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Just a silly query. My perception is that there are fewer discussions taking place on the Forum and also fewer “likes” being indicated in the Gallery since the website upgrade. Do other people feel the same?
I don’t have any evidence this is the case though – its just my memory suggesting this is true, but I could be totally wrong. Happy to be proved wrong.
I agree the BAA site has been quite quiet over the past couple of months, though traffic on this site has always been rather variable, and midsummer is usually a sleepy period.
So, I’m not overly concerned and I suspect what we really need is for a naked-eye comet to come along. 🙂
But of course, if there are reasons why people are finding it difficult to contribute, please do let the website operations team know – either on the forum, or by private message. We can’t promise immediate changes, but we will certainly give serious consideration to any feedback we receive.
Hi Dominic
I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating. As this text is being entered I am helpfully informed You can use BBCodes to format your content.
There is no indication what BBCodes are, nor any obvious way of using them.
IWBNI we could have a few buttons which, when pressed, underlined the selected text, inserted a hyperlink and so on.As you can see, I have memorized a few of them …
Added in edit: even then, I was unable to work out how to use the [ URL ] tag properly.
I think the weather and the fact that it is, supposed to be Summer may have an impact. People are on holiday or working in the garden.
I haven’t posted anything lately simply because the Weather has been awful. When the Sun does shine, the skies are usually crystal clear, but I’m at work. And it’s not really dark enough to do any Astro-imaging or visual observing.That said. I do like the new look Webb site.
Regarding BBCodes I find this site useful. I generate the relevant example, copy and paste it into the text and tweak as appropriate.
David.I guess the point is whether the overall site traffic has dropped off as well. If the updates have fallen more than the overall views then perhaps there is an impediment.
Personally I do find I’m ‘liking’ less frequently. The reason is simple, the need to login every time to do anything other than just view. On the old site I could idly scan through the gallery when ever I felt like it and ‘like’ images there and then because the old site kept me logged in. Nowadays I have to log in to do anything. This takes me away from the gallery to login and then go back to to the gallery to find the image again before ‘liking’ it. Often its just too much faff!
There may be a psychological element here, if it had always been this way perhaps I would not be saying this but as it is I feel this is definitely a backward step.
Is there any possibility of retaining logins? After all the BAA is not a bank, the security implications are not profound particularly since even when logged into the site if you want to change your SheepCRM details it is necessary to login to that separately.
Seconded, though it affects me a little less because I tend to leave the tab open 24/7. That’s feasible on a desktop machine in a private home.
Overall I don’t think there has been a significant change to the site traffic. There has been an absence of new articles recently, but we often get gaps then a run of articles in quick succession. Comparing June this year with last year we have about a 25% fewer visitors but about about 20% more page views. These kind of fluctuations are pretty much inline with what I’ve seen previously, for example June 2022 had 15% fewer visitors and 20% fewer page views than May 2022.
With regards to the login not being remembered this is to do with WordPress rather than SheepCRM. I can add a request for remaining logged in to a list of changes for consideration. It is possible some prefer not being left logged in permanently, though I can see it can be a barrier. I was already in the habit of logging out before closing down my computer and then back in when I visited the website, so I’ve not noticed the difference.
I think David’s point is a good one. I much preferred the previous behaviour where, once you were logged in on a particular machine, you were logged in forever. I know that it is only a few extra clicks but it does mean that there is more of a barrier to replying and interacting with content than there used to be.
Sorry, always have something more to say after I hit the “Send” button (and there’s no “Edit” anymore for some reason).
Yes, this is something else I would like to see. It is possible to edit for a short while after submission but quite a few times the edit functionality times out to early for my liking. It would appear I am not alone.
Could the period be extended to, say, 24 hours?
It is possible some prefer not being left logged in permanently
On some fora I frequent it is possible to remain log in and and also possible to tell the browser not to save the credentials. That would appear to satisfy both camps.
It would be interesting to see if there were similar postings in the forum the last time the website had a major overhaul. I suspect there was.
I think resolving the issue about having to log in every visit would be good, and if you could get rid of the page immediately after logging on which tells you that you are logging in would be good too.
I do think summer is a quiet time for the website traditionally, but like others have said, I am conscious my visits have reduced in recent times. I think some of this is down to the fact I mostly visit from my phone, and I’m yet to bond with the way the new website appears on my phone. There seem to be lots of graphics that presumably indicate different parts of the website, but as I’ve not linked the pictures to the graphics yet it all just looks foreign still. I suspect the graphics wouldn’t be missed on my iphone, and just having text links would be sufficient.
If it was possible, I’d also reinstate the option to be able to start a new forum thread from within the different fora, rather than having to somehow go back, go back, go back to the start of all fora and then click start new.
I also miss being able to click a members name or picture and being able to send them an email directly. That was a really useful feature.
I’ve not explored or done much else to comment, but overall I think I’ve not used it enough to learn my way around, and none of us like change.
We also have to remember most of this is probably undertaken by volunteers.
James Dawson
On the Good side.. we must all be grateful that the term ‘Cookies’ is not mentioned.
and the Impact of the Site upon Readers is as good as any Site I see..
As a Scousa and an old Bulletin Boards person [300/75Hertz.. No Kbs or Mbs !]
it terrifies me.. as it seem to demand an Academic Input..
which I left behind in the previous Century.. never having needed it in my Career.Upon reading this discussion earlier..
I decided that I would post an Input on ‘NLCs’.
This I did.
I noted the 4M limit but noticed there was..
No longer ‘Helpful Guidance’ as to Limit for fitting the picture to the Input..
which would have been appropriate for descriptive details.
Possibly that is now not a facility?..
I had no idea where I had seen the Helpful Phrases in the past..
so just posted as was.. so a Tiny copy was shown..I then attempted to post feedback to this discussion..
My first input Bounced with something ‘akin to’ OR ‘to the effect’..
‘No Content Identity’..
After dabbling.. and not being able to find my Input again
Seems that as an ‘Older Reader’..
I had ‘ Not seen’ the Dropdown Box..
as I guess it had not struck me that my input was anything other than
part of this discussion.
The default entry is a Blank..
which I then changed to ‘General Discussion’ or some such.Despite the little Niggles above.. we still should be proud that
we have a First Class Site..
Oh.. and the first class ‘Edge Password Memory’ enables me to access
the Site with merely CLICK/CLICK.stan armstrong
Realised I had forgotten to agree with this..
Just surmised..Copy as Highlight and then pasted..
Fingers Crossed..There we are ..Failure..
How do I get a lovely BLUE filled in quote?
AND
Is not a Forum such a means for additional inputs??
especially as that very Concept in the past was so helpful..
e.g
i had no idea they had Invented ‘Hidden Lower Case Links’
there were none such back in the day.
but thankfully behind the scenes a helpful well informed member
could be relied upon the quick easy way.Re the reporting of NLC Here in Crawley West Sussex I maintain a constant Naked eye watch through out the NLC season. Not the best sight in the world ; 12 street lights impact the garden and also all the Lights from Gatwick and associated parking facilities to the NE are not very helpful. I however; over the last 30 years of observation I have achieved quite a few sightings each year. In the beginning I was encouraged by my friend the late Neil Bone and latterly by Ken Kennedy and Sandra Brantingham. I post images when good enough on the BAA Gallery and send them to Ken And Sandra also Space weather.com. Space weather has a dedicated page for NLC which is good guide to activity as seen from Europe and the USA.
NLC are slippery bests emerging and vanishing as you watch .
The forum is useful for an exchange of ideas and information .
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