New Site Features

[ped]

Dear Basschatter,

Welcome to the new updated website. I just wanted to mention a few things you might like to read before getting stuck in. Please read on to find out more - and as ever, ask us if you have any questions!

Enjoy!

 

Here are some of the main new features:

• You'll find things are easier to keep track of, using the 'Activity' tab. You can even save your own custom streams such as 'New topics in Basses for sale in the last 7 days' as well as your standard options for new content, replies to your own topics and followed threads.
• A better search. Fine tune your results and find what you're after. The search is now 100% reliable whereas the old site had some issues with indexing.
• The BC shop. Here you can buy marketplace subs - you can manage your purchases to see when they expire. Having a sub will allow you to create marketplace posts as before, but now it'll say how long you have left (on a £20 sub) or how many single use (£7) tokens you have left.
• Renewal prices have been dropped for returning customers.
• We'll be offering special discounts at various times of year and give away subscription voucher codes to members for contributing to the community, for example b organising a Basschat Bash.
• We're working on a system where you'll be rewarded for referring a new user to the forum.
• The BC shop will be selling a whole range of items at exclusive BC prices - coming soon.
• We now accept PayPal and Stripe (card payment gateway, soon after launch)
• All new user support system for getting help when you need it
• Attachments have been totally revised - now you have 500MB of space to upload pictures. No faffing about, you can upload by drag+drop. Attachments are displayed at full resolution, scaled for the browser.
• Notifications now appear in real time (if you grant permission). Notification emails (if chosen) are sent when a reply is made to a topic you've subscribed to, not every single time someone replies - although you can adjust your preferences to suit your own working method.
• New tagging system. We'll encourage people to add a few tags to their post, because the system will find similar content and display it at the side for further reading.
• Tag a user into a conversation and they'll get an alert to come and have a look. Simply use @ followed by their username, like on Facebook etc
• Improved mobile interface. Also, resizing the window on a computer will bring up the mobile site if you make it narrow enough - ideal for multiple window viewing or less than obvious use at work!
• Send sticky notes to other members, or yourself

Have a play, get stuck in and please be patient whilst the site gets back up to speed  

Cheers

ped

 

A quick note about PMs

Unfortunately PMs couldn't be ported to the new site because they're in a completely different format. Whilst we did everything we could to tell people, it appears some had not seen the announcements and the email we sent in the two weeks leading up to the move. The email was sent to every active member (logged in during the last 365 days) on the 18th October. There were also threads in Off Topic and the new 'Please Read' category with information in there.

My actual words were probably not strong enough because at that point I wasn't 100% sure and nobody seemed to raise any issues about it during the few weeks it was running, but I said "I'm Pretty sure PMs will transfer no problem, but probably a good idea to get copies of anything important just in case". The other message I posted in Off Topic was more directed very clear but it was only a couple of days before we moved so possibly too late for some. Again, I probably perceived the lack of replies as it not being an issue. Looking back, that probably wasn't good enough and I'm sorry.

One of the main reasons we had to migrate was that the old software stopped being supported in 2014, so behind the scenes we were pasting over cracks and you will have noticed things like spam appearing on the site. Frankly we're all surprised the site wasn't badly compromised by a bot but we go lucky but we were on borrowed time. 

There was a massive lack of options for us to get in touch with everyone. We couldn't make an announcement (the best I could do was make a new forum at the top of the site with the 'Please Read' title) and the mass email system may not have reached everyone if they opted out of emails. I know it reached lots of people because many replied, but still. Now, we can post a note and everyone sees it when they visit. So given the options I did all I could.

Again I'm really sorry if you missed it, and I fully appreciate why you might have done so. All I ask is that you please try and empathise with Rik and I who have been working tirelessly to bring you the best we can. Rik in particular has been doing nothing else for months now and has managed an incredible amount in very difficult circumstances, going form an old unsupported platform without support to a new piece of software.

So please consider this a personal apology about the PM thing. I hope most of you can simply strike up conversations again and pick up where you left off, but if you did lose anything really critical, let us know and we can dig around in the old database and see if we can find it. You never know, once we've got a bit of time to work on it we may yet find a way to bring them back.

On a more positive note we're getting better speed and reliability (we know some people aren't so hang in there) - there are lost of processes going on in the background so please be patient and send us positive vibes, we could use them!

Cheers

ped

[KiOgon]

No mention of PMs - I got a real shock to see my message folder is empty! Please tell me they are in a safe place somewhere just waiting to be reinstated?

John - with fingers crossed

[charic]

Just now, KiOgon said:

No mention of PMs - I got a real shock to see my message folder is empty! Please tell me they are in a safe place somewhere just waiting to be reinstated?

John - with fingers crossed

PMs couldn't be ported unfortunately (we did send out a few notifications)

If you're after particular details from a particular member or something let me know and I'll see what I can do mate

[KiOgon]

Oh shyte!

I saw plenty of notifications re pics & saving important details of ongoing deals etc. but never anything about losing years worth of PMs

I had hoped it was just a glitch or something on the massive no doubt - to do list.

I'm gutted

[BigRedX]

I have to agree with Ki0gon, there was plenty of information about saving photos, but nothing specific about the fact that all our old PMs would be deleted. I'm lucky in the fact that my only on-going PM conversation was concluded just before the site was updated.

[clivem]

1 hour ago, charic said:

PMs couldn't be ported unfortunately (we did send out a few notifications)

This is so misleading..... We did send out a few notifications...... Yeah, right. I must have missed that one, where prior to the switch to the new site, at the point you knew that it wasn't going to be possible to import the PM's, where you sent out an email, or there was a notification on the old site, saying something to the effect, that users should back-up their PM's to a local computer, or lose them, before the new site went LIVE.

[KiOgon]

It's not only recent or ongoing conversations, it's years of data on deals I've done, people - contacts - enquiries - references - things to look back on that I had taken for granted would still be available.

I find it unbelieveable that's all gone - without any warning that I saw!

[ped]

I've updated the original post with a note about PMs.

TL;DR - Sorry. 

[BigRedX]

16 hours ago, ped said:

A quick note about PMs

Unfortunately PMs couldn't be ported to the new site because they're in a completely different format. Whilst we did everything we could to tell people, it appears some had not seen the announcements and the email we sent in the two weeks leading up to the move. The email was sent to every active member (logged in during the last 365 days) on the 18th October. There were also threads in Off Topic and the new 'Please Read' category with information in there.

My actual words were probably not strong enough because at that point I wasn't 100% sure and nobody seemed to raise any issues about it during the few weeks it was running, but I said "I'm Pretty sure PMs will transfer no problem, but probably a good idea to get copies of anything important just in case". The other message I posted in Off Topic was more directed very clear but it was only a couple of days before we moved so possibly too late for some. Again, I probably perceived the lack of replies as it not being an issue. Looking back, that probably wasn't good enough and I'm sorry.

I can't recall anything being specifically said about the fact that all PMs from the old site would be lost. There were plenty of dire warnings about uploaded photos but nothing specific about PMs.

I think your message really needed something along the lines of: WHEN WE UPGRADE TO THE NEW SITE ALL YOUR CURRENT PMs WILL BE LOST PLEASE SAVE ANYTHING IMPORTANT NOW!! 

Whatever you did say was far too subtle. 

[ped]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

I can't recall anything being specifically said about the fact that all PMs from the old site would be lost. There were plenty of dire warnings about uploaded photos but nothing specific about PMs.

I think your message really needed something along the lines of: WHEN WE UPGRADE TO THE NEW SITE ALL YOUR CURRENT PMs WILL BE LOST PLEASE SAVE ANYTHING IMPORTANT NOW!! 

Whatever you did say was far too subtle. 

...which is exactly what I just wrote. I explained what I said (one of which was entitled 'SAVE YOUR PM CONTENT also in caps) and why people may have missed it.

I don't know what else you want me to say.

 

[Hellzero]

Losing data is the basic principle of computer based systems, once understood, backup(s) begin(s) to become an evidence...

Stop being assisted, don't trust anything computer based and ACT !

I think I'll start the MYAL (Move Your Ass League). 

[ped]

28 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Losing data is the basic principle of computer based systems, once understood, backup(s) begin(s) to become an evidence...

Stop being assisted, don't trust anything computer based and ACT !

I think I'll start the MYAL (Move Your Ass League). 

This is true - I'm the kind of person who always has an empty inbox and even though I was getting several PMs a day I didn't need to save a single thing.

I understand many people simply don't work like that though which is why I can only apologise.

[BigRedX]

30 minutes ago, ped said:

...which is exactly what I just wrote. I explained what I said (one of which was entitled 'SAVE YOUR PM CONTENT also in caps) and why people may have missed it.

I don't know what else you want me to say.

 

I think in retrospect the announcement should have been even more noticeable. I certainly never saw it, nor did I receive an email about it. I also suspect that very few Basschat users even looked at the forum migration threads. I know that I looked at most of them, but must have missed the bit about PMs. So if I missed it what hope is there for the average forum user... :-(( 

[ped]

Just now, BigRedX said:

I think in retrospect the announcement should have been even more noticeable.

How would I have gone about that exactly? 

[BigRedX]

Another forum which I frequent had a similar update about a year ago and before they migrated over there was a sticky in red at the top of every single forum list which said something like IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FORTHCOMING UPDATE PLEASE READ This was up for at least a month before the forum switched over and the only people who could possibly have missed it were those who didn't visit the forum for over a month before the switch and those who wilfully ignored it.

Edited November 14, 2017 by BigRedX

[ped]

8 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Another forum which I frequent had a similar update about a year ago and before they migrated over there was a sticky in red at the top of every single forum list which said something like IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FORTHCOMING UPDATE PLEASE READ This was up for at least a month before the forum switched over and the only people who could possibly have missed it were those who didn't visit the forum for over a month before the switch and those who wilfully ignored it.

Yeah but I explained we weren't able to do anything like that on the old software. 

Would have been lovely though - and it was a reason to upgrade.

[BigRedX]

I think they did it manually by creating a new sticky thread at the top of each forum list. That would have been possible on the old site. It might have taken a while to do every forum, but you could have copied and pasted to speed things up.

Anyway it's too late now, and the new version of the site appears to have better and easier ways of doing the same thing.

[wateroftyne]

FWIW, I got the 'You'd better save any important PMs just in case' memo, and I hardly pay attention to anything.

 

[Kev]

Hopefully most members have PM email notifications on (they are on by default), so messages should all be visible in your email accounts

[ped]

Just now, BigRedX said:

I think they did it manually by creating a new sticky thread at the top of each forum list. That would have been possible on the old site. It might have taken a while to do every forum, but you could have copied and pasted to speed things up.

Anyway it's too late now, and the new version of the site appears to have better and easier ways of doing the same thing.

For the first couple of days I did exactly that - however one sure way of posting something that gets missed is to pin a thread. People never read them. That's why i also made it into topics that I hoped people would reply to, keeping it 'current', even posting in Off Topic. But people don't tend to post/reply/get excited by site news threads. 

Like I said, I did literally everything I could. It would have been much easier for us to have migrated at the end of Oct but we held off specifically to give people time to back up.

And again, sorry.

[wateroftyne]

19 minutes ago, ped said:

And again, sorry.

Quite right, too. Providing a free community for thousands? How dare you!

[fleabag]

What about posting a sticky all over the forums. ?

" Stop the unconstructive whingeing. We're on it. "

[charic]

Honestly, I don't mind the feedback.  I know there are things to clean up and sort and I'll do all I can, if I still had hair I would be pulling it out.

Thing is though, I saw this forum software before all the issues and once the performance cracks on it'll fly along and is a lovely smooth experience. Some stuff I didn't anticipate I'll try to add in as long as it doesn't clutter things up or slow it down too much.
 

The nicest thing for everyone involved will be the fact that now we have supported software where we're in the driving seat, if there's a popular feature that people want then we can look into that!  Ultimately, we love the forum and it's the members that make it up, it's nothing without our community after all.

 

[fleabag]

Feedback is fine. The unconstructive whingeing isn't 

[fleabag]

On another note, look at my fat face, as mentioned by another member.  < whinge mode off />