new forums discussion

[TheCotMan]

Ok, "Dark - Blue" does NOT have the recent contrast changes. It is a kind of "control" for comparison in dimming down the bright white to light gray. Select "Dark" (not "Dark - Blue") and please let me know your thoughts on contrast now. If you all think this is a good level for contrast (light to dark) the next step is feedback on colors. Is the yellow useds good for links? Maybe red instead? what about blue? Any suggestions on colors used elsehwere? Should any of the great/white/black items be colored to draw attention to them? Which ones? Feedback welcome.

Hopefully, we can settle on themes within this week. At this point, I expect the present "Dark" theme is functional, and tolerable with respect to brightness and features.

Solve color/aesthetics and then i can get into some of the feature issues that have been discussed, and the enhancements I was asked to make.

[Deviant Ollam]

the "Dark" theme is MUCH easier on the eyes now, and having "Dark-Blue" as a comparison is a big help. The slight softness of the deep gray in the background of posts is a good pairing with the bright gray of the text. I like the tans/yellows for more active elements like buttons, links, etc. Red would be too deep and dark a hue, unless you turned it up to pink somehow.

[TheCotMan]

Ok, please report any additional functionality issues with "Dark" and we can work on those plus other reports of aesthetics. Once we "Dark" is acceptable and working, I'll base a new "classic" on the new "Dark" and use blue. Once that is finished, I'll work on a high-contrast light theme, and will call it "done" for my theme work.

Soon, Neil will be working on mobile themes, and themes for integrating with apps for iOS and Android.

I've now disabled and removed all of the user registration stuff. All extra usergroups are gone. All L1-L4 are now "members." Last week, I set everyone ti immediately promote to L4 on registration, but that could take up to 1 hour for the cron job to run. Now it is immediate.

Once I get Neil access to work on themes and stuff ro iOS and Android, I will begin working with (name withheld unless they want it published) to see if we can get FaceBook integration working to allow logged-in Facebook users to post here.

[bigezy]

As of today (meaning I noticed today) I can no longer send Private Messages or start threads(never really tried in the new forums but, it seems I can not find a button to do that). Also could someone contact me privately about something I noticed mucking about the forums today. (Seems as if I do not have permission to reply to any of my PM's in the forum either)

[TheCotMan]

As of today (meaning I noticed today) I can no longer send Private Messages or start threads(never really tried in the new forums but, it seems I can not find a button to do that). Also could someone contact me privately about something I noticed mucking about the forums today. (Seems as if I do not have permission to reply to any of my PM's in the forum either)

I do not see the "Send PM" option from the old forums under the User Profiles. (In the old forums, you could click on the Icon/Avatar or username of any post in any thread, and find a link to send a PM (Private Message) , but I do not see that now.

To send a PM, please scroll all the way to the top, and look for a light-colored bar at the very top of the page with at least 2 options "Message" and "$USERNAME" drop-down menu. Click on messages. From the resulting page, you can choose to view your inbox and reply to existing messages, or click "compose" to start a new PM on a new topic to a new recipient. A problem with this is you have to type a username as a recipient, and this can be a problem when usernames may use non-western character, or there are several users with similar names.

I'll keep looking. I would not expect them to remove the "Send PM" option from user profiles -- that ensures the user your found in a post is the one that will be getting your PM, without a mistake in typing their name incorrectly.


Starting thread:

Visit a forum: (example forum: https://forum.defcon.org/forum/defco...on-23-planning ) then choose the option in your browser to "find on page" and type the string to search for: new topic

There are two parts that match this for me. One is a link to show "new topicS" which ends with an "S" and the other is "new topic" which allows you to start a new thread.

If you find how to send a user a PM from their profile or as a link from their user information in a post, let me know. Otherwise, I will add this to the list of things to investigate.

Thanks!


PS: I tried the text-region in your profile, and sent that. It turns out that text-space for composing messages is what the forums calls "visitor messages"

Trying the "Messages" link (top right of page in the bar next to a drop-down of "$USERNAME") brings me to "message center" and the option "Compose New" can be used to compose PM. The space to type usernames attempts to complete a short list of users that match the first chars you have typed, reducing the list from some max as your string approaches a match.

I already see (with testing this) the recipient specification works with light color font on dark background, but once you select the username, the recipient becomes dark text on dark background. This is a theme bug. I will investigate.

[bigezy]

Thanks Cot...

When I do a Control+F Find on the top page of a forum on the term "new topic" I only get 1/1 matches (There is no New Topic (singular) that I can see in any forum (checked in chrome and firefox)

Note that I have sent private messages since the forum upgrade... This seems recent. Also in my private message space when I click reply to your PM nothing happens. When I try to forward the PM I get the same message I get when I click the white compose button.(pasted below):
New Message

Sorry, you are not authorized to view this page

[TheCotMan]

Thanks Cot...

When I do a Control+F Find on the top page of a forum on the term "new topic" I only get 1/1 matches (There is no New Topic (singular) that I can see in any forum (checked in chrome and firefox)

Note that I have sent private messages since the forum upgrade... This seems recent. Also in my private message space when I click reply to your PM nothing happens. When I try to forward the PM I get the same message I get when I click the white compose button.(pasted below):
New Message

Sorry, you are not authorized to view this page

Ah! Sorry about that. Thanks for the report!

It looks like usergroup permission for "0" enforced limit instead of masking to allow primary usergroup membership to be the default. I've changed the max PM to 120 for members, and all 3 usergroups users may join. With a new server and more space, we can probably set a max count of PM to something even higher. If 120 (total of inbox and sent) is too low, say so, and we can bump it up.

Please try again and reload the page for messages and see if you can now send PM.

-Cot

[bigezy]

Ah! Sorry about that. Thanks for the report!

It looks like usergroup permission for "0" enforced limit instead of masking to allow primary usergroup membership to be the default. I've changed the max PM to 120 for members, and all 3 usergroups users may join. With a new server and more space, we can probably set a max count of PM to something even higher. If 120 (total of inbox and sent) is too low, say so, and we can bump it up.

Please try again and reload the page for messages and see if you can now send PM.

-Cot

Cot:

No Joy. Still no permissions in my private message folder. (I can not reply to your private message) I also still can not start topics (only reply to existing threads) I thought I would let it wait a few days. Tried from different machines.

I wonder if anyone else is having this trouble?

Cheers

[TheCotMan]

Cot:

No Joy. Still no permissions in my private message folder. (I can not reply to your private message) I also still can not start topics (only reply to existing threads) I thought I would let it wait a few days. Tried from different machines.

I wonder if anyone else is having this trouble?

Cheers

Is it okay with you if I steal your account, test posting and PM to it, and then restore the password? (I won't look at any existing PM, only at test PM I send it from my account.)

(I do not need your password, and no mod or admin should ever ask for it. I would just copy the hash for your password, replaced your hash with one I choose, do my tests, then restore your original hash, making your original password work again, all without ever knowing your password.)

After I am finished with testing, you'll get your account back, and I'll try to restore the hashed value for the password. If the hash-restoration process does not work, you will need to use password reset, and that requires your email address is valid and you have access to it.

Let me know if this is okay with you. I'll see if I can set a test account to match the settings your account has while I wait for your answer.

Thanks!
-Cot

[bigezy]

Is it okay with you if I steal your account, test posting and PM to it, and then restore the password? (I won't look at any existing PM, only at test PM I send it from my account.)

(I do not need your password, and no mod or admin should ever ask for it. I would just copy the hash for your password, replaced your hash with one I choose, do my tests, then restore your original hash, making your original password work again, all without ever knowing your password.)

After I am finished with testing, you'll get your account back, and I'll try to restore the hashed value for the password. If the hash-restoration process does not work, you will need to use password reset, and that requires your email address is valid and you have access to it.

Let me know if this is okay with you. I'll see if I can set a test account to match the settings your account has while I wait for your answer.

Thanks!
-Cot

Replying here with a yes (I still can not reply via PM)...

Do what you need to do, I would be surprised if I am the only person in this state.

Cheers.

[Deviant Ollam]

the "new threads" link for me generated a search error on my recent login... "Your criteria is not restrictive enough and might return too many results. Please restrict your criteria and try again."

[TheCotMan]

I believe that bigezy is able to get and send PM again. If any users have problems with PM, please let me know by posting here or emailing me at defconforums@gmail.com

I've fixed the color contrast in "Dark" when composing a PM to a user, and you type in a username, and auto-complete or finish, leaving the selected recipient as "dark text on dark background" -- now it is light text during selection, auto-complete and final selection.

I've fixed the second navigation list in forums (Forums, Latest Activity, My Subscriptions) so that the selected "tab" is readable (background/font contrast is higher.)

At leastone user has been able to post a test thread in Community Talk: https://forum.defcon.org/forum/gener...ivacy-settings This shows that we are on the right track towards getting permissions working like they should.

[TheCotMan]

the "new threads" link for me generated a search error on my recent login... "Your criteria is not restrictive enough and might return too many results. Please restrict your criteria and try again."

Would you be willing to copy/paste a URL for this search, or let me know which search you attempted by location of and which page you used for searching?

Thanks!
-Cot

[bigezy]

Would you be willing to copy/paste a URL for this search, or let me know which search you attempted by location of and which page you used for searching?

Thanks!
-Cot

Cot:
I get the same error Deviant is seeing by clicking "new topics"... here is the url:
https://forum.defcon.org/search?sear...ssage%22%5D%7D

[Deviant Ollam]

When i log in, i can see some of the sub-forums appear with blue word balloon icons as opposed to gray ones. So that should indicate that they are the areas with new content. Then, when in a sub-forum, i can see some threads have blue "down arrow" icons. Clicking any of these usually brings me to the post on that thread which has been added since my last visit.

However, this feature still seems to be imperfect. Some posts I've read before still seem to appear as "new" to my user, even after clicking "Mark Channels Read" (is that the same as "mark all forums read?") and logging out, logging in, etc.

We'll get there.