Getting into forum topics

[ColinB]

Well I don't know if it is because the software is incomplete, but there again if it isn't it shouldn't be here. When I first enter the forum and select Hornby, it telling what the latest posts and things are but it doesn't give me the list of sub topics, remeber the checkboxes on the previous version. Now if I select a latest post to display and then go to its web address and go back one on the web address I get a nice menu with all the sub topics in it. Now obviously there must be an easier way to get to it, so what am I missing? 

Edited May 15 by ColinB

[geordi_q]

Once again a Forum change that appears to completely useless and unworkable.

I will check over the next few days and if the same i will forget about using

Gordon 

[96RAF]

Just now, geordi_q said:

Once again a Forum change that appears to completely useless and unworkable.

I will check over the next few days and if the same i will forget about using

Gordon 

Your choice.

[Britannia Builder]

It's a retrograde step as far as I'm concerned. I used to be able to see a list of recent postings in all the sub-forums that I'm interested in on a single screen - now I just see a list of all the sub-forums and have to go into each one in turn to see recent posts.

Regards, John

[96RAF]

16 minutes ago, ColinB said:

Well I don't know if it is because the software is incomplete, but there again if it isn't it shouldn't be here. When I first enter the forum and select Hornby, it telling what the latest posts and things are but it doesn't give me the list of sub topics, remeber the checkboxes on the previous version. Now if I select a latest post to display and then go to its web address and go back one on the web address I get a nice menu with all the sub topics in it. Now obviously there must be an easier way to get to it, so what am I missing? 

InVision have been supplying this package for ever to thousands upon thousands of users. Like all software it is never complete. It is simply a matter of getting all the right tick boxes sorted to suit HH preferred scheme. Ad stated earlier if folk keep moaning about WIP then the forum can be taken off air until it is finally sorted. You are being given the opportunity of continued use of the forum whilst work takes place. Let that happen and stop nit picking every single tweak.

[96RAF]

4 minutes ago, Britannia Builder said:

It's a retrograde step as far as I'm concerned. I used to be able to see a list of recent postings in all the sub-forums that I'm interested in on a single screen - now I just see a list of all the sub-forums and have to go into each one in turn to see recent posts.

Regards, John

You still have the option - which has never changed to view activity of your choice -  usually folk choose to see unread content. There are other options in the left hand drop down.

[What About The Bee]

I am happy to read its not me or my settings.  I thought I had somehow bodged everything.

I can wait a bit until its sorted.

Bee

[96RAF]

7 minutes ago, What About The Bee said:

I am happy to read its not me or my settings.  I thought I had somehow bodged everything.

I can wait a bit until its sorted.

Bee

The various tabs and breadcrumb trail are not all properly linked yet - but WIP. I thank you for your patience.

[Britannia Builder]

14 minutes ago, 96RAF said:

You still have the option - which has never changed to view activity of your choice -  usually folk choose to see unread content. There are other options in the left hand drop down.

Thanks Rob. I'd previously dismissed the activity view because it included Airfix etc and lots of other updates irrelevant to me, but I now find that I can set up a customised activity which just shows recent posts in the sub-forums that I'm interested in. Presumably this has been there all along but I'd never spotted it. So I'm happy again!

Regards, John

[96RAF]

7 minutes ago, Britannia Builder said:

Thanks Rob. I'd previously dismissed the activity view because it included Airfix etc and lots of other updates irrelevant to me, but I now find that I can set up a customised activity which just shows recent posts in the sub-forums that I'm interested in. Presumably this has been there all along but I'd never spotted it. So I'm happy again!

Regards, John

The problem at present is finding the page that has the activity tab visible. Just needs a bit of synchronisation and fine tuning. Glad you found a solution to suit your browsing needs.

[Britannia Builder]

1 minute ago, 96RAF said:

The problem at present is finding the page that has the activity tab visible. Just needs a bit of synchronisation and fine tuning. Glad you found a solution to suit your browsing needs.

I've just bookmarked the url which in my case is https://community.hornbyhobbies.com/discover/8/ - not sure what the 8 means but it gets me there!

Regards, John

[ntpntpntp]

I hit the same problem this morning (posted on another thread).  Once I'd realised I needed to  click on the Forum link  first then everything was pretty much as it was before.  That's the page I've bookmarked.

[96RAF]

The forum mechanics is as previously stated a moving feast. The observant of you will have notice the index page has been cleaned up and that the second General Discussion topic introduced during testing has gone.

[ColinB]

2 hours ago, 96RAF said:

InVision have been supplying this package for ever to thousands upon thousands of users. Like all software it is never complete. It is simply a matter of getting all the right tick boxes sorted to suit HH preferred scheme. Ad stated earlier if folk keep moaning about WIP then the forum can be taken off air until it is finally sorted. You are being given the opportunity of continued use of the forum whilst work takes place. Let that happen and stop nit picking every single tweak.

They may well have, but that doesn't mean a lot as the Post Office enquiry is proving extremely well. When ever you release software you are supposed to give it your best shot, I should know, I did it for the best part of 30 years. People of my age will remember the London Ambulance fiasco where they did the same. Now please answer the question how do I get to the main menu ? I take the view that software is invented to make things easy so you don't put people off by making a package difficult to use. They should have Beta tested it on a remote platform and got some non knowledgeable users to test it. Either way as I have said many times, membership of this forum is optional, if you don't want any users then carry on with this approach.

I must admit if it was my design I would make sure my first draft did the basics, so in this case took you to the sub headings as a must, then add the clever stuff when you are sure it is working properly. It isn't my design so I suppose I will just wait a few weeks for them to get it right. 

[LTSR_NSE]

Membership is optional everyone can choose to use it or not - nobody is forcing anyone!

For those of us that would prefer to figure a way around the work - rather than have to experience downtime 😱 - cheers for keeping the lights on!

[LTSR_NSE]

35 minutes ago, ColinB said:

please answer the question how do I get to the main menu ?

Colin, choose Menu (or 3 horizontal lines button) -> Hornby -> Forums

You then get straight to the screen you are describing navigating back to.

Yes it will be ideal when all the navigation/links work consistently through all screens - but whilst work is carried out alternative ways can be found.

[ColinB]

9 minutes ago, LTSR_NSE said:

Membership is optional everyone can choose to use it or not - nobody is forcing anyone!

For those of us that would prefer to figure a way around the work - rather than have to experience downtime 😱 - cheers for keeping the lights on!

Yes, I eventually found the menu option, perhaps it would help if the extra 3 options that appear at the head of the page were deleted. You have the Forums, Gallery and then 3 options that are non relevant and take you away from the Forums page. The Shop option has no relevance in the Forums part if you wanted that you would have selected it before entering the Forums.  The same could also said of Community and Support because you actually got into Forums by initially selecting an option within the original Community menu and Support again has nothing to do with Forums.

[96RAF]

I have read everything you have said in your posts above @ColinB and could give a blow by blow answer to each comment but I have to go shopping today so here is the short version.

It was well reported here that the all brands mods were testing the new platform in a staging area before launch.

The InVision product is stable and fit for purpose but has to be configured for an end user, some of which they do and some of which can be done by the end user (Hornby Hobbies all brands Admin).

You get to the all brands area by clicking on the Hornby Hobbies Logo. Then you can click on a brand. You can also find the forum by clicking on the Hornby logo. As stated navigation is still WIP and moaning about it gets no one anywhere.

If you look at most forums they have a link back to their shop and where applicable other site services - go peek at RM Web where you land on the main site and have to select forum to get there and once there can bail out to other site areas.

As stated we can turn the forum off for a day, week, month if you would prefer or you could work round us and it stays open.

[SteveM6]

In the past,the forum would have been 'down' for a period of time but this 'live fixing' is a new approach. It's clearly a challenge for some who don't handle change particularly well.

For my part, I found the new routes to the pages I want to read within a few minutes, and yes I do have some 'observations' to make but understanding that the team are still working on this in real time, I will wait until I see the final iteration before commenting.

And having spent many years working in project and change management, I found that the world is split broadly into two camps. The first will take a change and say how do I make this work to suit me. The other group will be more like, it's different, don't like it, must be broken, take it away.

[ColinB]

1 minute ago, SteveM6 said:

In the past,the forum would have been 'down' for a period of time but this 'live fixing' is a new approach. It's clearly a challenge for some who don't handle change particularly well.

For my part, I found the new routes to the pages I want to read within a few minutes, and yes I do have some 'observations' to make but understanding that the team are still working on this in real time, I will wait until I see the final iteration before commenting.

And having spent many years working in project and change management, I found that the world is split broadly into two camps. The first will take a change and say how do I make this work to suit me. The other group will be more like, it's different, don't like it, must be broken, take it away.

Actually that is the issue, you and 96RAF spend your time heavily involved in Hornby that you don't notice the simple things. People always default to this thing about not liking change they use it as an excuse, change is good if is for the better, if it isn't you are just wasting your money. I must admit I can navigate around the new format, I see very many faults like reiterative menus where you effectively could go round and round in circles but again that is not my issue. If you guys are happy with it then I will leave you to it.

[SteveM6]

Colin, whilst I am a very small part of the HM7K test team, my role there is simply to try out the system as an ordinary customer would. The only difference being that I have a direct link back to the project team for my feedback.

That is not a 'heavy involvement with Hornby' nor does it carry any additional privileges other than a slightly faster resolution for any issues uncovered.

In previous comments, you have often used your undoubted experience in electronics and programming while at Ford, to demonstrate differences in the approach taken by Hornby, yet you immediately debunk my comment about people's reaction to change as an 'excuse'. Not so, it is based on 30+ years experience of product and process development and implementation.

 

[96RAF]

I find it amusing to refer back to the 3 iterations of the forum that I have seen over almost 20 years, and it is much the same players that moaned about change, 0 to 1 not being to their liking, and change 1 to 2 not being to their liking that are now saying change 2 to 3 is not to their liking and can we have the previous one back that they previously didn't like. In the past we got what we were given and there was no moderator advisement taken. At least this time there is some interaction on behalf of Gen-Pop.

Let us be clear in that, what you have now (once tweaked) is what you will have for a long time to come, so either embrace the changes, and welcome the added functionality (and there will be more such as more brands, Clubs and Blogs, etc) or if not, you are under no obligation to use the forum. Others have so decided in the past and some have come back time and again and others have stayed away.

In the meantime the world still goes round, we still play trains, and folk will still moan, but now mods have a sin-bin option.

[What About The Bee]

5 hours ago, 96RAF said:

... you are under no obligation to use the forum.

That conflicts with my CDO.  It is the same illness as Obsessive Compulsive Disease, except all the letters are arranged in the proper alphabetical order.

🙃

~~~~

@ColinBHi Colin.  I understand your consternation.  Your point has been made. Since February, these pages have experienced constant change.  It can test a person's patience.  It appears to be chaos and turmoil. 

But it is not.  

The lads are working very hard to make it better.  In real time, right before your very eyes.  They are accepting feedback from us and this is causing further adaptation and change.   

So maybe bear with them while it changes?  

Bee

[ColinB]

1 hour ago, What About The Bee said:

That conflicts with my CDO.  It is the same illness as Obsessive Compulsive Disease, except all the letters are arranged in the proper alphabetical order.

🙃

~~~~

@ColinBHi Colin.  I understand your consternation.  Your point has been made. Since February, these pages have experienced constant change.  It can test a person's patience.  It appears to be chaos and turmoil. 

But it is not.  

The lads are working very hard to make it better.  In real time, right before your very eyes.  They are accepting feedback from us and this is causing further adaptation and change.   

So maybe bear with them while it changes?  

Bee

To be honest it doesn't bother me that much, I just find it annoying that whoever Hornby employs is so naïve. When I went on a software course many years ago because I was involved in safety critical software, the guy explained the different models of how you develop software. We used to use the iterative model where you change a bit at a time, so it is easy to backtrack to an earlier release if something goes wrong. Hornby have obviously gone for the big bang approach where you change it all at once and then spend forever trying to fix it, losing customers in the mean time. If they are happy with that who am I to complain. I am lucky I grew up with computers programing so it isn't a problem, my concern is for those that are not so fortunate. 

[RB51]

Completely the opposite approach @ColinB. No big bang [or naivety] as you call it, but a steady planned release of innovation so as not to overwhelm those who cannot cope with change. Things have moved on a fair bit in the last 30 years. R-