Community Feedback: how can the site improve?

[xyzzy]

Has the search engine for the forums changed recently? I've had a hard time searching for threads or posts using keywords lately. I have noticed that when I type the names of threads they are not appearing as top results as they used to. This happens even if I use the exact characters that make up thread titles.

Below is an example, I searched "One-Answer WCA Competition and Regulations" which is an exact character for character match of the "One-Answer WCA Competition and Regulations Thread" without the "Thread" but it appears as the 8th result which is annoying, makes navigating the site harder and overall less enjoyable.

I actually quite like the Threadloom search results when searching for post contents. But like you say, it's not that great when it comes to searching for threads by their titles.

I think that we should abolish the character limit in profile posts, or at least extend the limit, as long as the post is on the poster's profile.
Dealing with a 420 character limit is somewhat frustrating when you're trying to say something important and can't fit it all into one post, and while I realize that this is probably to protect from spam, I think that we should have a bigger character limit or limit based on word count, or even abolish the limit outright.

I don't know how many characters are in the average word, but it's probably about 6 or something, so if we multiply that by 500, we get a few thousand. Then, rounding that up to a power of two gives a 4,096 byte limit.

If it's really important, you can make a thread about it, or a post in a relevant thread. If it's not important enough to warrant a thread of its own…

420 characters is a bit limiting, especially if you like flowery prose, but I also don't see much of a reason for extending that nearly tenfold.

 

[cuberswoop]

You know the views per thread thing? It would be pretty neat if right under that you put the individual views. Just a thought.

 

[White KB]

You know the views per thread thing? It would be pretty neat if right under that you put the individual views. Just a thought.

A wee bit confused as to what you mean by "individual views". Do you mean the number of individuals who have viewed that thread, or the number of individuals in that thread, or something else?

 

[cuberswoop]

A wee bit confused as to what you mean by "individual views". Do you mean the number of individuals who have viewed that thread, or the number of individuals in that thread, or something else?

My thought is the first one.

the number of individuals who have viewed that thread

 

[ender9994]

Is anyone else having an issue resizing imbedded photos when posting on a cellphone (Android 12)? Every time I click on the image to try and drag it smaller it automatically de-selects it.

 

[Deleted member 36445]

it should be possible to delete / edit own posts on other users profile, also to delete our own threads on main forum

 

[Deleted member 36445]

I don't know if it's just me, but the notifications update is not that much reliable. Sometimes it updates without refreshing the page, sometimes not

 

[qwr]

Is anyone else having an issue resizing imbedded photos when posting on a cellphone (Android 12)? Every time I click on the image to try and drag it smaller it automatically de-selects it.

This is a difficult thing to do on any forum while on mobile. I would suggest manually specifying an image height/width.

 

[Imsoosm]

I don't know if it's just me, but the notifications update is not that much reliable. Sometimes it updates without refreshing the page, sometimes not

Same for me, but I don't think that's too much of a problem.

And if any of the mods/admins still look at this thread, I want to suggest that you can delete polls in your thread. Currently, once you post a poll, that poll is stuck to your thread. You can't add any new polls or delete your old one, unless you delete your thread/start another poll in a new thread.

 

[gsingh]

Same for me, but I don't think that's too much of a problem.

And if any of the mods/admins still look at this thread, I want to suggest that you can delete polls in your thread. Currently, once you post a poll, that poll is stuck to your thread. You can't add any new polls or delete your old one, unless you delete your thread/start another poll in a new thread.

@pjk

 

[pjk]

Is anyone else having an issue resizing imbedded photos when posting on a cellphone (Android 12)? Every time I click on the image to try and drag it smaller it automatically de-selects it.

Can you explain in more detail so I can replicate the issue?

I don't know if it's just me, but the notifications update is not that much reliable. Sometimes it updates without refreshing the page, sometimes not

Can you explain in more detail so I can replicate the issue?

Same for me, but I don't think that's too much of a problem.

And if any of the mods/admins still look at this thread, I want to suggest that you can delete polls in your thread. Currently, once you post a poll, that poll is stuck to your thread. You can't add any new polls or delete your old one, unless you delete your thread/start another poll in a new thread.

Since this is quite rare, simply report the post and request to remove the poll and one of the moderators will delete it.

Keep the feedback and suggestions coming, we're constantly looking for ways to make the community better. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 36445]

Can you explain in more detail so I can replicate the issue?

sometimes I get notifications without refreshing the page, sometimes not
it's unreliable

in some cases I have 0 notifications but if I refresh the page I get various notifications right away

 

[baseballjello67]

sometimes I get notifications without refreshing the page, sometimes not
it's unreliable

in some cases I have 0 notifications but if I refresh the page I get various notifications right away

100% Agreed.

 

[Thom S.]

Interesting, I've never had this problem. The notifications update fine for me.

 

[White KB]

Bring back copy-and-pasteable scrambles please! I can't use them anymore!

 

[pjk]

sometimes I get notifications without refreshing the page, sometimes not
it's unreliable

in some cases I have 0 notifications but if I refresh the page I get various notifications right away

What browser are you using?

Bring back copy-and-pasteable scrambles please! I can't use them anymore!

Can you elaborate on what you mean here?

 

[White KB]

Can you elaborate on what you mean here?

Whenever I go to the rankings for a certain week’s event, I often click on scrambles to copy-and-paste them into csTimer or something similar, but since it switched to an automated message (a pop-up which says, “Speedsolving says, ‘1. Scramble 1, etc.’”), there’s no way to do that anymore. There is a workaround for the current week (copy-and-pasting from the manual entry page), but unfortunately there’s no way to do this for scrambles from previous weeks anymore. I could see possibly checking the source code for each week’s scrambles, but for my school laptop this is impossible since my school has disabled that feature.

 

[Deleted member 36445]

What browser are you using?

Chrome 105.0.5195.125 official version, 64 bits

 

[GenTheSnail]

Whenever I go to the rankings for a certain week’s event, I often click on scrambles to copy-and-paste them into csTimer or something similar, but since it switched to an automated message (a pop-up which says, “Speedsolving says, ‘1. Scramble 1, etc.’”), there’s no way to do that anymore. There is a workaround for the current week (copy-and-pasting from the manual entry page), but unfortunately there’s no way to do this for scrambles from previous weeks anymore. I could see possibly checking the source code for each week’s scrambles, but for my school laptop this is impossible since my school has disabled that feature.

I would recommend asking @Mike Hughey in the designated Weekly Competition Website Thread

 

[Mike Hughey]

Whenever I go to the rankings for a certain week’s event, I often click on scrambles to copy-and-paste them into csTimer or something similar, but since it switched to an automated message (a pop-up which says, “Speedsolving says, ‘1. Scramble 1, etc.’”), there’s no way to do that anymore. There is a workaround for the current week (copy-and-pasting from the manual entry page), but unfortunately there’s no way to do this for scrambles from previous weeks anymore. I could see possibly checking the source code for each week’s scrambles, but for my school laptop this is impossible since my school has disabled that feature.

This is weird. I'm using Firefox - I'm not sure what you're using - but I am able to copy and paste the scrambles from that pop-up. I'm curious why you're not able to.

Just an example I just now copied and pasted from that pop-up:
Clock week 2022-32:

1. UR4- DR3- DL0+ UL4- U2- R5- D5- L1+ ALL3- y2 U3+ R1- D5- L3- ALL0+ UR DL UL
2. UR4+ DR2- DL4- UL0+ U2- R2- D5+ L0+ ALL1- y2 U2- R4- D4+ L1- ALL2+ DL
3. UR3+ DR0+ DL2- UL2- U5+ R3- D4- L6+ ALL4+ y2 U6+ R1- D4+ L1+ ALL6+ UR DR DL UL
4. UR0+ DR5- DL4- UL3+ U1- R2- D5- L5- ALL5- y2 U4- R4+ D2- L4+ ALL2- DL
5. UR1- DR2- DL6+ UL3- U4+ R5- D4- L2+ ALL5+ y2 U1- R6+ D5+ L4+ ALL4+ UR DL UL