Basic Technical Suggestion for Improving This Site

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Posted By: Paul

It's now becoming fairly common for threads to exceed 100 posts, with quite a few approaching or exceeding 200. Would it be possible for each post within a thread to be automatically assigned a number at the far left edge? That way, if you stopped reading after Post No. 75, you'd know where to pick up later.

I don't know if this is technically difficult. But if it's easy, I bet a lot of board members would appreciate it (as we continue to leech off of the hard work that Leon, Brian, and others put in to making this site operate).

Paul

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Posted By: Dan Kravitz

Great idea. How about a spell cheek too?

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Posted By: leon

Good idea but that is not a capability I have seen. Since each post jumps to the top, and I read almost every darn one, I have never had an issue with it. Sorry, not fixable from a Net54 standpoint. regards

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

for Barry........

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Posted By: leon

I will whip up these things right away...no problem.....how 'bout some shoes shined and shirts pressed. Dinner on the table when you get home in the evening?..and that's (see how well I am doing with apostrophes now) it for me....(I would like spellcheck too, btw)..... these things just aren't there though...

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Posted By: Cat

Free beer?

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Posted By: leon

You might spell check your "grammer" (sic)

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

What would be even better is if a thread would jump to a new page after so many posts - especially for long posts with lots of photos. It would cut down on the load time. I just flat out stopped looking at the family photos thread because it was practically crashing my computer (and I have high speed cable internet).

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Posted By: leon

That's (see how that apostrophe fit in there?) a great idea. I have many times thought about continuing a thread by starting another one. I also wanted to post a pic of my happy arse in the photo thread but didn't because it got too big (concerning the download time)....regards

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Posted By: Elliot

All these are great ideas (especially the free beer) but are not currently available on N54. I guess it would be possible to write some software as an add-on, but then we would have to find somebody that knows how to do it, and clear it with N54 to make sure it was compatible.
Regarding Paul's initial suggestion, an alternative is to make note of the time of the last post and then just pick it up from there, as all posts in a thread are in chronological order.

Dan, that thread took a while to load on my computer, but not so long that it would evenly remote look like my computer was going to crash....there might be a problem with your high-speed connection.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Ok, I think the free beer idea is the one to focus on.

However, if we started putting the number in the message title, then the posts would be numbered. This is post 11, counting the original. Problems would occur if there are quick posts while typing a long post, but that could be "fixed" by editing the message after you post if the number is off... And most of us would need to do the number thing for it to work. Us old dogs aren't likely to learn new tricks. But a good idea.

Frank.

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Posted By: Cat

With the threads that are long and I want to keep up with, I have learned to keep track of the time of the post that I last read. At this point, I know I have read through 12:33 (Frank's last post).

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Posted By: Dylan

No big deal, but on some other forums ive been on there's a tracker for the total number of posts youve made. I kinda always liked this cause if i were a new person to the forum i could tell who had been a long time member and might be more experienced in the "craft" so to speak.

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Posted By: John S

Dylan,

I believe that would discourage some individuals from posting. I would hate to have my experience in the hobby indirectly gauged by the amount of posts made. I have noticed that type of fraternity logic used on other boards.

I would however be interested in being able to track how many posts I have made. Leon, could this be listed in the member's profile area?

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Posted By: Joann

I agree with John. Number of posts showing can be intimidating to someone with no or few posts. It can also give unwarranted weight to different opinions based only on how often the person holding an opinion has posted.

Yeah yeah yeah I know - number of posts isn't related to quality of the poster. But people do fall into the mental habit of looking at that whether it makes sense or not. I also don't like when named levels are assigned to the number of posts - also contributes to the "fewer posts = less experience or expertise" mentality.

Joann

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Posted By: Dylan

Either way it would be cool to know how many times I've posted. I dont know if i agree that a post counter ties into a fraternity atmosphere but like i said its no biggie either way.
What i really would like is a modification to the search engine. How come I have to look at each post and subsequent responses one by one? Why cant i look at a post and all of the responses to it on one page, like you would if you weren't using the search engine. The current format is what keeps the thing from being useful for me.

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Posted By: barrysloate

If Leon made me the spelling and grammar cop I'd be a pretty busy man, and probably a pain in the butt too. But my services are available at no charge ( I can't help it, it's just my training. I taught college English for three years. I guess old habits never die).

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Posted By: Dave

31 years old and I still don't know what a thesis statement is.....think god engineering doesn't require knowledge of the english language.

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Posted By: barrysloate

A thesis statement is just a short introductory synopsis of what you plan to prove or demonstrate in your essay...I changed my mind, that will be five dollars please

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Posted By: Jack Fitz

Keeping Track
Noting the time of the last post read works for me.

Spell Checking
Even when spell-checking is available, many posters don't use it. For those who really care, browser toolbars, for example Google's, often will spell-check.

Activity Counter
Many forums include activity counters, sometimes even assigning titles according to activity. No one takes the titles or the counts seriously. Both are misguided efforts to develop "stickiness."

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Posted By: Dave

Well thanks....just realized to myself that since I never prove or demonstrate anything of significance that a thesis statement is never required.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Post number 22... but I admit to doing the time thing.

Frank.