorted too, such as RP, Storefronts, Spam, Debate, and Closed/Ended.

Very handy indeed :cool:

I think these forums are growing on me slightly. Somewhat like a fungus, but growing on me they still are!