share.triangle.com - compliments and complaints - Comments

Hmmm... 75 cookies here and counting

Java55 — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:26:53 -0400

Besides the animated graphics slowing the place down whenever they are in multiple abundances here, in the last hour or so this evening I have noticed that so far 75 cookies have been placed upon my computer from just this site alone. That's a whole lot of cookies for just one site!!!

Maybe these could be part of the problem why this place is so slow too?

User input: Share server speed

Java55 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:27:22 -0500

Today I noticed the animations in the ad graphics have been scaled back some and as a result the speed at which the pages now load has increased. I think we're headed in the right direction. Keep up the good work.

Now the main other thing left slowing the place down is waiting for the expanded menu column on the left to collapse each time a new page is loaded. Maybe the main menu items could have something similar to the 'alt' tag where just bringing ones curser over these items would display what's listed without having to expand into a whole field, but only expand into a whole field if clicked? This way the menu on the left can be loaded completely collapsed to begin with and thereby save even more time with every new page view. Just a thought here, hoping this small change is possible.

I assure you, we're working on it

mwilliam — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:08:49 -0500

Thanks for your comments and feedback. I can assure you, we are working on these issues. It's my main priority. Thank you for your feedback and I hope you will continue to let us you what you think.

Aahh, I'm such a sucker ...

breakPRranks — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:56:56 -0500

... for a conspiracy theory! Why, I'll bet those McClatchy folk have even consulted with G. Gordon Liddy on this.

Somewhere over other side of the ditch from Oz

Java55 — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:10:23 -0500

It seems the link called 'My Profile' which is just to the right of the 'Log Out' link --> (sometimes you need to clear your cache and history, but NOT your cookies and then reload after logging in (or upload a photo and wait for your browser to return) in order to see it) --> goes to exactly the same page as just clicking on your username here.

Seems to me like they are trying to cache the pages on our computers to help speed up the place... But! Its those new ads (which are not cached) that pop up the next time a new page sloo...oowly loads that actually is the real speed-eating culpret here. I think if records could be made this place would win hands down for being the slowest website on the planet -- even New Zealand's slowest ISP is much faster on its busiest day of the year!

As for the covert thingie you mentioned, I believe that psychological part of it might be right. I'm picturing a group of psychologists with their eyes glued at their monitors 24/7 making observations and taking notes... kinda like wolves eyeing a grassy knoll covered with a huge flock of totally lost sheep somewhere in those Canterbury hills overlooking Christchurch, NZ. ...but I wonder if they know about the Wizard of New Zealand and his unusual taste for fried wolf? I think his house burnt down a couple of years ago after getting a hold of one that had too much fat content. (Tongue pressed firmly in cheek here too.)

The missing link

breakPRranks — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:45:27 -0500

Hey, Java, you're a loyal participant in share.triangle: tell me, do you have problems finding a link to access your profile?

When I log in from the share home page, the result logs me in, but leaves me with a home page that has no link marked "profile." I've given feedback to the blokes who manage the site, and they've acknowledged the problem and fixed it. But the fix lasted all of about 48 hours.

Am I the only user who feels like share.triangle.com is run like a covert, military psychological operation intended to obfuscate and frustrate the public? It's a moving target, perpetually changing, and failing as it does. Is this just my computer, my operating system or browser/settings that are to blame?

And the speed issue! It's absurd. How is it that 99 percent of commercial websites seem to deliver complex content with relative ease, but the N&O just can't seem to do it no matter how much time they've got to resolve the issue?

See! I'm so befuddled by these phenomena, I'm seeking validation from other users. That's dreadful. I'm not sure if it speaks more poorly of me, or the News & Observer.

There's gotta be a grassy knoll haunting share somewhere in the background. Perhaps it's time The Independent investigated The N&O. (Yes, my tongue is set in my cheek, if you were wondering.)

Scripted and animated ads are killing this place!

Java55 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:25:19 -0500

May I suggest using non-animated ads and without the use of a lot of scripting? This would increase the speed at which the pages load here tremendously and people who happen to find this place will keep coming back more regularly. Plus the decrease in bandwidth used to display the ads will more than cover any increased bandwidth used by more visitors interacting here, and with more visitors here there will be more people who will see the ads which help to pay for this place too. Logical enough?

Salaries

Myra — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:49:51 -0500

As a tax payer, I think you should also include city and county employee payroll information just as you have for state and university employees. (City of Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham/Wake/Orange County)

General use of semi-private galleries

mntnlvr — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:09:48 -0400

I still would like to have the option to volontarily uploading photos only to my semi-private gallery but the concept could be used in a more general way to limit the number of photos a single user could display to the public gallery in a single day.

Given today's photo uploading activity on this site, and borrowing from restrictions on posting photos to flickr.com groups, a maximum of 3 photos a day could be allowed to any single user for posting to the public gallery. Uploading extra photos would be allowed but they would only be displayed in the semi-private gallery of the user through the link "view all my photos".

That would take care of not cluttering the public gallery with a series of photos of the same event or location. It would take care of future growth in uploading activity where the restriction could become 2 photos a day or even a single one per user in the public gallery, or a variable number depending on the day's activity!

It would be one step towards "flickrisation" where the site structure is based on the individual user photo album rather than on the general site stream at 2000+ uploaded photos a minute. In other word closer to a distributed database than to a single one.

Then, a link could be provided between a photo displayed in the public gallery and the same photo displayed in the semi-private gallery, and the other way around.

Bernard

Login problem bypass, Edit problem understood

mntnlvr — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:21:10 -0400

Recently, I wished I would not be sent to my profile when logging in, instead staying within the forum thread I had been reading when I decided to log in. Today, I realized the easy bypass for this problem was to go back one page in the browser after logging in! Of course, the logon process could do that for me but it doesn't look like a smart software solution!

I had also complained that there was no edit link in some of my previous forum entries. I think I understand the logic behind it now, not sure it was intended though. The edit link appears only when one of my entries is standalone (with no reply), or if it is the last reply in a reply chain...

Is there a good reason why I should not be able to edit my first or intermediate entry in a chain?

Bernard

Good! Another use for the semi-private gallery

mntnlvr — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:40:52 -0400

I like the idea of not flooding the public gallery with a series of photos on the same event or location. One solution would be to provide the upload option I suggested for photos of no or limited general interest, such as the ones intended to illustrate some technical photography problems and solutions in a forum.

That new upload option/flag would make the photos visible only in the semi-private gallery of the user, that is the photos seen in "all my photos".

In your case, the best picture or the most representative in a series would be uploaded as usual for the public gallery, the rest of it uploaded with the semi-private option. In the description/body of the public photo, you would invite the viewers to go to your own gallery to see the rest of the series. This would be a simple solution, a more complex one would provide a link to your gallery in the description of the public picture, but the "see all my photos" link is already on the same page...

Bernard

Another photo gallery idea

Java55 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:11:32 -0400

Sometimes I find that one photo isn't enough to show a place or event, etc. If it is possible it would be nice to have an option to upload photos in such a manner that they could be posted in a series of up to say 10 photos max (with captions) under one main picture. I know in my case there are a number of related photos I would like to upload and have posted under one main picture so as to not fill out the whole top row of photos on the main page as I can imagine this might irritate others here to have their photos bumped to pages farther back without much time for easy exposure. Is something like this idea possible here with a bit of work on the current software running this place?

Backups

Java55 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:45:39 -0400

As for photos online, number 1, always save backups (multiple copies on multiple CDs if possible) first! Then it's always nice to have some of your better shots at a place in cyberspace more local to where the shots were taken. As for those big photo storage websites, occasionally they do go belly up without much warning of their impending demise until they post it on their websites. I have been through one that went belly up so far and another one that is currently in the process of going belly up. And if you've got years worth (and many multiple GIGs) of photos online one definitely needs to be saving those backups as they go along! I do feel sorry for those folks who have had years of photos uploaded to ImageStation.com as they are now in the process of going belly up and it's like everybody and their brothers too on the planet who have accounts there are all (or perhaps 99%) trying to rescue their photos at the same time and we all know what this will do to a server! I'm glad I saved backups all these years as I went along! As for all those poor folks who didn't... getting through their server is like trying to evacuate a whole country through a small pin hole! I do feel for them!!

Thanks for Listening, More Suggestions

mntnlvr — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:36:17 -0400

Thank You Dan for showing you are keeping track of our frustrations and for affirming your commitment to improve the site!

- One small problem in the forum edit window seems to pop up once in a while, then disappears. That is the keyboard delete key becomes disabled and I have to backspace from the end of a string of characters to delete that string. Would someone tell me if my computer or browser is doing this? I have seen it in Hotmail before but not as often as in these forums.

- Speaking of forums, when I am reading a forum topic and decide to log in to participate, I wish I'd be back in that topic window after logging in, instead of getting into my profile from where I have to navigate again to the topic of interest. That may be a general statement, just leave us where we are when we log in!

- A wish for the photography forums:

When I insert a photo in a forum, I don't want to point to an external web site hosting that photo. So far, I picked existing photos in the gallery and that worked fine. However, in the photography forums, it would be interesting to show some pictures with no general interest but technically instructive, possibly bad pictures before and after touch up, blurred and sharp, too dark, too bright, you get the picture... These photos could be posted with a "semi-private" flag which would not get them displayed to the public gallery but would make them appear in "all my photos" of the user. That way, they would still get a URL on the site and could be copied to a forum with no problem.

- Now, if we could click on a photo in a forum and open it in the gallery where it comes from, public or private, that would really swing! That would be a way to go back to the original size and look around.

Thanks again for watching!

Bernard

These are helpful comments

danbarkin — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:22:14 -0400

We're trying to work on the problems you're raising, aaa000, mntnlvr, michellerb and everyone else. We aren't getting to them fast enough, I know. But this is something we are talking about every day. I agree that speed is a problem, and we are not happy about it.I can say for certain that your comments are the thing that will help us make the case for what we need to make the site run faster. I am also planning to set up a general users meeting this month.

Honesty being the best policy, I can tell you that it bugs me when stuff doesn't run as well as it should, and I am committed to make it better. I can also tell you that you are all smarter than me. Many of you have a lot of experience in technology. Me, I have a lot of experience in journalism. But we do have people here who are techies, and amid the 90 gazillion punchlist items they have on all the systems we are trying to improve every day, this site is a high priority. My job is to keep it at the top of the list. Root for me.

compliments and complaints

aaa000 — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 10:16:10 -0400

I have been reading Your Triangle.com in the N&O and finally made over here to share.triangle.com. I have been checking it out and have a few suggestions.

1. It is very slow. It takes a long time to load a new page and I am using a cablemodem. I cannot imagine anyone on dial-up would be able to use the site at all. This is probably the biggest reason people don't participate more or come back.

2. Is it necessary to track each page view of every user? I am a statistics junkie and even I think it is a bit much. Maybe if all the tracking was stopped the load on the server would lighten and the performance would improve.

3. Have a link to the last post in threads (topics) in the forum list. To see the newest posts in the Comic thread, I have to click on the thread...wait...wait...scroll down...click Last...wait...wait...scroll down. Sometimes the "click Last" hangs and my browser crashes (I am using Firefox).

I have been reading Your Triangle.com in the N&O and finally made over here to share.triangle.com. I have been checking it out and have a…