Let Me Know What Problems You're Having Posting

This was a very active forum back before the site change. I knew it would be tough making this change after 9 years on the old platform. But that platform was no longer supported and badly out of date, insecure, and not mobile responsive. So, here we are.

What can I do to help you become more comfortable with the new site? I'm know the readers are still reading, I see a big jump in traffic analytics... but all you active posters haven't been posting a lot of content.

I hear some of you say "It's not user friendly" yet I see (from the analytics) more of our content being viewed than ever before...so that argument doesn't really hold water in that regard.

I know it's different, and different is hard to accept. I'm here to help. Let me know where you're having trouble, and I'll help get you over the hurdle.

Very difficult to navigate the new site and find things. The old site was user friendly. This one is not.

To me, this one is much easier for some things....and just different for others. And, I realize "different" = difficulty.  I was used to the photo gallery and comment wall on ning, and this was hard to get used to at first. But, I'm getting my arms around it little by little.  The forum posting on ning was much easier...I do agree. I liked that format better myself. 

not user friendly at all in my opinion.. I miss the birthdays today listing so we could wish our friends a happy birthday.

[quote="bill mcpeek"]

not user friendly at all in my opinion.. I miss the birthdays today listing so we could wish our friends a happy birthday.

[/quote]

Bill, scroll down the page. They are there in exactly the same location they were on the old site. bottom left side of the activity page.

Billy, When they get the photo posting snag fixed I have a couple I will try and post... Stay warm and take care...

I'm not sure how one makes a post.  At the bottom of a forum page, if I click on my Icon, it results in a "posting type" situation.  Is that the method? Once written, how is it posted?

Bobby, here are Jeff's instructions in the the "Chat" forum post:

to post a new topic on the forum:

1. Click on the Forum tab in the main navigation

2. Choose / Click the category (from the list) that you would like to use for your post

3. Click the + sign on the right just under the Forum nav.

Also, after you write it be sure to click on the "Create New Topic" button.

OK thanks, Devin.  Seems like I had found that once before........the + sign.  Must have forgotten.

[quote="Bobby Williamson"]

OK thanks, Devin.  Seems like I had found that once before........the + sign.  Must have forgotten.

You are welcome!

I drop by a few times a week, but I haven't posted much for a few reasons. 

One, Tim Leeming, Dave Fulton and I have posted a lot of stuff in the forum the past few years. I realize others have as well, but it seems we've posted the majority of the content in the forum. I'd like to see others add their memories, race recaps, and such so we can all enjoy them and add our comments, articles and pics to them.

Two, the offseason. In the dead of winter, I'm not particularly in race ready mode yet. I have some ideas in my mind about various posts I plan to make on my personal blog. I suppose I'll copy / share much of the content here.

Three, without trying to pile on, the site re-design is a barrier for me to add new content. In particular, the simplistic search feature is driving me crazy. I have found a way to search the Forum - which has helped me ID previous posts to edit, bump, etc.  

But the inability to search members or photos through anything other than a basic search function that only returns 4 items per query is frustrating as hell.

And I don't plan to scroll page after page of members - especially when so many aren't recognizable with generic avatars:

Nor am I going to scroll through pages of photos - esp when we have something like 60,000 of them. Down the road, if I choose to add new posts, I'd like to embed pictures from the site and give credit to the RR members who uploaded them. But without the ability to efficiently and accurately search the photos, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time crawling through pages.

[quote="bill mcpeek"]

not user friendly at all in my opinion.. I miss the birthdays today listing so we could wish our friends a happy birthday.

[/quo[quote="bill mcpeek"]

Billy, When they get the photo posting snag fixed I have a couple I will try and post... Stay warm and take care...

[/quote] Not aware of a photo posting snag, Bill. Please explain

Billy -

Your friends / connections from the old site did not carry over to the new one. I've been trying to recall myself those I need to re-connect with on the new site. I've found a few of you - but still many more to go.

For the clubs, move your mouse over your icon in the top right corner of the screen (next to the magnifying glass). The 4th item down should be Groups You Follow (same as old site's Clubs). I found all of mine came across from the old site.

Chase

Chase & Billy... Unfortunately much of the content (comments, text, photos, video) that transferred within a group is chopped off on the right sde of the page.  i.e., none of my comments, photos, or video I posted to the Ray Hendrick group make any sense because they have all been cut off down the right side. We have sadly lost 9 years of priceless comments and photos posted to the groups. The groups are now useless. Unfortunately, these changes have turned  what was a wonderful place for conversation and history into a wasteland that nobody can navigate. It is so sad to see what was a terrific place absolutely destroyed.

Really sorry you guys are struggling. Please understand, the old site was no longer supported and was going to be lost totally. There are not many options out there to house this kind of content.....affordably....for me. One great option (that I absolutely loved)would have cost over $25,000 per year on the low end, and possibly as much at $5000 per month. If any of you would like to pick up that tab, we'll gladly head that direction.  And although all of your have (and I'm very grateful for it) spent a lot of time adding content, so have I, and I have funded almost 100% of it. I'm very sorry, Dave that you feel is is a wasteland. I do not! I felt, and continue to feel it was worth the effort and $$ to salvage everything we could. My option was to just let it disappear completely. There's over 100 hours of work left to do to complete the effort....much of it is in the "Groups" area. I will get the effort completed as spare time allows. 

[quote="TMC Chase"] Chase, It looks like I'll be able to set up search functions within he various site modules at some point. There's still another major upgrade that I need to get through prior to attempting to add those things. But, it does appear I can create that function.

I drop by a few times a week, but I haven't posted much for a few reasons. 

One, Tim Leeming, Dave Fulton and I have posted a lot of stuff in the forum the past few years. I realize others have as well, but it seems we've posted the majority of the content in the forum. I'd like to see others add their memories, race recaps, and such so we can all enjoy them and add our comments, articles and pics to them.

Two, the offseason. In the dead of winter, I'm not particularly in race ready mode yet. I have some ideas in my mind about various posts I plan to make on my personal blog. I suppose I'll copy / share much of the content here.

Three, without trying to pile on, the site re-design is a barrier for me to add new content. In particular, the simplistic search feature is driving me crazy. I have found a way to search the Forum - which has helped me ID previous posts to edit, bump, etc.  

But the inability to search members or photos through anything other than a basic search function that only returns 4 items per query is frustrating as hell.

And I don't plan to scroll page after page of members - especially when so many aren't recognizable with generic avatars:

Nor am I going to scroll through pages of photos - esp when we have something like 60,000 of them. Down the road, if I choose to add new posts, I'd like to embed pictures from the site and give credit to the RR members who uploaded them. But without the ability to efficiently and accurately search the photos, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time crawling through pages.

[/quote]

[quote="TMC Chase"] We've always had generic avatars for those who do not post a profile image.

I drop by a few times a week, but I haven't posted much for a few reasons. 

One, Tim Leeming, Dave Fulton and I have posted a lot of stuff in the forum the past few years. I realize others have as well, but it seems we've posted the majority of the content in the forum. I'd like to see others add their memories, race recaps, and such so we can all enjoy them and add our comments, articles and pics to them.

Two, the offseason. In the dead of winter, I'm not particularly in race ready mode yet. I have some ideas in my mind about various posts I plan to make on my personal blog. I suppose I'll copy / share much of the content here.

Three, without trying to pile on, the site re-design is a barrier for me to add new content. In particular, the simplistic search feature is driving me crazy. I have found a way to search the Forum - which has helped me ID previous posts to edit, bump, etc.  

But the inability to search members or photos through anything other than a basic search function that only returns 4 items per query is frustrating as hell.

And I don't plan to scroll page after page of members - especially when so many aren't recognizable with generic avatars:

Nor am I going to scroll through pages of photos - esp when we have something like 60,000 of them. Down the road, if I choose to add new posts, I'd like to embed pictures from the site and give credit to the RR members who uploaded them. But without the ability to efficiently and accurately search the photos, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time crawling through pages.

[/quote]

I completed another phase of the site upgrade, and some of your concerns are "helped". Still much to do.  @tmc-chase  you can now search member profiles. I'm working on a way to group "searchable" member galleries. I also expanded the number of items returned on the site-wide search. Hope that helps

@dave-fulton, the group display issues where images are "outside" the display areas appear to be related to very early posts....most of those problems appear on 9 year old posts. As I go through the groups and look at random posts, later input seems to be ok. This may be related to an earlier version of ning, but I'm really not 100% sure why some group content transferred perfectly and some did not. I still have MANY group edits to do...and I have no idea if the results of those edits will change this issue. 

Noticed the new posted photos aren't being tagged?

There's an 3 word max. Tag  for each photo.

There should be at least an 6 word max. Tag for each word. Who(driver name), What(information), When(date), Where(location), and race car # for each photo.

How can members tagged other member's un- tagged photos?

How can I correct any mistakes(typos) that was made on my posted response comments  on the forum or photo section?

 I just made an mistake and can't correct it? I mean should be word as:

 There should be at least an 6 word max. Tag for each Photo.

Who(driver name), What(information), When(date), Where(location), and race car # for each photo.

Dennis - I've learned each tag has to be added individually with 3 words max per tag. On old RR, you could type a string a words separated by commas to create all you wanted. With new RR for example, you enter driver & enter. Then track - enter. Etc.

Having said that, I learned early on that new RR requires ONE MINUTE between entering tags. Not sure if that's been tweaked or not. I'm not spending a minute per tag.

I'm pretty sure you can add tags to anyone's pics. And though you can't edit a tag, you should be able to hover over one to delete it. Then you can a replacement. 

Dennis - Re: editing forum posts and comments, notice a little gear icon on the top right of your post. Should allow you to edit things  I think same is true on photo comments. I have additional edit rights Jeff granted my account, but I think that edit feature was there before he changed my access level.

Thanks, Chase. Are you still seeing the I minute between tags? I haven't been able to duplicate that.

Jeff - I personally am not. But unsure if that's because of a system tweak to eliminate the 1 minute wait. Or if it's because of the different level of access you granted me. Better person to ask is someone like Dennis who is trying to tag pics but may not have the admin level of access.

Hmm. Shouldn't matter. I set up another user profile for testing the the other day. I'll log out and try that....and report back. Under my login, I have no limitations. I type the tag, hit enter, and type the next one.

[quote="Jeff Gilder"]

Hmm. Shouldn't matter. I set up another user profile for testing the the other day. I'll log out and try that....and report back. Under my login, I have no limitations. I type the tag, hit enter, and type the next one.

[/quote] Under this login, I do get the 1 minute tag limit notice. Checking out why now

[quote="Golfer Dude"]

[quote="Jeff Gilder"]

Hmm. Shouldn't matter. I set up another user profile for testing the the other day. I'll log out and try that....and report back. Under my login, I have no limitations. I type the tag, hit enter, and type the next one.

[/quote] Under this login, I do get the 1 minute tag limit notice. Checking out why now

[/quote] I'm both embarrassed and happy to say that I have fixed the issue. I set the wait to zero and set the max word limit to 6. But, you should hit enter between each tag. If you think the character/word limit needs to be raised let me know...and why.

[quote="TMC Chase"]

Jeff - I personally am not. But unsure if that's because of a system tweak to eliminate the 1 minute wait. Or if it's because of the different level of access you granted me. Better person to ask is someone like Dennis who is trying to tag pics but may not have the admin level of access.

[/quote]

I tagged Andy's photo with (5) tagged words:  WINSTON CUP  NASCAR  MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY  APRIL 27 1975  VIRGINIA 500

Only problem is the tag dates like the example: 4/27/75 or 4/27/1975 

When I typed the tagged word: NASCAR
I get a funny messaged like just typed a three letter or least word
But NASCAR tagged word would come up in box x NASCAR
If I click on x, I will dielect the NASCAR tag
If I click on NASCAR, it would go on to tagged NASCAR page with the tag cloud button is shown

http://racersreunion.com/tags/nascar

http://racersreunion.com/andy-towler/gallery/34165/martinsville-speedway

What is a tag cloud?

http://racersreunion.com/tags/virginia%20500

TMC Chase,.  thanks for the information on tagging or correcting comment errors on post and photos.

[quote="Dennis Garrett"]

I tagged Andy's photo with (5) tagged words:  WINSTON CUP  NASCAR  MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY  APRIL 27 1975  VIRGINIA 500

Only problem is the tag dates like the example: 4/27/75 or 4/27/1975  When I typed the tagged word: NASCAR I get a funny messaged like just typed a three letter or least word But NASCAR tagged word would come up in box x NASCAR If I click on x, I will dielect the NASCAR tag If I click on NASCAR, it would go on to tagged NASCAR page with the tag cloud button is shown

What is a tag cloud?

http://racersreunion.com/tags/virginia%20500

[/quote]

Couple of thoughts Dennis. I personally tag pics with just a year vs a specific date. The specific date might be useful in the photo's caption / description. But it's very limiting when trying to ID pics with same tag. In the Andy pic you referenced, I suggest using 1975 vs. 4/27/75.

Also, I have historically used just one word for a track (e.g. Martinsville, Charlotte, Daytona, Nashville) vs. multiple words. Quicker to type plus the single word may make it easier for outside search engines to find the pics. (I do,however, type full names for people.)

Easiest way to define 'tag cloud' is to quickly identify all the pics on the site that have the same tag. In the link provided, I only see 1 pic with the tag VIRGINIA 500. That's likely because no other pics have been tagged that way yet. Here is another example where I've tagged pics of mulitiple users with RICHARD PETTY.  

http://racersreunion.com/tags/richard%20petty

Looks like site now has separate deal too called Tag Cloud that shows a bunch of words representing the various tags used. The larger the word - the greater the number of items tagged with that cloud. What I DON'T yet know is if the cloud of words represent the tags I personally have used - or all tags across the site. I think it's the former.

[quote="Jeff Gilder"]

I completed another phase of the site upgrade, and some of your concerns are "helped". Still much to do.  @tmc-chase  you can now search member profiles. I'm working on a way to group "searchable" member galleries. I also expanded the number of items returned on the site-wide search. Hope that helps

@dave-fulton, the group display issues where images are "outside" the display areas appear to be related to very early posts....most of those problems appear on 9 year old posts. As I go through the groups and look at random posts, later input seems to be ok. This may be related to an earlier version of ning, but I'm really not 100% sure why some group content transferred perfectly and some did not. I still have MANY group edits to do...and I have no idea if the results of those edits will change this issue. 

[/quote]

Jeff,

http://racersreunion.com/jeff-gilder/group/99/ray-hendrick-in-memoriam

I noticed the old "GROUP" pages has chopped off Photos and comments.

The photos and comments is there.  They're being squeezed by the larger size (new?/old?) members' avartar photos that is being located next to the "GROUP" photo and comment.

Could you make the members' avartar photo(smaller) or moved the "GROUP" photo and comment under the members' avartar photo.

Dennis Garrett

Richmond,Va.

[quote="Dennis Garrett"]

[quote="Jeff Gilder"]

I completed another phase of the site upgrade, and some of your concerns are "helped". Still much to do.  @tmc-chase  you can now search member profiles. I'm working on a way to group "searchable" member galleries. I also expanded the number of items returned on the site-wide search. Hope that helps

@dave-fulton, the group display issues where images are "outside" the display areas appear to be related to very early posts....most of those problems appear on 9 year old posts. As I go through the groups and look at random posts, later input seems to be ok. This may be related to an earlier version of ning, but I'm really not 100% sure why some group content transferred perfectly and some did not. I still have MANY group edits to do...and I have no idea if the results of those edits will change this issue. 

[/quote]

Jeff,

http://racersreunion.com/jeff-gilder/group/99/ray-hendrick-in-memoriam

I noticed the old "GROUP" pages has chopped off Photos and comments.

The photos and comments is there.  They're being squeezed by the larger size (new?/old?) members' avartar photos that is being located next to the "GROUP" photo and comment.

Could you make the members' avartar photo(smaller) or moved the "GROUP" photo and comment under the members' avartar photo.

Dennis Garrett

Richmond,Va.

[/quote]

I'll take a look. I'm not sure I can affect any of that. There was something about the older group's formatting that didn't work with the new site.

Thanks, Dennis

Curious if there is reason links in forum posts and elsewhere aren't distinguishable from other text. Unless someone deliberately hovers over a link, you might not know it's there. Yes, if a URL is posted - e.g. http://www.whatever.com - it's somewhat more noticeable. However, the link isn't a different color, underlined, etc. I'm sure I can CHOOSE a different color or add bold, underlining, etc. But I'd rather not for all the historical posts.

Where the links really get buried is when the page URL is "behind" a string of text. I often do this. In many posts, I've referred to a Tim Leeming Racing History Minute or one of Dave Fulton's posts. But I attach to link to the text label vs. including the actual www link.

[quote="TMC Chase"]

Curious if there is reason links in forum posts and elsewhere aren't distinguishable from other text. Unless someone deliberately hovers over a link, you might not know it's there. Yes, if a URL is posted - e.g. http://www.whatever.com - it's somewhat more noticeable. However, the link isn't a different color, underlined, etc. I'm sure I can CHOOSE a different color or add bold, underlining, etc. But I'd rather not for all the historical posts.

Where the links really get buried is when the page URL is "behind" a string of text. I often do this. In many posts, I've referred to a Tim Leeming Racing History Minute or one of Dave Fulton's posts. But I attach to link to the text label vs. including the actual www link.

[/quote]

HI Chase,

I'll take a look and see if I can make them more visible with the controls I have available to me.

Thanks, for your input!

Jeff

[quote="Jeff Gilder"]

[quote="TMC Chase"]

Curious if there is reason links in forum posts and elsewhere aren't distinguishable from other text. Unless someone deliberately hovers over a link, you might not know it's there. Yes, if a URL is posted - e.g. http://www.whatever.com - it's somewhat more noticeable. However, the link isn't a different color, underlined, etc. I'm sure I can CHOOSE a different color or add bold, underlining, etc. But I'd rather not for all the historical posts.

Where the links really get buried is when the page URL is "behind" a string of text. I often do this. In many posts, I've referred to a Tim Leeming Racing History Minute or one of Dave Fulton's posts. But I attach to link to the text label vs. including the actual www link.

[/quote]

HI Chase,

I'll take a look and see if I can make them more visible with the controls I have available to me.

Thanks, for your input!

Jeff

[/quote]

Chase,

I was able to enlist the help of one of the JamRomm support guys (Michael) and got this fixed. 

Hope this helps!

Jeff

Better on links Jeff. Thumbs up.

On to next formatting issue. I can bullet items like this:

• Petty
• Pearson
• Foyt

The bullets show up on my screen and preview. But when I post, they aren't there.

[quote="TMC Chase"]

Better on links Jeff. Thumbs up.

On to next formatting issue. I can bullet items like this:

• Petty
• Pearson
• Foyt

The bullets show up on my screen and preview. But when I post, they aren't there.

[/quote]

Chase,

I'll take a look into it.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff,

Have you noticed on the Activity or Home page (middle section) that are member/members repeating themselves liking the same photo gallery two or three times, creating a new gallery, or listing about (20) YouTube videos of non-racing videos?  Is this an accident or what is going on? 

Dennis Garrett

Richmond,VA.

Dennis,

Been out of touch for a few days. I'll take a look. Thank, dude.

[quote="Dennis Garrett"]

Jeff,

Have you noticed on the Activity or Home page (middle section) that are member/members repeating themselves liking the same photo gallery two or three times, creating a new gallery, or listing about (20) YouTube videos of non-racing videos?  Is this an accident or what is going on? 

Dennis Garrett

Richmond,VA.

[/quote]

Dennis,

I see how the YouTube videos are appearing. This system allows members to "sync" their YouTube account with their profile page.  In this particular situation this member has a lot of racing content on his YouTube channel....but it also has a lot of non-racing content. There are 432 videos on his YouTube account. So, when it is synced they all appear. 

Needless to say, when I added this feature I didn't anticipate this. The only way I can approach this is to ask that members not sync YouTube accounts that include non-racing content....or just delete the YouTube sync feature, which will penalize those that have legit content. For us as admins to delete the "non-racing" videos that appear in the sync could turn into a full-time job for someone. I don't see that happening since we don't have any full-time employees. 

I don't like the result...and these videos do not need to be displayed on this site, so the only thing that will work...all the way around....is to remove the youtube sync feature. 

As for the multiple likes...I don't really see that as anything that needs to be fixed right now, but I will continue to watch it. The activity feed will display ALL activity including someone who updates a post 2 and 3 times.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

[quote="Jeff Gilder"]

[quote="Dennis Garrett"]

Jeff,

Have you noticed on the Activity or Home page (middle section) that are member/members repeating themselves liking the same photo gallery two or three times, creating a new gallery, or listing about (20) YouTube videos of non-racing videos?  Is this an accident or what is going on? 

Dennis Garrett

Richmond,VA.

[/quote]

Dennis,

I see how the YouTube videos are appearing. This system allows members to "sync" their YouTube account with their profile page.  In this particular situation this member has a lot of racing content on his YouTube channel....but it also has a lot of non-racing content. There are 432 videos on his YouTube account. So, when it is synced they all appear. 

Needless to say, when I added this feature I didn't anticipate this. The only way I can approach this is to ask that members not sync YouTube accounts that include non-racing content....or just delete the YouTube sync feature, which will penalize those that have legit content. For us as admins to delete the "non-racing" videos that appear in the sync could turn into a full-time job for someone. I don't see that happening since we don't have any full-time employees. 

I don't like the result...and these videos do not need to be displayed on this site, so the only thing that will work...all the way around....is to remove the youtube sync feature. 

As for the multiple likes...I don't really see that as anything that needs to be fixed right now, but I will continue to watch it. The activity feed will display ALL activity including someone who updates a post 2 and 3 times.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

[/quote]

Dennis, I manually deleted all the non-racing stuff and posted a notice in a new topic that we were deactivating this feature. Thanks for the heads-up

Jeff

Jeff,

This morning I got Go Daddy website selling/trading racersreunion.com website instead seeing or posting comments/photos at racersreunion.com?

Was it an virus or an website attack?
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va.

How do You post a new subject (thread) in the forum ? I went to the forum I wanted to post on, and there is nothing that says click here to post a new subject? 

You first have to choose a category you wish to post in just like you chose this category.   Then click on the "+" sign to create a post.