Forum Operations Feedback Thread

Relavent Forum Feedback/Suggestion: This is an interesting Discourse Plugin (which this forum is based on):

Do we have this set up, and is it possible for all users to view the yearly review and see some of those cool stats? (If not, can we consider adding this?) I know we get some of those for all-time stats, especially for our own profile, but the yearly summary would be kind of cool sometimes just for fun.

“Most bookmarked” sounds interesting to see what people feel is most worthy of referring back to in the future, not just liking it once. I know I’m a nerd for liking stats and Data, but hey, if Discourse gives it to us, why not use it? If we already have it, can someone tell me where to see the overview of last year? Also, will it do YTD (Year to Date stats?).

1 Like

This is the worst forum software I’ve ever used, since the dial-up days of the Internet.

Everything about the UI design of the forum engine is antithetical to universal design standards. I think it’s supposed to have a “new age” look/feel, but it’s almost completely unusable.

For example:

  • The auto-loading / endless loading behavior breaks the browser scroll bar:
  • It is literally impossible to scroll to the top of a page if the first post isn’t already loaded.
  • It is literally impossible to scroll to the bottom of a page if the last post isn’t already loaded.
  • Clicking & dragging the scroll bar to the top or bottom also is impossible & useless.
  • Searching within a page using the browser’s built-in search function (Ctrl+F) is co-opted by the forum’s horrid search function, which doesn’t let you easily search within a page.
  • Viewing a discussion topic, it’s very confusing to try to understand where a topic is posted.
  • If you accidentally click the wrong thing or tap a key on your keyboard, the entire UI is likely to change and land you completely elsewhere, and the browser’s Back button doesn’t work.

Preach Danny Preach!

1 Like

My only frustration with Discourse is that it is hard to follow a particular conversation within the thread. For example, with Reddit, it is easy to follow which comments go toward which conversation. On the downside of Reddit’s format, it only has a benefit for the first couple of layers of responses, and after that it goes back to being untethered and disorganized, but it is nice at first to easily follow a thread until it gets long.

Other than that, I mostly like this forum software. A lot of the listed frustrations are fairly easily resolved with some training in how it works. I’ll see if I can help with some insights to try to make the experience a little better and less frustrating.

For example, there are 2 ways of scrolling. There is a normal grey colored scroll bar, and if one uses that, then yes, many of the listed frustrations with scrolling are accurate, however, if instead one uses the teal scrollbar, then none of the listed scrolling frustrations apply. You can immediately scroll anywhere in the thread, including to the top and bottom regardless of whether they are already loaded. It is indeed possible to scroll as one would expect by using the applicable scrolling option. The teal one is to move anywhere in the thread, and the grey one is to move a little more slowly to a more a recent comment without scrolling fast all the way to the top or bottom or to a specific post number.

Searching works pretty amazingly in this forum software too. If I want to search for something within a few dozen posts of where I am on the screen then I can use the browser’s search/find option. If I want to search the entire thread, then I use the forum’s search and select “in this topic” and I get a lot of other advanced search options too. I can use these to almost always find exactly what I’m looking for anywhere in a particular thread or the entire forum. I used to hate the forum search too, but once I learned I can use either or both and how to use them, I’ve come to really like the forum search. I use it often. If you want to use the browser search just hit Ctrl+F twice and you’ll still be able to use it for any text currently loaded in your browser. I usually use that if I know something I’m looking for was within a few dozen posts, otherwise the forum search works even better.

I can’t say I’ve experienced or fully understand some of the other frustrations such as viewing a discussion topic or tapping the wrong key, or the browsers back button not working, as those all appear to work for me, though I may just misunderstand, but I can relate to the frustration of things not working the way we expect or wish they would. I don’t know how much control Wyze has over most of those things since they are simply using a contracted piece of software, but I imagine Wyze is always open to the idea of improvements. Is there a different Forum Software platform you had in mind to suggest as an alternative to Discourse?

In the meantime, something I found helpful to resolve most of my initial frustrations with the software was to go through the training with that bot trainer thing that messages us when we first create an account. It helped me understand how to scroll and use search and everything as well. After I figured that out, I came to like a lot of things I previously thought I disliked about it.

Still, I agree, there could certainly be some improvements, and your comments are very helpful to indicate that some of the functionality needs to be improved so it is more intuitive to people and not require training for everything. I think that would be pretty valuable feedback for the Discourse software team to understand and design some things better so they work more naturally and obviously. Great feedback.

I’d consider leaving that feedback to the software makers: Contact the Discourse team | Discourse - Civilized Discussion and if they make updates those would be passed on here as well!

1 Like

This is the worst forum response I’ve ever seen, since the dial-up days of the Internet!

Kidding you both. :grinning:

I add stuff now. I use windoz and status quomium bowser.

[Home] and [End] keys bring you to Original Post and Last Post, respectively. You can also click on the date/time value (eg, ‘Nov 2018’ at top, and ‘18m ago’ at bottom) at each extreme of the thread scroll bar to achieve the same. Try [PgUp] [PgDn] and the [Up] [Dn] cursor keys for more scrolling effects.

Which of the broad categories a Topic resides in appears right below the Topic title. You can quickly jump from category to category by clicking the ‘Community’ drop-down menu that’s a persistent header while in the forum. If you click ‘Community’ itself (not the drop-down) it brings you Home to forums.wyzecam.com.

While within a Topic (like this one) once you scroll below the Original Post the Topic title header appears, and at its far left is a Home icon, which also brings you to forums.wyzecam.com.

Loads o’ fun.

eg

[details="Click to expand"]
blah
blah
blah
[/details]
Click to expand

blah
blah
blah

 

Appears to be a disorganized mess. I just want to talk or look up info on the 47 watch but it is structured in an insane manner. There should be sub forums for each product. This forum truly matches the lack of follow through with the products.

2 Likes

There is a forum reorganization in the works. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you when it will come online or any more details about the changes.

2 Likes

I just want to add my voice to those who are asking for the forum to be better organized and easier to use. Just trying to navigate to the reply button for this thread wasn’t obvious. I’m not sure I’m posting a reply to the whole “forum feedback” thread, or to a specific message.
Like others, I want to be able to pick the “Wyze watch” sub-forum. Searching for wyze watch brings up every wyze cam message that says “Watch this!”. Not what I want. I need posts that are specific to the watch.

1 Like

Like @Loki says its in the works. Try searching on “Watch 47 #ask-the-community -or- Watch 47
Once you seearch, there are additional filters on the right.

When you post ot a specific reply it will include their name on the top right of the message. They will be notified unless they have “muted” the thread.
You can also alert or address a message to one or more people by including an @ sign in front of their name. e.g. @offthegridlights

If you post using the reply on the bottom of the thread it will not be addressed to anyone specific.

Hope this helps! :slightly_smiling_face:

3 Likes

3 posts were split to a new topic: Ideas for Wyze Security System

@Loki @tomp @Brlepage
This forum reorganization fubarred my posting a “tip and trick” to getting around the “59 minute offset” limitation on sunrise/sunset.
After writing up the tip the forum software wouldn’t let me post unless I selected another “optional tag” in addition to “tip and tricks”.

I’m not exactly sure what you mean. I created a post under the Category “Tips and Tricks” and posted it, without any tags at all.
Also created a second post using tags without issue. I’ll be more than happy to continue digging into this but give me a little more info.
Personally, I’ve found tags to be problematic at times!


2 Likes

I did find one thing that I adjusted for tags but I’m going to leave the requirement for at least 1 tag. This is to make sure that people can search for relevant information to products that they use since we’re moving into a more tag-centric method of forum navigation. Were you able to pick a relevant product for your tag or was that not working properly?

2 Likes

Thanks for your time.
It seems to have been fixed.
I think the tag requirement is good.
But in my case, and only in the tips & tricks subforum,
If I tried to create a post WITHOUT the forum would complain. If I tried to create a tag when I clicked on the box it would not populate with a drop down menu of choices.
Works now.

3 Likes

You’re welcome! And thanks for letting me know. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

This is a minor convenience thing. For the last 18 mos, The “reply to this email to respond” function hasn’t worked for me when replying to a topic to which I’m subscribed.

I checked these things and everything looks fine:

Is there a Discourse error log that might tell you more?

Thanks!

I will see if I can get @Loki to look into this as he is the most knowledgeable on Discourse.

5 Likes

Hey Peep, not the favorite son anymore???

The messages you receive from the forum includes in the header a very specific Reply To in the header. This looks something like wyze+1d8a64d99b13dade8e6d379....@discoursemail.com. Your email client is replying to the From address (wyze@discoursemail.com) instead of the Reply To address. This is confirmed in the Discourse logs.

You will need to either use a different email client that properly replies to the Reply To address provided in the original email, or you’ll have to manually insert that address into your replies.

6 Likes