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Best answers reduced

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  • Tom's Hardware
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March 18, 2013 1:21:52 AM

I had 74 best answers in the old platform, but now I have only 52. It was said this is going to be fixed, but it doesn't look like it now :( ((

My best answers that are currently listed are all in different categories to what was in the previous platform.

More about : answers reduced

March 18, 2013 2:27:32 AM

Yeah, it happes when you make this sort of update. Some things can go wrong and some data may be lsot.
Thats the reason why you should be carefull online.
On a side note, this site has lost some presence in the news section due to marketing, so the only part of it left that is still good is the forum section.
This would suggest that the feeling of helping someone is more important than having more point/posts/badges.
I sure like to think that way :D .
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March 18, 2013 9:54:08 AM

At this point it's unknown if what you see is a final tally or if they are continuing to work on it. I know that if you look at what it took to get a badge under the old system and you try to count up what you think you should have it doesn't match sometimes.The one thing I do notice is that the badges all seem to be there and it's the B.A. count that's off. I would think that there would be a lot of unhappy veterans if they lost B.A. because of the transfer. But if everybody is in the same boat then we can all continue with what we have and earn new badges and best answers.
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March 18, 2013 4:22:46 PM

Should be final at current. Your Best Answers should have ported over properly and in their entirety. Note too, that if you had some reflected on the UK, and others reflected on the US site, that the higher of the two numbers would be taken into account (rather than added together).
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March 18, 2013 5:35:52 PM

jpishgar said:
Should be final at current. Your Best Answers should have ported over properly and in their entirety. Note too, that if you had some reflected on the UK, and others reflected on the US site, that the higher of the two numbers would be taken into account (rather than added together).


Hi Joe :) 

So my 150 plus best answers in Laptops (old site) are now 100 (new site)....and that`s because someone didn't bother to add two numbers together :) 


I hate the badges personally, but that way of doing it is going to make a LOT of veterans of the site extremely unhappy....

All the best Brett :) 



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March 19, 2013 5:17:03 AM

Brett928S2 said:
So my 150 plus best answers in Laptops (old site) are now 100 (new site)....and that`s because someone didn't bother to add two numbers together :) 


I don't really see why it should have been added? The threads and posts between UK site and .com are now identical. So there's no rationale in adding the best answer of each site.

During the upgrade the system has counted how many best answer you have in each category and gave you the appropriate new badge for that. However there can always be a bug, if you feel so and do have an example, the tech team can investigate on it.
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March 19, 2013 5:17:31 AM

I'll admit I found the older system less confusing...

I still have questions in other threads to be cleared up.
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March 19, 2013 6:37:20 AM

What questions do you have outstanding, Stealthinator?
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March 19, 2013 9:50:05 AM

lourson said:
Brett928S2 said:
So my 150 plus best answers in Laptops (old site) are now 100 (new site)....and that`s because someone didn't bother to add two numbers together :) 


I don't really see why it should have been added? The threads and posts between UK site and .com are now identical. So there's no rationale in adding the best answer of each site.

During the upgrade the system has counted how many best answer you have in each category and gave you the appropriate new badge for that. However there can always be a bug, if you feel so and do have an example, the tech team can investigate on it.


Hi :) 

I just gave you the example... I had WAY over 150 BA`s in Laptops (And another 150 plus in Windows 7)

Now I ONLY have 101 (1 has been earned since the changeover)

So my question is... WHERE are my other 50 plus BA`s in Laptops ?

All the best Brett :) 
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March 19, 2013 10:42:27 AM

I think that there has been a splitting of the best answers in the different sections and with new badges being introduced there has been best answers applied to those badges and they were taken from the prexisting section because they actually applied to the new badge and not the old badge. Here's an example;
I now have a power supply master badge, where did that come from , I don't see a power supply section but yet I have that badge and best answers came from someplace to get that badge. Power Supplies is a sub section of Components which is a new section altogether and somehow the upgrade took some best answers and applied them to a Power Supplies badge which is a new badge.

So based on that theory some of the best answers that you had in Laptops may have now been applied to new badges like Drivers , Monitors and Wireless since they could have been in the laptops section as answers to questions there.

That's my theory until someone shoots it down. :hap: 
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March 19, 2013 11:02:46 AM

inzone said:
I think that there has been a splitting of the best answers in the different sections and with new badges being introduced there has been best answers applied to those badges and they were taken from the prexisting section because they actually applied to the new badge and not the old badge. Here's an example;
I now have a power supply master badge, where did that come from , I don't see a power supply section but yet I have that badge and best answers came from someplace to get that badge. Power Supplies is a sub section of Components which is a new section altogether and somehow the upgrade took some best answers and applied them to a Power Supplies badge which is a new badge.

So based on that theory some of the best answers that you had in Laptops may have now been applied to new badges like Drivers , Monitors and Wireless since they could have been in the laptops section as answers to questions there.

That's my theory until someone shoots it down. :hap: 


Hi :) 

Interesting theory, and you may be correct....

I just had a scan through my badges, and seem to have around 80 EXTRA ONES , in various sections like Power Supplies and various other strange ones that I did NOT have before...

SO can I please have them back in the correct sections ?

Or just forget the badges and add the word MASTER under my Porsche shield... (which I am)

All the best Brett :) 


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March 19, 2013 11:38:39 AM

Brett , I also just scanned through your badges and well I actually counted them , no there's not 80. You have to look at the "earned" designation next to each badge. When someone clicks on your name and then see all badges they will see that you have 21 badges.
The Master designation like all the others (Expert , Addict and so on) was tied to the points system and no longer exists , so no matter how badly you want it that has been replaced with the badge system and by getting more best answers in the new Laptop badge which you now have Laptop Authority you can have Laptop Master. Then you could use that as your status since it has the word Master in it. :) 
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March 19, 2013 11:50:18 AM

inzone said:
Brett , I also just scanned through your badges and well I actually counted them , no there's not 80. You have to look at the "earned" designation next to each badge. When someone clicks on your name and then see all badges they will see that you have 21 badges.
The Master designation like all the others (Expert , Addict and so on) was tied to the points system and no longer exists , so no matter how badly you want it that has been replaced with the badge system and by getting more best answers in the new Laptop badge which you now have Laptop Authority you can have Laptop Master. Then you could use that as your status since it has the word Master in it. :) 


Hi :) 

That 80 are NOT legacy....

The first 3 as an example...are 10 DRIVER, 5 MONITOR and 20 POWER SUPPLY... they all say EARNED (not legacy) ??? and I certainly have NOT EARNED 20 in Power supplies...etc

One thing I will say about Badges is that its appallingly confusing :( 

And why SHOULD I HAVE TO EARN ANOTHER 50 badges in Laptops when I already HAD hundreds of BA`s in Laptops :( 

Don't forget I was THE TOP POSTER on this site for months apart from my couple of weeks as a Moderator ....

All the best Brett :) 
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March 19, 2013 1:29:20 PM

Well if you continue to be the top poster then additional best answers will come and you'll have that Master badge in no time. I do agree that the new badge system is somewhat confusing and a post containing a detailed explanation of how this all went down would go a long way in answering these questions. I think in the end that we may have to just accept this as the new world order an move on. I don't say this lightly as I put in a lot of hours day after day , year after year building my badge and point total and helping people in the process.
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March 19, 2013 1:35:36 PM

inzone said:
Well if you continue to be the top poster then additional best answers will come and you'll have that Master badge in no time. I do agree that the new badge system is somewhat confusing and a post containing a detailed explanation of how this all went down would go a long way in answering these questions. I think in the end that we may have to just accept this as the new world order an move on. I don't say this lightly as I put in a lot of hours day after day , year after year building my badge and point total and helping people in the process.


Hi :) 

Personally I tend to agree with your last sentence, we may have to just move on.... or live with it...

BUT I suspect a LOT of Veteran users may leave because of it.....I have had several emails from veteran users (who thought I was still a Mod) and they are EXTREMELY unhappy about losing their "status" :( 

Ah well, that's life lol...

All the best Brett :) 



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March 19, 2013 1:52:45 PM

lourson said:
Brett928S2 said:
So my 150 plus best answers in Laptops (old site) are now 100 (new site)....and that`s because someone didn't bother to add two numbers together :) 


I don't really see why it should have been added? The threads and posts between UK site and .com are now identical. So there's no rationale in adding the best answer of each site.

During the upgrade the system has counted how many best answer you have in each category and gave you the appropriate new badge for that. However there can always be a bug, if you feel so and do have an example, the tech team can investigate on it.


I think there is a misunderstanding here somewhere.
The way Joe puts it across what has happened is that between the UK and the US site whoever made the decision decided to just transfer over the total from which ever server was higher.

Your post seems to assume that these were mirrored posts added twice one in the UK and one in the US.

Again reading what Joe posted.
Quote:
Should be final at current. Your Best Answers should have ported over properly and in their entirety. Note too, that if you had some reflected on the UK, and others reflected on the US site, that the higher of the two numbers would be taken into account (rather than added together).


The underlined parts are what signify to me at least that we are talking about 2 separate counts for totally different Best answers.
That is why Brett is asking and I totally agree with him about why on earth these were not added together.

You can count me as extremely unhappy about this. I have been a member for well over 10 years and all that goes out of the window because its too difficult to collate some numbers across a couple of different servers ? Seriously that's a bit more than a little shoddy for a group of people running a tech forum, Oh I can smell the Irony.

Seriously not happy
Mac :pfff: 
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March 19, 2013 1:58:23 PM

Hi Mac :) 

Thats PRECISELY my point....

Lets make this easy to understand...

Lets say ....I had 100 BA`s on the UK site

Lets say ... I had 50 BA`s on the US site

They were for DIFFERENT QUESTIONS....

Therefore I SHOULD have 150 BA`s ...........

All the best Brett :) 
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March 19, 2013 1:59:51 PM

inzone said:
Well if you continue to be the top poster then additional best answers will come and you'll have that Master badge in no time. I do agree that the new badge system is somewhat confusing and a post containing a detailed explanation of how this all went down would go a long way in answering these questions. I think in the end that we may have to just accept this as the new world order an move on. I don't say this lightly as I put in a lot of hours day after day , year after year building my badge and point total and helping people in the process.


I also fully agree with your sentiments.
I didn't give the points or badges a thought really over the years, just came here to repay all the help I have received over the years and pass on some wisdom and knowledge.
However if your going to award achievements then at least get them right !
If we cant have things correct then personally I would rather they not bother. Whats going to get lost in the wash next time ?

Thanks for trying though

Mac :) 


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March 19, 2013 2:19:20 PM

Yes I did say that I put a lot of time building my badge and point total , but that wasn't the reason I did it, mostly it was the personal satisfaction that I got when someone selected my post as the best answer to thier question. It felt even better when there were multiple responses and out of all of those responses I got chosen. That is still there and we can still get our answer chosen as the best answer and at the end of the day there are all those questions that need an answer. If we dwell on it for too long then it will become something that we won't be able to get over.
I think they have heard out concerns and are rechecking the process as best they can and will most certianly correct any mistakes.
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March 19, 2013 6:15:05 PM

Every time in the past I have been in Europe (my job calls for plenty of travel) I could log on to the .com but opening a thread and posting always got me on the .co.uk so according to this I did not get the BA count from there. It is a good thing that Europe was the only continent that defaulted to the UK mirror.
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March 20, 2013 2:31:05 AM

It seemed to be the case that I got sent to which ever server the system felt like. I lost count of the times I would answer a thread on a news story and get so far in a conversation only to find the whole thing disappear and be replaced with a new thread.

I certainly never selected different servers.

Mac :) 
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March 20, 2013 6:51:34 AM

Quote:
They were for different questions....


Not really. The US and UK iterations were both mirrors of the same site. The only difference was General Discussion and the News and Article commentary, within which there were very, very, very few Question-type threads.

Any badge you had from Best Answers granted in the last forum version you should have now as Legacy badges. Any progress towards a new, non-Legacy badge on the new platform is new, and based off of Best Answers from tagged posts.
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March 20, 2013 7:12:55 AM

Thanks for the reply. We need to get this very clear as there are a lot of us who are unhappy about the count being wrong and there is little understanding as to exactly what happened.
Let me see if I have this right.

1. Our Best answer count that displays on out Avatar when it pops up does not include legacy badges ?
(if this is correct what is a legacy badge actually worth in B/A count please)

2. Legacy badges are ones that we were awarded medals for in the last forum Gold/Silver/Bronze ?

3. If the above is correct is there no way to add the legacy total to the Best answer count as it appears on out Avatar's

I realize it may seem like we are being overly dogmatic about a trivial matter here, to some it really matters others myself included just want to understand what has happened.

Thanks for your time on this issue.

Mac :) 
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March 20, 2013 9:49:14 AM

Hi :) 

Lets make this simple...

I had a GOLD badge in Laptops and WAY OVER 150 BA`s...

NOW i have 101 BA`s (one earned since the changeover)

So WHERE are my 50 BA`s gone????


Brett :) 
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March 20, 2013 10:35:04 AM

Add me to one of the unhappy old heads. I've spent a lot of time answering questions and have a number of Best Answers. I know I had 150 in the graphics area and not the 132 listed now. I had my silver hammer and on my way to the gold hammer. I had 100 Best Answers in the Systems section and 8 of the 9 months required for a Gold metal to alert a Moderator for violations. I would have then had a shiny gold hammer next to my Avatar for ALL TIME. Now all of that is gone and really have no encouragement to spend the time I used to. I loved my hammer right next to my avatar and was presented proudly along with the bronze, silver, or gold metal I had in that particular forum. Now everyone has to hover over my avatar to see anything about me. It's like we are all undercover operatives instead of proud vets. The dismantling of a certain forum into smaller sub-forums is a cool idea, as long as all of my previous Best Answers counted, but nothing adds up.

While that is all a giant bummer to me. The real reason I will and have spent FAR less time on the forum is the new layout. I have found my mouse wheel racking up so many more miles scrolling through all of the unused white space. The Avatar takes up several lines at the top of each response with nothing to it's right. This makes all responses so far apart from one another it is very irritating to even try and read a thread in a short amount of time. Move the Avatar to the left of the response and I'll go back to my old habits of happily responding to questions. Still unhappy about the badges and missing Best Answers, but will play ball at least.
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March 20, 2013 11:51:46 AM

^
Ok so somehow I found myself on the UK site and the layout is setup a bit better. Here are links for this thread for each, see the difference.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1628033/answers-re...
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1628033/answers-...

I also noticed in the list of threads that the individual cells are shorted, which I like because it compacts them more. I will browse the UK site only now until it's the same.

I still have a gripe about badges. I want my GOLD HAMMER.
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March 20, 2013 11:54:24 AM

jay2tall , the avitar is on the left of the post , an avitar is the picture that you choose to put and it's currently directly under your forum name. You may be referring to your signature which is on the right side and you currently don't have one.
The gold hammer your referring to was always next to a users forum name, I know because I had one. They have done away with the hammer which I would also like to see back but that must have been a decision that was made and under the old system it took 5 gold badges to get a gold hammer so it's something that could be included because it's tired to the badges, I think.
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March 20, 2013 12:06:05 PM

^
I know what an avatar is. I just did a quick test and found out something interesting. The US site through FireFox has this issue. The UK site does not. In IE 8 both sites are fine. I cleared out my cache in Firefox and still the same issue. So it seems the .COM site in firefox (at least 13.0.1) displays the reply starting directly under the Avatar. For example your reply starts directly under "Moderator". Everything to the right of the Avatar is just blank. Maybe someone else could test this.

As far as the badges go... still mad.
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March 20, 2013 12:16:47 PM

Also an interesting thing is , since I have both IE10 and Chrome I get totaly different forum displays. On Chrome everything looks as it should with Avitars and sigs and where posts start.
On IE10 it's totaly different and I see no Avitar , just user name and the post and it goes strictly to the uk site and the forums is different with some sections missing.
So this all has to do with what browser your using and since your using IE8 and Firefox 13 there are updates for both , maybe you could try an update to see what you can see is different.
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March 20, 2013 12:40:21 PM

Well I have just finished with a test and while I can't answer your badges/hammer/best answer questions I did just delete IE10 and am now using IE9 and it looks completely normal, maybe you can give it a try and upgrade to IE9.
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March 20, 2013 1:16:58 PM

Interesting. Just updated to FireFox 19.0.2 and the replies are now to the right of the avatars. Interesting that this was the first time I ever had issues with that browser for anything. Guess that solves that problem. Now give me my Hammer!
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March 20, 2013 2:04:29 PM

Well good to hear your browser issue is cleared up and as for the Hammer I also would like to see it back.
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March 20, 2013 2:09:23 PM

jay2tall said:
Interesting. Just updated to FireFox 19.0.2 and the replies are now to the right of the avatars. Interesting that this was the first time I ever had issues with that browser for anything. Guess that solves that problem. Now give me my Hammer!


Hi :) 

As a guess, the developers who wrote the new site , were a little ...hmmm how shall I put this... lazy...lol

When you write a site, you are MEANT to test it will all versions of all browsers.... I suspect they only tested it with SOME of the current versions :( 

So no non current versions of FF tested and by some other complaints, not IE10 or some versions of Chrome either...

I hate to think how many other browsers like Opera etc, were NOT tested as well :( 

A friend of mine writes BIG websites, much bigger than Toms, whenever I am in his personal design office, he works on a huge bank of 9 screens, with ALL different browsers on them, so as he writes additions to a site, he KNOW whether they work or not....

I think someone didn't do that here.... :( 

I also think as more users whom use different browsers get various problems, we will have more of this sort of complaint...


All the best Brett :) 

PS. If you get your HAMMER back...can I have my "MASTER" BACK...
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March 20, 2013 6:32:26 PM

Quote:

1. Our Best answer count that displays on out Avatar when it pops up does not include legacy badges ?
(if this is correct what is a legacy badge actually worth in B/A count please)

2. Legacy badges are ones that we were awarded medals for in the last forum Gold/Silver/Bronze ?

3. If the above is correct is there no way to add the legacy total to the Best answer count as it appears on out Avatar's


I'm sorry this isn't clear, I'll try to explain in as thoroughly as I can.

In the Old Version, you had Best Answers, which got you Badges of differing levels at Bronze, Silver and Gold.

The moment the new platform went live, these badges were transformed into Legacy Badges of differing levels at Legacy (Bronze), Legacy+(Silver) and Legacy++(Gold). You retain these badges today. There is no other way to get these badges, apart from having been a very active member of the community before the transition.

Upon the switch to the new platform, most threads were tagged, if not all of them. The tags are how we award badges in the new platform. If you had previously answered a question that now has a tag, and received a Best Answer there, that counts as progress towards a NEW, Latest Platform badge which you previously did not have and would not have beyond your already awarded Legacy badge.

Example, Brett, you have not only the CPU Legacy++ badge, indicating you acquired a large number of Best Answers in the previous platform, but also are now considered a CPU Authority, which is the highest level of badge obtainable in the new platform for the CPU tag. And, after 100, a small number will start showing up next to the badge to indicate by how far past the upper threshold you've exceeded. We already have some of these users in the new platform due to Best Answers on threads previously tagged for a given subject.

I hope this clarifies things a bit. You've lost nothing, and have a head start on the new stuff, to boot.

-JP
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March 20, 2013 7:31:31 PM

jpishgar said:
Quote:

1. Our Best answer count that displays on out Avatar when it pops up does not include legacy badges ?
(if this is correct what is a legacy badge actually worth in B/A count please)

2. Legacy badges are ones that we were awarded medals for in the last forum Gold/Silver/Bronze ?

3. If the above is correct is there no way to add the legacy total to the Best answer count as it appears on out Avatar's


I'm sorry this isn't clear, I'll try to explain in as thoroughly as I can.

In the Old Version, you had Best Answers, which got you Badges of differing levels at Bronze, Silver and Gold.

The moment the new platform went live, these badges were transformed into Legacy Badges of differing levels at Legacy (Bronze), Legacy+(Silver) and Legacy++(Gold). You retain these badges today. There is no other way to get these badges, apart from having been a very active member of the community before the transition.

Upon the switch to the new platform, most threads were tagged, if not all of them. The tags are how we award badges in the new platform. If you had previously answered a question that now has a tag, and received a Best Answer there, that counts as progress towards a NEW, Latest Platform badge which you previously did not have and would not have beyond your already awarded Legacy badge.

Example, Brett, you have not only the CPU Legacy++ badge, indicating you acquired a large number of Best Answers in the previous platform, but also are now considered a CPU Authority, which is the highest level of badge obtainable in the new platform for the CPU tag. And, after 100, a small number will start showing up next to the badge to indicate by how far past the upper threshold you've exceeded. We already have some of these users in the new platform due to Best Answers on threads previously tagged for a given subject.

I hope this clarifies things a bit. You've lost nothing, and have a head start on the new stuff, to boot.

-JP


Hi Joe :) 

I understand all that perfectly...and always did...

Forget CPU`s...

I had MOST BA`s in LAPTOPS... I had a gold badge and way way over 150 BA`s....

NOW i have 101 BA`s ...so WHERE did my other 50 plus BA`s vanish to and WHY am I NOT A LAPTOP MASTER ?

Like a LOT of other veteran users here, this is starting to get REALLY ANNOYING...

Whomever did the conversion from the old system to the new one MADE SOME MISTAKES.... (that's putting it mildly)

The worst thing about these mistakes is that the veteran users with the highest number of BA`s and Badges from the old system are feeling the worst of the effects....

We all know it...can you just not fix it....??

It is no longer any good talking about how the new system/conversion is SUPPOSED to work...the Veterans are ALL bright enough to know it doesn't and that they have been royally screwed as we say in England...

Most of these people are or WERE either Masters, or Gold badge holders....

You really CANNOT want to lose them....and going by my emails, you are well on the way to doing that....

Brett :) 
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March 20, 2013 10:55:23 PM

Brett , I just looked at your badges and I did see that you have two Laptops badgaes , one being the Legacy++ which means it's the old Gold badge that required 150 B.A. and then there's the Laptop Authority which is the new badge and requires 50 B.A. so that adds up to 200 B.A. Don't forget that what Joe said about the tags and some of those B.A. that you had answered in the Laptops section may have been tagged with a Power supply , Cpu , Drivers, Security, Windows 7 or even Monitor tags so those answers would go towards the new badges that I also see you have , Power supply (20 BA) , Monitor (5BA) , Drivers (10BA), Security (10BA) and another Windows 7 (50BA) .
With the new system having tags be a determining factor as to where best answers are applied you do have to consider the possability that your extra best answers were used in these new badges.
I have read all the posts that people are making complaining about the change over and the thing I notice is that nobody is complaiming about missing badhes , it's all about best answers and post totals and if they added up the best answers that it took for the badges to be awarded they would see that they do have their best answers it's just that it doesn't show the right total in the pop up window and in the profile page but they are there just add them up. I did that for mactronix when he said that his best answer count was wrong and I showed him that by counting the best answers in the bades he had it would show his actual count and while it didn't match what the total said it did show him that they were there. So it's just a matter of fixing the total to match what the badges say.
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March 20, 2013 11:57:42 PM

I lost 20 BA's during the switchover.
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March 21, 2013 9:01:48 AM

"What is the "Ask the Community" tick box when creating a new thread?"

You used to have the option of posting a question or a discussion. Now it defaults to discussion unless you check the box "ask the community" which will make it a question.

"How do you delete a post or thread? So far I haven't seen any option to do so"

You can delete your own post but not your own thread, you can send an alert to the Moderators to have them delete your thread if you chose to do that.

"-(This one I always had) What is a spoiler?"

In a gaming or movie forum, a spoiler is discussion about content that a reader might not have seen yet. You as the reader might not want to have the ending spoiled for you. So, the poster can HIDE the content discussion until someone clicks on it. Or, in the title, they may warn about spoilers in the post.
It has no real use on this forum, but sometimes people use it to be cute.

Where are the legacy badges?

You do now have them.

How do you see your "rank"?

Currently there is no rank and because it is now a badge system you can show one of your badges as your status.

-Threads which are stickied or solved aren't as noticeable as before

They may not be as noticeable but you can see them in a few ways and they have gone for a more subtle look, threads that are solved and/or closed now have a small box stating that. Stickies are always at the top of the forums and selected best answers now have a green boarder around them.

-What is the difference between following and tracking a thread?

Following a thread means you get the email notification when something new is posted and tracking a thread means that it shows up in that box on the right side so you can see if new answers are posted. you can do one or the other or both or neither one it's your choice and you can make that selection at the bottom of the post.

Most of these questions were previously answered by Proximon and myself when you posted that 10 days ago surely you can't still have all those questions.

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March 21, 2013 9:04:36 AM

inzone said:
Brett , I just looked at your badges and I did see that you have two Laptops badgaes , one being the Legacy++ which means it's the old Gold badge that required 150 B.A. and then there's the Laptop Authority which is the new badge and requires 50 B.A. so that adds up to 200 B.A. Don't forget that what Joe said about the tags and some of those B.A. that you had answered in the Laptops section may have been tagged with a Power supply , Cpu , Drivers, Security, Windows 7 or even Monitor tags so those answers would go towards the new badges that I also see you have , Power supply (20 BA) , Monitor (5BA) , Drivers (10BA), Security (10BA) and another Windows 7 (50BA) .
With the new system having tags be a determining factor as to where best answers are applied you do have to consider the possability that your extra best answers were used in these new badges.
I have read all the posts that people are making complaining about the change over and the thing I notice is that nobody is complaiming about missing badhes , it's all about best answers and post totals and if they added up the best answers that it took for the badges to be awarded they would see that they do have their best answers it's just that it doesn't show the right total in the pop up window and in the profile page but they are there just add them up. I did that for mactronix when he said that his best answer count was wrong and I showed him that by counting the best answers in the bades he had it would show his actual count and while it didn't match what the total said it did show him that they were there. So it's just a matter of fixing the total to match what the badges say.


Yes quite so that's my only gripe, I would like my best answer total to read the same as all my badges added
up.
I'm not 100% sure but I get the feeling that the transfer of the legacy badges kind of forgot or did away with the fact that they were earned with best answers and are awarded as just legacy badges and no longer count towards best answer counts.

This conversion is confusing to some and unwelcome to others myself included. however it seems that this is the system we have now and we need to learn to live with it.

Its a pity as it seems such a simple thing to fix, but then there may be issues I am unaware of. the loss of the hammers was a shock as well, Toms is all about hammers, its like Nike doing away with the tick.

Anyway thanks to all for the assistance with this, if we can get it so that the totals match that would be great, if not then so be it.

Mac :) 

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March 21, 2013 3:54:51 PM

inzone said:
Most of these questions were previously answered by Proximon and myself when you posted that 10 days ago surely you can't still have all those questions.

Thanks! Joe cleared it up!
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March 21, 2013 5:31:55 PM

mactronix said:
inzone said:
Brett , I just looked at your badges and I did see that you have two Laptops badgaes , one being the Legacy++ which means it's the old Gold badge that required 150 B.A. and then there's the Laptop Authority which is the new badge and requires 50 B.A. so that adds up to 200 B.A. Don't forget that what Joe said about the tags and some of those B.A. that you had answered in the Laptops section may have been tagged with a Power supply , Cpu , Drivers, Security, Windows 7 or even Monitor tags so those answers would go towards the new badges that I also see you have , Power supply (20 BA) , Monitor (5BA) , Drivers (10BA), Security (10BA) and another Windows 7 (50BA) .
With the new system having tags be a determining factor as to where best answers are applied you do have to consider the possability that your extra best answers were used in these new badges.
I have read all the posts that people are making complaining about the change over and the thing I notice is that nobody is complaiming about missing badhes , it's all about best answers and post totals and if they added up the best answers that it took for the badges to be awarded they would see that they do have their best answers it's just that it doesn't show the right total in the pop up window and in the profile page but they are there just add them up. I did that for mactronix when he said that his best answer count was wrong and I showed him that by counting the best answers in the bades he had it would show his actual count and while it didn't match what the total said it did show him that they were there. So it's just a matter of fixing the total to match what the badges say.


Yes quite so that's my only gripe, I would like my best answer total to read the same as all my badges added
up.
I'm not 100% sure but I get the feeling that the transfer of the legacy badges kind of forgot or did away with the fact that they were earned with best answers and are awarded as just legacy badges and no longer count towards best answer counts.

This conversion is confusing to some and unwelcome to others myself included. however it seems that this is the system we have now and we need to learn to live with it.

Its a pity as it seems such a simple thing to fix, but then there may be issues I am unaware of. the loss of the hammers was a shock as well, Toms is all about hammers, its like Nike doing away with the tick.

Anyway thanks to all for the assistance with this, if we can get it so that the totals match that would be great, if not then so be it.

Mac :) 



Hi Mac :) 

I think I need to clear my head , so I am going climbing for a couple of days this weekend with some old Army friends...

When I get back, I will see if its fixed, if not will make my decision then to stay or go....

The funny thing is I absolutely hate the new badge system and would never use it anyway, but I hate dishonesty even more, and I feel like I have been stolen from...

Maybe sitting on top of a mountain will cheer me up :) 

All the best Brett :) 
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March 22, 2013 2:02:19 AM

Can we have the old system of reputation back, which involved points and status? I don't see why that had to go. Anyone agree?
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March 22, 2013 2:26:51 AM

Yes I agree however I really think we are going to have to learn to live with it. We have been asking a really simple question and the way its being worked around tells me its just not going to happen.

If you look at it from a detached point of view who seriously thinks that people used to look up what Addict or Master etc that appeared under your name actually meant ?

Its the same with these Badges. Anyone that cares can find out what they mean but the vast majority of people wont even know they mean anything.

Yes I liked to be able to see what a persons status was at a glance, Yes I cant understand why on earth the hammers had to go and Yes I really want the best answers to add up properly.

However considering that Toms never actually kept a correct count of anything even from the last forum change is it really worth getting so wound up about a status that certainly speaking for myself was so far from correct that it stopped being relevant long ago.

We complained then and was told nothing could be done. My post count/score was about 25% light just going by the simple 4 points for posting without best answers etc and my Best answers well lets just say when I said over 500 I was shooting low.

Like Brett I'm never going to use the badges, I'm not a Oh look at how good I am kind of guy. And Yes putting a status up yourself and having it happen automatically is a different thing .

So the long and the short of it is Toms didn't do anything last time and they wont change anything this time so just chill and get on with things.

Mac :) 
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March 22, 2013 3:12:16 AM

The Stealthinator said:
So what happened "last time"?


Same as this time really things got changed people didn't like it. The stand out easy fix that just got left was that everyone had their joining year changed to 1970. If even that is beyond changing what hope now.

I'm not trying to be critical of Toms here I'm just trying to use the history to point out that in all probability we are banging our heads against a brick wall.

Its a cascade thing as far as I can tell. Someone gets the nod to design the new forum, Joe and the guys spend plenty more time than usual trying to sort out all the gripes we are feeding their way from Beta to now and kudos to them for it I say.
The thing is as I understand it they have no direct control ? They can ask even send strong Emails if something seems to get overlooked but they cant work miracles. If the guys that push the buttons don't want to or cant act on a request for what ever reason there's not a lot anyone can really do about it.

Mac :) 
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March 22, 2013 4:26:03 AM

Hi guys,

I'm glad to say that all these will be fixed but please bear with us while we are fixing some other issues before.

Let me try to sum up how it worked during the migration process and why the number of best answers is not exactly the same:

Before: All "Best Answers" in a category were added so that you can have an expertise badge on this category
Now: All "Best Answers" on a tag are added so that you can have an expertise badge on this tag

The tagging process was automatic and millions of tags were added to threads. However we haven't forced the system to add specific tags in each category. For instance not all threads in the "Laptops & Notebooks" category have the "laptop" tag. Which explains why the Expertise Badge on "Laptops" can have a different count than the old "Laptops & Notebooks" badge. It explains as well why you have new badges, such as "Power supply Authority" while there is no "Power Supply" category => All threads with the tag "Power supply" can count towards this badge.
Look at this thread for instance, this topic might be in the "Laptops" category but it doesn't have a "laptop" tag. It's understandable considering the thread content.

What we are going to do now: For each category where it's relevant to do so, we are going to select a main tag and add it automatically to all topics, whatever their content. This will increase the number of "best answer" on these tags and you'll get then a closer number to the old platform. We expect to release by the end of April.

Regarding the joining year in 1970, fixing this old bug was not considered a major issue and as such was discarded for the launch, sorry. Based on your feedback, a script will be run in order to find out the date of first post for all users in such a case, and use this as the join date. I don't have yet a release date for this fix.

I hope this helps,
Thanks

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March 22, 2013 7:10:05 AM

Thanks for the kudos, mactronix! And please, all, let us know if you still don't understand how the badges update took place, or why you have the number of Best Answers you currently do.
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March 22, 2013 7:10:53 AM

Thanks lourson,

Most helpful

Mac :) 
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March 22, 2013 10:11:25 AM

I have a question. Under the old system when you got 150 best answers in a section like say Graphics Cards and you received the gold badge , the best answer count stopped at showing 150. Now I continued to receive best answers in that section, were the bset answers continued to be counted even though it didn't show it.

Now because of this limit a person that recieved the gold badge and could only see 150 best answers could tend to not want to hang around that section because there was no further advancement to be had. There are members that come here and go only to specific sections because they know that section and could be considered experts in that field and those are the people that you want to encourage to stay there to assist with the quetions posted because they will provide expert advice and/or solutions. Under both systems the badges were in three steps Bronze, Silver and Gold , and now it's Expert , Authority and Master , has anyone considered not having a limit of three and that maybe it should be more. That way a person that wants to stay in a section and earn the recognition of being the one to get advice from. For myself I saw that once I got the Gold badge in a section I felt like that was it and I moved to the next and then the next and so on , where I would have stayed in my favoite section and just advanced to each new level.
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