Forums Update 2/13

Question

People may have noticed some hiccups today as we deploy an update. This update does a few things:

• Addresses the Alert Me bug, when replying to threads the alert setting is not subscribing people automatically to the thread they reply to.
• Thread states are out of sync, where an question with legitimate answers is not showing as an answered threads (impacts also proposed answers)
• The forums rich text editor looked bad on Windows Developer Preview IE10
• MSDN/TechNet English only forum home page update. General design update to clean up the home page. Filter column moved to a find/search forum experience
• Visual design updates on the TechNet forums to generally have a cleaner design with fonts consistent with other TechNet metro themes and reserved icons that are less distracting
• Other minor bug fixes.

While the update is being applied (3-6pm PST) users may experience strange behaviors and slow response times. 

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Community Forums Program Manager

Answer 1

Hello Brent,

first i like to say congratulations, i like the new view and also the Alert is again checked automatically and shown with the "Bell" sign.

One point that i realized is that NEW threads are not marked either with Italic or Bold option, will this be changed?

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Best regards

Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Answer 2

Well I don't like the new look and am glad it is only in the Technet forums and not in the MSDN forums.

But I'm glad that someone else is complaining about the missing Bold for completely new threads for the reader as the absence of this makes at least my method of Moderating impossible.

However the new look offers much less clear markings for a thread that has been marked as answered; for a thread that has been proposed as answered; for a thread that has been given a type of Discussion rather than Question and so on. All of which equally make moderating unnecessarily difficult.

(and as for the decision to make the Bold (on the number or posts/times read) - for a thread that has had new posts since you last looked at it - only visible on cursor over, well it seems that nobody really thought about how people use that function before making that change)

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SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx
WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx
Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters

Answer 3

Hi Brent, little problem...after update the bells effectively returned but only for NEW posts. No way to see the ones to old post. Nevermind a more fastidious issue I'm experiencing: no more email notifications after yesterday 16.30 (local italian time). Also new threads posted today...no notification updates arrive. Is  there a fix for this or it will fix automatically?

Thank you.

Alex

Answer 4

Hi Brent, little problem...after update the bells effectively returned but only for NEW posts. No way to see the ones to old post. Nevermind a more fastidious issue I'm experiencing: no more email notifications after yesterday 16.30 (local italian time). Also new threads posted today...no notification updates arrive. Is  there a fix for this or it will fix automatically?

Thank you.

Alex

Hello,

for old post where you are missing the "Bell" open the thread and choose ALERT ME on the top, that is the only option as before during the last days.

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Best regards

Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Answer 5

Italic/Bold, I want to fix this as soon as we possibly can. We'll be working on that one. As for the Bell, if you are saying we don't retroactively go back and subscribe you to the alerts you posted to over the past week, that's true, we can't go back and do that. But going forward, the reply "alert me" option should be working. If there is some other Alerts issue (yes I saw the report of users not getting them, looking into that now), please include a screen shot, it'll help me understand.

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Community Forums Program Manager

Answer 6

Brent, sorry, but I can't subscribe old posts without posting something new...there isn't the "alert me" flag! only if i add a new answer.

Another strange thing is that the first time i go to Reply button i can't write in the box. If i cancel and redo after i can write inside. Tested from IE, Chrome and Firefox...

R U happy for this? :-)

Alex

Answer 7

Hello Alessandro,

open the specific thread in a new tab and you should see the Alert Me option available without adding a new answer. I did it this way and just tested some seconds ago, still works.

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Best regards

Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Answer 8

Yes! You're right! This works!

The only real problem I still have is that i don't remember all the threads I've answered...(about 50-70 a week...) :-(

A.

Answer 9

You should have all your threads in 'My Threads'. I personally only subscribe to the interesting threads, otherwise my e-mail will be flooded.

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 10

> You should have all your threads in 'My Threads'. I personally only subscribe to the interesting threads, otherwise my e-mail will be flooded.

+1

(Glad we could agree on something, Naomi!)

Mike

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SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx
WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx
Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters

Answer 11

:) Yes, once in a while... :)

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 12

Looks like you might have broken some things, though...   This is on IE9.

I have two gear icons in the editor heading, one of which is for inserting HTML, and the other for inserting a Code Block.  Should these two different functions have identical icons?

 

If you actually try to use the Insert HTML gear (the left one), you don't get much room to work:

  

-Noel

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Detailed how-to in my new eBook: Configure The Windows 7 "To Work" Options

Answer 13

More info:  Hm, this looks like another "how did I get here" problem...

The problem is reproduced if this thread is accessed via...

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/reportabug/thread/917c6efe-e5f6-47b7-8ed7-ad1f0072c115#1e6e41a4-4ca2-460c-aa0b-f73dec584dab

But if accessed via the following (note the technet vs. msdn subdomain) the icons are okay and the HTML window is okay...

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/reportabug/thread/917c6efe-e5f6-47b7-8ed7-ad1f0072c115#1e6e41a4-4ca2-460c-aa0b-f73dec584dab

By the way, I'm not crafting these weird URL permutations out of the blue.  I have bookmarked a "My Threads" page that happens to have the msdn subdomain in it.  I follow links from there.

-Noel

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Detailed how-to in my new eBook: Configure The Windows 7 "To Work" Options

Answer 14

BTW, I'm seeing correct icons now. I also used to see 2 gear icons, but now the icons are correct in Google Chrome.

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 15

If you actually try to use the Insert HTML gear (the left one), you don't get much room to work:

Confirmed.   I think you might actually get more room by turning off CSS, e.g. via  Alt-V,y,N  and using the exposed input area at the bottom.   <eg>


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Answer 16

BTW, I'm seeing correct icons now. I also used to see 2 gear icons, but now the icons are correct in Google Chrome.

I'm still seeing the two gear icons (Firefox 10.0.1) and when I click on either of them, the panel to type in is extremely small.

Answer 17

For me the problem is partially resolved already. Partially, because when I first type the code, then select the code to make it code, all spaces between words are removed and I have to adjust it myself again.

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 18

For me the problem is partially resolved already. Partially, because when I first type the code, then select the code to make it code, all spaces between words are removed and I have to adjust it myself again.

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

So what part of it is resolved then?

 

Thanks!

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Ed Price (a.k.a User Ed), SQL Server Experience Program Manager (Blog, Twitter, Wiki)

Answer 19

Hard to say. Once again, I opened this thread from my Activity page. Moderators labels are not shown and instead of the different icons I see 2 gear icons.

Here is what I see after I put some code to test and then pressed the second gear icon

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 20

Naomi and others, please post the exact URLs you use when you get to this thread.  Note, specifically, the subdomain.

My feeling is that slightly different CSS may be being delivered depending on the subdomain, and not all the subdomains have the proper setup.

Or maybe the subdomain ought to be changing when threads in a different section of the forums are accessed.  It's clear Microsoft wants this to be a unified experience, blurring the lines between subdomains, but why is possible to access the very same info from two different subdomains (noting, as an example, the two URLs I posted above yesterday)?

 

-Noel

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Detailed how-to in my new eBook: Configure The Windows 7 "To Work" Options

Answer 21

From this http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/reportabug/thread/917c6efe-e5f6-47b7-8ed7-ad1f0072c115 both icons look fine for me.

I believe only when I came from TechNet the icons are wrong.

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 22

That's strange. I am accessing this thread from the same URL http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/reportabug/thread/917c6efe-e5f6-47b7-8ed7-ad1f0072c115 and I see the two gear icons and clicking them gives me a very small area to type in. I'm using Firefox 10.0.1.

Answer 23

From this URL

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/reportabug/thread/917c6efe-e5f6-47b7-8ed7-ad1f0072c115

both icons are gear. I got to this thread from My Activity list in profile.

In other words, it's not the URL, but the place of origin seems to matter. If I came from Activity, I seem to get 'gear'. If I come from 'My Threads' all seems to be fine.

BTW, the font is much smaller here than if I come from My Threads.

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For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Becker's Law


My blog

Answer 24

Fair enough; I wasn't sure.  Like I said, a "how did I get here" type of problem.

It's good to know I'm not alone in seeing these inconsistencies - thanks for confirming them.  I think the font is darker sometimes and lighter others as well.

-Noel

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Detailed how-to in my new eBook: Configure The Windows 7 "To Work" Options