Hi everybody!
So, I've been thinking about bringing this up for some time, then it came up in a thread about something else on the newbie board so I decided to pull the trigger and say something. I think it would be helpful if the forums had a post preview feature. We've all seen busted links attached to posts. Hell, I did that once or twice before I figured out what my phone was doing, but it wouldn't have happened because I always use the preview when it's there. I would just look at my own post right after I make it and edit if necessary, but alas: the moderating. If I become busy before my post is screened, even if I see later that I messed something up I can't fix it if I missed my four hour window. I've PM'd providers to tell them their pics weren't appearing on the photo board. They were surprised and grateful for the info. I feel like a preview button would help with a lot of this. I'm obviously not a guy who's been on hundreds of forums, but I have been to quite a few and I think this is the only one I've seen that doesn't have it. If I have seen any others without it, this is by far the biggest and busiest, and the only one that takes in money from the users. Why don't we have this? Actually, that's not my question, that's irrelevant. My question is can we get a post preview?I think it would be helpful if the forums had a post preview feature.
Because there is no copyright or other message at the bottom of TER pages ("This site runs on XYZ Open Forum Code" or similar), I have speculated that TER code was developed in-house by TER staff. The thing is, thousands of other websites drove the other (open software groups) to continuously update and improve their (free) products. TER is probably more than a decade behind in FEATURES even though the code still runs and, it seems, runs securely.
There are sites that compare forum software, such as:
http://www.forummatrix.org/ and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software
One really BIG PROBLEM when changing from one forum software to another is preserving and porting the archived posts. Modern options usually include code to change from old-software-A to new-software-B that has been debugged and tested by hundreds of users on different sites. TER is a one-of-a-kind, I think, so porting the old to the new could be a HUGE, make that HUUUUUUGE problem.
People who use other forum software as users or Admins have their preferences. I hope they will chime in here. TER users might want to chime in and say whether they could tolerate some glitches and loss of ACCESS to old posts in exchange for a newer interface.
Saving Drafts in Reviews (Private Mail has a Drafts feature already) is not FORUM software, but another application of the Preview or Save as Draft code.
Actually, that's not my question, that's irrelevant. My question is can we get a post preview?
EDIT: After posting, there is a short window for Edit Message which then adds a "Modified on 4/17/2016 3:03:00 PM" string of text. I have seen posts with 5 or 10 such edits as people try to edit typos, grammar or just fix and improve their posts. There will be more "Modified on"s than actual content!
Here's another one:
-- Modified on 4/17/2016 3:07:58 PM
Hey, thanks for your thoughtful reply. Lots of good info.
Honestly, I also do not like how the threading works here and would really like to see save as draft. Also, usually a new reply would bump that thread to the top. I didn't want to start off by bitching about too many things though.
Like you say, it is secure and I don't see any spam bot bullshit here that I deal with in other places, so the inhouse people have some things right. (Come to think of it, the no spam is probably the trade-off for having to wait for my posts to appear.) Anyway, we agree there's just things that could be better.
I know what you're saying about the problems with making a big change to another system. I don't know the technical stuff regarding the issues, but I know the issues are there. I've seen other places keep the old forums archived in something like a "TER classic" when changing to a new platform. The "classic" would be a read only museum for those times when people here seem to be shaking their fingers at each other and saying "well six months ago you said blah blah blah" you could go there and look up whatever you wanted and maybe copy it to your clipboard but all new conversations/posts would be on the new platform. I'm sure the problem with that would be server space -- in other words $$.
Personally, if we had to start over and the existing conversations were gone, that would be a bummer, but I would get over it pretty quickly. I know that's very easy for me to say since I haven't been here long at all. There are a lot of people who have obviously been here a very long time and who join the conversation far more frequently than I do or probably ever will. What they think here obviously means more than my humble opinion. So to all: would it be that big of a deal? I've seen some very lively and interesting conversations here, but I don't think I've seen one run more than two days tops. I see a lot of threads get started on topics which were VERY recently, in some cases still, under discussion. Again, the bumping.
BTW, you're right; there can be problems with the image hosting sites and/or ISPs and that certainly happens a lot. But I think we both agree there are also times here a lady's pic isn't showing because she somehow attached it incorrectly. Preview would allow her to troubleshoot that. If nothing else, that's how she could find out her hosting site yanked her pics. True, she can and probably should check up on her posts after she clicks submit, but the moderating makes that troublesome and these ladies are busy trying to run a business. I know I'm preaching to the choir here so I'll shut up.
Yeah, hopefully this will produce some more discussion. That would be good.
...unless you have been "moderated" due to some infraction of TER posting guidelines it's only because you are new to TER. Use Contact Us or e-mail TER ([email protected]) using the e-mail you registered with and request to be unmoderated. If you've had no posting issues and they consider your time here sufficient to show you can be responsible regarding guidelines they will grant your request. Then your posts will go live immediately. Every new TER member can do this. There is the random moderation software that all members are subject to at any time but that is a purely random thing and not based on any actions by the poster.
Generally the fact of moderation shouldn't effect things like photo links working except for the newest providers to the site.
Oh, yeah. Thank you for the info, but I did know that. I didn't mean to sound like I was whining about the moderating. I brought it up because people who most need the preview (those who aren't sure if they're attaching a link or pic correctly) are probably new and therefore moderated, thereby exasperating their personal need for preview.
I know I can email and ask to be out of it, but I read somewhere they want you to have a posting history of a couple months so I was going to wait a bit longer. I never had a post rejected by a mod so maybe I should just do it. Like you said, if they feel it's sufficient. One of those unwritten rules.
Thanks again though. Good info.
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