Forum Features: Your Opinion Wanted!

[Deleted member 18083]

Troeh
I wonder whether REGION should be changed to COUNTRY with the usual extensive list providing a choice. Of course, it could be confronting for new members to have to scroll through almost every country in Africa and Asia to find the US! (Just default to US as first choice?)

My own preference is for users to add their state/province/county's TLA (two or three-letter abbreviation!) after their town.
David

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Troeh, I wonder whether REGION should be changed to COUNTRY with the usual extensive list providing a choice. Of course, it could be confronting for new members to have to scroll through almost every country in Africa and Asia to find the US! (Just default to US as first choice?)
David

David: It is typically done by grouping the countries by continent. North America could be first in the list.
(This Forum groups at least the same number of Canadians as Americans)

 

[Art Deco]

I need no assistance ignoring a thread. Don’t like? Stop reading and unwatch the thread.

I love the control I get from having both Ignore <name> and ignore <thread>. That turned out to be a really big help to me during recent threads. But I admit I spend <too much> time in EBR off topic .
In defense of the off topic forums: HUBs vs MIDs, assist vs throttle, and LBS vs DTC get old and boring fast, after your first ride on your new bike. Why hang around without off topic relief and hope to see you there ...

 

[E-Wheels]

@troehrkasse
I have recently been accumulating page tabs with no content on the page when I click on the tab
See attached photos showing 4 pages
Only page 1 has new posts and all pages 2-4 are blank
Is this something to do with the ongoing updates

 

[Art Deco]

Looks like it has something to do with patience. Happens to me on a photo heavy thread most of the time. Close and reload.

 

[E-Wheels]

Looks like it has something to do with patience. Happens to me on a photo heavy thread most of the time. Close and reload.

Been there done that

 

[Bubba zanetti]

For sale by country and state/province. Will lead to a much more dynamic space.

 

[troehrkasse]

Troeh
I wonder whether REGION should be changed to COUNTRY with the usual extensive list providing a choice. Of course, it could be confronting for new members to have to scroll through almost every country in Africa and Asia to find the US! (Just default to US as first choice?)

My own preference is for users to add their state/province/county's TLA (two or three-letter abbreviation!) after their town.
David

I was thinking about that, the reason for grouping them into regions was twofold:

1. Make it more simple to find the appropriate region
2. Group countries with similar Ebike regulations and brand availability

I think I'll keep it as is for now and see how it works, and what suggestions and complaints may come in.

I love the control I get from having both Ignore <name> and ignore <thread>.

It's looking to be the most popular forum feature ever!

I have recently been accumulating page tabs with no content on the page when I click on the tab
See attached photos showing 4 pages
Only page 1 has new posts and all pages 2-4 are blank
Is this something to do with the ongoing updates

Hmm, most likely related to *something* I did... we shall find out what! Next time you notice the problem, would you please message me a link to that thread? Much appreciated!

Looks like it has something to do with patience. Happens to me on a photo heavy thread most of the time.

I suspect you are correct, image-heavy threads are causing a lot of problems these days we're moving towards forcing thumbnail-only for embedding in posts, with full sizes only loading when clicked... but that's a little ways down the road yet.

 

[PatriciaK]

I was thinking about that, the reason for grouping them into regions was twofold:

1. Make it more simple to find the appropriate region
2. Group countries with similar Ebike regulations and brand availability

I think I'll keep it as is for now and see how it works, and what suggestions and complaints may come in.


It's looking to be the most popular forum feature ever!


Hmm, most likely related to *something* I did... we shall find out what! Next time you notice the problem, would you please message me a link to that thread? Much appreciated!


I suspect you are correct, image-heavy threads are causing a lot of problems these days we're moving towards forcing thumbnail-only for embedding in posts, with full sizes only loading when clicked... but that's a little ways down the road yet.

Note to self to switch to thumbnails from now on !

 

[troehrkasse]

Note to self to switch to thumbnails from now on !

That's the spirit!

 

[goldconch]

I honestly don't care, or need to know, what region commentators reside. If they want to volunteer that, fine. Where someone sleeps at night, or pedals their bike, is completely immaterial to the credibility, and/or intention of the source of info. It's also tone-deaf to our day-to-day reality of global fulfillment networks, international air travel, and mechanisms of internet communication. Many of us can go into our settings menu and turn our class 1 ebike into a class 3, regardless of whatever the national, state, municipal, or varying wilderness park laws might be. EBR can't possibly be expected to police any of that. Let's all try to be kind, and help other board participants with any knowledge or experience we might have, from wherever we reside. While we're at it: I am repelled by (and possibly allergic to) talk/debate about flags, politics, faith, appearance, first-language, gender, disease risks, dietary or sexual prefs, or someone's choice of an animated avatar (quite common btw)...when applied in the context of a public online bicycle forum. I would hope EBR keeps it as simple and open for everyone as possible, and with an emphasis on helpful, ebike-specific, info.

 

[J.R.]

I honestly don't care, or need to know, what region commentators reside. If they want to volunteer that, fine. Where someone sleeps at night, or pedals their bike, is completely immaterial to the credibility, and/or intention of the source of info. It's also tone-deaf to our day-to-day reality of global fulfillment networks, international air travel, and mechanisms of internet communication. Many of us can go into our settings menu and turn our class 1 ebike into a class 3, regardless of whatever the national, state, municipal, or varying wilderness park laws might be. EBR can't possibly be expected to police any of that. Let's all try to be kind, and help other board participants with any knowledge or experience we might have, from wherever we reside. While we're at it: I am repelled by (and possibly allergic to) talk/debate about flags, politics, faith, appearance, first-language, gender, disease risks, dietary or sexual prefs, or someone's choice of an animated avatar (quite common btw)...when applied in the context of a public online bicycle forum. I would hope EBR keeps it as simple and open for everyone as possible, and with an emphasis on helpful, ebike-specific, info.

I don't think people want to know where other members are to validate their information, I think some want the social interaction with others in their region. I've met and ridden with many members here. It also came in handy when we were trying to fight new local regulations that banned ebikes from trails. We rallied the forces, shared information and succeeded in overturning the ban.

Having a region, state, country listed makes it easier to find local members. One of my local friends I actually met on this forum. He did not have his location listed, he never posted where he normally rides, but he did describe a trail and a park ride meetup he attended. Apparently we attended the same meetup and didn't know it. Anyway he was here on the forum trying to decide on an ebike and I thought I knew where he was riding, so I sent him a private message and we met so he could get his first ever test ride on an ebike.

Seven years ago I didn't know any other ebikers, this year I've ridden with more than a dozen (~20?) different riders. Some I met here on the forum, most I consider friends today. I've also talked to many other members on the phone, from across the country. EBR can be a valuable resource in more ways than one.

 

[Dallant]

While I may not NEED to know locations, I WANT to know at least a region/country so I can tell what opinions/offerings/regulations they are dealing with in their daily ebike experience.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I know this can be a more involved process, but if you could implement it, it would enhance the effectiveness of the forum significantly.

Forums like Reddit and even Facebook has a feature "Save".
When you come across something very informative and useful, you could save that post or thread quickly to your profile by clicking that "save" button.

This could be implemented in two ways:

1. Provide a "save" button for user/profile and it might necessitate using some database structure to store all their "saved" posts
   or
2. Create a compilation of separate categories- batteries, motors, suspension, tires, chargers, etc.
   When a lot of users "like" a post, it means they find it useful and it goes to that next category mentioned above where users can access it quickly. Sort of like the front page of Reddit.
   If we have a front page of EBR where it offers all the upvoted/liked posts, it makes the EBR forum 5x more useful because the new users don't have to hunt for useful information.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

While I may not NEED to know locations, I WANT to know at least a region/country so I can tell what opinions/offerings/regulations they are dealing with in their daily ebike experience.

This. First of all, different e-bikes are offered to different world regions even if the brand and model name are the same. Secondly, you cannot help Canadians or Ozzies by telling them to buy a Class 3 e-bike...

 

[Art Deco]

I haven't had much luck with search by member. Trying to find something know I posted somewhere in a giant thread, and the search box says it didn't find any posts by @Art Deco ...

 

[legsofbeer]

When composing a post, if you change your mind about posting, there's no easy way to back out of posting. If you leave the page and then return to that forum, your draft post is always there (this is a good feature). But the only way to discard the draft appears to be to delete every character in the composition window, including anything that was quoted from another post. This should be a one-click with confirmation click action.

 

[goldconch]

@troehrkasse how about taking the "Electric Bike Laws, Regulations" section to the next step...a Bicycling Embassy Section with a shared "Cycling Advocacy Knowledge Bank" available for all of those fighting prohibitive local regulations, dinosaur car-centric municipal bureaucracies, and general lack of safe cycling lane, parking, and recharge infrastructure. That area could also have resources for stenciling sharrows/bike lanes, vehicular traffic-separation bollards types/costs, organizing PPP-sponsorships, template "how to lobby your elected official" letters, modern urban planning safety and mobility stats, past and recent advocacy success stories, etc.

 

[troehrkasse]

I haven't had much luck with search by member. Trying to find something know I posted somewhere in a giant thread, and the search box says it didn't find any posts by @Art Deco ...

Try leaving out the @ and that should do it. Kind of silly that that messes it up...

 

[troehrkasse]

I know this can be a more involved process, but if you could implement it, it would enhance the effectiveness of the forum significantly.

Forums like Reddit and even has a feature "Save".
When you come across something very informative and useful, you could save that post or thread quickly to your profile by clicking that "save" button.

This could be implemented in two ways:

1. Provide a "save" button for user/profile and it might necessitate using some database structure to store all their "saved" posts
   or
2. Create a compilation of separate categories- batteries, motors, suspension, tires, chargers, etc.
   When a lot of users "like" a post, it means they find it useful and it goes to that next category mentioned above where users can access it quickly. Sort of like the front page of Reddit.
   If we have a front page of EBR where it offers all the upvoted/liked posts, it makes the EBR forum 5x more useful because the new users don't have to hunt for useful information.

Excellent suggestions, and I bet that's why a lot of folks also frequent Reddit. Court and I have been talking about some features like this for a bit now, figuring out the best way to do it within the constraints of Xenforo and without disrupting things too much ...