Hello All,
The new registration system has now been in place for several days and things seem to be returning to normal. In the first couple of days I heard from some users that had lost their connection to their previous user account. We have a fix for that. What I am asking is that if your new registration account is not connected with your old that you reply to this post and say: connect me. When I say connected to your old what I mean is does it have your user history? Number of posts read unread messages etc. So let me know so that we can fix it. -Mark
SYSOP
[email protected]
Have you updated your forum profile lately? Please Do!
Replies
I really would like an explanation as to why you have become so restrictive.
I do acknowledge that Taunton is footing the bill for all this. On the other hand our subscriptions are footing the bills for Taunton. so I think that there should be some kind of explanation.
BTW, I have subscribed to Threads for many, many years.
FrancesC
Hello FrancesC,
First let me say that I am not sure what you mean by restrictive, with that said though I am assuming you are referring to the fact that we have removed guest access.
With the old registration system, when a user entered the site as a guest, there was no way for the system to know how to handle that user, what to display to them, what subscriptions they had etc. so by removing guest access we have actually improved the experience for users. Now it is much more customized to each and every specific user.
Yes there is the down side to this approach in that we have essentially removed the ability for users to "lurk" but what we will be doing to compensate for this is, we are going to start using a feature called Active Content. We already use this some with the polls that we have on the sight we plan to expand this greatly. Active Content is software tool that will allow us to display the content of the forums on our parent site. This we feel will provide a look into what goes on in the forums and will encourage users to register and then log in.
I hope this answers the questions you had if not please let me know.
-Mark
Well, I have had my say about this so I will go away. But I find your reply self-serving and not helpful. I could not care less if you don't know what to do with me when I am on the site (not "sight"); I haven't asked you to do anything, as far as I know. And I don't want to be pigeonholed. Having a site like this publicly available is good advertising; it draws people in. If you can't see that, I guess it is your loss. By the way, "lurking" is a nasty word, and the connotations are unpleasant.FrancesC
I am new to this site & just love reading the posts so I also object to the name lurking.
Sometimes over the past days I have thought when reading a message,oh thats interesting,perhaps "put my two pennyworth in"but then thought no what can I say thats as interesting,but feel that I have nothing worthwhile to add.
Possibly lots of readers of the messages.like myself,are shy of putting pen to paper,and just enjoy reading the messages,until gain in confidence to reply to a particular subject thats of interest to them.
I replied because of the word "lurking"hence my reponse to a message.
I am going to send this before I delete it.Maureen
Maureen, lurker is pretty much universally used on line to describe folks who read but do not participate in the discussion.I'm sure that no offense was intended.
Hi, this is my first post, and wanted to respond to the word "lurking". The dictionary definition is "sneaking, or to lay in wait as if to ambush". This doesn't seem to be a harmless description. I have also been reading the posts and find them interesting, and learned from them. I don't consider myself a lurker.
Miriam
Whatever. The internet language has nothing to do with English though. LOL.
Maureen, if you feel that you have something to add to a discussion, go ahead and say it. You could very well initiate an interesting discussion. But you don't need to post if you don't want to. Just spend your time here reading whatever interests you. I have never liked the word "lurker" in this context. In real life, a lurker is a person who appears somewhere without having a good reason to be there and who may then make someone uneasy. FrancesC
Goodmorning looks as if I have unwittingly started a discussion re:lurking.
I have been so interested in all the posts,new & all the older posts as well.
This message board is like a library full of useful information,re: the post re:alteration of pants is a good example,illustrating just how subjects overlap,I shall read with interest to see how the sewer of the pants gets on,(sorry forgotton the sewers name).
Not that I want to make pants for myself,but just reading about it,& hoping that the problem can be resolved.
I need advise re: a what now for myself in clothes,as none of mine fit me,due to loss of weight,& circumstances.
But that is for another time.Maureen
As Jean notes, "lurking" is a term commonly used on the internet simply to refer to folk who read but don't necessarily contribute to an online discussion. We certainly don't use it with any intent to offend--that's why Mark place the word in quotation marks to begin with. In fact, we assume and hope that there are plenty of "lurkers"--a.k.a. guests--out there learning from and enjoying the discussions here on Gatherings. We know that these forums are much like a big room full of enthusiasts, and that there will always be those who participate silently--and we value those people, too. If you ran across a club of enthusiastic sewers who were having an informal meeting somewhere, and you wanted to sit in on the meeting, would you object to adding your name to a sign-in list?
We've recently updated the software that runs the entire Taunton website, in order to provide improved features throughout the site. Active Content is one such feature. For the features to work, though, we need each visitor to log in. Because the login process is quick and easy, and you can (usually--I'm not sure how individual security set-ups behave) set up your account to log you in with a single click, it's not a big ordeal to sign in. Since most of our visitors log in anyway, we don't anticipate that we'll alienate many people who have heretofore come in with "guest" status.
Carol
I am a newbie to this forum and I am embarrassed that I was caught "lurking" in the background. Gee I feel like a stalker now. Seriously, I usually do just read the threads. I've never had the nerve to really converse in one. I enjoy reading the posts and learn from them. Like Frances C and Sewhappy = I'm quite offended by your attitude towards those who dont take a productive part. Someone has to read and listen, if you dont have an audience then you dont have a forum.Justh
I've noted this somewhere else, but not directly to SYSOP. When I get to the Threads site, I am not, with the new system, routinely prompted to log in. If I immediately click on the Gatherings button, without logging in, my name appears under the current Member Visits list anyway, and I can post replies to other messages, etc. I thought I would need to sign in to do that -- no? Then when I go to log out, I get the message "You are currently logged in as ." I get the same message sometimes when I HAVE logged in. If, on the other hand, when I first get to the Threads site I click on the log in button at the right top of the Threads site, it takes me to a log-in place, and after I log-in I am not returned to the Threads site but instead to the Taunton Press home page, where I must then select either Threads or Gatherings. It seems like there are a couple of extra steps there that weren't there before. Can you explain to me why I can post messages without logging in, and why, when I do log in I'm not returned to where I was before? Have I done something wrong in preferences, or something? Thank you. Joan.
Hello Joan,
It appears that somehow you are logged in as "." Not sure how that can happen or why that happened so try this. Hit the logout button then manually type in the web address for Gatherings. http://forums.taunton.com/tp-gatherings
You should be prompted to log in. Go ahead and use your new registration log in be sure that you uncheck the "remember me" at the bottom of the log in page. No you should be logged in as yourself and the other login should no longer be bothering you.
If that does not work please let me know either via email or by posting here. my email [email protected]
-Mark
I'm just testing this to see if I can post without logging in after logging out as instructed above. Thank you, Mark, for your help. I'm still having problems, not being prompted to log in when I get to the Welcome to Gatherings page, but, as I said, this is just a test, and I'll e-mail you directly.
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