Welcome to the New SailingForums.com

Bradley

Admin/Operations
Staff member
The new site now runs on XenForo software. Compared to vBulletin 3.8 its a much more modern architecture and runs faster with less resources. It also makes it easier to upload images, reply quickly, and even share information with your friends via twitter and facebook.

We have also moved all of the forums we run onto one domain to allow for easier access to information, a stronger community, and easier management. The Laser and Sunfish sections can still be accessed directly using their respective domain names. I also encourage you to visit some of the newer sections and take advantage of some of the forums' new features. For example, consider uploading a profile picture or avatar.

As always, I welcome your comments on the forum and appreciate your use of the website.

Cheers,
Bradley Green
Owner/Administrator
Sailing Forums Network
 
Funny thing about XenForo. It was started by vBulletin programmers who left and started their own company. They are now suing each other in court over IP issues. Life imitating art?

As far as the upgrade, I find the colors and interface a little different a first but think I will get used to them. However, I liked having the Laser section under a seperate domain name. You knew it was a Laser-specific forum and not just another sailing bulletin board.
 
Hi Bradley,

I like the look of the new site. The only minor item I noticed is that the user information for each post has changed. Before, you could see how long a person has been a member of the forum and how many posts a person has added. I know you can see this by clicking on their name but it was actually helpful to see it for each post. Is there a user setting that can be changed?

Thanks,

Dan
 
Torrid, I was intrigued by the story of the former developers when I was researching this forum software. I like thier viewpoint and the direction they are going. It gives us a much better chance of standing up to Facebook if we are modern, fast, and similar. For example, the photo uploading tools are much improved. Its easy to layout uploaded images in a post and create a nice looking message without knowing code or being a tech genius.

The separate domains was becoming an issue from a technical standpoint. We had a custom application serving up the same application on multiple domains with specific sections only displayed on certain domains or multiple domains. However, this modification was buggy and expensive to maintain. It also prevented us from making any further major version upgrades to the forum software without rewriting the script. The Laserforum.org and SunfishForum.com domains will always continue to work. They will direct you right to the dedicated section for each boat. Over the next few days we will be making some modifications to the style (template conditionals) to make each section feel a little more unique. Serving the same content from multiple domains was also hurting our search engine rankings. Part of having a strong and informative community is having the ability to bring in a wide variety of users from multiple sources.

Dan, I'm glad you like the new look! This is probably a setting I can add back in. At worst, I'll find the variable for it and add it back to the sidebar code. I agree its nice to know that information when reading someone's post.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm always looking for comments and suggestions to help make the site better.

Bradley
 
I used to use the "new posts" link to see recent posts at the Sunfish Forum. now the "what's new" link shows new posts on both forums - is that the only option?

new set up seems nice, btw.
 
Bradley,

I like to have the most recent post at the top of the queue. I've rooted around but haven't found a way to set that. Is that still possible?

Janet
 
I used to use the "new posts" link to see recent posts at the Sunfish Forum. now the "what's new" link shows new posts on both forums - is that the only option?

new set up seems nice, btw.

Glad you like the new setup. I may have to create a custom add on to accomplish this. I envision having What's New Sunfish and What's New Laser right next to it. I'm still learning the schemes of this software myself, so the development may take a little time.

Bradley,

I like to have the most recent post at the top of the queue. I've rooted around but haven't found a way to set that. Is that still possible?

Janet
Do you mean in the thread view or moderation view page?
 
Thread view, I believe.

To order threads, just click on the column you would like them sorted by. It should default to newest on top, but if this got changed, click on the column above the last posts times to put the newest at the top. If you are talking about the postbit view (where messages are actually displayed), that's probably an option somewhere in your settings.
 
I'm talking about where the messages in a thread are actually displayed. Didn't find the option in settings.
 
where is the Sunfisk KB & FAQ? (knowledge base & frequently asked questions)
I didn't see a link anywhere.
 
Tag, I was hoping to have the available at launch, but I ran into a few issues with some images. However, it's on my list of projects to work on tonight. While I don't recommend saving this address because it won't work in a few days, if you need to access something in the interim, its available still here: http://www.sunfishforum.com/content.php?pg=kb
 
Here's an update on the issues in this thread:

-Post count and location have been added back to the right side of posts.
-Its not possible to sort by newest first, but the forum automatically takes you to the newest post you haven't read when you click on a thread title.
-The FAQ is now available. I'm going to be integrating the rest of the Sunfish KB over the next 24 hours.
-Important Laser and Sunfish Threads and KB articles will be available in a new top menu navigation drop down soon.
-(New)I'm contracting out a project to improve the classified ads section with more information and a better layout in the thread view and message view areas. A layout more like boattrader, with the primary image displayed in the thread listing. The ability to sort by location will also be available. Replies will be more like comments, with the primary post being the dominant feature on the page.

Keep the comments coming!

Bradley
 
The new system, like the old system, identifies threads with new posts since the last time I visited. This is good. What's not so good, however, is that there are no 'next thread' or 'previous thread' buttons inside the thread view pages (where you can actually read the content).

When I would come into the forum I wanted to read, I would start at the bottom of the threads that had been updated and read them. Once finished reading a thread, I loved being able to go directly to the next newest thread. Now I have to go back to the thread listing, find out where I left off, and continue on to the next one. In your effort to be fast, this is a great tool.

Thanks.
 
Edit: ...In your effort to be fast, this would be a great tool to have back.

One more thing, can you extend the time for editing posts beyond 0 minutes, perhaps to 1 or 2?

Thanks again.
 
My two cents is, I'm finding the new layout a little harder to read. No doubt a big part of it is my aging eyesight but it seems like there is less contrast which to me makes things seem to blend in more to the background rather than stand out.
 
No longer having geographic info tagged to the subject line strikes me as a significant flaw to new format.
Knowing where a post hailed from was valuable info -- particularly when scanning the "for sale" directory.
Don Campbell,
from Brooklyn's Sebago Canoe Club
 
The new site now runs on XenForo software. Compared to vBulletin 3.8 its a much more modern architecture and runs faster with less resources. It also makes it easier to upload images, reply quickly, and even share information with your friends via twitter and facebook.

We have also moved all of the forums we run onto one domain to allow for easier access to information, a stronger community, and easier management. The Laser and Sunfish sections can still be accessed directly using their respective domain names. I also encourage you to visit some of the newer sections and take advantage of some of the forums' new features. For example, consider uploading a profile picture or avatar.

As always, I welcome your comments on the forum and appreciate your use of the website.

Cheers,
Bradley Green
Owner/Administrator
Sailing Forums Network

I think not having the location of the boat in the For Sale Ads is a major error. You have to go thru too many steps just to find out where the boat is when it could be easily listed in the title info.
Thanks
CoggeshallClancy
 
My work has been blocking multiple threads since going to the new website. Something is suggesting that it's a "games" website and it blocks me. Doesn't happen on every thread, and never happened on the old website. For example, my thread I just posted in Laser about the best PFD, is blocked, as is the one about the Laser 2, but the one about sail number/transom number isn't.

Any idea what's causing this or how to fix it from the website end? Is it some ad perhaps?
 
I liked being able to say how to watch a thread -
daily email updates , vs instant email updates.

Do we still have that option?
 
I miss the box at the bottom of a thread that contained similar threads to the one that you were on... It gave me the opportunity to see what more and more people were saying/thinking about the specific topic... Would it be possible bring that feature back?
 

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