Traffic here on the Forum has increased dramatically over the past year. While this is a good thing, it is causing some strain on the 5-year-old software that's under the hood. We would welcome suggestions and discussions on what you would like to see/not see in a revamped Forum.

-- Tom Jupille

I think that one of the useful options might be ability to cut and paste images (chromatograms mainly)and some reprints (if this is not violating any copyrights)

How about the ability to make the forum searchable so people can look up similar problems to those they are encountering.

It would be very helpful to be able to view discussions from a specified range of dates.

Hi Tom,

Granular e-mail notification would be cool. Ask a question get answers in your e-mail inbox. Ability to subscribe to e-mail notificaitons by, entire forum, topic, subtopic, thread, or none.

Ability to reply by email would also be cool.

I also prefer a flat view, most threads are short enough that a threaded display just gets in the way.

Enforcing a pseudononymous username to post would make replying to a specific post in a flat view easier.

Thanks, for looking into this.

Early in the game, we were reluctant to put any barriers in the way of posting, which is why we left "Anonymous" posting enabled (well, OK, that and the fact that this old version of Discus is confusing if we disable Anonymous posting; the check box is still there, but the program then complains if you use it). With the increase in traffic, I agree that having all the Anonymi is making the threads hard to follow.

The question: if we enable registration and allow only registered users to post, would this unduly inhibit participation?

To Anonymous: In principle, you can attach graphics to this board; the problem is that doing so is awkward (to say the least!). While there have been a number of occasions where the posting of a chromatogram would have made a solving a problem easier, easy uploading/posting of graphics opens up a host of potential problems (from pornography to viruses).

At this point, unless there is strong feedback from the user community, I'd rather disallow attachments.

To Rob Burgess: the Forum *is* searchable (select "Tools . . . Search by Keyword" from the menu on the left). A number of people have complained about the ease/effectiveness of the search, but that's why we're looking for feedback.

My personal experience is that the Forum is about as good (or bad) as other boards that I frequent. If you can point me toward other sites that do a good job, that will give me additional points of comparison.

Hi Tom,

I think that this is a very important post if we are thinking to change the forum goes.

I agree with Rob in the way that I didn't know that it was possible to search by a specific topic.

I also agree with you in the way to not to add attachments to prevent banners attacks.

Related with Anonymous post sometimes I use it just to prevent no relations with other previous posts. If we should be registered before posting it wouldn't inhibit my paricipation.

Thanks for all Tom

Attachments: pornography? Now that would be some interesting curves !!! I never would/ve thought of doing that (and my wife already thinks I'm a pervert). I just felt it would be nice to attach chromatograms in a way easier than current, which is awkward, at least to me.

I agree with Tom M on the Anonymous posting. When several people have posted using Anonymous, it can get tricky to identify who you need to respond to and can make feedback from those anonymous posters difficult to track.

The issues with having registration are that it often requires the use of a valid email address, which is then shown on screen and there are many people who are reluctant to identify themselves or their companies. Some of the topics are of a sensitive nature and could lead to repurcussions for those companies if they were identified - you don't know who's looking in on these posts and they could be regulatory investigators.

I haven't had course to need to attach a chromatogram or anything, but feel sure that we are a responsible enough forum to notify Tom J of any abusive/off topic posting so he could remove it.

Other forums I have seen, on different topics use software like Invision, vBulletin and others. These allow expanded threading, etc.

An example of very robust forum software has been employed here: http://discussions.playnet.com/index.php

Despite it being a game related site, I assure you that these guys are operating on a very modest budget. They are moderated by volunteers, there are different requirements for posting in various parts, they do allow pictures, but you can't upload them, so people have to find hosts for anything they can't just link to on the web.

The forums are searchable by author, keyword, and section. There is also a private messaging system and you can search for 'posts since your last visit' etc.

check this out!

http://www.chromforum.com/

That would appear to be this site under a different name.

how about,

phpBB (free?)

vBulletin

although the latter is charged, it's used all over the place afaik

yes and you got the seach options and other things.
Before I was useing:

http://www.lcresources.com/discus/messages/board-topics.html

insted of:

http://www.chromforum.com/

I had that problem in the past - I bookmarked the message pane, instead of the website. I use http://www.chromatographyforum.com/ to get here.

This bring up a good point. A solution that doesn't use frames would be nice. I hate frames, they make e-mailing links a PITA and break the browser's back button. Good luck in your search for software.

This is a forum that I visit regualary, I feel pretty good with the use of it. But I have the same with Chromforum.

http://www.dissolution.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1

After giving some thought to the most important issues..........

1. Should load quickly. I check the forum at home and don't have a high speed connection.

2. Should be easy to distinguish new posts.

3. Should be easy to check on new material in posts visited in previous session.

Make it easier/faster to see new posts and I will
check on the forum more ofter and likely contribute more often.


What is all the problem with annon. posting!? If people want to have a secret identity then post under some alias. The former "Chrom God" was a notable (notorious) example. People use anon. because it has been made easy to do so. Remove the temptation.