Announcement Migration and Update 04/13

[MKnott]

Hi folks,

We've recently completed the update and migration for the forums. Apologies for going over the anticipated time we encountered some last minute issues that required a short delay.

While there is expected to be minimal impact, upgrading to the latest version of XenForo may cause potential issues that weren't apparent in testing. Please feel free to let us know if you encounter anything game changing in this thread.

Below are a few known changes that aren't bugs:

• As part of the update profile images (or Cover images as they were referred to) have been removed as the add-on that enabled this is now out of date and the feature is core to the latest version of XenForo so feel free to add them again.
• The newest version of XenForo handles previewing posts in a much more minimalist way. It's quick and simple but also not 100% clear especially when you're used to the old way. We don't know if this is something we can adjust, but be aware that while it may seem like nothing is happening it is showing you what the post will look like.
• As you all know, the Best Answer and Trophy system is a huge part of the system here at Tom's. However, the add-on that controls that system is no longer supported by people who created it and we worked hard to keep it running with minimal changes. That said, there are a few visual changes which needed to be made. Previously, the voting up and down was on the left along with the Trophy icon (to mark as best solution) this has now changed to right and the Trophy icon has been replaced by a circled checkmark to highlight "marked as solution". This means any guides written (eg: in your sigs, and posts) will need to be updated to reflect the changes.
  
  Additionally as the Trophy system has been rebuilt for the latest version of XenForo, we expect it to have fixed some issues with the old system, however there are some errors we've only begin to start encountering since moving from our test platform - these have been resolved, but please bear with us and we'd be glad of any reports to make sure we can iron out any bugs.
• Quick Thread was causing some issues with the latest update and while we initially left it in place we have had to remove it for the time being.
• In terms of site responsiveness it's difficult to gauge right after maintenance, we'll be keeping an eye on things to make sure any slow speeds are temporary.

Cheers!

 

[Darkbreeze]

As of about two seconds ago, ALL pages are taking an EXTREMELY long time to load.

 

[DRagor]

As usual after forum "upgrade" lags are terrible. Hope this is just temporary thing. Remember same thing happening in 2018 (or was it 2019) - forum was so slow for few days that it made me leave the forum in disgust for few years.

 

[MKnott]

This is potentially related to the Quick Thread add-on that we've removed and also that there are still some things whirring post migration.

It also started the moment the floodgates opened, which gives a fairly good indicator as the cause being everyone jumping back on. We're keeping an eye on it, but we've seen similar issues resolve relatively quickly after re-opening.

 

[MKnott]

Just as I was typing that everything sped up considerably, consider this a test post to make sure I'm not imagining it.

 

[Eximo]

With Chrome I have a huge half-page gap between the navigation and the post bodies.

This appears to be caused by the advertisement that is shown to people not logged in. For those logged in it is just empty space.

Also the right hand trending threads is seemingly tied to the middle of the frame, or possibly the bottom of the last post? Not really sure.

 

[Math Geek]

in the past when i clicked on a thread to read it, the title changed color. i believe it went from red to white to indicate i had viewed it already.

right now, everything is white and stays that way whether i have read it or not.

was really nice to be able to see what i had already clicked on quickly and easily with the color change. can that be fixed/put back into place?

edit: this does relate to the dark theme only. the default theme does this going from red to black and works fine.

 

[Eximo]

Default style seems to working. Red for new/unread and black for read.

Everything is white in dark mode.

 

[Math Geek]

didn't think to check that. but you're right. in default mode it works as i expect. i use dark mode as all that white hurts my eyes.

can this be fixed in dark mode? i sure can't handle all that white in default mode but really love the feature.

 

[Colif]

All the banner images are currently missing. Every user should have an image on their profile (Provided they added one, its blank by default)

Not sure if they need to be added again by the users.

I have added mine so that you know what I am talking about

TH dark & light themes are custom themes. I don't know if they would need to be changed to work with new version of Xenforo

 

[Darkbreeze]

With Chrome I have a huge half-page gap between the navigation and the post bodies.

This appears to be caused by the advertisement that is shown to people not logged in. For those logged in it is just empty space.

Also the right hand trending threads is seemingly tied to the middle of the frame, or possibly the bottom of the last post? Not really sure.

If you scroll down to the bottom right hand side of most any page, and click the two arrows that are pointing towards each other, that gap (And the whole "narrow" configuration") goes away. I don't know why they don't have the "default" configuration being the full width like it should be since most users prefer it that way so that thread pages aren't four miles long.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Also, it's several hours later and for me at least, pages are STILL not loading in a timely manner. Taking probably two to three times the normal amount of time for a page to resolve. Occasionally, much longer than that. Still. In Firefox.

 

[Colif]

The means we have used to award solutions has changed as well. No trophy button on the left anymore, but a tick mark on the right in a new column, under the up down votes

I am going to watch and see how obvious it is, as I now know most of the sigs of most users who answer questions here, are wrong as they all link to my sticky.

 

[Colif]

Forums no longer show how many solutions you have made under your name in forums. It does on profile but I am sure it used to show in the side column?
Example from TG to show I am not crazy

 

[bit_user]

All the banner images are currently missing. Every user should have an image on their profile (Provided they added one, its blank by default)

Not sure if they need to be added again by the users.

Is that not what was addressed by this remark?

As part of the update profile images (or Cover images as they were referred to) have been removed as the add-on that enabled this is now out of date and the feature is core to the latest version of XenForo so feel free to add them again.

 

[Colif]

Yes, it does sound like it covers them... I didn't look at that post... shoot me

 

[Darkbreeze]

Forums no longer show how many solutions you have made under your name in forums. It does on profile but I am sure it used to show in the side column?
Example from TG to show I am not crazy

Yes, it used to show. Overall, and don't get me wrong here because I'm sure the intent was to improve things, but honestly, it didn't. We took what was already not very intuitive and required hand holding in order to get users to select best answers for their threads, and made it four times more difficult. Then we took a leaderboard/Trophies section that was already broken but was at least somewhat inclusive of the majority of categories, and completely reduced it down to almost nothing. Every time we make a change to the forum over the last ten years, it has gotten worse and worse. Honestly, we we almost better off with the bubble gum and bailing wire software that we were originally using before we ever migrated to Xenforo. Almost.

At least then there was a functional merit system that made users inclined to participate and return. Since then, that aspect has simply gone further and further downhill. My opinion, and that's all it is.

 

[DRagor]

Looks like some threads marked as "Question" type does not have up and down vote arrows. Specifically those that have no question mark in circle next to thread title (example thread).

 

[Metal Messiah.]

Oh God, there are too many issues right now. What's wrong with people's SIG ? It says, "Toggle signature" instead of displaying the full sig.

I had to remove the 2 images in my sig to make it right. Even if I insert a single image, it says, "Toggle signature".

I also increased the FONT size of the text, but it doesn't show here.

EDIT: I think the sig font size is now fixed. Not sure what happened earlier.

 

[Colif]

teething issues, they needed US to find what they missed.

expect sig will be fixed.

i am getting whea_uncorrectable_code, I have replaced ram and installed windows 10 and 11 few times, have windows 11 currently, updated all drivers but audio still says out device not installed, are whea_uncorrectable_code and audio issue related? how can u solve uncorrectable issue?

try making a thread in the windows 10 or 11 area, someone will help you there.

 

[Colif]

FYI: All threads are being opened as discussion threads. perhaps report any you see and a mod will fix it.

If you start a new thread, you have to choose the right tab for the type of thread you want to make or it will create a discussion thread.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I've checked with Firefox and Edge (so I assume Blink browsers in general) but resizing the window seems to cause a huge spike in CPU usage while the resizing happens.

Might be an issue with whatever front-end frame work the forums are using.

 

[Colif]

if I do here, I go from 8% to about 21% usage
If I do it on another Xenforo forum not tied to Future, I get similar
resizing Youtube also does it

so perhaps its the browsers

 

[hotaru.hino]

if I do here, I go from 8% to about 21% usage
If I do it on another Xenforo forum not tied to Future, I get similar
resizing Youtube also does it

so perhaps its the browsers

So I tried this with a site that I know only uses HTML and CSS (and I'm pretty sure the CSS isn't that complicated) and yeah, similar thing.

I guess web rendering engines are pretty bad at this

 

[Aeacus]

If you scroll down to the bottom right hand side of most any page, and click the two arrows that are pointing towards each other, that gap (And the whole "narrow" configuration") goes away. I don't know why they don't have the "default" configuration being the full width like it should be since most users prefer it that way so that thread pages aren't four miles long.

Lifesaver!

With narrow view, it looked like i'm on mobile.

can this be fixed in dark mode? i sure can't handle all that white in default mode but really love the feature.

+1.
I too use dark mode and unread stuff not changing color to red (as it used to be), is _very_ inconvenient.

-----

Oh, right now, forums do load fast for me (using latest FireFox).

Btw, new update asked to enable the push notifications, which i, at 1st, dismissed. Then it asked again, strongly recommending to enable it. Since it didn't explain to me as of why i should enable it, i selected "never ask again".
So, for devs; it's bad sportmanship to demand something, without giving a reason why.

Also, some Emoji Smilies are gone. E.g the one with frowned face waving a finger. It used to be No or Non.