Administrative News and Software Release Information

[georgia]

Hi! This thread will serve to keep the community up-to-date with news and software information that we hope you will find useful. 

[georgia]

From the software team: 

The software's final product release of 2010 is scheduled to begin on Monday, December 20. Because of the features affected, this will be a two-stage release; Stage 1 starts around 10 a.m. Pacific. Stage 2 rolls out on Wednesday, December 22 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and will include some downtime for your site. 

Authoritative Articles: 

Many of you have asked us to add more control over who's permitted to edit a wiki; with this release, a wiki author may now decide whether s/he wants anyone else to be able to contribute. In the final step, a wiki's creator can restrict editing privileges to themselves, specific members, or they can leave the wiki open to the entire community for changes.

Bug fixes:

• editing text below a quote box works as expected

• suggested/required tags at new thread creation no longer return errors
• mods and admins now exempt from having their posts held in moderation in designated forums 
• "A" character no longer being inserted in reviews authored in Basic Editor 

Enhancements:

• All New Posts expanded from 10 to 40 pages of content
• pagination tools now appear on All New Posts page, allowing users to jump to any page with the scroll bar
• product name added to "Review" search results tab

[georgia]

The next software upgrade is scheduled to deploy on Thursday, January 13th around 1 pm EST/10 a.m. Pacific.

New Features:

• Subscriptions page: new views for forums and thread subscriptions
• More details in search results

Bug fixes:

• CK Editor (Rich Text: our default editor): improved performance (among other things, this should resolve the "Please enter something before you submit your post" error some members encountered in IE8)

 

Subscriptions page: new views for forums and thread subscriptions

Two new tabs will be added to the Subscription page; one for forum subscriptions and another to see threads you're subscribed to. This enhancement should help you view what you're most interested in and see the newest posts more easily.

On the Threads tab, members will see each individual thread they're subscribed to, displayed like the thread list view in sub-forums. Threads with new content have bold titles and a colorful icon to the left of their titles; and after the upgrade, the newest threads will appear first.

More details in search results:

After searching within a thread or all posts by a single user, you'll now see details that make the search results more useful. These additions include the user menu in the postbox, a report post icon, and when viewing your own posts, an edit icon.

 

Please post in Questions and Suggestions if you have any questions or encounter any problems. Thank you! 

Edited by georgia - 1/12/11 at 10:15am

[georgia]

Hi! Please post here to share your thoughts about what features you'd most like to see in 2011 at MDC.

The software team has asked us to prioritize what software features we'd most like to see in the coming year. We would like to ask you to help us prioritize an MDC's top ten most requested and pressing feature list. So, please let us know what community features you'd most like to see. We don't want to make any assumptions about what it is you'd like to see or ask for features that might not be what the community really wants. So, please take a moment to weigh in with your thoughts on what features will enhance your MDC experience! 

Thanks for your input!

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1291662/help-us-help-mdc-we-re-creating-a-top-ten-feature-request-list-for-2011

[georgia]

Hi, we are scheduled for more software updates this coming Monday, January 31st around 1 pm EST/10 am PST. 

 

Commenting:

With this release, we will now be able to leave comments for the following types of content:

• wiki articles
• image albums
• album photos
• member lists
• product reviews

The feature was developed to promote personal conversation so email notifications are sent after someone comments on their content. There are new account settings to control these comment notification emails. Members who don't want to be notified when comments are posted should click the "Edit Account Details" button that appears on the right side of their profile page; on the next page that appears, scroll down to the "Email Preferences" section. To receive alerts, members must leave the boxes checked for "Notify me when people comment on my content" and/or "Notify me when people comment after me."

Comments themselves will use either the default RichText (WYSIWYG editor) or the more basic BBCode editor depending on the user's preference. Bold, Italic and Linking are available in Comments. Comments are for feedback on content. These are reportable so please flag inappropriate content so a moderator or administrator can handle. Please also note that misuse of any of MDC's features is covered under the User Agreement: Do not use any of MDC's features and resources to harass, attack or contact a member in an inappropriate manner. Do not use a Private Message (PM) or email to deliver advertisements or business/product information and offers to our members without first having been asked for such information by them. This would be regarded as spam and may result in administrative action being taken against your account. If you receive a private message that is objectionable, please forward the private message to an administrator. Staff cannot access private messages, and we rely on members to report any PM issues.

[georgia]

We've launched a mobile app for MDC browsing: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1295928/tapatalk-mdc-s-mobile-browsing-test-launch

[georgia]

Hi, the next upgrade is expected Monday, best time estimate is around 10 am Pacific/1 pm EST. These notes describe features and bug fixes we're planning to deploy on Monday, February 14th.  

New Features:

• "Ignore this user" upgraded to "Block"

Bug fixes and small tweaks:

• Fixed: "unknown object" error when changing avatar
• Line breaks now visible in comments box after posting
• Sub-subforums now visible in TapaTalk interface

"Ignore this user" upgraded to "Block"

The "ignore this user" feature is becoming "Block" and will let members block each other completely.

If you're in a thread where someone you've blocked is active, you won't see their posts and they won't see yours. Additionally, they won't be able to become your Follower or send you a PM. For obvious reasons, these new functions are reciprocal, and moderators may not be blocked.

Bug fixes and small tweaks:

• "Unknown object" error when changing avatar: resolved
• Line breaks now visible in comments box after posting
• Sub-subforums should now visible in TapaTalk interface

Please submit a new question in the forum if you have any particular questions or concerns. Thanks!

[georgia]

The Co-op Forum is back and better than ever! 

The co-op forum's new guidelines and requirements can be found here. 

To become an official MDC co-op organizer, please submit an application found here. 

All co-op interest threads and co-op discussion will now be hosted in our Co-op Chat forum. We're very excited to get co-ops back up and running! Thanks so much for your patience and support.

Happy co-opping!!! 

Edited by georgia - 2/24/11 at 4:00pm

[georgia]

Upgrade expected 2/28 around 10 am Pacific or thereabouts!

Filter and Sort Forum content

This release unveils powerful new ways to navigate forums:

 

New Sorts:

When you're looking at a single forum or a list of threads, you'll now be able to sort by:

 

• last post timestamp (status quo)
• # replies
• # views

 

Each of these sorts works in ascending and descending order. In a future release, members will be able to sort threads by the thread creation time, too.

 

New Filters:

By default, a forum displays threads with new posts. You'll now be able to slice a forum in a few new ways:

 

• New Posts: Threads with recent posts (status quo)
• Activity Feed: Recent forum activity in an activity-feed format

• New Threads: Created in the last week, with newest first
• Unanswered: Threads that have not yet received a reply
• I've posted: Threads where you have posted previously

 

These filters work on any single forum, and also at the top level of the forums. As a result, your "New Posts" page will display options to view all unanswered threads across the site, every thread you've posted in... etc.

 

Each of the sorting options described here work in conjunction with the filters. You can sort the "Unanswered" threads by number of views, or sort the "I've posted" threads by reply count, etc.

[Cynthia Mosher]

This thread describes features and bug fixes that were deployed today.

 

 

New Features:

• Article Types
• Spoiler "hints" and BBCode support

 

 

Bug Fixes:

• Pagination restored to default albums
• First round of IE9 and FF4 compliance fixes (more to follow):

 

 

Article Types:

 

While the wiki platform is flexible and powerful, freeform wikis have not been a runaway success. To lend some structure to the system, we have a new organization of "article types" to organize the content created. We will be working on the content tabs and organization over the next few weeks. The new navigation should make it easier to find the content and the categories will appear on the main Articles page.

 

Right now, featured wikis are not displayed on the articles home page as they were, but that will change in a future release. 

 

Spoiler "hints" and BBCode support:

 

With spoilers, members can currently enter text in a forum post, then collapse the text under a single header that displays as "Warning Spoiler! Click to show." We modified this feature slightly so it could be used for collapsing any block of text, not just plot spoilers.

 

We've had spoilers in CK Editor for a while, but with this release, members who use the BB Code editor can also add them. Members using either editor may also leave a custom title for their spoiler; if no custom title is selected, we'll display the "Warning Spoiler!" default message instead.

 

Example:

What's behind this hidden panel? (Click to show)

A spoiler example!

 

Pagination restored to default albums:

 

 

Right now, albums that contain more images than can be displayed on a single page do not display pagination that would let a user move beyond page 1. In this release, we've restored pagination controls to galleries.

 

Example: this default gallery displays 24 images, but there are actually 130+ images within. After the release, members will be able to jump between pages in this gallery.

 

 

First round of IE9 and FF4 compliance fixes (more to follow):

 

Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4 were both released recently -- our Engineering team has started working to ensure that these popular browsers work as expected on the Huddler platform.

 

This release contains our initial efforts to work with IE9 and FF4, but we'll certainly continue to optimize the site experience for members using these browsers.

 

That's all for now -- as ever, if you have questions about this release, please ask them here.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Here's the latest improvement to our platform software:

Private Messages: Folders and Search

You can now search your Inbox and create folders where you can file messages. This upgrade permits users to move PMs between folders, including from the Trash to the Inbox. 

Apart from the new functionality, PMs work as before; messages are still threaded, quotas remain in place, and all but the most recent 20 items are deleted from the Trash folder each night.

[Cynthia Mosher]

The latest new features and fixes:

Compact Thread List Page

 

There's a new forum preference (available from your profile or the forum "preferences" popup) to make the thread list or subforum page more dense. It removes the last post preview from the page and makes the thread title column wider, resulting in a denser presentation that will pack more threads into the same real estate. Here's what that looks like:

 

(click image to magnify)

 

Standard view:

 

New view:

 

 

 

You can enable it in your profile settings here: 

 

Things to note:

• This setting defaults to off. You may enable it in your profile.
• The on-hover previews are all still there in both views
• We tightened up the mini-pagination bars in BOTH views (they were larger than they needed to be)
• Clicking the timestamp in the last post column will take you to the last post. 
• The logged-out thread list page will always use the older, less compact layout because it contains more rich text info.

 

 

Editor Work:

 

Two things in the BBCode Editor:

 

1) There are now on-hover tooltips over the buttons so you know what they are

2) Text will stay selected through button-pushes. You can select a word and press bold AND italic without having to reselect it. 
 

Other Goodness:

 

• The image chooser in the admin panel now lets you input an image URL instead of forcing you to upload a file (featured content tool was the main pain point on that).
• The back button will behave more reliably in Buy Sell Trade forums as you paginate and navigate.
• Classifieds featured in signatures will now show the correct currency symbol
• In some cases users who modified their posts-per-page setting could not switch back to the site default value. That's fixed.
• Other minor fixes, nips, tucks and performance improvements.

[AdinaL]

There is a software update scheduled for tomorrow. After the release, some elements need to be re-imported; as a result there will be a period of time in which members' signatures will seem to disappear.  This is expected to last no more than 2-3 hours, during which all signatures will be gradually restored. 

 

Signatures will be restored in a gradual roll out, so some users will get them back before others. So, yours might come back after your friend's, but it will be back shortly!

 

If you find that your signature is not appearing after a few hours have passed, try logging out and logging back in to see if that refreshes the view.  If the problem persists, please contact [e-mail], or PM me AdinaL, so that we can track it down.

[Cynthia Mosher]

With our latest update of our platform this week here are the changes you can expect:

Javascript Performance Improvements

As part of our ongoing work on improving performance, we recently made some significant optimizations to the amount of Javascript we load onto the page. Here are the results of these improvements:

• Chrome showed an 18% reduction in memory usage.
• Firefox showed a 15% increase performance. Memory usage was not significantly different.
• IE9 was very similar to Firefox - pages also load about 15% faster.
• IE8 showed improvements in both memory usage and performance, with a 25% reduction in memory usage and 35% increase in performance. IE8's load times are a full second faster now (from 2700ms to 1750ms)!

The way we're measuring performance in this case is the decrease in lag from when the initial page displays, to when Javascript features are usable.

Other Minor Functionality Improvements

CK Editor Upgraded

We upgraded the version of CKEditor we use to version 3.6.3. which should fix a number of bugs.

Hide Empty Personal Albums

We no longer display empty personal albums on galleries portal page and category pages. This should help clean up the appearance of album lists in galleries.

Bug Fixes

Here's the list of bugs fixed with this release:

• Fix bug that was preventing some users from posting
• 8813 - Correctly handle auto-link URLs with parenthesis, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_(film)

• 9149 - Display appropriate error message when users leave trader feedback without a URL

• 9154 - Trader feedback number is now displayed again on trader feedback page
• 9094 - Display "just now" for the timestamp of a post you just submitted, instead of the awkward "0 ago" we displayed before

Thanks so much for your patience with the squeaks and bumps you encounter from time to time. We hope these improvements and fixes will improve your experience on the forum. There's plenty more to come!