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PostPosted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am relatively still new here, but will raise a point or 2.

M/S Edge lists this site as "Not secure".

There really needs to be some way to prevent images from being repeated and re-repeated through quoting.
This must be a massive waste of bandwidth.
Most phbb bulletin boards have built in software that prevents this.


-D.S.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

...

Last edited by Blazer0ne on Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SSL helps for SEO. Let's Encrypt offers free SSL certificate but I am not sure if it can be installed to the phpbb version we are using.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blazer0ne wrote:


Or you could keep it simple with very low cost overhead and stretch the site for another 2 decades and focus more on the fact that more fluff doesn’t always translate to more fun.

Using SSL is hardly a requirement here. Site certificates cost money as well. A cost which could go to more storage. I don’t think you have to worry about much being that the only secure item transferred clear text is the password at login. Unless there is expectation of secure transactions taking place.

HTML doesn’t need to download every instance of an image. It doesn’t work that way. Your browser will pull the image from your local cache. As long as the source image has the same name and path it will continue to do so until you clear the cache. That could be anywhere from 1 hour to 1 year. How it buffers on your screen redraw is another story.

I like the Classic look and feel of this site and frankly preferable over other pumped up sites looking to cover their bottom line. Socially over engineered with a bunch of moderators advertisements and all that.

Some things are tucked away and yes it might help to loose a layer of navigational hierarchy up top so to say but that doesn’t require any aesthetic overhaul. It nice to be hard to find.

My only concern truly being the value of datestamps on comments when we are talking about camera lenses most all of which pre date this site. Museum forum?

I see share streams which are post only to show photos.

I see micro reviews begging for feedback. Maybe even as a staggered review placing the task of the readers to be constructive with the writer about the continuation of their review.

I see common ranting or some say critiques.

Most off all this obviously presents itself better as a spread sheet in the end result but is not the answer. The comfort comes by way of the comment threads which is a mix.

In other words I don’t see any reason to continue the parts section such as lens price guide or lens review as a separate item but rather just as it’s more comfortable integrated into the forum itself as user comments.

Let it be what it is such as a classic car with all its faults and enjoy what it isn’t.


I am kind of with you. This website is plain,i.e., not ads, no flashy webpage technology, yet very useful and efficient. I am not a software person but I am happy with it. If there is one thing that I was asked for suggestions is I wish I could load photos using the mobile version.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 4:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are plenty of fluff-free phbb boards around that have valid security certificates and control over quoted images.
Let's not over think this Wink

-D.S.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

vivaldibow wrote:
Blazer0ne wrote:


Or you could keep it simple with very low cost overhead and stretch the site for another 2 decades and focus more on the fact that more fluff doesn’t always translate to more fun.

Using SSL is hardly a requirement here. Site certificates cost money as well. A cost which could go to more storage. I don’t think you have to worry about much being that the only secure item transferred clear text is the password at login. Unless there is expectation of secure transactions taking place.

HTML doesn’t need to download every instance of an image. It doesn’t work that way. Your browser will pull the image from your local cache. As long as the source image has the same name and path it will continue to do so until you clear the cache. That could be anywhere from 1 hour to 1 year. How it buffers on your screen redraw is another story.

I like the Classic look and feel of this site and frankly preferable over other pumped up sites looking to cover their bottom line. Socially over engineered with a bunch of moderators advertisements and all that.

Some things are tucked away and yes it might help to loose a layer of navigational hierarchy up top so to say but that doesn’t require any aesthetic overhaul. It nice to be hard to find.

My only concern truly being the value of datestamps on comments when we are talking about camera lenses most all of which pre date this site. Museum forum?

I see share streams which are post only to show photos.

I see micro reviews begging for feedback. Maybe even as a staggered review placing the task of the readers to be constructive with the writer about the continuation of their review.

I see common ranting or some say critiques.

Most off all this obviously presents itself better as a spread sheet in the end result but is not the answer. The comfort comes by way of the comment threads which is a mix.

In other words I don’t see any reason to continue the parts section such as lens price guide or lens review as a separate item but rather just as it’s more comfortable integrated into the forum itself as user comments.

Let it be what it is such as a classic car with all its faults and enjoy what it isn’t.


I am kind of with you. This website is plain,i.e., not ads, no flashy webpage technology, yet very useful and efficient. I am not a software person but I am happy with it. If there is one thing that I was asked for suggestions is I wish I could load photos using the mobile version.


Yes, that is desperately needed. You should be able to start a thread or load photos from a mobile device.
You can do it now, but it's a pain. To do it you need to put your mobile device in desktop mode.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What's the problem uploading from mobile device? Works fine for me. I'm using Firefox...


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

visualopsins wrote:
What's the problem uploading from mobile device? Works fine for me. I'm using Firefox...


The box for title of the thread doesn't show up. So you can't start a new thread.
No way to post pics either unless you use desktop mode.
This is on android device. Tested on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.
Tested on every version of android I've had thru android 9.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

...

Last edited by Blazer0ne on Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

walter g wrote:
visualopsins wrote:
What's the problem uploading from mobile device? Works fine for me. I'm using Firefox...


The box for title of the thread doesn't show up. So you can't start a new thread.
No way to post pics either unless you use desktop mode.
This is on android device. Tested on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.
Tested on every version of android I've had thru android 9.


Found problem location, but Attila needs to fix it. In board profile "mflenses". The board profile "mfblack" (night mode) works fine.

You can click "Profile" link at the top of the page, scroll down and change "Board Style" to "mfblack".


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

...

Last edited by Blazer0ne on Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

visualopsins wrote:
walter g wrote:
visualopsins wrote:
What's the problem uploading from mobile device? Works fine for me. I'm using Firefox...


The box for title of the thread doesn't show up. So you can't start a new thread.
No way to post pics either unless you use desktop mode.
This is on android device. Tested on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.
Tested on every version of android I've had thru android 9.


Found problem location, but Attila needs to fix it. In board profile "mflenses". The board profile "mfblack" (night mode) works fine.

You can click "Profile" link at the top of the page, scroll down and change "Board Style" to "mfblack".

I am use mfblack. Underline in links will be missing on the message body. This can be fixed by using a custom style in Stylus plugin.

Code:
a.postlink:link {
    text-decoration: underline;
    color: #bebebe
}
a.postlink:visited {
    text-decoration: underline;
    color: #bebebe;
}
a.postlink:hover {
    text-decoration: underline;
    color: #ffffff
}


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

visualopsins wrote:
walter g wrote:
visualopsins wrote:
What's the problem uploading from mobile device? Works fine for me. I'm using Firefox...


The box for title of the thread doesn't show up. So you can't start a new thread.
No way to post pics either unless you use desktop mode.
This is on android device. Tested on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.
Tested on every version of android I've had thru android 9.


Found problem location, but Attila needs to fix it. In board profile "mflenses". The board profile "mfblack" (night mode) works fine.

You can click "Profile" link at the top of the page, scroll down and change "Board Style" to "mfblack".


mfblack on mobile device ( iphone 8 ) shows the same inferace as the desktop interface (same as on PC or "Request Desktop Website" on mobile device). That does work.
But for default mflenses profile, which shows the mobile verison of the webpage, uploading photos is not an option.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with voices opposing to pump-up redesign. The current simplicity is just fine for my taste and usage. If some functional tweaks could be possible without spending too much time or messing everything around, that'll be great.

In my usual experience of the forum (which is not related to mobile devices) restoring search functionality and impoving the way of citing multiple answers would be very good.

By the way, if you type the forum's address with "https://", you'll see a message "Scheduled maintenance, takes approx one day 07.10.2017". I remember my first anxious reaction a couple years ago when the browser tempted an automatic switch to "https://", and instead of the MFL forum I discovered a forum focused on cars or something of the kind. I still don't see the way which let two different sites sit on the same address, with a difference of the protocol. But the actual lack of SSL does not seem to affect google results. While changing something essential may bring web crawlers to redefine the way they rate forum records.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alex ph wrote:
I agree with voices opposing to pump-up redesign. The current simplicity is just fine for my taste and usage. If some functional tweaks could be possible without spending too much time or messing everything around, that'll be great.

In my usual experience of the forum (which is not related to mobile devices) restoring search functionality and impoving the way of citing multiple answers would be very good.

By the way, if you type the forum's address with "https://", you'll see a message "Scheduled maintenance, takes approx one day 07.10.2017". I remember my first anxious reaction a couple years ago when the browser tempted an automatic switch to "https://", and instead of the MFL forum I discovered a forum focused on cars or something of the kind. I still don't see the way which let two different sites sit on the same address, with a difference of the protocol. But the actual lack of SSL does not seem to affect google results. While changing something essential may bring web crawlers to redefine the way they rate forum records.


Attila worked very very long and hard to get the forum top of Google search results. Google threatened him with derating when several links they had broke because of some change made to the board. This, IMHO, is the primary reason for no upgrades. Losing Google search ratings would surely be the demise.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As others have said, there was a golden decade of the rediscovery of the joys of manual lenses. The siny newness of it all has worn off, a lot of information is now out there, and the really fantastic deals are more difficult to come by. But I still read the posts and find all sorts of good info. One suggestion for this site: streamline the various boards to funnel the traffic to fewer spots.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

gaeger wrote:
...One suggestion for this site: streamline the various boards to funnel the traffic to fewer spots.


Go to http://forum.mflenses.com/ notice the link "View posts since last visit" which lists new posts from ALL of the sub-forums. Smile


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

An observation:

The proportion of images in old threads which are no longer visible is very high.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Intentions and attempts to restore test shots have been on there, by the posters. They were realized only punctually. It takes too much time and effort to search in your folders and to restore the logic of your original posting. But this also gives a motivation to post new samples from the same lenses!


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:17 am    Post subject: neoluddite rsistance to "improvements" Reply with quote

After programs and subroutines were renamed "apps" most changes to "improve user experience" and to protect users from their own stupid actions have proved less than useful.

Examples are Android phones storing aeons of sms messages (for the memory impaired?)making it hard to find recent ones and Windows making it impossible to delete their own useless programs cluttering up my computer.

The only harmless improvement here would be to allow precise, boolean operators in the search function.

Otherwise the occasional rambling posts do provide ingteresting info.

p.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The final nail in the coffin would be to discuss web page programming in main thread. Sorry, must have said it Smile.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My daughter took a course in Web Design, which meant I learned HTML. Proved to be very useful for me. I wrote a FORTRAN program to use HTML for the output files so you could view them on a web browser, including links to bring up more files. All in Fortran-77 of course.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

fiftyonepointsix wrote:
My daughter took a course in Web Design, which meant I learned HTML. Proved to be very useful for me. I wrote a FORTRAN program to use HTML for the output files so you could view them on a web browser, including links to bring up more files. All in Fortran-77 of course.


Cool! I used FORTRAN in 1968 on school district IBM1401. Keypunched the cards myself. Smile


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:28 pm    Post subject: the glue of the site Reply with quote

according to a comment above, this is getting perniciously off track, however, offfering small bits of personal info despite its lack of subject coherence may well serve to promote mutual acceptance + civility and as a glue to cement forum paricipation.(In my case i used Algol60).

p.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another possible reason; the popularity of mirrorless cameras had led to much more attention on mf lenses in the regular photo communities. So many people (including me) maybe visit a dedicated forum less often? When I started with mf lenses, I was still a bit of an exception among the photography hobbyists and professionals I know here. Now, many people have at least played with them.

Undesirable side effect; the prices of some lenses have gone through the roof!