general forum feedback

[LePaul 324]

Oh yes, the spam bots and scripted log ins/ad posts...you really had to stay on top of the updates and they weren't always easy

[jameshs 42]

There are a few ways a user can find the unread posts.

The bottom line is that you can recognize them by the blue bar on the left of the overview.

You can store the filter you prefer, so when you visit the forum from your computer it automatically will show you the filtered topics.

Where are you based @Jameshs, if I may ask?

'Best replies' are replies which have received most likes. By clicking on it, you are being escorted to that like-able post.

I don't fully understand why you consider the forum as if we closed sourced ourselves from the community. Would you care to elaborate?

Do you mean because we write the knowledge base instead of it being moderated by the community?

 

@sanderVG

so I have some learning to do - every other forum I visit offers me a 'new since last visit' button, but I will try to work out filters and how to save them - new to me.

Based in UK - London

The closed bit is the need to bring everything under the UM 'brand' - I can completely understand why - and it is a 'fear' of mine. One of the reasons that I did not move to the UM2 was because of the lack of interchangeable nozzles, auto filament feed, more restrictive material use (from deformations at higher temps) though I recognised the need to make the machine more 'sexy' and usable by non-tinkerers etc, and I was equally relieved when you put those features back in with the 2"+"

So I saw the forum change - which I absolutely "understand", but the result of which I saw with the reduction (maybe I just can't find them) in the posts by those pushing the boundaries.

I am part of the e-nable community and it is SO frustrating that everyday I get 20 notifications from new people logging on to ask where files are - when they are in the sticky section. What used to be a smaller community of fascinating users discussing stuff where almost every post interested me, to 7.5k newbies asking for files for their 'project' begins to dilute the enjoyment.

Your redesign had a similar effect. Stopped me posting for nearly 3 months, and has reduced my daily visits because I just don't see the stuff I want to. Maybe that just coincided with the increase in volume - which I am of course happy to see for UM because I want to see more machines ....... so probably just a prolonged mourning of that technical fascination where I learned SO much, or maybe there is no more to learn.

But I do hate the voting and naming stuff, though I can recognise that is a personal preference.

Off to try to work out what a filter is and how to save it - is there a wiki?

James

[nilrog 103]

Even if it is just a feeling like; it feels clumsy or sluggish.

 

That is exactly the feeling I have.

I visit many different forums from my computer and this is the only forum that feels painfully slow to navigate... Most of it relates to the javascript stuff and the "spinner" that is constantly thrown "in your face" and the forum loosing track of where you were on a page when going back. Non of this exists in any other forum software I have seen.

That said...the look of the forum is nice...and the features I saw when you listed what had been fixed also looks like nice features. So if you could "just" solve the sluggishness and browsing then this might be good

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @Jameshs, I understand your point. I guess that is the challenge to attract new users and keep the challenging and interesting posts for the core-users available as well.

Especially if you consider the amount of 'where are the files'-posts to outnumber the 'magnetic toolchanger'-posts. At the same time, getting all the core users involved with Ultimaker (or its affiliates) doesn't boost their activity either (talking about Iluminarti, Robert, Didier, etc). But at the same time it is great for them, and the community in the long run. (don't start denying @IRobert. You like it! )

Anyway, we are building a knowledgebase. It can be found under 'tips and tricks'.

We are going to expand this section in the upcoming period with tons of interesting topics.

Here is the link towards the guidelines from our community. And a more general page can be found here.

There is still plenty to learn, and we'll contribute to emphasise this!

Have a great day at work!

[Titus 170]

@SandervG, since you are asking for feedback I'll post some things when I think of them here:

-Search, I still use google, since the in site one just doesn't work. The new users, the target audience of this whole overhaul, WONT. They use the site search and can't find what they are looking for. Either they give up(you lose them), or they post ridiculous topics with questions answered ten times already(you lose power users).

My advise: replace the search with a google in site search until yours actually works. It's fugly as hell, but atleast it works.

-Typing posts. I still can't scroll up or down in my text window. Instead it scrolls the entire page. Even when drag selecting text I can't scroll. I have to use the arrow keys instead.

This was an issue when we went into community tests after the alpha forum was released. We had several bugs(non scaling, not scaling back etc). But it still doesn't work and irritates me. It seems to be the case when having less than X lines. 15 hard returns I think.

-Gamification. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I don't see why you even would want to implement this. What is the next step, send Ulti-ville invites to friends for points?

The points don't make sense, the names neither(new people may think the Cura Commander people are actual Cura devs/hero's for example). The badges, meh. Just meh.

Does it hurt? Well yeah, seeing this implemented (badly) while other pretty crucial bugs weren't/aren't fixed is not nice. Also my example with misleading titles etc.

My advise: remove it all together. Just don't go there.

-Filters

Yeah you can filter(I now have a filter set to all unread topics. This gives me a long list of growing unread topics. I have no clue of context whatsoever. Was this posted in the general/maintenance/troubleshoot? Also, when I want to go back to normal view, I have to DELETE my filter. I can't just switch it on and off. I have to reset all options etc. That's why I never do it. I said this before and your answer was that it wouldn't cost so much effort that I reset the filter, so no use in changing anything if I recall correctly.

Again I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I used to see which sub fora had a new post(just a simple blue bar would do like in the topic view).

-Random stuff

How can it be that I have topics that I follow, that have 1 unread post? I always open all notifications. This topic had a post 3 days ago but there is no notification in my bell menu:

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/11571-step-by-step-installation-of-silentstepstick-drivers-on-umo?page=3#unread

This kind of stuff makes us miss important topics.

Ok I've made a screen shot with a view I normally don't have, but to illustrate what can be improved. Again I must say that most of these were already mentioned by many people.

-Blue bars to mark unread topics. I just can't see what is unread, except to look in casual text all the way to the right(I read left to right, not the other way around), see red cross

Can you explain why the text in the orange circle is there, taking up so much horizontal space? What is the significance of that text? Wouldn't it be better to make it just a Horizontal Separator? And move the topics to the left. It's more intuitive that way. This is the only forum I know where there is something before the topics. What to fill the now free space to the right with? No clue.

-Orange ?????? I believe that's a topic I read. And that the place to click to go to the last post is there. That's what the little thing before the topic title used to do/is normally used to do. Now there is a picture there and I can see your photo to know you made the topics. But given that a huge amount of users has a simple letter there, it is useless. Who is S? Or which S is it? Also I recognize perhaps 5 or 6 photo's, at that size.

-New topic button

I still disagree with leaving the type of topic like this. Set it to regular standard, and let users change it if they want to. Or just get rid of the question/idea topics all together. You can't sort on questions, because you might miss a question in a regular topic. So that is kinda useless.

When I press the new topic button in that view, it automatically selects my highest topic, being Hardware>Modifications and Hacks. Why? Actually, why would there be a new topic button in that view anyway?

I have to go now. But just another idea, I believe you guys took notes when you visited us. Perhaps it's valuable to look at those again and see how far you've gotten now. I explained my workflow, my feelings etc. Others probably did too. Most of these comments in this post were in there too.

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @Titus,

Thank you for your elaborated post. It is much appreciated.

As a general reply on 'sounding as a broken record' and 'checking our notes' we are collecting your feedback, but also feedback we receive from other users. And of course we also have to take our opinion into the equation. At the end of the line we have to make a call taking multiple opinions into account. So you should see a lot of the feedback processed, but probably not all.

Now, I'll give you a reply based on each of the points you address.

Hopefully I won't sound as a broken record either

Typing posts

For me this works. Are you typing on your phone or a computer? (double checking right now... yep it works.) Could you tell me what OS, browser etc you use?

Gamification

I believe this is a very strong tool to inspire engagement, when implemented correctly.

I can see why you think the levels and titles don't make sense, but do you feel the same about the badges? The levels and titles are a reference to a users involvement, but the badges are very specific. For example, someone who wrote guest blogs, was featured in a story. When involved in a discussion with someone I would consider this interesting information.

Filters.

If you don't have a clue of the context, you are probably viewing the unread posts in the topics view. If you view it in the category view it is also ranked based on category. This should provide the context.

You can also customise your view so you can decide which categories are top, and how many topics they show.

- having a toggle option is a good idea. That would solve most of your issues I reckon?

Random stuff

I don't know. Sounds like to me that shouldn't happen. In the last sprint we build in a fix that when you visit an unread topic it is being removed from your notifications.

Have you read this topic? Is it really new to you?

Again, what is your OS and browser? (I have asked you so many times I should almost know it by heart )

Blue bars:

In the category view it is an indication to unread topics in a certain thread, in that category.

So it is not thread-specific. If you want the indication to be thread specific, move to the topic-view. Just like your filter I believe.

Orange circle

The text is there to describe what the category is about. You have the option to select the number of threads displayed. Obviously, the more threads you select the bigger that specific white space is. Pros: You have more threads visible to see what the latest activity is.

If you don't want the white space, select only 1 visible thread and you'll probably see the entire category-list in 1 view.

Letters.

Hopefully this is an incentive for everyone to complete their User profile

Since we can't like twist anyones arm until they fill out their entire user profile, what do you think is a better resemblance of their 'generic' user profile?

New topic

You can sort on questions. You should get most questions. If someone doesn't get an answer on an urgent question which they marked as a 'regular topic', it should be a lesson learned that next time they select 'question'. Right?

I actually think this is a valuable distinguishment.

New topic selection

Not sure I understand. Because you have listed modifications and hacks as your favourite category?

Hopefully my comments have been able to provide some context, on why certain decisions were made, or why they are the way they currently are.

Looking forward hearing on what you think, if we can move to a solution which works for everyone that is a win-win I guess

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

...

-Search, I still use google, since the in site one just doesn't work. The new users, the target audience of this whole overhaul, WONT. They use the site search and can't find what they are looking for. Either they give up(you lose them), or they post ridiculous topics with questions answered ten times already(you lose power users).

My advise: replace the search with a google in site search until yours actually works. It's fugly as hell, but atleast it works.

...

 

A very good advice IMHO. One that UM should declare their top priority for the forum.

[SandervG 1,521]

It is. It has to fit a bigger picture of things that require development but in this post you'll read that it has top priority of improvements that need to happen.

We had a quick meeting this morning to go over some of the feedback that was expressed yesterday and I wanted to give you an update on the outcome.

Ghost notifications

Is on the top of our list. And it has been. But like I said before it continuous to be a problem which is very hard to reproduce. This makes it very hard to find the exact cause. We have made fixes in the past which all contribute to the solution, but the complete solution has not been found yet. We continue on finding the solution. When exactly this is found, hard to say. But with every fix we are getting closer.

Search.

Also on the top of our list. Together with the next point.

Next week there is another meeting where we are deciding on an agenda which includes other projects which require development. When we can expect an improved search engine should become more clear after this meeting.

Speed.

Also on top of our list. We expect to significantly increase the speed in Q1 2016.

Probably March.

Some smaller things which were mentioned were different emoticons, highlighting interesting content (me and the moderators will help in this), and the overall feel (clumsy / sluggish). The latter will be different I think when the forum becomes much faster.

If more feedback surfaces we'll see where that fits in the picture as well!

Thank you!

[Titus 170]

Hi @SandervG,

First of all I want to thank you for your reply, and excuse myself for my own post. The tone might have been to negative/aggressive. I tend to be very direct in my opinions and might not always acknowledge my appreciation for your patience and your work(both your and your colleagues')

I will update you on your post tonight when I have more time, in the mean time however, another thing that annoys me :PIt might be solved by the speed issue, not sure:

It takes a while to load all the photo's or something. Now I have to guess which picture it is I want to add.

Also I want to be able to add more than 1 picture at the same time

[ultiarjan 1,223]

I have the same "pictures not loading" issue... usually only see the first row orso. (Win7, chrome)

[Labern 774]

I'm also getting no notifications for some posts but seeing them in the forum unread filter.

Its also not directing me to the unread posts.

When using the unread filter in the forum can we have the option to individually mark topics read?

Can we also have the option to preview the unread posts? and select the amount of previews? This can be handy for people who regularly view the forum and means we dont have to wait to pages to open all the time.

[yellowshark 153]

Hi @SandervG, just wanted you to know that, in England, I find the site to be super fast. I am also a bit confused by these "problems" with navigation. I just go to the notification area and they are all there, soooo easy, it is brill! I will say, and it is only an unproved suspicion, that just occasionally a new thread is not notified. Conversely I am 100% sure that new posts to threads I am following are always notified.

[Titus 170]

@SandervG, perhaps the ghost notifications aren't ghost ones, they are actual ones pointing to wrong topics. That would explain the ghost notifications, and the missing ones?

Just a hunch, now Labern confirms he is also missing notifications for some posts.

[SandervG 1,521]

@SandervG, perhaps the ghost notifications aren't ghost ones, they are actual ones pointing to wrong topics. That would explain the ghost notifications, and the missing ones?

Just a hunch, now Labern confirms he is also missing notifications for some posts.

Good idea. We were now also looking into if lets say we both follow a topic and I get a ghost notification if you had it too. So lies the problem with the user or the thread.

Your idea could also be part of it. I'll forward it to the dev's! Thanks!

[Titus 170]

This is working

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/chat

[shurik 87]

This IRC was there for quite some time now, do I miss something?

[Titus 170]

I kept getting error messages and instead use the webchat.freenode.net

Today it didn't timeout on the UM site, so that's why I posted it. Sander told me it was up for a while already indeed.

[SandervG 1,521]

Just also needs notifications when people post.. I keep missing people

(or people should have a little bit more patience )

[yellowshark 153]

deleted

Edited February 12, 2016 by Guest

[SandervG 1,521]

I think @Dim3nsioneer came with the suggestion to have the option to list the modifications you have made to your beloved Ultimaker machines. Now you can!

If you go to your profile there is a new field underneath 'products'. You can write your modifications down.

This will highlight your Ultimaker on your profile card next to your posts (like mine here on the left). If you click it a pop up will come up that informs you about my modifications.

[Titus 170]

ok strange stuff. I get a notification for you post @SandervG, I click it, read it. Then go to 'all unread topics'. This topic is still there.

Perhaps part of the ghost notifications?

[SandervG 1,521]

I just did the exact same thing, read your post (through the notification), went to unread topics but it was not there. Could you check if it happens with other posts as well.

I have the feeling we have been able to understand something more about its behaviour so hopefully that will lead to something.

[LePaul 324]

I've had this happen on a topic yesterday too.

This one, if it helps any

[Titus 170]

It happens with more topics. But not always.

[frederiekpascal 193]

I still receive ghost notifications every day.

An example of today :

When you go to that thread, you'll see that the last post was "Posted Feb 13, 2016 - 3:18 PM"

Last reply was from me so I don't know if this has something to do with the ghost notifications?