Let’s Give the Forum a Whirl

At the top of the page you will see a new tab–FORUMS.

I had mentioned numerous times this was coming and now it is here. I have ‘played’ with it for a few weeks and think I understand how it works.

If anyone would like to use it we can all learn together the positives (or negative) of using this instead of the old system in the right hand column.

For now I will leave the old system in place.

So I have set the ‘Forums’ up with the broad topics we have had for a long time. If you click on a forum you will go to the ‘topics’ page where either you can scan the topics one of you set up–OR you can start a new topic within that forum.

You MUST have a name and email address to start a topic, comment on other topics–nothing new here–you can use the same credentials you use on the main website. Of course if you are using some alias credentials I think it will work.

To get full functionality it would be helpful to use a legitimate email–because you can SUBSCRIBE and get notices when someone responds to a post of yours etc.

The search function on the top of the page will search by topics, keywords OR contributor.

I have set up the system to give the same 5 minute edit window after you post.

This forum is set up with the same ‘spam’ filter–which does a great job removing spam–sometimes too good as I restore maybe 5 comments a week that get caught in the spam filter. In this regard believe me that I would rather have it a little too aggressive than the opposite. Personally I have only seen 1 spam message get through in 2 years.

Who wants to be a guinea pig??

25 thoughts on “Let’s Give the Forum a Whirl”

  1. I, too, an confused by the new Forums. When Tim solicited feedback on a potential forum software, a number of people expressed the hope that any new software would include RSS capabilities. That does not seem to be the case with the new software. I hope this can still be rectified. Tim’s website is so fantastic. It would be a shame to lose the ability to easily follow comments.

    Jay

  2. I don’t understand this one, either. I am pretty sure what it is *supposed* to mean is ‘number of people (unique count of users) posting to this thread’, but that’s clearly not what it’s doing.

    Tim?

  3. Re: FORUM
    Anyone understand what “VOICES” means ?
    Some of the threads have NO ‘VOICES’, but list posts.
    I am sure there is a simple answer, but it eludes me
    Appreciate guidance to clarify
    Howard

    1. Howard,
      Haven’t noticed that yet, but I see people talking about RSS feed , now even after Googling the term, I still don’t understand what that means. Guess not computer literate.

    2. I don’t know either. Thought at first it meant ‘number of people contributing to the thread’ but that’s clearly wrong. Maybe it’s performing an AI scan of the thread and evaluating how many differing opinions there are (hahaha).

    3. I don’t know either. Thought at first it meant “number of people contributing to this thread” but that’s clearly not the case. Maybe it’s performing an AI scan and evaluating how many different viewpoints are represented in the thread (hahaha)?

    4. I don’t understand this one, either. I am pretty sure what it is *supposed* to mean is ‘number of people (unique count of users) posting to this thread’, but that’s clearly not what it’s doing.

      Tim?

  4. Terminology (I have just made this up to make clear what I’m talking about in the rest of this post):
    – Forum–the page where Tim has posted the Forum, https://innovativeincomeinvestor.com/forums/
    – sub-Forum–the categories Tim has set up in the Forum, such as “Canadian Chat”, “Common Stock Chat”, “Reader Initiated Alerts”. Tim set these up to have the same name as the existing topics pages on the III site (the list you see under “Additional Links” in the right nav). Only Tim can set up new sub-Forums.
    – [sub-Forum] Topic–a thread within a sub-Forum. Anyone can add a new sub-Forum Topic. Once a Topic is set up, anyone can reply to it. When you view a topic, you can see on one page all the posts for that Topic.

    My experience is that the Forum as it’s currently implemented does *not* show me which Topics (threads) I have posted in, nor does it directly show me whether those Topics (threads) have any new posts since my last visit.

    The Forum *does* show me a) how long it’s been since something was posted to a given sub-Forum, b) the user who made that most recent post, c) the total number of Topics (threads) in that sub-Forum, and d) the total number of posts to that sub-Forum.

    And when I drill into a sub-Forum, I can see the current list of Topics (threads) in that sub-Forum, plus all the info above for each of those [sub-Forum] Topics (threads).

    And when I drill further into a sub-Forum Topic (thread), I can see all the posts in that Topic, listed chronologically.

  5. Tim – with discourse rearing its head in Reader Initiated Alerts regarding potential use of the Forum sector as a more appropriate area for some discussions, I have to confess that as the Forum stands right now, I don’t understand how it’s supposed to work or how it is working now…. Before today, I had not tried the Forum because imho, it’s in “beta” status and just like with computer software or OS upgrades, I don’t normally risk using beta versions… So as it is right now, is it possible for a post to shows up in the Forum section and nowhere else on the site? I would hope that’s not the case…. My understanding is the Forum, thru beta testing will eventually either replace the current set-up or be abandoned.. Is that right?? In the meantime, if I choose not to experiment with the Forum will I possibly miss posts on this site?? BTW, I may be wrong, but I don’t think posts to the Forum are currently being picked up by feedbro…. Does anyone know if that’s really the case and/or whether or not I have to adjust feedbro to pick up Forum posts?

    1. 2WR, No worries on RIA. Citadel was correct. That thread started by someone and I added too much without switching. My bad and I actyally agree with Citadel There is no problems. I thought about saying it there but I didnt want to gum it up more. And besides I knew if I didnt Larry would jump in and I always love his posts.

    2. Tim can explain if I am wrong, but a “forum” is completely self contained. The forum software will show you which threads you have posted in, and whether they have any new posts since your last visit. No more “checking” threads for new posts.

      Also, there is no reason for a forum to need an RSS feed. I sincerely hope that most of the chit-chat polluting the existing RSS feed will go over into the forum, so that the RSS feed becomes much more on-topic.

      Gridbird, you flatter me by proposing that you consider whether your posts are on-topic before you make them. That’s the most laughable thing I’ve ever seen from you.

      1. Thanks, Larry. Clearly I need some edukayshun when it comes to forums. For example, in this forum right now I see no way to see which threads I have posted in or whether or not they have had any new posts since my last visit. Am I supposed to be able to do that right now or is that how it’s supposed to work eventually? Is it just me or are there others here who’ll need to figure out how to get comfortable with Forum mode?

        1. Well that’s how most forum software works. Tim will have to comment on what he has implemented here.

        2. Terminology (I have just made this up to make clear what I’m talking about in the rest of this post):
          – Forum–the page where Tim has posted the Forum, https://innovativeincomeinvestor.com/forums/
          – sub-Forum–the categories Tim has set up in the Forum, such as “Canadian Chat”, “Common Stock Chat”, “Reader Initiated Alerts”. Tim set these up to have the same name as the existing topics pages on the III site (the list you see under “Additional Links” in the right nav). Only Tim can set up new sub-Forums.
          – [sub-Forum] Topic–a thread within a sub-Forum. Anyone can add a new sub-Forum Topic. Once a Topic is set up, anyone can reply to it. When you view a topic, you can see on one page all the posts for that Topic.

          My experience is that the Forum as it’s currently implemented does *not* show me which Topics (threads) I have posted in, nor does it directly show me whether those Topics (threads) have any new posts since my last visit.

          The Forum *does* show me a) how long it’s been since something was posted to a given sub-Forum, b) the user who made that most recent post, c) the total number of Topics (threads) in that sub-Forum, and d) the total number of posts to that sub-Forum.

          And when I drill into a sub-Forum, I can see the current list of Topics (threads) in that sub-Forum, plus all the info above for each of those [sub-Forum] Topics (threads).

          And when I drill further into a sub-Forum Topic (thread), I can see all the posts in that Topic, listed chronologically.

        3. Hello 2WRR,
          Couple things, I posted in on the conversation yesterday, but I have to agree with Citadel I probably shouldn’t of contributed to the thread going off topic.
          Second I did notice the conversations quieted down a bit with the new forum format. As for seeing if new posts pop up I find the list of new posts over on the right has greatly helped me seeing new posts.
          Unless its my imagination I noticed if I click on a post to read it I have noticed the time line of recent posts isn’t up to date on the right so I have to keep going back to the home page to see if there are any new posts. Again could be my imagination.
          Reading SA this morning I like or hate the feature that the bell shows if someone commented on my post or recent comments on a article I was following. Maybe if we had to sign into the forum we could get alerts like that.

          1. Yeah, I don’t see an easy way to follow forum activity without the RSS feed. The forums have multiple layers that you have to drill down to and I’m certainly not going to remember the last time I checked each one.

            1. Hi Karma,
              I just posted to the reit forum and am not that computer literate, so to post I put my name and e-mail in but the box asking for website didn’t make sense so I copy and pasted this one in the box.
              guess it was correct, as the comment posted.
              But WOW so happy, just now noticing my name and e-mail had auto filled for this post. Saves me so much time filling out for each post !

              1. Charles M, I’m sure I’ll have no trouble posting if I want. My point is that it’s not easy to see when anyone else has posted on those forums or keep track of what I’ve already seen.

            2. Agreed. It is easy to keep up on these type posts using my RSS feed reader. Not so for forum posts

      2. And just who determines what goes where. What about people who just enjoy posting in this thread and reading it in a RSS feed?

        Unless forum posts populate here as well or vice versa trying to segregate some posts to the forum and some to here just adds unnecessary steps and complications. No one wants to have to check two places for topics of interest.

        Now if we get to the point of these threads going away and everything is posted in the forum, that is different. but right now people are going to post where they are comfortable and where the action is

    3. I am running Chrome in MacOS, and Feedbro is picking up posts in the Forum for me. I navigated to the Forum main page, chose ‘Find Feeds in Current Tab’ from the the Feedbro widget, and turned on the “Innovative Income Investor » Let’s Give the Forum a Whirl Comments Feed”.

      That gives me an undifferentiated feed of all activity on the Forum, which admittedly may not be what you’re looking for.

  6. a suggestion,if its easy to implement

    you may want to make people register for the forum before posting rather than just let people post using an email address etc.
    that will cut down on the spam (I already noticed a garbage post in the REIT forum)

  7. Me, me, me!

    Having forum experience going all the way back to 1980 and including setting one up and performing admin duties on several I think the format will work just fine for this group.

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