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> @"Thoom.9653" said:

> The old forums had a great feature where there were arrows to navigate between ArenaNet posts in a thread. Any chance of that making a comeback?

 

Sad to see that when one goes to look for vital information from the now closed forums, those posts are not available.

 

Wrong decision.

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> @"atheria.2837" said:

> > @"Thoom.9653" said:

> > The old forums had a great feature where there were arrows to navigate between ArenaNet posts in a thread. Any chance of that making a comeback?

>

> Sad to see that when one goes to look for vital information from the now closed forums, those posts are not available.

All your old posts: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/atheria-2837/showposts

 

>

> Wrong decision.

 

The old forums were broken, kept breaking, and the original provider isn't available any longer to fix them. There was no choice except to find a new vendor, which means: some better features, some worse ones, and no easy way to migrate the old forums.

(I have no idea why ANet decided that they couldn't host the archives of the old forums, but maybe there was a legal reason relating to the original contract.)

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> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"atheria.2837" said:

> > > @"Thoom.9653" said:

> > > The old forums had a great feature where there were arrows to navigate between ArenaNet posts in a thread. Any chance of that making a comeback?

> >

> > Sad to see that when one goes to look for vital information from the now closed forums, those posts are not available.

> All your old posts: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/atheria-2837/showposts

>

> >

> > Wrong decision.

>

> The old forums were broken, kept breaking, and the original provider isn't available any longer to fix them. There was no choice except to find a new vendor, which means: some better features, some worse ones, and no easy way to migrate the old forums.

> (I have no idea why ANet decided that they couldn't host the archives of the old forums, but maybe there was a legal reason relating to the original contract.)

 

Broken? The new forums are just as broken. Bold doesn't work from the UI button, no search works EVER, and having access to older postings

is a necessity in many cases - so porting the INFORMATION to the new forums would have been the smart thing to do.

 

They didn't have to delete all the text, they just had to port it to the new forums... Not exactly rocket science.

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> @"atheria.2837" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > @"atheria.2837" said:

> > > > @"Thoom.9653" said:

> > > > The old forums had a great feature where there were arrows to navigate between ArenaNet posts in a thread. Any chance of that making a comeback?

> > >

> > > Sad to see that when one goes to look for vital information from the now closed forums, those posts are not available.

> > All your old posts: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/atheria-2837/showposts

> >

> > >

> > > Wrong decision.

> >

> > The old forums were broken, kept breaking, and the original provider isn't available any longer to fix them. There was no choice except to find a new vendor, which means: some better features, some worse ones, and no easy way to migrate the old forums.

> > (I have no idea why ANet decided that they couldn't host the archives of the old forums, but maybe there was a legal reason relating to the original contract.)

>

> Broken? The new forums are just as broken.

Not really. The stuff that was wrong with the old forums was causing it to fail. But regardless of what was specifically wrong, there was no one to address _any_ of the issues. The provider for the original forums was no longer available — regardless of how good or how poor _Vanilla_ is, they are actually around.

 

> Bold doesn't work from the UI button,

Just tried it; it works. (It's a little wonky, just as such formatting features are for many other forums using _Markup_ language — you have to select only the word, not any spaces before or after.) (Admittedly that's an issue that was supposed to end after the demise of _Word Perfect 5.0_, but it pops up in all sorts of HTML/website situations.)

 

> no search works EVER,

That's demonstrably untrue. Besides which, the old forums search literally failed. The new forums, at worst, suffer from two issues:

* _Search_ usually misses posts from people who were recently suspended (regardless of whether the suspension period is over).

* Search also fails to do a good job filtering by certain types of keywords or tags. I haven't spotted a pattern.

 

 

 

> and having access to older postings

That isn't an example of a broken or bugged aspect of the new forums. It was a business decision when contracting with the new provider. I admit, I don't understand why the decision was made. But that doesn't make these forums broken.

 

> is a necessity in many cases -

Sorry, no, it's **never** a necessity. At worst, it's an inconvenience, a really annoying one.

 

> so porting the INFORMATION to the new forums would have been the smart thing to do.

It would have been good, sure. But it might not have been cost effective or perhaps an option available to them for contractual reasons.

For a business, "cost" is important; "benefit" is not the only consideration. "Smart" depends on comparing the two.

 

> They didn't have to delete all the text, they just had to port it to the new forums... Not exactly rocket science.

Preserving it as an archive is easy. Ports are always problematic, since the formatting syntax & engines are different.

 

****

tl;dr There's little doubt that ANet had to change forum providers. The new forums might be wonky for some things, but they work and are supported by an active provider. Like any tool, some stuff works easily and some doesn't.

 

I'm sorry you don't like the forums but that doesn't mean it was a "wrong decision"; it just means you think you could have done better if you were working with the same set of circumstances as ANet was.

 

PS you're welcome — I'm happy to have provided you with the link to the forum archives with your old posts.

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> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"atheria.2837" said:

> > > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > > @"atheria.2837" said:

> > > > > @"Thoom.9653" said:

> > > > > The old forums had a great feature where there were arrows to navigate between ArenaNet posts in a thread. Any chance of that making a comeback?

> > > >

> > > > Sad to see that when one goes to look for vital information from the now closed forums, those posts are not available.

> > > All your old posts: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/atheria-2837/showposts

> > >

> > > >

> > > > Wrong decision.

> > >

> > > The old forums were broken, kept breaking, and the original provider isn't available any longer to fix them. There was no choice except to find a new vendor, which means: some better features, some worse ones, and no easy way to migrate the old forums.

> > > (I have no idea why ANet decided that they couldn't host the archives of the old forums, but maybe there was a legal reason relating to the original contract.)

> >

> > Broken? The new forums are just as broken.

> Not really. The stuff that was wrong with the old forums was causing it to fail. But regardless of what was specifically wrong, there was no one to address _any_ of the issues. The provider for the original forums was no longer available — regardless of how good or how poor _Vanilla_ is, they are actually around.

>

> > Bold doesn't work from the UI button,

> Just tried it; it works. (It's a little wonky, just as such formatting features are for many other forums using _Markup_ language — you have to select only the word, not any spaces before or after.) (Admittedly that's an issue that was supposed to end after the demise of _Word Perfect 5.0_, but it pops up in all sorts of HTML/website situations.)

>

> > no search works EVER,

> That's demonstrably untrue. Besides which, the old forums search literally failed. The new forums, at worst, suffer from two issues:

> * _Search_ usually misses posts from people who were recently suspended (regardless of whether the suspension period is over).

> * Search also fails to do a good job filtering by certain types of keywords or tags. I haven't spotted a pattern.

>

>

>

> > and having access to older postings

> That isn't an example of a broken or bugged aspect of the new forums. It was a business decision when contracting with the new provider. I admit, I don't understand why the decision was made. But that doesn't make these forums broken.

>

> > is a necessity in many cases -

> Sorry, no, it's **never** a necessity. At worst, it's an inconvenience, a really annoying one.

>

> > so porting the INFORMATION to the new forums would have been the smart thing to do.

> It would have been good, sure. But it might not have been cost effective or perhaps an option available to them for contractual reasons.

> For a business, "cost" is important; "benefit" is not the only consideration. "Smart" depends on comparing the two.

>

> > They didn't have to delete all the text, they just had to port it to the new forums... Not exactly rocket science.

> Preserving it as an archive is easy. Ports are always problematic, since the formatting syntax & engines are different.

>

> ****

> tl;dr There's little doubt that ANet had to change forum providers. The new forums might be wonky for some things, but they work and are supported by an active provider. Like any tool, some stuff works easily and some doesn't.

>

> I'm sorry you don't like the forums but that doesn't mean it was a "wrong decision"; it just means you think you could have done better if you were working with the same set of circumstances as ANet was.

>

> PS you're welcome — I'm happy to have provided you with the link to the forum archives with your old posts.

 

Even your post didn't format properly.

 

 

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Regarding the "Dismiss" option on announcement (sticky) discussions topic again:

 

* https://blog.vanillaforums.com/product/dismiss-messages-top-25-features-for-users

 

> Vanilla Forums allow users to dismiss messages and announcements. Announcements (or sticky's as they are called in other forums) can be dismissed. This way a user can keep the page clean and only view announcements that are active. __Announcements will reappear for a user if they are updated or new content is added__.

 

Dismissing announcement discussions does, indeed, cause them to no longer be sticky threads and they are instead listed with all of the other threads. However, the dismissed discussion being updated with a new comment does not cause it to become 're-stickied' and there is no way to 'undo' the dismissal to once again become stickied. I am not sure if someone leaving a new comment on the thread does not count as the thread being 'updated' or add 'new content', but it does not cause the thread to 'reappear' (get re-stickied) and instead stays in the discussion list with just a '# new' icon denoting a new comment made in it.

 

Clearing cookies for the site may work for reinstating dismissed discussions as being sticky again, though I have not yet tried it to verify if this can be a workaround for this apparently broken behavior.

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At least, for me, the thread that had another thread inadvertently merged with it, and then subsequently 'un-merged', no longer shows the indicator that new posts have been added to it. The front page of the forum states there are new posts, but the 'New' or 'X number' no longer appears.

 

(It's the 'alt-tab' thread in the Account Support sub-forum.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> Could we get a Chauncy von Snuffles avatar? I thought there used to be one but could be imagining it.

 

I do not believe you imagined it. There is a Dev with a custom avatar of Chauncy, if I am not mistaken (I will keep an eye out for who has it).

 

If I recall correctly, their Chauncy avatar also appeared to be clipped from an actual in-game screenshot of him that they used, so it is unlikely that it would be made available for players as well considering player avatars are all that 'artsy' kind of drawing.

 

I am not saying they will never make a Chauncy avatar available for players to use, but it will likely be an 'artsy' style drawing version and not the clear image of him that an in-game shot provides. Personally, I fear that an 'artsy' drawing of him will look too much like Cat-in-the-Hat for my taste - something I struggle to not see already on the in-game Chauncy. (I never had an issue with Seuss' Cat-in-the-Hat books, or the various cartoons over the many years, but that Mike Myers movie has forever destroyed hats on cats for me.)

 

---

 

EDIT:

I went to search the forums to see if another discussion was had on a Chauncy avatar to see if the aforementioned dev had commented or been referenced in any, but apparently the forum search has an issue with searches for the word "chauncy" and it returns no results...not even our comments that include the word "Chauncy" are shown.

 

[https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/search?Search=chauncy](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/search?Search=chauncy "https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/search?Search=chauncy")

(all categories, all checks enabled in what to search = 0 results)

 

Perhaps sticky/announcement posts (which this thread is) are excluded from search results for some reason? I Even tried with capitalizing Chauncy to see if it was suddenly restricted to case-sensitive inquiries, but still had no results.

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> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Just me, or another change to the forums? Some kind of new graphics on our Display Names and larger font overall? New? or bigger 'Go To Top'?

> Rather not have the larger font...yet, again.

 

Not just you.

* New headers for post names/topics

* Return to top added

* Base color changed slightly

* navigation changed for black numbers to white numbers black boxes

* Font for names is bigger

* Also significant input delay when using quick reply to post comment

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> @"TexZero.7910" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > Just me, or another change to the forums? Some kind of new graphics on our Display Names and larger font overall? New? or bigger 'Go To Top'?

> > Rather not have the larger font...yet, again.

>

> Not just you.

> * New headers for post names/topics

> * Return to top added

> * Base color changed slightly

> * navigation changed for black numbers to white numbers black boxes

> * Font for names is bigger

> * Also significant input delay when using quick reply to post comment

 

Okay, thank you. I thought I'd just imagined the whole thing and was wondering how I was just now noticing all of this. :flushed: Good to know there actually was a change...whether or not I like this change, I'm not sure yet.

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> @"TexZero.7910" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > Just me, or another change to the forums? Some kind of new graphics on our Display Names and larger font overall? New? or bigger 'Go To Top'?

> > Rather not have the larger font...yet, again.

>

> * Also significant input delay when using quick reply to post comment

 

I do not experience this, with Chrome on macOS; it may be browser or user specific. The rest is true, yeah.

 

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234", you should be able to use the "stylish" extension in pretty much any browser, or really, any similar tool, to inject custom CSS if you need to override the font sizes in the design.

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> @"TexZero.7910" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > Just me, or another change to the forums? Some kind of new graphics on our Display Names and larger font overall? New? or bigger 'Go To Top'?

> > Rather not have the larger font...yet, again.

> * Also significant input delay when using quick reply to post comment

 

I do not experience this, with Chrome on macOS; it may be browser or user specific. The rest is true, yeah.

 

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234", you should be able to use the "stylish" extension in pretty much any browser, or really, any similar tool, to inject custom CSS if you need to override the font sizes in the design.

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> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Lol, like I am literate enough to do such things.

>

> I noticed 'Option' Gears on all Stickies and front page Thread Titles now,...or if they were there before they didn't cover up the text like they do presently.

 

They've come and gone before, usually whenever we get an update and yeah they're off alignment now.

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  • ArenaNet Staff

Hey there,

 

I'm happy to mention to you that we've made a few changes to the forums, many of which are a direct result of forum member feedback and suggestions. These changes help present a better appearance and also enhance functionality, as well. Here are a few...

 

# Forum Update Notes: June 1, 2018

 

## Index Page Spacing

 

- Adjusted the index page to reduce white space and improve appearance and functionality.

 

## Headings

 

- Adjusted two issues with Headings:

- **Spacing Issues:** Corrected a bug with Headings where spacing was removed between each heading, resulting in clarity and heading valuation issues.

- **Text Sizes:** Adjusted font sizes so Headings now vary visibly in size.

- See the Update Notes page for a demonstration of the changes.

 

## Text Sizing

 

- Adopted a consistent font size across all posts within a thread, so that the first message is no larger presented in a slightly larger font.

 

## Text Color

 

- Increased saturation for readability.

 

## Thread Changes

 

- Changed the design of the threads themselves, particularly by updating the user bar to add a background and change the font size. These changes allow the removal of extraneous lines within a thread and improve the visual flow.

 

## Gear or Cog Icon

 

- Adopted a consistent icon across the forums.

 

## Change Image link

 

- Increased the font size of the "Change Image" link on your profile page, to increase visibility.

 

## New Features

 

- Added "Go to the Top" feature.

- When a member reacts to a post (Thumbs Up, Helpful) the text now changes color (from black to red).

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  • ArenaNet Staff

> @"Zaraki.5784" said:

> I like the new version ^^

 

Why thank you! Not everyone will agree, I know that already. Design is very, very subjective. But since many of the changes came directly from user requests, I'm thinking we've done pretty well. :)

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