Kyll.Ing. Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 (edited) After seeing another of the threads I follow being locked for no good reason other than "oops, we're over 20 pages!", I figured I'd pop in here to air my opinion on this maybe-controversial matter: The max-20-pages rule for threads is stupid. It makes it really difficult to keep a discussion going for long, even on subject matters that are worth talking about for long. Finding old posts becomes a nightmare of searching through several versions of a thread instead of using the search function on one single thread. When a thread becomes locked, conversation can grind to a halt. Steadily locking and abandoning threads encourages the creation of new threads even when older threads cover the same discussion. The "follow this content" function only works for one iteration of a thread, but then the thread gets locked and a new thread gets created, you'll have to renew your subscription too. I see that this thread is allowed to go over the limit, presumably because the admins are subscribed to it and don't want the hassle of continuously creating and subscribing to new threads, which illustrates the issue perfectly. Occasionally, threads will require a steadily updated opening post. It's a hassle to copy it over for each new thread instead of just keeping that same thread in perpetual operation. Especially if the user who maintained the OP has left the board, but the OP still contains useful information. It's 2020, forum software can comfortably handle long threads. This very thread is an example. 75 pages and still runs fine. I've been on other forums with a thread count in the thousands of pages (here is one with 12,700 pages of photos, it runs like clockwork), so I don't see how technical issues could possibly be a limitation here. The rule is inconsistently applied, for instance the discussion threads in the TV show subforums, which shows that the moderators are aware of situations where a thread should be allowed to run over 20 pages. So why is it kept in place elsewhere? Throughout all my years on the Internet, I have never seen this type of rule instated anywhere else. And that's not because this forum is innovative or ahead of its time, but because nobody else see the need to have this strange limitation in place. Try to go to any other forum and suggest to instate such a rule, you'd be the laughing stock of the place within minutes. So ... why is this rule in place, again? It generally seems like a proper pain in the rear for everybody, or at best an archaic leftover from a time when discussion forums were coded using typewriters and powered by potatoes. I have yet to see a good justification of its existence, absolutely nobody seems to like it even though they may accept it, and when I've asked "why did the previous thread have to be locked?" the general answer seems to be "because that's how we do it" as if it were some sort of inevitability. But it's not. It's stupid. That's the short and long story. Edited June 25, 2020 by Kyll.Ing. Ran 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 (edited) If a thread can't sustain occasional fresh starts, it's not that interesting. We've also found that it can help shake up things in a positive way, making it more welcoming to people who have not participated previously, and occasionally breaking up monopolization of the topic by just a couple of people arguing in circles; those doors if arguments tend to not resume in a new thread. It's true it used to be a technical issue, but now it's very much a deliberate policy. Other forums may have different policies, but this is ours. Edited June 25, 2020 by Ran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyll.Ing. Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 2 hours ago, Ran said: If a thread can't sustain occasional fresh starts, it's not that interesting. We've also found that it can help shake up things in a positive way, making it more welcoming to people who have not participated previously, and occasionally breaking up monopolization of the topic by just a couple of people arguing in circles; those doors if arguments tend to not resume in a new thread. It's true it used to be a technical issue, but now it's very much a deliberate policy. Other forums may have different policies, but this is ours. Please allow me to disagree here. If a thread is interesting, it shouldn't be necessary to restart it. New threads on the same subject are anything but welcoming to new participants, as you can't go back through a thread and read the previous talking points, but have to look up previous threads (which is a bit of a chore, so few people bother). For this same reason, you can easily have arguing in circles or talking points being endlessly repeated because nobody can tell what has been said before - the one hundred sixty-seven R+L=J threads should be proof enough of that (Assume 400 posts per thread, 10 sentences per post on average, 10 words per sentence, that's six and a half million words, or nearly four times the length of the entire book series). Things are definitely being discussed in circles even with the policy in place. I'm not going to check, but am willing to bet there are at least two iterations of that thread where people were making the exact same arguments. And of course, a thread restart applied to put a halt to repetitive arguments will just as easily halt fruitful discussion - or fail to do so. So yeah, I can understand and respect that this policy exists, but I'm afraid I still have to grasp why. It seems like an unnecessary hassle, whose negatives far outweigh the positives. Ran 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 4 hours ago, The Great Unwashed said: Hi Ran, I think I may be having some similar ad problems as Fragile Bird, although mine sound more minor. Over the past couple days I've noticed when I'm typing a post, I'll get ads popping up at the bottom of my screen, often obscuring what I'm trying to type. I can usually click the ad off, but sometimes I'll get multiple pop-ups. I'll try to catch a screenshot next time it happens. Thanks, not supposed to be happening. I'll see if I can get that corrected ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gronzag Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 (edited) When I scroll down in Chrome (desktop), text on some posts gets blurred for a few moments. It's not really a problem, just thought you might want to know. https://imgur.com/a/TyfIBNM Edited October 14, 2020 by Gronzag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 3 hours ago, Gronzag said: When I scroll down in Chrome (desktop), text on some posts gets blurred for a few moments. It's not really a problem, just thought you might want to know. https://imgur.com/a/TyfIBNM Very strange! I use Chrome as well and have never seen that. Anyone else seen anything like it? Do you see it when using an Incognito Window to turn off all extensions, I wonder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gronzag Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 7 hours ago, Ran said: Very strange! I use Chrome as well and have never seen that. Anyone else seen anything like it? Do you see it when using an Incognito Window to turn off all extensions, I wonder? It happens in the Incognito mode as well, but not in the Firefox. Keep in mind that I'm also the only one who experiences lag when using this board. Also only in Chrome, and not in Firefox. so, it might have something to do with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyria Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 On 10/14/2020 at 2:39 AM, Gronzag said: When I scroll down in Chrome (desktop), text on some posts gets blurred for a few moments. It's not really a problem, just thought you might want to know. https://imgur.com/a/TyfIBNM Came here to report the same issue. It happens in Chrome on both desktops I use, although it's worse on my work one. On my PC, the blurriness usually goes away, if I scroll back and forth a bit. On my work PC, I have to refresh the page to get rid of it. It usually starts about half way through reading a page. It started for me around the same time the quoted post was created. It also only happens in Chrome for me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyria Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 On 10/23/2020 at 1:58 PM, Tyria said: Came here to report the same issue. It happens in Chrome on both desktops I use, although it's worse on my work one. On my PC, the blurriness usually goes away, if I scroll back and forth a bit. On my work PC, I have to refresh the page to get rid of it. It usually starts about half way through reading a page. It started for me around the same time the quoted post was created. It also only happens in Chrome for me too. Still happening in Chrome. It's not as bad on my PC. The text just looks like it's slightly in bold, so I can still read it. On my work PC, it looks so heavily bolded and smooshed together that it's unreadable. The only way to get rid of it is to constantly refresh as I scroll through. It's not a big deal to switch to Firefox, but I figured I would let you know that it's still happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Varys Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 @Ran @Grey Wolf has troubles logging in via facebook as he usually does, and asked me to pass this along to you guys. Hope you can help him somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 @Lord Varys We've tried to fix it -- we had failed to make some updates to the Facebook Login app that were needed over the holidays. I've tested and it seems to be working correctly for me, in any case, but let me know if Grey Wolf has any issues with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilac & Gooseberries Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 The system keeps logging me out every ten minutes or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
$erPounce Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Am I in the right place here? Is there already one general topic for the House of the Dragon? I didn't know where to put news or general discussions. At the moment, new announcements, rumors, and discussions are posted in topics of news articles posted by Westeros.org itself. This is not really ideal, as it can sometimes go off-topic. Perhaps now is the time for a forum for House of the Dragon as well. We are going to hear a lot of rumors soon, or discuss how one would adapt X or Y from the original book. We need a good place to discuss this, and I hope you will consider it. I had thought of this forum structure should you create a House of The Dragon forum: Quote Forum group: HBO's television adaptations. - Forum for news articles about Game of Thrones, House of The Dragon and other projects. - Game of Thrones, General (which has recently been merged with the Open Discussion forum?) Subforum "Casting" Subforum "Dothraki" - Game of Thrones, discussions older episodes Subforums for all seasons, including season 8 which has now ended. - House of The Dragon, General - House of The Dragon, forum for discussion of episodes (once season 1 premieres) Subforums for each season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) On 1/24/2021 at 7:35 PM, Lilac & Gooseberries said: The system keeps logging me out every ten minutes or so. Still an issue or has it resolved? If not, have you tried restarting your browser? Clearing the westeros.org cookies and logging in again to see if it sticks? Afraid I've had no other reports of this, and I certainly don't have the problem ATM. @$erPounce Yes, we'll be starting a HotD sub-forum soon. Thanks for the suggestion for how to organize. Not quite sure we'll do it that way, but maybe. Edited January 26, 2021 by Ran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilac & Gooseberries Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 2 hours ago, Ran said: Still an issue or has it resolved? If not, have you tried restarting your browser? Clearing the westeros.org cookies and logging in again to see if it sticks? Afraid I've had no other reports of this, and I certainly don't have the problem ATM. I will delete the cookies and keep an eye to see if it happens again. Thank you! Ran 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted March 3, 2021 Share Posted March 3, 2021 @Ran, Random question. I changed something in my signature a few days ago, and when I go to edit my profile it still says it's changed, yet my old one keeps showing up when I post. Is that typical? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugacator Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Hello, i have registered an account, but it seems like i have not gotten the confirmation email. Any help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 On 1/26/2021 at 12:57 PM, Ran said: Still an issue or has it resolved? If not, have you tried restarting your browser? My new cell phone all of a sudden does not recognize my Westeros account. My old phone still lets me in (I can use it with the wi-fi at home) and my computer works fine as well. However, I can't remember my password. I thought I had it recorded, but I can't find it. How do I change my password? Can you tell me what it is, send me a pm? I'm afraid to sign out, worried I will never be able to sign in again. I looked at my profile, and there is no provision for changing passwords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 18 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said: How do I change my password? Can you tell me what it is, send me a pm? I'm afraid to sign out, worried I will never be able to sign in again. I looked at my profile, and there is no provision for changing passwords. Click the drop down arrow next to your name at the top left of the board (next to your profile picture) and select account settings. Or click here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 6 minutes ago, Ran said: Click the drop down arrow next to your name at the top left of the board (next to your profile picture) and select account settings. Or click here. Ooops, missed that. But the problem remains - it asks me for my current password, which I can't remember. There is no "Can't remember" setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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