Hello gang,

In case you haven’t worked it out, I’m your friendly neighbourhood site support guy (Lord knows how I’ve landed this role) and as you’re fully aware last week we got a new site.

Now things are up and running this is the place for y’all to alert us to any problems/bugs you find on this site (and most likely on this forum). We’ll consider each one and the best will actually get implemented on here. Is that enough of a prize?

If you do spot a bug please let me know what browser (IE7, Firefox, Safari etc) you’re using so I can try to replicate it.

Stuff I’m aware of so far and what’s being done:

1. SirMarkWallaceEsq:

I keep getting this message:

upload_unable_to_write_file

even tho i am inside the 100 x 100 ratio!

- This is proving to be a bit of a head-scratcher and we’ve got a few support tickets logged with the higher powers. Let’s mark it as IN PROGRESS.

2. iPete:

Oh yeah, can you turn off “email notifications of replies” by default? Bit of a pain in the arse having to unclick the box every time.

- Good idea, that’s gone, we don’t want to be clogging your inboxes with this waffle…

3. Greavsie’s Gaff:

Unless I’m being blind, any chance we can have a link at the bottom of each thread that either a) takes us back to the board or b) takes us back to the top of the thread please?

- Done, we’ve got the crunmbtrail down there, so you can hit ‘General’ to go back to the main board.

4. iPete:

While we’re here, how come the Fast Reply button is gone?

- It was causing bugs and spazzing up the page, so it’s gone. To be honest we thought it was a bit confusing having two options of reply anyway.

5. (the prolific) iPete:

What about a “first unread post” button for threads you’ve posted in?

- Good idea. It’s in the mix. IN PROGRESS.

Remember, if you don’t let us know we won’t be able to sort it. Don’t worry we won’t laugh. Unless it’s a really stupid idea, then Pete will do a web-merking on you. Thanks for you time!

Matt

Also chaps/chapesses - We’ve decided to keep it a singular, all-encompassing forum for now. There’ll be no sub-forums or anything like that. We want to keep it with a real community feel. So to that end, I’ll start stickying important threads (someone mentioned The Ashes etc) and feel free to set up and subscribe to your own ‘official’ threads.

Thanks all

L x

I’m still having problems where I reply to a thread and it just takes me back to the “Post Reply” screen with what I’ve typed wiped rather than posting the actual reply.

Thanks for the replies, glad to see your working towards improving the place.

Almost resisted posting those issues as it’s a new forum and, well, it’s a bit cheeky to ask for new things / ask why we didn’t have things. Appreciate the response.

Also, you can turn off the email notifications by default in your profile somewhere. I found it after I’d posted.

Cheers.

cheers Matt, lovely changes.

The avatar issue might be a permissions thing on the FTP server you guys use, I guess. Had that with a forum I set up for someone once - as far as the software was concerned all was fine but I had to log onto the FTP and manually allow non-admins to store files in it. Was a while ago, but it was a very similar error to the ones we’re getting from what I remember.

In the meantime, is there perhaps an option to have avatars that are not uploaded but simply linked to? That way we could at least bung them on imageshack or photobucket or something.

I’ll probably stick with my default goat, however - he and I have formed quite the bond in recent times.

Ramble Webmaster - 21 September 2010 08:03 PM

- Done, we’ve got the crunmbtrail down there, so you can hit ‘General’ to go back to the main board.

Oh that’s lovely, thanks.

Everything else is bloody fantastic, though the only other suggestion would be the ability to embed youtube videos, because a lot of posts/threads contain youtube links.  I think it’s fairly easy to do, other boards I frequent have [youtube][/youtube] tags.

I think I’ve fixed the avatars/member photos issue. You should now be able to upload those glorious mugs of yours onto here. Make sure it’s 100x100px and max 50kb etc. Shout if you have any issues (hopefully not but it may only be a temporary fix).

Although those default options are a wonderful collection of odd pictures. I respect anyone who continues to use them.

Everything else is bloody fantastic, though the only other suggestion would be the ability to embed youtube videos, because a lot of posts/threads contain youtube links.  I think it’s fairly easy to do, other boards I frequent have [youtube][/youtube] tags.

Sadly, there currently isn’t that option for this forum. However a third party may be creating a solution. I’ll be keeping tabs on it.

Where’s the quick reply box gone?

Maybe read the first post.

How come signatures are “currently disabled”?

Greavsie’s Gaff - 22 September 2010 04:26 PM

Maybe read the first post.

To be fair, the first post says why it’s gone - his question was where it’s gone. I reckon it’s probably down the pub drowning its sorrows with Add Signature and Ignore User.

Does everything need to be lumped into the same forum ? Can’t we have sections such as -

Ramble Discussion - Discuss this weeks Ramble etc.

Football Discussion/Sports Discussion - Obvious.

Off-Topic - So that ‘What’s your favourite colour ?’ thread’s aren’t in with all the football banter etc ?

Obviously the names of these sections will be more flamboyant than my own suggestions :D !

ChrisGers - 22 September 2010 08:26 PM

Does everything need to be lumped into the same forum ? Can’t we have sections such as -

Ramble Discussion - Discuss this weeks Ramble etc.

Football Discussion/Sports Discussion - Obvious.

Off-Topic - So that ‘What’s your favourite colour ?’ thread’s aren’t in with all the football banter etc ?

Obviously the names of these sections will be more flamboyant than my own suggestions :D !

Agreed. http://www.thefootballramble.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/55/

Jake Harrison - 22 September 2010 08:35 PM

ChrisGers - 22 September 2010 08:26 PM

Does everything need to be lumped into the same forum ? Can’t we have sections such as -

Ramble Discussion - Discuss this weeks Ramble etc.

Football Discussion/Sports Discussion - Obvious.

Off-Topic - So that ‘What’s your favourite colour ?’ thread’s aren’t in with all the football banter etc ?

Obviously the names of these sections will be more flamboyant than my own suggestions :D !

Agreed. http://www.thefootballramble.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/55/

Ahhh, didn’t notice the thread mate, sorry !

It doesn’t need to be over elaborate with all sorts of sub-topics and sections. A little bit of definition would be nice . . .

ChrisGers - 22 September 2010 08:40 PM

Jake Harrison - 22 September 2010 08:35 PM

ChrisGers - 22 September 2010 08:26 PM

Does everything need to be lumped into the same forum ? Can’t we have sections such as -

Ramble Discussion - Discuss this weeks Ramble etc.

Football Discussion/Sports Discussion - Obvious.

Off-Topic - So that ‘What’s your favourite colour ?’ thread’s aren’t in with all the football banter etc ?

Obviously the names of these sections will be more flamboyant than my own suggestions :D !

Agreed. http://www.thefootballramble.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/55/

Ahhh, didn’t notice the thread mate, sorry !

It doesn’t need to be over elaborate with all sorts of sub-topics and sections. A little bit of definition would be nice . . .

Wouldn’t of expected you to notice it mate.. it was lost somewhere near the bottom haha.

Completely agree with you

Morning all.

Where has yesterday’s podcast gone?  It was up last night but is now showing ‘deleted’ - tech issues or other probs? 

Ramble On

Yep, a few tech issues with this week’s cast. It’s back up now and can be accessed by the ‘download mp3’ or ‘via rss’ options in the main site header. Should be back up on iTunes and Mixcloud (for streaming) later today.

Sorry about that, chaps.

cheers!

Hiya,

am loving the Forum - great mix of football banter, and general sillyness.

I was wondering where we stand about setting up ‘Official Club Threads’.

Not for dull - “I think our manager should go” - “Why doesn’t he sign so and so” - “4-4-2 doesn’t suit our style”

But for funny, ‘we love our club but don’t take it too seriously’ stuff

Any chance of making the pages a bit bigger? 10 replies per page means a lot of wasted time in loading new pages. F365 seems to work pretty well with 40.

JonnyGabriel - 21 September 2010 09:35 PM

I’m still having problems where I reply to a thread and it just takes me back to the “Post Reply” screen with what I’ve typed wiped rather than posting the actual reply.

Me too, only from my iPhone,though.

    JonnyGabriel - 21 September 2010 09:35 PM

  I’m still having problems where I reply to a thread and it just takes me back to the “Post Reply” screen with what I’ve typed wiped rather than posting the actual reply.

Me too, only from my iPhone,though.

I have in fact also had this problem the other day. Let me know if this keeps occurring and what machine/browser you’re using. Might be able to build up a picture of what the problem is.

As for how we structure the forum, Luke made the call on starting with a General melting pot and seeing how things go. I think it works alright at the moment but it may well get revised in the future.

I think there’s currently 15 replies per page. Maybe can bump it up to 25 or so, see what people think of that?

25ppp would be better in my opinion, but maybe there’s an option for users to set their own preference? I’ve seen that on other boards and it’s worked pretty well.

Can I suggest that whilst the forum is still ‘non-subforumed’ (if that’s the term?!) that the actual forum is linked from the main Forum button? Rather than this button linking to the subforum list, which obviously only contains one subforum. Just would save a click. Which is always welcome. Particuarly when using an iPhone and not connected to WiFi.

EDIT: Meant to add that I’m loving the forum so far. Great work. Hooooooo!

The episode “How have Hanson and Lenny Kravitz got in there” is not downloading on iTunes

EDIT: It’s working now :red:

Can I suggest that whilst the forum is still ‘non-subforumed’ (if that’s the term?!) that the actual forum is linked from the main Forum button?

Great idea. Done. That extra click/page load was unnecessary.

Also now 25 posts per page. Don’t think users can set the amount themselves though unfortunately.

Bloody good forum there fella, keep up the good work!

I think the clock is wrong on the forum. If I make a post. The time posted seems to be an hour ahead. Now I know I’m a slow typer…not that slow. I think I’m correct in saying this. Just a little bit of feedback.

EDIT: Yeah I’m right. I posted this at 20.48 and its saying 21.42 (see above).

CarlSheppard - 29 September 2010 08:42 PM

I think the clock is wrong on the forum. If I make a post. The time posted seems to be an hour ahead. Now I know I’m a slow typer…not that slow. I think I’m correct in saying this. Just a little bit of feedback.

EDIT: Yeah I’m right. I posted this at 20.48 and its saying 21.42 (see above).

Go to Control Panel - Localization Settings - Uncheck Daylight Saving Time.

Jobs a good ‘un

Is there anyway to make links open in a new tab/window rather than me having to do manually do it every time?

Three things I think would improve things:

1 - Different sections

This has been mentioned by others but I think having sections with sub-sections may seem pointless at the moment, but it would save a LOT of organisation later down the line, when there are thousands of topics regarding football, music, films, tv shows etc. How about the following sections:

Football
Premier League
Championship-League 2
La Liga
Serie A
Americas
Other

Other Sports
Cricket
Rugby
Golf
Tennis
F1
Other

Off-Topic
Random Discussion
Religious & Political Discussion
Games & Quizzes

Entertainment
Films
TV
Music
Gaming

And then maybe a section called “Announcements” at the top/bottom. Obviously my titles are pretty basic, they could be Ramble-fied.

2 - Somebody/people as mods for the site. I imagine some people that are on here a lot more than me would have the time, patience and knowledge on making the place run smoothly and would do it in their spare time for free. Stickying threads, moving threads and merging where necessary. That Glentoran goal was undoubtably lovely, but we didn’t need three threads cluttering up the place.

3 - I’ve forgotten my third suggestion! Shocking. Must learn to write a key word in the bullet points at the start and then expand on them.

Ramble Webmaster - 24 September 2010 05:12 PM

    JonnyGabriel - 21 September 2010 09:35 PM

  I’m still having problems where I reply to a thread and it just takes me back to the “Post Reply” screen with what I’ve typed wiped rather than posting the actual reply.

Me too, only from my iPhone,though.

I have in fact also had this problem the other day. Let me know if this keeps occurring and what machine/browser you’re using. Might be able to build up a picture of what the problem is.

As for how we structure the forum, Luke made the call on starting with a General melting pot and seeing how things go. I think it works alright at the moment but it may well get revised in the future.

I think there’s currently 15 replies per page. Maybe can bump it up to 25 or so, see what people think of that?

Still happening from my iPhone.

Remembered my third suggestion!

3 - Add a ‘View My Posts’ button at the top. Easy to forget which topics you’ve posted on, so this would be useful.

Can you increase the number of replies shown on each page? 25 seems a bit stingy.  Some other boards i post on you can choose how many replies you want to show on each page at the user CP bit. Would this be possible here? Cheers regardless, the forum rocks.

James Tortise - 06 October 2010 04:30 PM

Three things I think would improve things:

1 - Different sections

This has been mentioned by others but I think having sections with sub-sections may seem pointless at the moment, but it would save a LOT of organisation later down the line, when there are thousands of topics regarding football, music, films, tv shows etc. How about the following sections:

[

Nooooooooooooo. Dont do this. I like having a range of different stuff to check out, all on the one page. If you absolutely need to, then just having a football forum then one extra forum for everything else would be ok i suppose, but having loads of different forums would be terrible.

What about when someone starts an inevitable thread on The Ashes come December? If there’s no posts on it for a couple of days between tests and there’s high activity on the boards, you may need to trawl through two or three pages to find the thread again. Different threads means you can simply click ‘cricket’ et voila, there’s the thread.

In the short run the randomness is cool, but where the members and activity increases, people will want it to be organised more I reckon and starting now instead of a thousand threads in makes sense to me.

Use the ‘Search’ function.

James Tortise - 12 October 2010 09:04 AM

What about when someone starts an inevitable thread on The Ashes come December? If there’s no posts on it for a couple of days between tests and there’s high activity on the boards, you may need to trawl through two or three pages to find the thread again. Different threads means you can simply click ‘cricket’ et voila, there’s the thread.

In the short run the randomness is cool, but where the members and activity increases, people will want it to be organised more I reckon and starting now instead of a thousand threads in makes sense to me.

Don’t worry, I’ll sticky that sort of thing.

Going forward we’re going to need to get some people to volunteer as moderators, and once get them we can get them to do all that stuff.

Oohh me! Me! Pick me!

The reason we (probably) won’t be having sub-forums or sections is that you can subscribe to any thread you want already, so the argument that you can’t find the threads you’re looking for doesn’t really wash.

Also, there’s nothing worse than having loads of sections that just aren’t popular/populated, and you tend to lose the community feel of the place if you separate it into lots of different ‘rooms’.

This is in no way an official line on the matter, or the be all and end all, it’s just how we feel for now.

You are welcome to keep trying to convince us otherwise, of course

I’ll keep trying!