Hi, Kris.

Well, I’m back at home, and I thought I’d try to respond to the suggestions that you made a while ago. You said:

**************************
There should also be a way to have the newest post or the post with the most recent reply automatically move to the top of the list. As time goes on and more topics are introduced this would make a big difference.

While we’re on the subject of techy stuff, I’ve found that the smilies don’t stay put. They wind up, uh, wherever!

Some of these things can probably be found in the adm control panel. Maybe if we have any tech types here they can offer some tips.
**************************

Yes, it might be handy to have the topic with the newest post or reply automatically move to the top of the topic list. This would allow “stale” topics to become less noticeable at the bottom of the list. However, it might also bury some important topics that deserve our attention, even though no one has contributed to them lately. So I’d have to ruminate about what I think is the best approach.

On the other hand, it might be a moot point because it might not be possible for our system administrators to configure the software to automatically put the most recently active topic on top. And it might not be possible for our system administrators to get the smilies to behave. It depends on a couple of things: the features provided by the commercial software that was used to implement the Abhayagiri forum and the decisions made by the programmer who performed that implementation. I’ll send a separate message that attempts to provide a brief overview about the way features are made present in our Upasika Life Forum and about how changes might or might not be possible.

In the meantime, I’ll try to keep a record of the suggestions you’ve made, Kris. When our primary system administrator is available again—at the end of October, I’ll ask him what he thinks about them.

Cheers,
Dorothea

Hi, Kris.

You said:
***************************
Oh, one more thing. I’m am subscribed to the topics here because I don’t always have access to a computer. I get email notifications on my phone. There is a notice that says “No more notifications will be sent until you log in to this topic”, or something to that effect. Is it possible to remain subscribed until I manually unsubscribe?
***************************

I’m pretty sure that this is not a feature that’s configurable by individual members—that is, whether you receive a separate email message for every single post in a topic to which you subscribe, or whether you receive a message for just the first one that arrives after you’ve read the topic. In fact, I don’t even know whether this is a feature that’s configurable for the forum as a whole. Therefore, if such a change were possible, it would have to be made for everyone who’s a member of the forum.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to receive so much email. I’m subscribed to *every* topic because I want to be alerted when any one of the topics has activity. However, receiving a message for every single post would make for a lot of mail, clogging up my mail box.  I suspect lots of us would feel that way—but other opinions are welcome.

I’ll be out of town for a while, and when I return I’ll try to remember to send post that briefly describes the software that underlies this forum (as I understand it). This might provide some context for the other concerns you voiced.

Thanks for all your good contributions,
Dorothea

Me again,

It may just take some time to work through the glitches and figure out the features and functions of this particular program.

There should also be a way to have the newest post or the post with the most recent reply automatically move to the top of the list. As time goes on and more topics are introduced this would make a big difference.

While we’re on the subject of techy stuff, I’ve found that the smilies don’t stay put. They wind up, uh, wherever!
 

Some of these things can probably be found in the adm control panel. Maybe if we have any tech types here they can offer some tips.

Oh, one more thing. I’m am subscribed to the topics here because I don’t always have access to a computer. I get email notifications on my phone. There is a notice that says “No more notifications will be sent until you log in to this topic”, or something to that effect. Is it possible to remain subscribed until I manually unsubscribe?

That’s all I can remember right now.

Kris

Hi, Kris.

You might be right about what sticky topics are. However, if that’s what they are, the feature probably is not implemented in this particular forum. I believe that one of the system administrators tried to make some topics stay on the top, but he wasn’t successful.

Dorothea

Hi all,

I think if you make a topic “sticky” it will stay at the top for easy reference. Kind of like a sticky note.
You should also be able to move a post to another topic heading. Usually only mods or adm can do these.
Hope this helps.

Kris

Hi, Jaiboon.

In the “Round Table” topic, you asked:

**********************
Regarding the Post Marker Legend at the bottom of the main page, is there a time parameter for No New Post?  What is a Hot Topic? What is a Sticky Post?
**********************

I’m afraid that I haven’t paid much attention to the Post Marker Legend section on the main page, so I don’t have detailed answers for you.

* I believe that “No New Post” means that you (as a logged in user) have read all the posts in the topic. The software keeps track of the topics that you’ve opened when you’re logged in. It uses this information to decide whether any messages have been posted since the last time you opened the topic.

* I infer that a Hot Topic is one that has more than a certain number of replies and/or views. I have no idea what that number is.

* I have no idea what a “Sticky Topic” is—sorry

If anyone else has more information (or if I’m wrong about what I’ve said), please speak up.

Dorothea

***** Disappearing Forum List ******

JB (TQuid) and KrisR have reported an unusual problem, described below.

***************************
Here are three scenarios that result in different behavior on the part of the forum software:

(1) Without logging into the Abhayagiri web site, you go to the forum home page either by clicking on “Participate>Forums” at the top of the Abhayagiri home page or by specifying the URL (http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/forums). You see both forums listed. But—when you are still on the forum home page and you log in, the forums disappear.

(2) Having logged into the Abhayagiri web site, you go to the forum home page by clicking on “Participate>Forums” at the top of the Abhayagiri home page. You do not see the two forums listed.

(3) Without logging into the Abhayagiri web site, you go to the forum home page either by clicking on “Participate>Forums” at the top of the Abhayagiri home page or by specifying the URL (http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/forums). You see both forums listed. Still without having logged in, you click on “Upasika Life,” which takes you to the Upasika Life forum page. Everything is visible. If you log in from the Upasika Life page, eveything remains visible, there’s no problem.
***************************

Fortunately, there are two workarounds for the problem described in scenarios (1) and (2). One is to follow scenario number (3). Another is to go directly to the Upasika Life Forum page using this URL

http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/forums/viewforum/5/

Until the rains retreat (vassa) ends, we are without our most knowledgable system administrator, Ajahn Sudanto. We’ll ask him to look into the problem when he becomes available after the end of October.

Both JB and KrisR joined on August 2. It would be interesting to know whether people who’ve joined after them, or any other members, have experienced this problem. If you have, please post a message to this topic.

Thanks,
Dorothea

Hi, Kris.

Oh Dear. Maybe it’s contagious!  :-)

I’m not an administrator for the whole Abhayagiri web site—I’m just a moderator for this forum. I’m wondering whether this is a problem that an administrator needs to investigate. I’ll try to alert the appropriate people.

In the meantime, maybe you can bypass the problem by going directly to the Upasika Life Forum page:

http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/forums/viewforum/5/

JB says that he doesn’t experience the problem when he does that. Please give that a try. I’ll send you a message directly so you’ll have my email address. This way we can communicate about this problem without cluttering up the forum.

Dorothea

Hi Dorothea,

I’m having the same problem.

-Kris

Dorothea - 01 August 2007 01:22 PM

Hi, JB.

OK. Let’s try to get to the bottom of this. I’m not sure what you mean when you say that you’re greeted with an introduction page with no forums at all. Is this what you do?

(1) Go to http://www.abhayagiri.org and see the Abhayagiri home page.

(2) Choose “Participate” and “Forums” from the top of the page.

(3) See the Forum page with no forums listed.

(4) Log in at the top right of the page.

(5) Still see the Forum page with no forums listed.

If this isn’t what happens, please fill in the details.

On second thought—I’ll send you an email directly to your address (using the members list). Then you’ll have my email address and you can answer me directly. This way we won’t subject everyone to the details of our debugging process.

Cheers,
Dorothea

Actually, I see the forums when logged out. They disappear when I log in. Will email you back as you suggest.

--JB

Hi, JB.

OK. Let’s try to get to the bottom of this. I’m not sure what you mean when you say that you’re greeted with an introduction page with no forums at all. Is this what you do?

(1) Go to http://www.abhayagiri.org and see the Abhayagiri home page.

(2) Choose “Participate” and “Forums” from the top of the page.

(3) See the Forum page with no forums listed.

(4) Log in at the top right of the page.

(5) Still see the Forum page with no forums listed.

If this isn’t what happens, please fill in the details.

On second thought—I’ll send you an email directly to your address (using the members list). Then you’ll have my email address and you can answer me directly. This way we won’t subject everyone to the details of our debugging process.

Cheers,
Dorothea

Hi folks,

I’m having some difficulty navigating the forums. When I log in, frequently I am greeted with an introduction page with no forums at all. If I manually enter in a url ("http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/viewforum/5/"), I see the usual topic headings.

Any idea what might be causing this? I get the same behaviour from both Firefox and IE 7.

***** Posting Your Introduction *****

Before posting an introduction, please follow the instructions in the Upasika Life forum announcement “How to sign up—updated.” Having completed that procedure, you will be a member of the Upasika Life forum. Your first step as a new member is to post an introduction, and here’s how to do it.

Go to the Upasika Life forum page. You should see two sections, one called “Announcements” and one called “Upasika Life.” The topics are under the Upasika Life section.

If you have not been automatically logged into the Abhayagiri website, you’ll see a couple of text fields in the upper right corner asking for your username and password. You can log in there. Once you log in, you should see a “New Topic” button at the top of the page. Don’t use that now, because you’re not ready to start a brand-new topic. First you should post an introduction.

To post your introduction, Click on “Introductions” in the list of topics in the Upasika Life list. All the previously posted messages will be there. There’s a “Post Reply” button at the top right of the page. Click on that to see a window in which you can write and submit your message.

If you do not see the “New Topic” and “Post Reply” buttons, you might not yet be a member of the Upasika Life forum. In this case, go back to the “How to sign up” announcement and make sure that you’ve completed all the steps described there. Send a message to Sakula again if necessary.

********* Finding Out Your Screen Name **********

Your screen name is the one that appears to the left of any messages that you send. It also appears in the list of members, which you can access by clicking on the “Member List” link at the top of any Upasika Life forum page.

You can discover your screen name with the following procedure:

(1) Log into the Abhayagiri web site.

(2) Click on “Your Control Panel” at the top of the page.

(3) Click on “Username and Password” at the left of the control panel page.

(4) Your screen name appears under your username.

**** Sending a Message to a Member Outside the Forum ****

If you want to send someone a message directly, outside the forum, click on “Member List” at the top of this page. All the members are listed there with buttons for sending an email to them. Use the sorting fields and the search facility at the bottom of the page, in case you don’t see the name right away.

Note that, when the person recieves your message, your own email address will be visible to them. They can use it to reply directly to you, outside the forum. Then, you’ll have their email address on their message, and the two of you can correspond without using the forum at all.

Dorothea