# Forum Update April 2021



## jks9199

Folks,
You might notice a new look and some changes.  The team at Forum Foundry has updated the Xenforo software and shifted some security settings.  You shouldn't notice much of a change, but let us know if there are problems.

Jks9199 
Administrator


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## John G

jks9199 said:


> Folks,
> You might notice a new look and some changes.  The team at Forum Foundry has updated the Xenforo software and shifted some security settings.  You shouldn't notice much of a change, but let us know if there are problems.
> 
> Jks9199
> Administrator


The site should also be considerably faster as it is now using HTTP/2 and some additional caching/compression techniques.


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## _Simon_

Awesome, thanks for the heads up!

Do you know if the forum is still enabled on the Tapatalk forums app? It's my primary way of accessing MT, it doesn't appear to be working on there at the moment... thanks


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## Deleted member 39746

Wait, its finally been made a HTTPS site, huzzay.


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## dvcochran

The new appearance looks good; industrial. 
As far as functional communication is concerned loosing the agree button makes no sense. Clicking 'love' when I agree with someone is simply wrong. And rather creepy.
Hopefully all the backend changes make it an easier/better site to maintain. Just don't forget about how people communicate.


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## Xue Sheng

I'm so confused 
But it looks good


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## Gerry Seymour

dvcochran said:


> The new appearance looks good; industrial.
> As far as functional communication is concerned loosing the agree button makes no sense. Clicking 'love' when I agree with someone is simply wrong. And rather creepy.
> Hopefully all the backend changes make it an easier/better site to maintain. Just don't forget about how people communicate.


Agreed.


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## Xue Sheng

dvcochran said:


> The new appearance looks good; industrial.
> As far as functional communication is concerned loosing the agree button makes no sense. Clicking 'love' when I agree with someone is simply wrong. And rather creepy.
> Hopefully all the backend changes make it an easier/better site to maintain. Just don't forget about how people communicate.



Admittedly I'm confused when it comes to the new layout, but I don't see love or agree anywhere


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## Steve

Xue Sheng said:


> Admittedly I'm confused when it comes to the new layout, but I don't see love or agree anywhere


It's like FaceBook, where you sort of click on the like button and some additional options become available.  Choices are like, love, haha, wow, sad, and angry.

I guess it's up to us how we choose to reinterpret those.


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## dascrow

_Simon_ said:


> Awesome, thanks for the heads up!
> 
> Do you know if the forum is still enabled on the Tapatalk forums app? It's my primary way of accessing MT, it doesn't appear to be working on there at the moment... thanks


No, there have been some security issues with Tapatalk in the past and we will no longer support it.  However, the new software update provides a much better mobile experience.


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## Xue Sheng

Steve said:


> It's like FaceBook, where you sort of click on the like button and some additional options become available.  Choices are like, love, haha, wow, sad, and angry.
> 
> I guess it's up to us how we choose to reinterpret those.



Thank you, I don't do FaceBook, so I had no idea, thanks


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## Steve

Xue Sheng said:


> Thank you, I don't do FaceBook, so I had no idea, thanks


To be clear, I don't "LOVE" your last post, but options are limited.


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## dascrow

Steve said:


> To be clear, I don't "LOVE" your last post, but options are limited.



I'll see if we can add some more options there.    

Also the new upgrade now offers quite a few emojis that can be used.

🤔🤦‍♂️🥋🍻


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## Gerry Seymour

dascrow said:


> I'll see if we can add some more options there.
> 
> Also the new upgrade now offers quite a few emojis that can be used.
> 
> 🤔🤦‍♂️🥋🍻


If options exist, I’d personally like to see the old options there. Some new ones might be welcome, but we’ve mostly become accustomed to using the previous reactions to communicate here.


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## dvcochran

Steve said:


> To be clear, I don't "LOVE" your last post, but options are limited.


And you know, in screen development adding 'agree' as an icon choice is about as easy as it gets.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf

A smaller issue; the top 10 posters of the month on the home page was changed to top 10 posters of all time. Which is pretty static and doesn't really give us any info about who's been active this month.


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## _Simon_

dascrow said:


> No, there have been some security issues with Tapatalk in the past and we will no longer support it.  However, the new software update provides a much better mobile experience.


Ahh that's a shame.. was handy having all my forums on there.. all good I'll get used to it. At least I have other options apart from just 'Like'! 🤣


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## Tez3

It looks good, easier on old eyes.


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## dvcochran

One other observation. On the old platform it was very easy to tell what alerts have and have not been read. On the new platform there is no was to tell. Am I missing something?


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## _Simon_

dvcochran said:


> One other observation. On the old platform it was very easy to tell what alerts have and have not been read. On the new platform there is no was to tell. Am I missing something?


On my phone it shows a little circle on the bottom right of each alert, if it hasn't been read it'll be black, otherwise it's see-through (all the ones in this image are see-through/already-seen alerts)


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## dvcochran

_Simon_ said:


> On my phone it shows a little circle on the bottom right of each alert, if it hasn't been read it'll be black, otherwise it's see-through (all the ones in this image are see-through/already-seen alerts)
> 
> View attachment 26654


So it is up to the user to mark as read?


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## dascrow

gpseymour said:


> If options exist, I’d personally like to see the old options there. Some new ones might be welcome, but we’ve mostly become accustomed to using the previous reactions to communicate here.


I believe all of the old ones are still available.  Let me know if you notice any missing?


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## dascrow

Xue Sheng said:


> Admittedly I'm confused when it comes to the new layout, but I don't see love or agree anywhere



The like button has been renamed to "Agree" and I've added a "Disagree" button..


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## Steve

dascrow said:


> The like button has been renamed to "Agree" and I've added a "Disagree" button..
> View attachment 26655



Lookin' good.  Can you add "Neither Agree Nor Disagree", "Not as Funny as You Think", and just because, "I'm just here for the popcorn" reactions?  

Or not.  This is probably just fine.  I'll show myself out.


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## dvcochran

dascrow said:


> The like button has been renamed to "Agree" and I've added a "Disagree" button..
> View attachment 26655


That doesn't really make sense. The like button should mean like; nothing else. It is great to add a disagree button. 'Agree' has it's own meaning and connotation. Very important for communication on an online platform.
For example, I can fully agree with something but that in no way infers that I like it.
Like and agree need to be separate choices.


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## dascrow

dvcochran said:


> That doesn't really make sense. The like button should mean like; nothing else. It is great to add a disagree button. 'Agree' has it's own meaning and connotation. Very important for communication on an online platform.
> For example, I can fully agree with something but that in no way infers that I like it.
> Like and agree need to be separate choices.


Ok - Like & Agreed are available as an option.


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## Brian King

@dascrow 
Nice changes, thank you. Any chance of getting an "informative" or "useful" option along with the like and agree that you have added?

Thanks again
Brian King


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## dvcochran

Brian King said:


> @dascrow
> Nice changes, thank you. Any chance of getting an "informative" or "useful" option along with the like and agree that you have added?
> 
> Thanks again
> Brian King


I always felt the original set of buttons were much more than adequate. Definitely in the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it category. 
I hope the original button choices come back.


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## geezer

dascrow said:


> I'll see if we can add some more options there.
> 
> Also the new upgrade now offers quite a few emojis that can be used.
> 
> 🤔🤦‍♂️🥋🍻


I see you've already added "agree" ...I also miss the "Informative" response. I didn't use it all that often, but sometimes it was a perfect, emotionally neutral fit.


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## geezer

Oh, it seems like we've lost the Mentor Lounge and the whole mentor thing? Does that mean I don't have to be so careful about behaving now? OK ....Hey Jobo, move over and make me some room... OK, Just kidding.


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## jks9199

geezer said:


> Oh, it seems like we've lost the Mentor Lounge and the whole mentor thing? Does that mean I don't have to be so careful about behaving now? OK ....Hey Jobo, move over and make me some room... OK, Just kidding.


We'll look into it.


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## Gerry Seymour

_Simon_ said:


> On my phone it shows a little circle on the bottom right of each alert, if it hasn't been read it'll be black, otherwise it's see-through (all the ones in this image are see-through/already-seen alerts)
> 
> View attachment 26654


I noticed that. Doesn't work on my desktop browser, unfortunately (the circle is dark for whichever item you're hovering over. I think there's a slightly darker grey for unread, but that seems to match also every reaction (as opposed to post) on the list. And I'm not 100% convinced it means what I think it means, so I might be missing some.


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## Gerry Seymour

dascrow said:


> I believe all of the old ones are still available.  Let me know if you notice any missing?


They are now. Didn't have agree/disagree earlier. Thanks!


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## Gerry Seymour

Steve said:


> Lookin' good.  Can you add "Neither Agree Nor Disagree", "Not as Funny as You Think", and just because, "I'm just here for the popcorn" reactions?
> 
> Or not.  This is probably just fine.  I'll show myself out.


And I really did "love" this post.


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## jks9199

jks9199 said:


> geezer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, it seems like we've lost the Mentor Lounge and the whole mentor thing? Does that mean I don't have to be so careful about behaving now? OK ....Hey Jobo, move over and make me some room... OK, Just kidding.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We'll look into it.
Click to expand...

Ok, looks like we lost the secondary titles or badges like Mentor and Lifetime Supporting Member. Not sure if it's a feature change or setting above my pay grade.

Folks, do me a favor... if you find yourself having access to someplace you didn't used to... RTM something and PM someone on the Mod Team. All the settings appear correct, and seem to be working right... but... this chap named Murphy hangs around.


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## dascrow

jks9199 said:


> Ok, looks like we lost the secondary titles or badges like Mentor and Lifetime Supporting Member. Not sure if it's a feature change or setting above my pay grade.
> 
> Folks, do me a favor... if you find yourself having access to someplace you didn't used to... RTM something and PM someone on the Mod Team. All the settings appear correct, and seem to be working right... but... this chap named Murphy hangs around.



I believe the secondary titles/badges should be back.  Let me know if I'm missing any.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf

dascrow said:


> I believe the secondary titles/badges should be back.  Let me know if I'm missing any.


Looks like they're all back to me!


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## Dirty Dog

Since we're adding response emojis, can we get a facepalm?


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## dvcochran

An bug I have recently encountered a few times; When typing a post if I inadvertently backspace past the first line of text the cursor jumps into the 'replied' section of the post and you cannot get the cursor back out. No matter what I try it ends up as another reply from OP. This is happening both on the mobile app and on my PC.

Admittedly, I am a lousy typist but it seems the cursor should stop at the initial start point of the text box and not be able to 'edit' someone else's text. A recipe for hard feelings.


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## Gerry Seymour

dvcochran said:


> An bug I have recently encountered a few times; When typing a post if I inadvertently backspace past the first line of text the cursor jumps into the 'replied' section of the post and you cannot get the cursor back out. No matter what I try it ends up as another reply from OP. This is happening both on the mobile app and on my PC.
> 
> Admittedly, I am a lousy typist but it seems the cursor should stop at the initial start point of the text box and not be able to 'edit' someone else's text. A recipe for hard feelings.


[/QUOTE]
The issue appears to be hidden tags. When you backspace into that, you've deleted part of the end tag. You can cap it with [/ quote] (remove the space in that) to get back outside the quoted info. Likely some part of the tag will show up in the quoted info - you should see that in your quoted material, as I replicated what happened and used the end tag to close it again.


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## Steve

gpseymour said:


> The issue appears to be hidden tags. When you backspace into that, you've deleted part of the end tag. You can cap it with [/ quote] (remove the space in that) to get back outside the quoted info. Likely some part of the tag will show up in the quoted info - you should see that in your quoted material, as I replicated what happened and used the end tag to close it again.



It's always a little dicey to monkey with code when you can't see it.  You can "toggle the BB Code" by clicking on the three vertical dots menu on the right of the screen, and then the bracket option.    Then you can actually see the code and adjust it as you suggest.

For example, doing that, I could see why when I tried to reply to your post, because you included the code (/quote) in your post, it didn't display correctly.  But that was easy to fix by toggling the bb code.


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## Gerry Seymour

Steve said:


> It's always a little dicey to monkey with code when you can't see it.  You can "toggle the BB Code" by clicking on the three vertical dots menu on the right of the screen, and then the bracket option.    Then you can actually see the code and adjust it as you suggest.
> 
> For example, doing that, I could see why when I tried to reply to your post, because you included the code (/quote) in your post, it didn't display correctly.  But that was easy to fix by toggling the bb code.
> 
> View attachment 26709


Good find. I took a quick look, but didn't find that icon to show the tags.


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## dvcochran

The issue appears to be hidden tags. When you backspace into that, you've deleted part of the end tag. You can cap it with [/ quote] (remove the space in that) to get back outside the quoted info. Likely some part of the tag will show up in the quoted info - you should see that in your quoted material, as I replicated what happened and used the end tag to close it again.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks, I knew what I did (removing the closing tag) but I do not remember having it occur before the update. 
It seems strange that I am even able to place my cursor into the previous comment.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf

dvcochran said:


> The issue appears to be hidden tags. When you backspace into that, you've deleted part of the end tag. You can cap it with [/ QUOTE] (remove the space in that) to get back outside the quoted info. Likely some part of the tag will show up in the quoted info - you should see that in your quoted material, as I replicated what happened and used the end tag to close it again.





> Thanks, I knew what I did (removing the closing tag) but I do not remember having it occur before the update.
> It seems strange that I am even able to place my cursor into the previous comment.



Editing the 'quoted' post is something we've always been able to do. It just gets more differentiated if you keep the tags on. Websites nowadays like to hide them to make it look 'cleaner' when typing, but I prefer to leave them on so I know what is and isn't being tagged/quoted. If you click the little brackets next to the floppy disk you can see them again.


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## dascrow

dvcochran said:


> An bug I have recently encountered a few times; When typing a post if I inadvertently backspace past the first line of text the cursor jumps into the 'replied' section of the post and you cannot get the cursor back out. No matter what I try it ends up as another reply from OP. This is happening both on the mobile app and on my PC.
> 
> Admittedly, I am a lousy typist but it seems the cursor should stop at the initial start point of the text box and not be able to 'edit' someone else's text. A recipe for hard feelings.


I'm seeing the same issue.  I'll look into it.


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## dascrow

Dirty Dog said:


> Since we're adding response emojis, can we get a facepalm?


🤦‍♂️👍


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## Gerry Seymour

dascrow said:


> I'm seeing the same issue.  I'll look into it.


I'm not sure if you saw the replies to that post. The quote tags are hidden. When you backspace too far, you delete part of that hidden closing tag. Clicking on the [ ] icon reveals the tags, so it behaves as it used to.


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## Gerry Seymour

@dascrow, is it possible to increase the contrast between new and old notifications in the Alerts list? On mobile, new ones are marked with a dot, but the desktop version just uses a (very) light tan or grey - the same color used to mark quotes, I have a hard time seeing which ones are highlighted. Of course, if we could get the dots working for desktop, that'd be more consistent.


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## Gerry Seymour

I don't see a simple way to do ordered/unordered lists (bullets and numbered). Is that something we can get back?

Also, I'm occasionally getting a pop-up (actually, it shows up in another browser tab, opened behind the current tab) when I "like" something, asking me to confirm that action. It's something like 10-25% of the time.


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## dvcochran

gpseymour said:


> I don't see a simple way to do ordered/unordered lists (bullets and numbered). Is that something we can get back?
> 
> Also, I'm occasionally getting a pop-up (actually, it shows up in another browser tab, opened behind the current tab) when I "like" something, asking me to confirm that action. It's something like 10-25% of the time.


I would hot informative if I could.


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## dascrow

gpseymour said:


> I don't see a simple way to do ordered/unordered lists (bullets and numbered). Is that something we can get back?
> 
> Also, I'm occasionally getting a pop-up (actually, it shows up in another browser tab, opened behind the current tab) when I "like" something, asking me to confirm that action. It's something like 10-25% of the time.


That's weird - I don't know why the new forum software removed these options from the defaults?  I have them back in now.


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## dascrow

gpseymour said:


> @dascrow, is it possible to increase the contrast between new and old notifications in the Alerts list? On mobile, new ones are marked with a dot, but the desktop version just uses a (very) light tan or grey - the same color used to mark quotes, I have a hard time seeing which ones are highlighted. Of course, if we could get the dots working for desktop, that'd be more consistent.


Give it a try now.  The unread notices should be much darker.


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## dvcochran

I still do not have bullets or numbering.


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## dascrow

dvcochran said:


> I still do not have bullets or numbering.



What are you using to browse the site? (phone/tablet/desktop)


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## dascrow

dascrow said:


> What are you using to browse the site? (phone/tablet/desktop)



If you are viewing the site on a mobile device.. click the 3 dots and it will have the ordering option in a dropdown.


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## dascrow

gpseymour said:


> I'm not sure if you saw the replies to that post. The quote tags are hidden. When you backspace too far, you delete part of that hidden closing tag. Clicking on the [ ] icon reveals the tags, so it behaves as it used to.



I think this has been fixed.  Let me know if you are still having issues.


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## dvcochran

dascrow said:


> What are you using to browse the site? (phone/tablet/desktop)


laptop, Windows 10, edge (ugh).


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## Xue Sheng

dvcochran said:


> laptop, Windows 10, edge (ugh).



My professional advice, as an IT person, is to not use Edge, download Chrome and use that or go for Firefox. If you want to avoid the whole tracking thing, go  with "Duck Duck Go"


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## Gerry Seymour

dascrow said:


> Give it a try now.  The unread notices should be much darker.


Looks much better on my phone. I assume it’ll be as good on desktop. Thanks!


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## Gerry Seymour

Xue Sheng said:


> My professional advice, as an IT person, is to not use Edge, download Chrome and use that or go for Firefox. If you want to avoid the whole tracking thing, go  with "Duck Duck Go"


I’d swap Chrome for Slimjet. Less bloated, and all settings and extensions carry over.


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## Xue Sheng

gpseymour said:


> I’d swap Chrome for Slimjet. Less bloated, and all settings and extensions carry over.


DuckDuckGo, little or no tracking and little or no bloat


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## Gerry Seymour

Xue Sheng said:


> DuckDuckGo, little or no tracking and little or no bloat


I don’t think I can use my Chrome extensions and such, though.


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## Xue Sheng

gpseymour said:


> I don’t think I can use my Chrome extensions and such, though.



I don't think you can either


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