Hi Gang
I was watching the interchange and I am missing a few good names on here still. It is a bit quiter here than on the old Interchange. I guess it takes a while to get used to something new so I will keep watching to see everybody mosey back on as time gose by.
Andrew Martin

Wellll,

I'm certainly not one of the big names, but I guess this gives me an excuse to put up a first post on the new RYPN. Hope to see some more of the "big guns" of this forum back in the near future :-)

Idon't know if I am a big name or a small name. but I am here and I wish that they had left things alone.

There is just too much stuff here now.

As for example, what is BB code below?

Should I disable it or not?

Ted Miles

The layout it visually too busy. You get no sense of a thread, and it's difficult to read the topics.

I do not know if I would say the layout is too 'busy', but it is definitely not as easy for me to use in the way that was most valuable to me. One of the great things in the old format was the way that you could view all the subject lines in a thread at once, watch the great way replies and the subject developed, and the 'growing' of conversations and exchange of info.

Maybe that can still be done here, but so far I am only able to look at the lead topic and have to open that and plow through a long string of replies without having any way to judge if they might be of particular interest or if I can contribute. Time is in short supply and I need to be more efficient in my use of it.

I also notice a definite lack of participation of many of the 'regular' contributors. In some cases their name alone would merit a read, but now have no way to see the thread list and replies to see who is weighing in.

Bob Kutella

Hi All
Change is unavoidable, it happens every day. Some is good and some is harder to deal with. It is something I have learned to do is to go with the flow. Yes Some things are a bit harder and not like the good old days but we are Preservationists and doing thing the hard way is a regular part of our lives. If it was easy to save and restore a Steam locomotive to operating condition everyone would be doing it in their back yards. If running a good BBS or Forum like the Guys at RYPN are doing were easy then I wouldnt know where to turn to for great advice when I need it. True there may be things about it we dont like but I personally want to thank Hume, Eric, Bob and all the rest of RYPN for doing the best they can do to help all of us.
Andrew Martin

Let me second the comments above: my thanks to Hume, Bob, Erik and the rest of the RYPN staff for all their efforts. As the system administrator for a web hosting company, I can sympathize with all they've been through in making the transition from Webbbs to phpBB.

That having been said, I simply don't read much of what is posted here anymore. Here's why:

1. Near as I can tell the only near equivalent of seeing 'New' posts is 'View Posts Since Your Last Visit' which isn't really what happens. You click on the link and you get a list of topics that have been posted to since your last visit. Then you pick a topic and scroll through everything in it till you find what maybe you haven't read.

2. It is no longer "simple" (a quality I've come to value as I age). The layout is busy, sometimes confusing, and in my opinion, tends to stifle, rather than facilitate the "conversation" that used to go on on the old system.

So....anyway, I read far less than I used to, and respond not at all anymore, mostly because it seems to require to much effort. I'm sure the younger pups here will adapt, and it will eventually become the vibrant forum it once was. Me? I've become a "lurker" I guess.

Regards,
Doug

"You click on the link and you get a list of topics that have been posted to since your last visit. Then you pick a topic and scroll through everything in it till you find what maybe you haven't read."

This quote describes what I like about the new format. I too was ready to give up in the beginning until I figured it out but now I find that I can view all the new posts in half the time it took before. Sure, I liked the old format but I appreciate the need to change. As you can see, I have not figured out how to use the quote feature, yet. Hang in there, we will get used to it.

Using the quote feature is easy. You push the quote button, keep as much or as little of the quote as you wish, and write your comments under the quote.

If you click on the little page graphic which has the arrow pointing at it to the right of the poster's name in the new posts list it takes you straight to the new message.

That's a bit of a help, but still no match for the "guestbook-style" list of postings you could get in the old system. In fact, most difficulties people are having with the new system seem to stem from the fact that it's topic-centered whereas the old system was post-centered.

Also, why is the "QUOTE" button in a location so far away from the "REPLY" button? You'd think they'd be next to each other. And furthermore, in editing the quote, you have to be mighty careful about all those typesetting codes like "size=18" and the like, especially if you're quoting a message that itself starts with a quote. I haven't seen anything like this since the "reveal codes" function of WordPerfect, and only experts would get good results playing with the codes.

Putting the quote button down lower seems like a reasonable suggestion.

Thanks to the web-masters/moderators for your time with RYPN, but I liked the old format too.

Hi Folks
More of my 2 cents. I beleive if it was easy enough the people at RYPN would have it set up to work both ways where each post would show up in both formats the old one and the new one. But that is a dificult process to say the least, so if anybody out there is willing to help out with the Database code and the script files you might be able to have your cake and eat it too.
Andy body interested in helping out?
And yes I like it this way and the old way too.
again my 2 cents
Andrew Martin

Everything seems to work fine. I like being able to immediately scroll through all of contributions on a thread without having to click on the next topic title. Takes some getting used to, but 5 months from now, we'll all like it better.