Poll

Are you interested in an EEVblog Mastodon server?

What's a Mastodon?
47 (41.2%)
No, don't waste your time!
24 (21.1%)
No, but don't care if there is one
16 (14%)
Yes, and I'll use it.
11 (9.6%)
Don't care at all
16 (14%)

Total Members Voted: 114

Author Topic: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?  (Read 7779 times)

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Offline RoGeorge

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #50 on: November 27, 2022, 01:26:32 pm »
Never seen a site use SMF 3 because it's not released, right?

My bad, sorry, not 3, forgot what version it was.

I've installed something on a RaspberryPi two years ago, it was a beta for the next SMF release, the major difference was a new WYSIWYG editor that can drag and drop inline pics, but the pics were inserted as base64 text instead of being attached.  Another thing to the new editor was that it was not preserving the spaces, turning double spaces after a full stop into single space, and mangling spaces or tabs at the beginning of a line, and so on.

All recent web editors mangles spaces (at display time).  :-//
Just curious, can XenForo display consecutive spaces?

Online Jackster

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #51 on: November 27, 2022, 02:05:35 pm »
There is a whole bunch of stuff to consider, even down to how Google would handle the indexing of the old posts if the system changed.
Massive decision even to try it out I think. It would need a lot of user backing.

Google handles redirects quite well. It will remove old links and replace them with new ones when it sees a 301.
All can be done with some .htaccess or redirect rules. This will help with other places on the internet and local threads still linking to older URL formats.

BRB going to try it out. Got the afternoon off anyway.

Offline voltsandjolts

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #52 on: November 27, 2022, 03:02:28 pm »
If switching from SMF to something else, perhaps setting up a demo server (to be wiped after a month or whatever) and invite all members with ?K+ posts on this forum to try it out and give feedback.

For me, I like things as they are.
But if the backend is causing headaches then something needs to be done.
 

Online EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #53 on: November 28, 2022, 01:15:57 am »
All recent web editors mangles spaces (at display time).  :-//
Just curious, can XenForo display consecutive spaces?

Don't know, but it copies and pastes HTML and images very nicely IIRC.
 

Offline wilfred

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #54 on: November 28, 2022, 03:38:23 am »
If XenForo improves site searching then it would be worth considering a change for that reason alone.

Why not set up a test mirror of the forum on it so users can check it out and give feedback. Should you change you are going to have to test out migration of existing posts and all the other back room stuff. May as well crowd source some of it.

You could try migrating the XenForo copy back to a second SMF server and create a test suite to compare the original forum contents to the twice migrated copy to help identify problems.

I checked out the XenForo site and the first thing I read was this "Bypass your IT department and have your community up and running in minutes with a XenForo Cloud subscription featuring the complete XenForo software suite."

That's a very '90's attitude to corporate IT where everyone with a PC thought IT was a pain and they could set up a local solution to better suit themselves. It's a red flag to advocate that sort of approach these days.
 

Online Jackster

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #55 on: November 28, 2022, 08:42:25 am »
Ignore their cloud service. It is designed and billed for idiots.

I just tested SFM to Xenforo and it went well. Granted we are talking 20-30 posts.
The only issue was media files. Going to test again as I know there was a directory error the first time.

Offline RoGeorge

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #56 on: November 28, 2022, 09:45:45 am »
All recent web editors mangles spaces (at display time).  :-//
Just curious, can XenForo display consecutive spaces?

Don't know, but it copies and pastes HTML and images very nicely IIRC.

Found a XenForo based forum, the FreeBSD forum.  It mangles spaces, one of the first things I've asked:
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/formatting-double-space-mangled-into-one-at-display-time.83785/

Its look can be very close to SMF, indeed.  From the cons, it bothers me that it copies the format, so if I copy/paste text from a webpage it will replicate the text format in my reply, which I never need in fact, but that is easy to avoid by copy/paste with CTRL+SHIFT+V instead of CTRL+V.

A little too modern for my taste, with a lot of email, and alerts, and subscribes, and notifications, and thanks + likes (has two types), etc. but most of the annoyances and hypes can be disabled by the end user, at least in the FreeBSD forum.

The way I'm browsing here is by 'Show new replies to your posts.' first, then by the 'Show unread posts since last visit.' links.  I don't know if XenForo has a 'Show new replies to your posts.', I miss that on any other forum, in FreeBSD I have to click on the notifications bell first, then a submenu opens and have to click on eack topic, one by one, very cumbersome in comparison with EEVblog.

Another feature that I use plenty here is the "Ignore topic" check box.  It can help a lot, thought other forum platforms don't have it or don't activate it.  Here it's easy to ignore rant subjects, or titles one doesn't want to read unintended many times while looking for what's new.

FreeBSD is mostly a support forum for the FreeBSD operating system, so inclined to a Q&A board, but with forum format where the order of replies is preserved.  Social interactions and off topic are discouraged, so for other social interactions there is a twitter-like feature (I don't have twitter, only assume it's twitter-like because it's limited to 100-200 characters).  That can be deactivated too (by each user) if not wanted.

Don't know if XenForo embed pics as base64 text, didn't try, but it can embed them inline (by default, no need to post then insert links in the just posted text, as in EEVblog).  This come at a cost, the editor has to take some decisions for you, so you may find yourself fighting against the WYSIWYG editor quite often, though that might be only my fault, because I'm new on FreeBSD and don't know how to properly use the XenForo editor.  Preview before posting is accurate in XenForo, while on SMF is not.

Don't know if XenForo has mathjax, I guess it's possible.  No idea if XenForo/plugins are free or if they are open source.  Their webpage https://xenforo.com/ is full of bloatware and meaningless emphasizing words, that's a bad sign to me.

No idea about long term availability, or how easy is to migrate the database, or administer, or to moderate in XenForo.




To sum up, FreeBSD/XenForo (https://forums.freebsd.org/) is more eye-candy, but I prefer EEVblog/SMF because it feels less bloated, and more straightforward to use.  EEVblog let me focus more on the content, without flooding me with all kind of webdesign glitter.

I like this forum as it is, and wouldn't want to see SMF replaced by XenForo here, on EEVblog.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2022, 09:58:19 am by RoGeorge »
 

Online Jackster

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #57 on: November 28, 2022, 11:37:20 am »
So we can move to Xenforo as long as there is a basic theme for the boomers with no WYSIWYG editor :-DD

The new editor in 2.2 is quite nice btw. https://xenforo.com/community/threads/text-editor-and-attachment-manager-improvements.181715/

Offline RoGeorge

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #58 on: November 28, 2022, 11:57:02 am »
So we can move to Xenforo as long as there is a basic theme for the boomers with no WYSIWYG editor :-DD

No.  You misunderstood.  Both SMF and XenForo have WYSIWYG editors.
EEvblog will switch from SMF to XenForo or maybe to something else only if Dave decides so.

Offline PlainName

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #59 on: November 28, 2022, 12:25:00 pm »
SMF has that 'Print' button which allows export of a multi-thousand-post thread to a single text page. Invaluable for finding stuff or even just refreshing ones rememberance of what went on months/years ago.

I just looked at the example XenForo site (FreeBSD) and couldn't see anything like that. Lots of stuff for filtering threads but sometimes you just want the entire thing in a form you can let non-web tools have a go at.
 

Offline jonovid

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #60 on: November 28, 2022, 03:17:42 pm »
 It seems EEVblog is sprawling in all directions
food , pets threads & now social media tools, may also include pick-and-place machines & other high volume manufacturering tools
do we add EEVblog merchandise to the list?
 :popcorn:
Hobbyist with a basic knowledge of electronics
 

Online Jackster

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #61 on: November 28, 2022, 03:35:54 pm »
So we can move to Xenforo as long as there is a basic theme for the boomers with no WYSIWYG editor :-DD

No.  You misunderstood.  Both SMF and XenForo have WYSIWYG editors.
EEvblog will switch from SMF to XenForo or maybe to something else only if Dave decides so.

This forum does not have WYSIWYG enabled though...
That is why I made the joke comment, as you are preferring this older BBcode style text editor over the newer WYSIWYG standard of editor you tried in a newer version of SMF and Xenforo because it does not double space after a period and you prefer it not to copy formatting, even though you can just paste without formatting as you rightly pointed out.

Pretty much everything you have said in terms of features, Xenforo can do stock or with an addon as well.
Mathjax as far as I know, all you need to do is set it as a custom BBcode and get Xenforo to render it correctly in HTML. Pretty sure this is done with Javascript...

Offline RoGeorge

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #62 on: November 28, 2022, 04:05:47 pm »
This forum does not have WYSIWYG enabled though...

Click on the last button in the EEVblog's reply editor, the icon with a mouse cursor between square brackets (when hovering over it, it pops a "Toggle view" balloon).  When clicked, it switches the reply editor to WYSIWYG mode, e.g. try adding a numbered list and it will appear formatted.
 
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Online newbrain

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #63 on: November 29, 2022, 03:17:37 pm »
Quote from: RoGeorge on Yesterday at 17:05:47>Quote from: Jackster on Yesterday at 16:35:54
This forum does not have WYSIWYG enabled though...

Click on the last button in the EEVblog's reply editor, the icon with a mouse cursor between square brackets (when hovering over it, it pops a "Toggle view" balloon).  When clicked, it switches the reply editor to WYSIWYG mode, e.g. try adding a numbered list and it will appear formatted.
But it will mess with quotes, wont'it?
Nandemo wa shiranai wa yo, shitteru koto dake.
 

Offline magic

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #64 on: November 29, 2022, 03:36:59 pm »
Quote from: newbrain on Today at 16:17:37
But it will mess with quotes, wont'it?

LOL, it will.
I have wondered why some people post like that, now it's clear.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2022, 11:10:10 pm by magic »
 

Online EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #65 on: November 29, 2022, 10:54:11 pm »


Quote from: newbrain on Today at 01:17:37 am>Quote from: RoGeorge on Yesterday at 17:05:47>Quote from: Jackster on Yesterday at 16:35:54
This forum does not have WYSIWYG enabled though...

Click on the last button in the EEVblog's reply editor, the icon with a mouse cursor between square brackets (when hovering over it, it pops a "Toggle view" balloon).  When clicked, it switches the reply editor to WYSIWYG mode, e.g. try adding a numbered list and it will appear formatted.
 
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Offline RoGeorge

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #66 on: November 30, 2022, 08:57:28 am »
Well, I never said SMF works better, did I?  ;D
I still like it the most, from the all that I've tried.



Another thing that I miss at XenForo is that it doesn't write the title of the thread at each post.  You have to scroll to the top of the page to see the subject.  This is very annoying if you first open all the new answered topics, then start to read the tabs one by one.  You have to first scroll up, or else from the middle of a page you won't know what topic are you reading.  There is an empty row above each post in XenForo, with only the date, would be useful to write the title there, too.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2022, 09:17:22 am by RoGeorge »
 

Online artag

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #67 on: December 29, 2022, 02:39:48 am »
I don't use it myself, I'm all-in on Twitter.

Good luck with that. I wonder if the last remaining techie kept a backup ?

https://xkcd.com/905/
« Last Edit: December 29, 2022, 02:42:58 am by artag »
 

Online EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #68 on: December 29, 2022, 02:46:12 am »
I don't use it myself, I'm all-in on Twitter.
Good luck with that. I wonder if the last remaining techie kept a backup ?

Works fine for me, engagement is up, followers are up, features being added, Musk continuing to talk about video and monetisation.
Any creator who abandoned ship is a fool and will regret it.
And I'm about to win my public bet with Chris Gammell who said it would fail.
 

Online artag

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #69 on: December 29, 2022, 02:54:39 am »
Not talking about usage - it's broken worldwide on many platforms as of this afternoon.
 

Online EEVblogTopic starter

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Re: POLL: Any Interest in an EEVblog Mastodon server?
« Reply #70 on: December 29, 2022, 05:26:08 am »
Not talking about usage - it's broken worldwide on many platforms as of this afternoon.

Not broken for me, and the #TwitterDown trending tag is barely getting any traction.
Not the first time I've seen Twitter go down or have an error, happened many times over the years. Haven't seen it happen once since Musk took over though. Not implying it's more stable under Musk, just that I haven't seen it go offline, and I use it a lot.
 


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