News Two New Features (Er, Actually Make That Two-And-A-Half...)

[AgentPete]

Pleased to announce two-and-a-bit new features here, SAVING DRAFT POSTS, AUTO-LOCKING OF THREADS, and SEARCH FOR ALL MEMBERS.


AUTO-SAVING DRAFT POSTS

You may have encountered an irritating problem sometimes when writing a lengthy post here only to find all your hard work wasted when/if the browser you’re using crashes.

Well, hopefully that’s all in the past now. You don’t need to bother with a save button, the forum will automatically save your draft progress every 60 seconds. So if a crash does happen, you will (probably!) be able to restore it from a saved draft. Drafts are only save for 24 hours and then will be automatically deleted, so don’t leave it too long until you come back to retrieve your saved draft.


AUTO-LOCKING OF THREADS

Several members have pointed out that it would be helpful to have threads of a certain age automatically locked, thus preventing newcomers in particular from responding to a discussion that is long since closed. This is now in effect: any thread that’s gone without activity for more than 35 days will be automatically closed.


SEARCH IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR ALL MEMBERS

The Colony’s search function used to be available only for Full Members: now it’s available for all members to use. Obviously, we depend on your subscriptions to keep going, so please do try to upgrade to Full Membership if you can, we do keep the cost as low as humanly possible And don’t forget that you can also gift a membership upgrade (anonymously if you choose) to other members, too.

 

[Jonny]

Good changes, Pete, particularly the autosave, as in the past I have come a cropper by inadvertently switching the window I had been in only to find that after flicking back the fruits of my toil had vanished.

 

[Hannah F]

Yay for the autosave!

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Good, but maybe not auto-locking threads. We all all writers. Sometimes we need time to process. Maybe a warning message rather than locking, if that is possible.

@RK Capps

 

[AgentPete]

AARGH!

@RK Capps Apologies for the stupid thread closure message ("We are changing the status of this ticket to closed as we have not heard back from you in 7 days") which is of course nonsensical. And did I say, stupid?

The programmer gave an option to add a “thread closed” message as and when threads are auto-closed. I ticked that box without checking the message – lesson for AgentPete, always check what the check box is checking.

Sorry for the dismay caused, threads will now close very quietly and demurely.

Good, but maybe not auto-locking threads. We all all writers. Sometimes we need time to process. Maybe a warning message rather than locking, if that is possible.

@RK Capps

Well, that's not easily done, and it's still entirely possible for newcomers not to see a warning message and go ahead and reply to old threads. Happy to experiment with the length of time at your suggestion, currently set to 35 days...

 

[Pamela Jo]

I did enjoy reading the threads before they closed. Figured out the cryptic message. Rachel's story about her brother and the marvel actors. OMG. Tears.

 

[Rich.]

Maybe a warning message rather than locking

not easily done

Maybe a workaround, if one wishes to resurrect an old thread (to "necro" it) would be to create a new thread with a link to the old one, like this:

Nine years ago, Pete was talking about Amazon and Hachette, and that got me thinking. Blah blah blah...​

Could be a solution.

 

[AgentPete]

Maybe a workaround, if one wishes to resurrect an old thread (to "necro" it) would be to create a new thread with a link to the old one, like this:

Nine years ago, Pete was talking about Amazon and Hachette, and that got me thinking. Blah blah blah...​

Could be a solution.

That would be so much better, and a simple solution!

 

[Jonny]

Yeah, agree with @Rich. Also if folks contact me or @Ancora Imparo and say why they'd like a thread to be born again I can most likely reinstate it?

 

[AgentPete]

Yeah, agree with @Rich. Also if folks contact me and say why they'd like a thread to be born again I can most likely reinstate it?

Yes, Guardians can definitely unlock threads.

 

[Hannah F]

I think 35 days is a good time frame, especially if one can unlock the threads again at one's own choosing (via guardian). I've always deleted threads once I've finished with them, but this saves always having to remember to do so plus some might be better becoming dormant in case I want to resurrect them.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

On second thought, how about adding to new member email and other instructions a warning to check date of last post in a thread? Let us human make our own decisions rather than be thrown to the mercy of unreliable technology. BTW, I am sure I made this post, yesterday. The website must have eaten it.

 

[AgentPete]

On second thought, how about adding to new member email and other instructions a warning to check date of last post in a thread? Let us human make our own decisions rather than be thrown to the mercy of unreliable technology. BTW, I am sure I made this post, yesterday. The website must have eaten it.

I will add it to the welcome email, yes.
Happy to put the auto-close function to a poll? I just want to reflect what works for most people here