Forum changes

[Sim]

It did make a difference to the page loading speed, the page finished loading very quickly.  I don't mind you leaving that advert on the blog, the loading speed is more of a problem for me on the forum.

[Halichoeres]

@dinotoyforum thank you, got it!

I see you in the top posters list, but your avatar doesn't load there. That's odd!

[DinoToyForum]

@dinotoyforum thank you, got it!

I see you in the top posters list, but your avatar doesn't load there. That's odd!

I noticed that, it might be because that avatar is linked to by url. If @5aurophaganax tries uploading it directly to their profile I think it should appear.

[Concavenator]

@Halichoeres @dinotoyforum Fixed it, thanks!

[DinoToyForum]

@Halichoeres @dinotoyforum Fixed it, thanks!

Good job, looks nice. 

[Sim]

I hope I don't come across as annoying when I ask, could something be done about the forum main page's loading time?  It takes SO long for it to finish loading for me.

[DinoToyForum]

I hope I don't come across as annoying when I ask, could something be done about the forum main page's loading time?  It takes SO long for it to finish loading for me.

Is anyone else experiencing this? It loads quickly for me, a second or two.

@Sim are the two urls below equally slow for you?
https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php
https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/

Also, what device/browsers do you use and are they all equally slow. Do you have an ad-blocker installed?

[Concavenator]

I'm not having that problem myself.

[ceratopsian]

For me the site loads very quickly, whether on iPad, iPhone or desktop (Chrome).

[DinoToyForum]

It has been a week since I moved the Recent Topics to the top. It felt a bit weird at first but I've gotten used to it and think it is an improvement overall, so I'm inclined to leave it there. Does anyone still strongly oppose it?

A month on, does anyone still pine for the old forum front page layout (three columns, recent posts on the left)?

[Concavenator]

I think it's fine now.

[Sim]

@dinotoyforum, the two URLs are both slow for me.  I'm using Firefox on a Dell laptop and Safari on an iPhone 14.  Both load the forum very slowly.  I only have an ad blocker on Firefox although I still see adverts on the forum.

[DinoToyForum]

@dinotoyforum, the two URLs are both slow for me.  I'm using Firefox on a Dell laptop and Safari on an iPhone 14.  Both load the forum very slowly.  I only have an ad blocker on Firefox although I still see adverts on the forum.

Which ads do you see? I wonder if there's some conflict or loading loop with your adblocker on Firefox? Could you try temporarily disabling it to see if that helps?

I can't explain why it is slow for you on Safari on iPhone. I and others also access the forum that way but don't encounter slow loading times, so I'm not sure what I can do about that.

[Sim]

The adverts I can see are the ones for the PNSO Zhuchengtyrannus, Lingwulong and Centrosaurus, and the Mattel Therizinosaurus.  I tried disabling the ad blocker and the forum loaded in only a few seconds...  So it appears that it's causing the forum to load slowly, but then I don't understand why it also loads slowly on my phone.

[DinoToyForum]

@Halichoeres & @ceratopsian thanks for saying so, that's nice to know, even if I don't set up such a system. To be honest, I would probably feel a bit awkward about receiving money from members! I'd make a terrible businessperson.

[Halichoeres]

I have the same hangup about things like that.

[Bokisaurus]

Hi! Soooooo, its been months since I last posted photos... when I recently tried to post photos in the CollectA 2023 thread, I noticed the format for inserting images is different. I was able to post just a couple of photos, but then I wan't able to add anymore
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm no longer able to post photos, when I try to preview it just comes out as blank. Sigh.
I was hoping to post lots of photos, but it may seem like that won't happen anytime soon.

[DinoToyForum]

Hi! Soooooo, its been months since I last posted photos... when I recently tried to post photos in the CollectA 2023 thread, I noticed the format for inserting images is different. I was able to post just a couple of photos, but then I wan't able to add anymore
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm no longer able to post photos, when I try to preview it just comes out as blank. Sigh.
I was hoping to post lots of photos, but it may seem like that won't happen anytime soon.

Sorry to hear you're having trouble posting images, this doesn't sound right. I haven't changed anything or added any limits, so the same old bbcode should work as it always has. The only difference is that there's a button you can click that adds the code around the url for you (if you want to use it, personally I just manually type the [ img ] tags as I'm writing.

I notice that the image urls  you're trying to include are throwing up a "404 Not Found" error, so are you sure you're using the correct urls for your images?

There's no reason why it shouldn't work from the Dinotoyforum's side, so if anybody else is encountering issues with posting images, please let me know.

[Lynx]

Is anyone else noticing this absolutely MASSIVE tab on the side of their screen? It's very obstructive, taking up an entire quarter of the screen. There are already ads on the top, so I'm not sure why there's a vast bar now. Did I do something wrong? My entire layout seems jumbled and nobody has mentioned it.

[DinoToyForum]

Sorry, I was toying around with the forum sidebar settings. I've shifted the sidebar on the main page to the right, to mix things up a bit, and I was also seeing what the rest of the forum looked like with a right sidebar. But I didn't like it either so I have removed it.