Changes to TCS? Am I the Last to Know?

Originally Posted by bastetservant

Well NO forums I frequent have signatures. I never even knew about them until I joined here.

But I must say that your current one, above, is just fabulous!!! One of the best yet!

Robin

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I did forget to mention most of the forums are pet forums, so of course theres signatures there

But if not having the ability to post photos, most of them at least allow a text signature, from what I've seen?

& thank you!!

In all honesty though, I associate a lot of people on here with their signatures. I'm bad at remembering whose who by just a name :/

I have a lot of TCS friends on facebook, but I usually have to snoop through their kitty pictures to figure out who they are

Other than the signature question, I hope the new TCS isn't flooded with advertisements!

I am all for change..as long as its MY kinda change. LOL I think its that whole cat lover personality thing. As long as I deem the change is ok I will accept it. LOL

Im all for a mobile version. Its a royal pain to click all the tiny buttons or links on my phone and if I zoom it in it makes it worse because Im searching all over for the dang links.

I have to admit my wanting the siggys is selfish. When I post I see Fatman each and everytime and I miss that tubbo so I love seeing my own signature because I can see him in my favorite pictures. Which is why I never bothered requesting a new one.

Originally Posted by Carolina

As a platform, TCS lacks on security IMHO - other forums have automatic step-up new user forums, with a certain number of posts you need to make before you are even able to post on Cat's lounge, or send PMs, or even begin a thread anywhere - greatly reducing SPAMs, all done automatically. For a while a new user can only navigate the New User forums - we would have much less problems that way, and the Mods too....

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That may work for other forums (e.g., for e-cigarettes), but many people join TCS in an emergency situation, for instance because of a major health problem when no emergency vet care is available or when a cat has escaped from their home, and it wouldn't be in their cats' interest to force the new members to make a number of meaningless posts before they are able to get help here.

Originally Posted by jcat

That may work for other forums (e.g., for e-cigarettes), but many people join TCS in an emergency situation, for instance because of a major health problem when no emergency vet care is available or when a cat has escaped from their home, and it wouldn't be in their cats' interest to force the new members to make a number of meaningless posts before they are able to get help here.

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I think that is an excellent point. I joined when my dear RB kitty Bob was very ill and I needed help and advice. If I'd had to make x number of posts to have a chance to post in the Health forum, I don't know that I would have bothered.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

I wouldn't worry about it. Siggies are guaranteed by the 28th amendment to the constitution.

"A well made Siggy, being necessary to the sweetness of a free Forum, the right of the people to keep and display Kitties, shall not be infringed."

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Love it!

I agree - at least for the health and behavior forums - I too found this forum when I was looking for information on inappropriate elimination - and it'd be tough for new people, under stress, to figure out 'steps in order to post'.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

I wouldn't worry about it. Siggies are guaranteed by the 28th amendment to the constitution.

"A well made Siggy, being necessary to the sweetness of a free Forum, the right of the people to keep and display Kitties, shall not be infringed."

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OH Ducman - what would we do without you YAY FOR SIGGY's. That is all I ask My cats were even bummed this morning when I told them they won't be posting along with me. We can't disappoint our furkids too

Hmmm, sensitive week, fur sure!

Here's the thing. First, I don't like secrecy, and I am all for transparency, wherever possible. Switching over to a new platform is an exciting (and certainly daunting!) step for me, and I'm sure it is for every member of our community.

As Jana explained, the only reason why we have a beta forum is to try and make sure things work properly before the actual launch. It is a limited form of the final product, and much slower, so we can't just have everyone try it out and test it out (I wish we could!). That's the only reason why only a limited number of users, mostly team members and paying subscribers, where invited. It does not mean I don't want the rest of you to - just that we can't overload it at this point. I am really sorry about that, as I said, I would love for you all to try it out, but we just can't at this point. I'll make a formal announcement on Monday (Tuesday at the most) with the official launch date, but it's not far away.

Whew, now for a couple of points which have been raised in this thread.

1. The new forums will not run on Vbulletin. I know we have several computer savvy members here who know a thing or two about platforms - so for you guys, VB4 features are not what we'll have here, nor can we have any VB hacks installed.

2. Siggies - I'm afraid the current signatures will not be imported with the forums. That said, I know how much those signatures mean to us, and I'm working on trying to restore that feature in the future (hopefully, the near future). So, hang on to those files - and I really really hope you'll be able to have them back on sooner than later. But, that said, they will not be available at the time of the launch.

I hope that clarifies some things for you guys. Again, my deepest apologies for those of you who cannot yet access the beta. I can see how excited everyone is and can more than relate to that (imagine how excited - and nervous - I am!). The only reason we can't bring in more people into the sandbox version is with load issues.

Again, I will be making an official announcement, with screenshots and everything, hopefully on Monday. Working on that this weekend (along with working on wrapping my own personal trip of five and half months in the US - we're flying back home on Tuesday!).

Thank you all for your patience! I really need your support here!

Originally Posted by jcat

That may work for other forums (e.g., for e-cigarettes), but many people join TCS in an emergency situation, for instance because of a major health problem when no emergency vet care is available or when a cat has escaped from their home, and it wouldn't be in their cats' interest to force the new members to make a number of meaningless posts before they are able to get help here.

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I agree. I found TCS when Monster first started going into seizures in 2004. It was the weekend and no vets were available. So, limiting what people have access to in the beginning isn't right (IMO forum however does need to keep the post limit).

When it comes to change, I HATE it, but I will "roll with the changes" . I will miss the siggy's as that is how I identify most people. Are the avatars still going to be there? I use the same one, except for recently when I changed to a llama.

We'll still have avatars, except they'll be bigger!

Since you're changing things around Anne, I have a suggestion. Since there is a lot of talk about cooking, why not open a separate thread for just that. We have a place for our furkids pictures and Tech Talk etc. I think a separate thread just for cooking and anything to do with cooking will be better on it's own. It should not be in the Cat Lounge in my opinion. A lot of us are just not interested in cooking.

What do others think.

Originally Posted by FleshFlowers

Signatures are my favorite part about this site :/
Almost ALL forums that I know of have signatures!

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Same here. Every one I belong to has one, adds to the "personalization" to each person who posts
[I post mostly on car and animal forums]
I really hope we'll be able to have signatures again. I love seeing everyone's unique siggies, and really enjoy the seasonal ones!

I also agree on not limiting people by amount of posts in order to post questions and seek help. I found TCS when I was concerned about our now-RB baby Tigger when she had hypothyroidism. Maybe limiting IMO and the Lounge, but all the health and behavior forums should never be off limits to people seeking assistance/advice/etc on their furbabies.

I just wanted to thank Anne for taking the time to put some issues to rest and give us all a heads-up on what to expect.

The one thing I've always had a problem with (and it may just be because I'm computer illiterate) is sizing photos. That's probably why I very seldom post a pic. If there was a way for the site to somehow resize a pic to meet the guidelines, I'd be happy.

Originally Posted by libby74

The one thing I've always had a problem with (and it may just be because I'm computer illiterate) is sizing photos. That's probably why I very seldom post a pic. If there was a way for the site to somehow resize a pic to meet the guidelines, I'd be happy.

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Photobucket which most members use resizes pictures. There's a sticky at the top of Fur pics that explains what size we require, then you just set your size on Photobucket and they all come out the same size

Originally Posted by Rosiemac

Photobucket which most members use resizes pictures. There's a sticky at the top of Fur pics that explains what size we require, then you just set your size on Photobucket and they all come out the same size

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The autoresizing is cooler though. Everyone just posts their big pics, and the forum makes all the pictures the exact same size, and if you want more detail, all you have to do is click the picture or on other forums click the "see fullsize" link on the top. Its very cool.

Originally Posted by libby74

I just wanted to thank Anne for taking the time to put some issues to rest and give us all a heads-up on what to expect.

The one thing I've always had a problem with (and it may just be because I'm computer illiterate) is sizing photos. That's probably why I very seldom post a pic. If there was a way for the site to somehow resize a pic to meet the guidelines, I'd be happy.

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Libby - I, too, am computer illiterate, thank goodness I have Larry to help me with photos, etc. I do use photobucket and it is very easy to use once you figure it out. It is the figuring out part that is the hardest part but once that is over, it is all smooth sailing (hopefully)

Originally Posted by LaRussa

Since you're changing things around Anne, I have a suggestion. Since there is a lot of talk about cooking, why not open a separate thread for just that. We have a place for our furkids pictures and Tech Talk etc. I think a separate thread just for cooking and anything to do with cooking will be better on it's own. It should not be in the Cat Lounge in my opinion. A lot of us are just not interested in cooking.

What do others think.

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Oh I would LOVE that!! Maybe in the reading section?

Originally Posted by catbehaviors

We'll still have avatars, except they'll be bigger!

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Ok, I've been to some forums where avatars take up 1/2 the screen and to be honest it really annoys me. My computer is pretty wimpy and can't handle that. Is that what you're talking about? I mean, I love seeing all the kitties, but I really don't want to wait 15 minutes for my computer to load each page. (basically I'm asking will there still be a size limit?)