Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

Small gripes with the new forum

Tags:
  • Tom's Hardware
Last response: in Forum Feedback
Share
March 15, 2013 2:44:29 AM

1.
My major gripe is that we can no longer tell if another user is online or not looking at their posts. Also which forum they were browsing through at any time.


Which is a feature I subconsciously used to prioritize which threads to reply too and monitor a bit more attentively afterward. Just knowing if the thread was probably going to get a reply soon helped. Also the ability to determine where users are at any time was useful, if the thread creator was in some other section thats a hint to me as to what may be confusing them or if they were trying to pull together a rig by asking each forum what parts to get (obviously not very efficient and great potential for mixed messages).

2.
Although its great that as a registered Toms Hardware member, I can enjoy the forums ad-free, the fact that it is told to me by a banner ad is quite annoying :lol: 
Then to almost add irony to it, the banner ad that says there are no ads invariably is advertising some portion of the Tom's website.

Would be great if that was removed or if there is an option to remove it, it be more apparent.

3.
Can no longer navigate to the sub-forum from within a thread.
Easiest example of this would be that I hang around the Water-Cooling sub-forum, which is inside the Overclocking forum. I don't interact much with the Overclocking forum at large, just sticking with the Water-cooling mainly. Its somewhat annoying that to go to a view of just the water-cooling topics I have to navigate back out to the main forum page, then back into water-cooling. The option to go to sub-forums from the directory at the top of the thread has disappeared, which I used a lot in the old forum.

Its missing a step.

Bonus gripe number 4.
This became apparent while writing this.
This freakin pop-up...

Every time I click out and then back into the text field, that pops up and if the positioning is just right, obscures what I'm writing. Maybe put that off to the right of the text field in the not insubstantial amount of white space that's there.

More about : small gripes forum

March 15, 2013 6:58:58 AM

Hi manofchalk

Regarding #3 it's a little different now because sub-categories are tags which have simply been promoted on the homepage. As a thread can have many tags, those are displayed just below the thread title.
March 15, 2013 2:59:05 PM

Quote:
My major gripe is that we can no longer tell if another user is online or not looking at their posts. Also which forum they were browsing through at any time.


Would not have thought that this would be used by too many users - though currently you can see if a user is online through their profile. You'd prefer to see this in thread view as well?

Quote:
Although its great that as a registered Toms Hardware member, I can enjoy the forums ad-free, the fact that it is told to me by a banner ad is quite annoying. Then to almost add irony to it, the banner ad that says there are no ads invariably is advertising some portion of the Tom's website.


We thought of using smoke signals or carrier pigeon to announce the ad-free change, but it got shouted down in production committee process.

Quote:
Can no longer navigate to the sub-forum from within a thread.


As lourson mentioned, subforums are heavily based on tags now, though this is a part of the navigation issues we're looking into addressing.
Related resources
March 15, 2013 5:14:09 PM

I did notice #4 as well, and while I don't make threads very often it did bug me when I did make one. It happens with the thread title textbox as well. The popups need only appear once, and should be positioned better. As you said there is plenty of space to the side.
March 16, 2013 12:08:45 AM

If the users online status can be displayed in the thread view that would be great.
March 16, 2013 3:27:21 PM

I find being able to tell if a user is online a very useful feature. Its a big miss to me. I tried on several profiles and I cant tell who is online and who is not.

Mac :) 
March 17, 2013 12:28:51 AM

Agree with Mac, I can see on the Profile page the icon that would indicate if someone is online but it doesn't seem to work except on my profile. I'v camped an active thread and when people posted I would check, apparently they log out within a minute of posting something.

Only just noticed now, but is it no longer possible to search through another users post history?
A couple times that feature has been useful to me. Mainly when looking for specific threads and don't remember the title but the people in it, or checking if the OP has any other threads so I know why some random topic might be raised out of nowhere.

Just realized that I must look like such a creep, asking for features about where people are and where they'v been :lol: .
On a non creep-related issue. Look below this post to the "related ressources:" box.
Just a small typo, unless its written in French.
March 17, 2013 1:40:53 AM

Just my 2 cents, I agree with the guys above about missing being able to tell who is online in a thread. I also used that feature to watch threads a bit longer to see if someone was waiting on a realtime reply. That's about my only complaint though.

It has also been useful at times to stalk...err search another users posts :D 

I have to say during the beta I was unsure of if I would like this version of the forums as much as the old but after going live I actually like it better. The badge system especially seems much more useful.
March 17, 2013 4:26:31 AM

jpishgar said:
We thought of using smoke signals or carrier pigeon to announce the ad-free change, but it got shouted down in production committee process.
So how long are you going to keep telling us about it? Once I know that I am Ad-free I don't need to be reminded on every page, particularly with a rather distracting box with a yellow background.

I do find, in general, that the new layout seems to be rather more cluttered, and I have to scroll down further to get to the actual meat. I am also still finding it much more difficult now to identify those threads and posts that have changed since I last read them; these two definitely make the forums less useful to me, and I am less inclined to browse them.

March 17, 2013 9:25:39 PM

I'll put in the user status online/offline addition to thread view as a feature request, since many of you would use it.

Quote:
So how long are you going to keep telling us about it? Once I know that I am Ad-free I don't need to be reminded on every page, particularly with a rather distracting box with a yellow background.


It's a pretty big change, and we've had forum ads for a long, long long time now and are quite proud about being able to remove them for registered users. I don't expect the string about the changeover will persist overly long, since it's purely informative about the switch.
March 19, 2013 4:04:40 AM

Ijack said:
So how long are you going to keep telling us about it? Once I know that I am Ad-free I don't need to be reminded on every page, particularly with a rather distracting box with a yellow background.


You will have the ability to close this layer soon.

Ijack said:
I do find, in general, that the new layout seems to be rather more cluttered, and I have to scroll down further to get to the actual meat. I am also still finding it much more difficult now to identify those threads and posts that have changed since I last read them; these two definitely make the forums less useful to me, and I am less inclined to browse them.


Would you be able to pin down some examples that could help us to improve the forum usability?
Have you tried using the "all threads" page for instance, which has some nice filters on read/tracked threads: www.tomshardware.com/forum/all.html I personally uses it a lot.

Thanks, all your comments are greatly appreciated and will help us to improve the community.
March 19, 2013 2:06:21 PM

Personally I don't like the tag's they are a very messy way of doing something that was very easy before with the different sections. you asked a question in displays and monitors that was where you looked for it.

I mean the Best answers reduced thread in Forums/Forum feed back has 7 different tags and none of them are feedback ?

I feel that the "Tags" are just an attempt at being cool and funky for no real usable benefit.

Mac :) 
March 19, 2013 2:09:47 PM

mactronix said:
Personally I don't like the tag's they are a very messy way of doing something that was very easy before with the different sections. you asked a question in displays and monitors that was where you looked for it.

I mean the Best answers reduced thread in Forums/Forum feed back has 7 different tags and none of them are feedback ?

I feel that the "Tags" are just an attempt at being cool and funky for no real usable benefit.

Mac :) 



Hi :) 

Tags have a bigger problem I foresee....

As an example, if I cut and pasted the list of my tags into that tag box.... that thread would grow drastically.... I would probably get a WHOLE PAGE for each of my posts, and so would all other veterans....


All the best Brett :) 
March 19, 2013 2:21:05 PM

I had not thought of it like that but yes I agree its not very clever.
I assume they failed to take people being people into account when they put all these things which I grant would have seemed perfectly sound and workable when sat around a table discussing it.

Its something I come across a lot at work. People will be people and there is no such thing as fool proof, Oh you can try, and I have.

Mac :) 
March 19, 2013 2:39:55 PM

There could be a hard limit on the number of tags per thread. I've never tried to find it though.
March 19, 2013 3:53:22 PM

randomizer said:
There could be a hard limit on the number of tags per thread. I've never tried to find it though.


Hi :) 

I would bet my Porsche on the fact that someone will try sooner or later.....

Probably someone, who has been banned in the past.... you know the ones....lol

All the best Brett :) 
March 20, 2013 2:07:15 AM

lourson said:
Would you be able to pin down some examples that could help us to improve the forum usability?

OK. It's a bit difficult to be precise as I don't have the old site to hand as a comparison, but let me first explain the way that I like to work. I'm mainly interested in Software questions, so I collapse all the other categories on the main page. On the old site it was very clearly indicated which sections had new posts since I last looked, and within the section the same was true of threads. As the threads are arranged in order of posting I could quickly scan through the threads until I reached the first one that hadn't changed since I last looked at it; in most cases that information fitted on a single page with no scrolling needed.

Now:

1. For starters the site is unusable with IE10 (I've reported that bug elsewhere). So I can only read it when I am in OS X, Linux, or on my iPad.

2. Although the categories can still be collapsed, that information is no longer retained, so there's no real point in doing so.

3. The "is now Ad free banner". A waste of space. I've read it once; the information could have been conveyed in a PM; now it's just an annoyance. I have ad-blockers in place so I didn't see adverts anyway; now I see this banner.

4. When you go into a category almost half of the page is taken up with header material - tags, content type, etc. This section can be collapsed but, again, that change isn't remembered so little point in doing so.

5. Flags and numbers tell me how many new posts there are in old threads (all old threads or just ones I have looked at?), but what about new threads. Is that information included? I just don't know. All I really need to know is are there new posts in existing or new threads. Yes - I can have a look at what's changed; No - I can ignore that forum.

6. OK, so now I'm in the "Linux/Free BSD" forum, for example, and I've collapsed the header. The whole first page still consists of stickies that I've seen a thousand times before. My impression is that each thread must be taking up more screen real estate. I can't remember it being like this before. So I have to scroll down to get to the posts I am actually interested in. I can't remember the stickies being quite that intrusive. Do we really need so many?

7. What's all that stuff in the left-hand column? Double-quotes, question marks. Orange flags, faded orange flags, blue flags, faded blue flags. What do they all mean? Something to do with read posts, I guess, but I can't figure out the details. And how can I see which was the last thread I read that has had no new updates?

8. One good innovation is the "New updates" in the right-hand column. But most of the rest of that column is wasted on me, particularly the animated "Latest experts" - I'm not a fan of animation on informational web pages; it's distracting.

8. Tags, etc. are of no use to me. I like to browse and, with a little serendipity, find posts that may not fit any particular set of tags that I filter by.

I appreciate that the site is designed now to have a little more eye candy, and that may well draw in new users. Unfortunately it doesn't fit the KISS philosophy that I like to work by. The previous site fitted that pretty well (although it had some very obvious flaws), but I find the new layout just gets in my way. Too many distractions, too much scrolling needed. The ideal would be a far more configurable layout, where I could hide aspects that didn't appeal to me and perhaps even have different themes for the display of threads (old-style, new style?).

You'll probably come back and tell me there's a document somewhere that explains the new layout. If so it's not obvious to me, but I'd love an explanation of what it all means. But, in the end, you should just be able to go on to a nice uncluttered site and it be self-evident how it works.
March 20, 2013 2:11:26 AM

Quote:
1. For starters the site is unusable with IE10 (I've reported that bug elsewhere). So I can only read it when I am in OS X, Linux, or on my iPad.


I use IE 10 and have not had any problems.

Edit: In fact I have used IE 10 on at least 5 different computers to access the site and not had any problems. All are Windows 7 either Home Premium or Ultimate.
March 20, 2013 2:28:00 AM

Ijack said:
7. What's all that stuff in the left-hand column? Double-quotes, question marks. Orange flags, faded orange flags, blue flags, faded blue flags. What do they all mean? Something to do with read posts, I guess, but I can't figure out the details. And how can I see which was the last thread I read that has had no new updates?



How long have you been using the forum for? All that was a part of the old forum as well.

Quotation Marks = Discussion topic, the OP isn't looking for a direct answer but a general discussion on something. Like asking for system advice, where multiple answers can all be correct and which one is best for the OP is hashed out in the thread.
Question Mark = The OP wants an exact answer, like the stock speed of a 3570k or something.
There's also a poll option which is represented by a bar chart. Fairly obvious what that's for.

A full colour orange flag means you'v looked in the thread before and their have been new posts since then. Faded means there hasn't been any new posts.
Blue is if you'v posted in the thread. If its full colour, there's a new reply, if its faded, then its there hasn't been a reply since you last looked at it.

The New Updates field on the right was in the last forum as well, except now it lists all the threads your involved in, bolding them if they have a reply you haven't seen yet.

Look for the uppermost faded orange flag?

March 20, 2013 3:18:10 AM

I'll take your word for it that those flags were in the old forums. I can't say I ever noticed them, just a simple envelope with a cross if there were no new posts. Absolutely self-explanatory.

I guess it's just me but I don't think I'll be coming back here so often. I accept that others like it, but it just doesn't work for me. Sorry for wasting your time. :( 
March 20, 2013 6:35:28 AM

This is great feedback, though as manofchalk mentioned, a lot of this was part of the previous forum. The yellow banner at the top mentioning the removal of ads is more for our newer members, so they know about the new feature.
March 21, 2013 12:39:27 AM

I appreciate that some of the points that I mention were present in the old forums, so the question is why do I notice them now when I didn't before? Part of the reason may be becaause I use the UK site, but -

Stickies; I was aware that the number hasn't changed (or has now changed minimally) but now they dominate the first page I see of a forum. Why? Because (it seems) the same material now takes up more real estate.

Flags; I'll accept that they were there before, but I never even noticed them or wondered what they meant. Why? Because there was a perfectly good way of determining new/changed posts in the form of envelopes(?) with and without crosses.

Without having the new and old sites side-by-side it's difficult to be sure but my firm impression is that the same amount of material takes up considerably more space in the new forum, which is a major downgrade. I use what I consider to be a fairly average resolution of 1280x1024 (1024x780) on my iPad and on every (or nearly every) forum that I look at I have to scroll down before I can see new material. That is poor design IMO.
March 21, 2013 1:26:06 AM

There is definitely more real estate taken by each thread. After all, tags are now shown below the titles which were never there before.

The flags used to be in a different location if I recall correctly, but indicated the same thing as they do now.
March 21, 2013 8:17:49 AM

Ijack said:
OK. It's a bit difficult to be precise as I don't have the old site to hand as a comparison, but let me first explain the way that I like to work.


Thank you VERY MUCH Ijack for this very detailed thread! This is extremely valuable and will definitely help to improve the usability. As often with usability, you can't always be right in the first place so you take assumptions and then you get feedback and analyze numbers, then you iterate again to improve :)  I'm glad to say that there will be updates of most everything you reported, in order to improve.

Ijack said:

1. For starters the site is unusable with IE10 (I've reported that bug elsewhere). So I can only read it when I am in OS X, Linux, or on my iPad.


Could you tel me on which OS you're using IE10? Can you check you are not in compatibility mode? More and more users are using IE10 everyday on the forum without any issue, so I guess there is something specific in your configuration. If we can find it, we can probably fix it.

Ijack said:

2. Although the categories can still be collapsed, that information is no longer retained, so there's no real point in doing so.

True, we'll introduce before summer a new forum homepage that will address this issue by giving much more features there.

Ijack said:

3. The "is now Ad free banner". A waste of space. I've read it once; the information could have been conveyed in a PM; now it's just an annoyance. I have ad-blockers in place so I didn't see adverts anyway; now I see this banner.

I agree. There will be in a few weeks a way to close this information banner.

Ijack said:

4. When you go into a category almost half of the page is taken up with header material - tags, content type, etc. This section can be collapsed but, again, that change isn't remembered so little point in doing so.

5. Flags and numbers tell me how many new posts there are in old threads (all old threads or just ones I have looked at?), but what about new threads. Is that information included? I just don't know. All I really need to know is are there new posts in existing or new threads. Yes - I can have a look at what's changed; No - I can ignore that forum.

6. OK, so now I'm in the "Linux/Free BSD" forum, for example, and I've collapsed the header. The whole first page still consists of stickies that I've seen a thousand times before. My impression is that each thread must be taking up more screen real estate. I can't remember it being like this before. So I have to scroll down to get to the posts I am actually interested in. I can't remember the stickies being quite that intrusive. Do we really need so many?

We are working on an updated version of this page based on your feedback as well as some others who reported the same thing. We are going to reduce the space between each thread and reduce the distractions due mainly to tags being very visible in blue.

Ijack said:

7. What's all that stuff in the left-hand column? Double-quotes, question marks. Orange flags, faded orange flags, blue flags, faded blue flags. What do they all mean? Something to do with read posts, I guess, but I can't figure out the details. And how can I see which was the last thread I read that has had no new updates?

There is a legend for all icons at the bottom of the page. I understand that this is different than before but I hope that once you're familiar with the new icons, it will be as easy for you to use the forum. I'll see anyways how we can make them more self-evident.

Ijack said:

8. One good innovation is the "New updates" in the right-hand column. But most of the rest of that column is wasted on me, particularly the animated "Latest experts" - I'm not a fan of animation on informational web pages; it's distracting.

Point taken.

Ijack said:

8. Tags, etc. are of no use to me. I like to browse and, with a little serendipity, find posts that may not fit any particular set of tags that I filter by.

I hope that you will change your mind soon when you'll discover the new features using the tagging system.
Tags have not been added to look nice but are an essential way to organize Tom's Hardware as a whole. With so many new threads and articles every day, the old categories were too restrictive. The tagging system will allow each user to discover content that matters to him on the site. There are still some pieces which are not released in order to do so, but soon :) 

Thanks again so much for your feedback, we'll work on it during the next weeks.

March 21, 2013 8:56:56 AM

Quote:
Could you tell me on which OS you're using IE10? Can you check you are not in compatibility mode? More and more users are using IE10 everyday on the forum without any issue, so I guess there is something specific in your configuration. If we can find it, we can probably fix it.
Windows 8. Same behaviour on my desktop and laptop. Compatibility mode makes no difference. I notice that someone reported the same behaviour in Windows 7 whilst others say IE 10 is OK there. Details here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1624836/bug-wind...

Thank you for you other replies. I appreciate that you are working to improve the forums all the time and it is difficult to please everybody.
March 21, 2013 9:15:51 AM

Ijack said:
Windows 8. Same behaviour on my desktop and laptop. Compatibility mode makes no difference. I notice that someone reported the same behaviour in Windows 7 whilst others say IE 10 is OK there. Details here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1624836/bug-wind...

Thank you for you other replies. I appreciate that you are working to improve the forums all the time and it is difficult to please everybody.


That's weird, I'm on Win8 x64 with IE10 latest stable and no issue. Could you try using inPrivate navigation in IE10 (CTRL+SHIFT+P)? There might be a plugin issue on both your computers if you install the same stuff on both computers.
March 21, 2013 10:03:41 AM

I also was using IE10 and when I came to the Tomshardware site the url said .com but when I selected the forums I was sent to .co.uk and not .com. This prevented me from accessing all the forum sections specificly the Modreator section. I tried everything to correct this and finally switched to Chrome and everything was back to normal. I started to think that the issue with IE10 had something to do with the beta and the proxy that I entered in the lan settings to try and use the beta. What I just did yesterday was delete IE10 and revert back to IE9 and now it's the same as Chrome and I have access to all sections as with Chrome. So if the beta was used in IE10 then that may be part of the problem for Ijack.
Today I'm going to download IE10 and see if a fresh install of that will be good and problem free.
March 21, 2013 12:53:18 PM

If you participated in the beta, you definitely want to remove any proxy settings or changes you made then, since the beta is definitely closed.
March 22, 2013 1:43:21 AM

Can you also make it so that when we click "More updates" in the New Updates box it remembers this? I usually have more than four tracked threads with replies, and I have to keep refreshing the page or switching between more and less updates (which refreshes the list as well) to see how many are left for me to look at. I'd prefer to have the whole lot shown (probably with scrollbars if there's too many though) or a configurable amount (much like the Latest News box on the home page), but at the very least I'd like to be able to display more than 4.
March 22, 2013 2:36:29 AM

Just starting to really utilize the tag system now, and I'm liking it so far. The ability to add tags to threads is actually quite good, means that if the OP has misplaced the thread you can add the appropriate tag and the thread will get the proper amount of attention.

One small thing is redundant tags, there are a few that could be cut down on and still achieve the same thing. For instance, there is no real difference between "Liquid Cooling" and "Water Cooling" unless you want to get anal about small details. Getting rid of the "Liquid Cooling" tag would make people use the much more popular "Water Cooling" tag, as I have seen a few threads just using the Liquid tag that have almost no traffic. Or maybe merge the tags so despite having different names, when you search one it brings up both.

Also with the tag system, would it be possible for a thread to appear in multiple forums?
Just that would do wonders for the diversity of opinion and cross-pollination between the different communities of individual forums. Don't know about most here, but I mainly stick to two or three forums and I imagine everyone else does as well. Having threads in common would do a lot in the ways of mixing everyone together, rather than forming more isolated groups within forums.
March 22, 2013 3:02:04 AM

Now It has been said that the tags are used to decide which badge the best answer to the question is awarded to.

When there are many more than 1 tag how does that work ?

Mac :) 
March 22, 2013 4:35:32 AM

mactronix said:
Now It has been said that the tags are used to decide which badge the best answer to the question is awarded to.

When there are many more than 1 tag how does that work ?

Mac :) 


You get a +1 for each tag towards the badge count needed to win the badge.
If a tag is removed from a thread, you get a -1 for this tag count to win the badge. You can lost your badge in such an occasion.
March 22, 2013 4:37:46 AM

manofchalk said:
Just starting to really utilize the tag system now, and I'm liking it so far. The ability to add tags to threads is actually quite good, means that if the OP has misplaced the thread you can add the appropriate tag and the thread will get the proper amount of attention.


I'm very glad to hear that! :) 

manofchalk said:

One small thing is redundant tags, there are a few that could be cut down on and still achieve the same thing. For instance, there is no real difference between "Liquid Cooling" and "Water Cooling" unless you want to get anal about small details. Getting rid of the "Liquid Cooling" tag would make people use the much more popular "Water Cooling" tag, as I have seen a few threads just using the Liquid tag that have almost no traffic. Or maybe merge the tags so despite having different names, when you search one it brings up both.


I'll let Joe answer to you on this one. Joe has the ability to merge or add tags to the tag database based on user feedback and usage.

manofchalk said:

Also with the tag system, would it be possible for a thread to appear in multiple forums?
Just that would do wonders for the diversity of opinion and cross-pollination between the different communities of individual forums. Don't know about most here, but I mainly stick to two or three forums and I imagine everyone else does as well. Having threads in common would do a lot in the ways of mixing everyone together, rather than forming more isolated groups within forums.


There is a feature coming soon to allow you to do that. Wait for a PM from Joe to be part of the beta :) 
March 22, 2013 7:07:03 AM

Quote:
There is a feature coming soon to allow you to do that. Wait for a PM from Joe to be part of the beta

And the new feature looks really really cool, too. Keep an eyeball on Forum Feedback for updates on how to be a part of the beta when it rolls out for testing to users.

Quote:
For instance, there is no real difference between "Liquid Cooling" and "Water Cooling" unless you want to get anal about small details.


Well, there's mineral oil, water, water with antifreeze, and even some more exotic combinations. It isn't really all the same, though I think the two tags could be merged without a loss in veracity.
March 22, 2013 4:43:59 PM

jpishgar said:
If you participated in the beta, you definitely want to remove any proxy settings or changes you made then, since the beta is definitely closed.


Joe, on IE10 I reloaded a fresh install and took it from 9 to 10 and still get the same result , .co.uk. The proxy has been removed but I think it still remains and for some reason does not affect IE9. I went to my wife's laptop and with IE10 intalled had no trouble getting to the .com forums and was not redirected to .co.uk. So somehow there remains some of the proxy settings someplace in the browser or user settings. I'm useing Chrome and if I want to IE9 as I've given up on IE10 and just posted this in case someone else is having issues like I was.

March 22, 2013 6:01:40 PM

Did you by chance change anything in your hosts file? I remember a few of the other mods mentioned they changed some stuff around there to address a few issues with redirection once upon a time. Might want to investigate that as a possible angle. Also, I believe the proxy settings exist independently of the browser itself where IE is concerned. Checking network settings and thereabouts could be another tact - basically going in reverse in setting up the proxy like before.
March 22, 2013 6:06:15 PM

inzone said:
jpishgar said:
If you participated in the beta, you definitely want to remove any proxy settings or changes you made then, since the beta is definitely closed.


Joe, on IE10 I reloaded a fresh install and took it from 9 to 10 and still get the same result , .co.uk. The proxy has been removed but I think it still remains and for some reason does not affect IE9. I went to my wife's laptop and with IE10 intalled had no trouble getting to the .com forums and was not redirected to .co.uk. So somehow there remains some of the proxy settings someplace in the browser or user settings. I'm useing Chrome and if I want to IE9 as I've given up on IE10 and just posted this in case someone else is having issues like I was.



Hi :) 

Joe is correct.... I had problems UNTIL >>> I RENAMED the hosts file to Hosts.old , then rebooted... worth a try...

All the best Brett :) 


March 22, 2013 7:09:59 PM

jpishgar said:
Quote:
There is a feature coming soon to allow you to do that. Wait for a PM from Joe to be part of the beta

And the new feature looks really really cool, too. Keep an eyeball on Forum Feedback for updates on how to be a part of the beta when it rolls out for testing to users.

Quote:
For instance, there is no real difference between "Liquid Cooling" and "Water Cooling" unless you want to get anal about small details.


Well, there's mineral oil, water, water with antifreeze, and even some more exotic combinations. It isn't really all the same, though I think the two tags could be merged without a loss in veracity.


I hope there will be some way of distinguishing between a thread that is mirrored in several forums and one that has been reposted multiple times by the OP.
March 22, 2013 7:11:39 PM

Where did you find this Hosts file.
March 22, 2013 7:14:17 PM

inzone said:
Where did you find this Hosts file.



Hi :) 

C:\windows\system32\drivers

All the best Brett :) 
March 22, 2013 7:15:55 PM

Ok , thanks I'll give it a try.
March 22, 2013 7:19:15 PM

inzone said:
Ok , thanks I'll give it a try.


Hi :) 

It may be called Hosts.sam but ANY hosts file with the words TOMSHARDWARE in ANY line...just rename the extension to .old

Wont be here for the weekend as going climbing to relax (or freeze to death lol)

Should be back Monday....

All the best Brett :) 

March 22, 2013 7:23:42 PM

Well have fun and be careful , I don't want to be reading about this guy falling off the mountain. lol
March 22, 2013 7:41:38 PM

inzone said:
Well have fun and be careful , I don't want to be reading about this guy falling off the mountain. lol


Hi :) 

Its always fun lol... it might be a little chilly though...

Its a little hill in Scotland called Ben Nevis ....

All the best Brett :) 
March 22, 2013 8:00:48 PM

Well I have somewhat good news and I just reloaded for the 5th time IE10 and it seems to be somewhat better, I still get the .co.uk site for the forums and while the lower sections are just a bit different I do have the moderator section which was missing before. I was not able to find any file or folder that said Host or Hosts.sam or anything that said Tomshardware at all under anything in Wimdows or Windows system. So short of a full reformat of Windows this will be about the best that I will get and I can live with it since Chrome is normal if I need it. I may use it anyways because of the new Chrome extensions for Tomshardware that you can get.

Thanks for helping.
March 22, 2013 10:49:08 PM

I tried the link and it did bring up the notepad but then you have to enter something and I didn't know what to put and if what Brett had suggested (hosts.old) was what I should put so I couldn't continue. What I have found that does solve the issue is to do InPrivate Browsing , with this option everything is normal.
March 23, 2013 4:17:55 AM

lourson said:
Ijack said:
Windows 8. Same behaviour on my desktop and laptop. Compatibility mode makes no difference. I notice that someone reported the same behaviour in Windows 7 whilst others say IE 10 is OK there. Details here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1624836/bug-wind...

Thank you for you other replies. I appreciate that you are working to improve the forums all the time and it is difficult to please everybody.

That's weird, I'm on Win8 x64 with IE10 latest stable and no issue. Could you try using inPrivate navigation in IE10 (CTRL+SHIFT+P)? There might be a plugin issue on both your computers if you install the same stuff on both computers.

I did try to post this yesterday from IE10 on Windows 8 only to find that not only does it have the display problems that I mentioned but it wouldn't even let me post a reply. So now I am using Chrome.

I have disabled all add-ons and the problem persists. It goes away with inPrivate browsing (as does the whole pull-down menu), but I don't find that an acceptable workaround. I'll accept that it's some peculiarity of my installations, but they are totally different computers (even down to the make of the processor). One installation was an updated Windows 7, the other is a totally clean install. And I have never run any of the betas of the new site. The only possible peculiarity is that I am running from the UK site.

TBH, I am getting so fed up with trying to fight against the new layout, whatever browser I use, that I am losing interest. Again, I accept that this is a personal thing, but it just doesn't work for me; I like simple websites without frills but I know the current trend is in the opposite direction. It is too hard trying to quick scan through forums and threads to find what has changed. I think I'm going to give Tom's a rest for the time being and come back in a while to see if it has changed for the better.
      • 1 / 2
      • 2
      • Newest
!