The display change
Why did y'all eliminate the branching conversation format in the forums? Logged in today only to find it's gone now & all the comments are in a simple sequence instead. I can't find my place in a convo anymore.
@slowdecline48 What did they do? Everything is all screwed up?! I see Pines name but no message?
@Heather225
@slowdecline48 Thanks for this post. This change seriously messed up. Forum convos all make no sense right now with whatever just happened. Plus it happened without any prior information, at least as far as I know.
@exuberantBlackberry9105 "without prior information" indeed. You're welcome, yeah...after logging in & getting discombobulated by the sudden format change, I had to say something about it. So I decided to say it here. Also mentioned it in one other thread, after I got the notification for the latter. Figured there was less chance of anyone important missing my message that way.
@slowdecline48 Thanks for speaking up, honestly. They seem to have made some changes, so it's a tiny bit better now, though I feel, not as good as it used to be...
@slowdecline48It's all gone a bit wierd today. I see so many 7 Cups pfp's too, and some from people that haven't been active for years? It makes them look official!
@CheeryMango @Tommy @AffyAvo @Heather225
Yes!!!!!!
I agree
I don’t know what’s happening or why they did it it looks so weird and now some posts you can’t see at all idk it feels kind of unfair ):
@iloveyouxx *nod* 😞
@LoveMyMoonflowers @iloveyouxx Hi. I'm glad the two of you showed up & responded. The more of us doing so, the better. Teens & younger folk are welcome to chime in.
@slowdecline48 Hey, I think you're right that the more of us that say something, the better. And if you'd like us teens to join in, I'm happy to, because I think this issue is affecting and confusing people of all ages, including teens.
Hey, everyone. I hear your frustration and want to reassure you we're actively working on a solution. Thank you for hanging in there and for your patience with us as we get things back to running smoothly ASAP ✨
@Heather225
Thank you !
@Heather225 thank you H.
@Heather225 That's a relief. I was wondering if Glen knew about this.
@Heather225 Good to know you are aware of the issue 👍
I would like to report that notifications about answers in threads stopped working, too 😕
@jacek73 What? 😕 Really? I'm still getting notifications, as far as I can tell...Jesus on toast. 🤦🏼♂️
@slowdecline48 Thanks for your message. Yes. Seems to be OK right now, though within previous 48 hours I've had some answer notifications missing (I had to check the threads I was in manually).
Thank you! Hang in there. We’ll have this all fixed up as soon as possible.
@Heather225
Someone must pose the necessary quiery: why was the comment thread format changed to begin with?
The old format worked fine as far as I could tell. It never gave me any difficulty & I could find my place in a convo every time I returned to it. From what I saw, the vast majority of members could use it competently...thus the above question. It would be nice to know the reason for all this.
My guess was that it's a back-end thing. Are changes necessary because of more members joining & the platform has to be scaled up? Is it a database issue of some kind, or...?
@slowdecline48
I like the previous reply format in forum \('-')/ in which we can automatically see the previous replies, and then when we click the notification of us bring mentioned, it will take us directly to the post, instead of taking us to the main thread. Then we need to manually scroll to see the exact post.
The previous replies format & structure in the forum was ok, why it has to be changed? ~('-' )~ 😭
@VictoriaLove7 😕 Been wondering about that over here, too...
@slowdecline48
Let's ask those in charge to revive the previous forum format \('-' \)
We sign petition 👉👈🤓 maybe?
Is revive the right word for that?
@VictoriaLove7 It has a ring to it. The only problem is I don't know how to start a petition on a platform like this one. Let me get some rest first...might be more capable after I wake up. (Am seriously sleep-deprived atm)
@slowdecline48 rest well!
@slowdecline48
We put the link for the petition (vote for previous format of forum) & then people of Cups click it.
To see the result of the petition, we need to click and see the external link \(^-^)/
@VictoriaLove7 I see. Thanks...gonna do some quick research here & then make one, if I can do it right.
(Sorry...am not entirely at home with today's technology. I still build things out of wood using mostly hand tools, which is terribly 19th-century)
@slowdecline48
That will be awesome, Slow! ᕙ(⌐■_■)ᕗ I have never done a petition but I have filled in some online petition & it is easy for people to fill in and we get to see the result
PS. If you need to rest right now, because you said previously that you were going to rest, it is no rush, tomorrow will be okay (..◜ᴗ◝..)
@VictoriaLove7 It may or may not be necessary now....update will be posted in a little bit.
@VictoriaLove7
I don't know if making a petition would violate any of the community guidelines or be considered off-site. I am going to tag @heather225 for some clarification.
@HopieRemi
Thank you for checking, Hopie! 🐷\(^-^ )/
@slowdecline48 I think that's the question on everyone's mind. The previous format worked out fine, I and many others liked it so much better, why'd it have to be changed? That too without telling us beforehand and without any explanation?
Even now that so many people are upset about this change, we don't have any real explanation as to why all this happened. And most people say they liked the previous format, so why the sudden change? What really happened?
Thank you for posing this question, @slowdecline48. I hope we get an explanation soon. I'm here waiting for it. I'm a very curious being and hungry for answers. I'm trying to be patient, I really want to know.
Ikr, I don't like this new update 😕 😔
@rationalGrapefruitq Neither do I.
@exuberantBlackberry9105
Yeah I find the update to make navigating the forums a bit tedious and I am not huge in threading in most forums.
@HopieRemi I totally agree that navigation is harder now in forums. I miss the previous format, honestly.
I wish it was possible to switch between formats. Some forums have multiple skins for this reason.
I have to agree that the new format is very confusing. It involves a lot of extra clicking to see the flow of the conversation. Messages that look blank aren't. Entire conversations seem to be reduced to a single comment. I think it's much easier to follow a conversation when you can see it. And as others have said, it's hard enough to find individual comments in these forums, and now it's even harder.
@GoingInCircles365 Totally agree!
Hi, everyone - I want you to know that our technical team is doing everything they can to resolve these forum issues as quickly as possible. I'm very sorry for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused you. I know these interruptions are frustrating but I appreciate your patience. ❤️
@Heather225
Thanks for the update. 💜
A few days ago you mentioned Monday as the target date for getting things fixed. I assume that's no longer happening--which is okay; it is what it is and everyone's working as quickly as they can.
Is there a new target date? Or should things just be left open-ended for now and we'll stay tuned for a post notifying when things are fixed enough that it's worth re-checking issues to see what's still outstanding?
@QuietMagic
Our lead dev has been heads down working on it all day today. I unfortunately don't have a timeline because there's multiple interconnected issues he's addressing but I will be checking back in here with you guys to issue updates and check to see what's still malfunctioning.
@Heather225
Gotcha, thank you!
@Heather225 Thanks, it's good you're putting out these updates. I am curious as to why this whole situation occurred to begin with. It seems like some kind of back-end issue, involving what is behind the website. If I could only talk to one of your tech guys...
Is it database structure? The coding of the Cups website itself? Does it have to do with the increasing population here; new members have been joining up for as long as I've been here & surely they were before I heard about Cups. No online population can increase on a platform indefinitely without adapting the platform to function with the increased load, so to speak. Is that what's going on here?
@slowdecline48
Yes, it is a scaling issue in relation to the database. We are trying to balance performance with usability. In this case they are at odds. A user would ideally have access to the entire thread very quickly with all of the parent child relationships open by default. In some threads this could be tens of thousands of posts that recursively need to be queried. At a small scale this is no problem. As it grows it becomes ever more complex and memory and processor intensive. Our team is working on a fix now that should be able to strike the balance but it will be a bit longer so please bear with us ❤️
@Heather225 If it's an issue with having trees minimized I'd rather we just go back to not even having that option and increasing the number of pages per thread.
@AffyAvo That's a possibility, though some of us would get used to that more easily than others. Would that actually help the system function more quickly & efficiently, is what I'd like to know...
Yesterday I talked to one of the Community Managers. The reason why the forum/thread structure suddenly changed is somewhat like I'd guessed:
There has been a fairly steady increase in members for a while now. The Cupsian population is significantly larger now than when I joined over two years prior. Of course it was growing before O discovered Cups. The platform itself is working under an increased (& increasing) load...basically this makes an overhaul of the platform necessary. The sudden thread change is a symptom of this whole operation.
I made it clear to the official I talked to that we would like the old branching thread structure restored. She said that while that cannot be guaranteed, she too would prefer it since it was simpler overall & that, hopefully, when the technicians are done with the system revamp we will have something similar to the old thread structure in place.
As I am currently grappling with chronic health issues (again), I won't be too active for at least the next couple days, & probably longer. Will check in here when I can. Thank you for reading.
@slowdecline48
Thank you, Slow \(^-^)/ for discussing the branching issue in replies in forum & to tell the management that we want the previous version restored 👉👈\('-' \) 😭
@VictoriaLove7 Apparently they brought out a sort of updated version! It's branching like before, but now it's a bit more compact in width. I can go with it. 👍🏻
@slowdecline48
yayyie! \(^-^)/ Thank you, Slow! it's branching & when we clicked on the notification where we are being mentioned, it will automatically scrolled to the exact post with our username in it \(^○^)/
@slowdecline48
Thanking you for conveying our concerns & thanking Heather & the crew who work to keep the branching format \(^-^)/
@slowdecline48
@VictoriaLove7
🥰 Appreciated! I will pass the kind shoutouts on to our dev. If anything ever gets wonky unexpectedly again, you can always tag or PM! Thanks again!
@slowdecline48 thanks, and, hope your health issues improve soon 🌞
@MistyMagic They never really "improve"...they just calm down until they feel like acting up again. 😒 Yours is a nice thought, though.
