New Forum Enhancements

[pamelaz]

Hello Community!

You may have noticed a few minor changes already, but bigger changes are coming to the U-verse forum on Friday.  We’ll have new boards for U-verse equipment, and account access and features.  All Home Manager will be moved to AT&T U-verse Internet & DSL, and Billing has moved up to its own category. 

We hope the changes will make it easier for you to ask a question, and get an answer.  We’d like to know what you think, too.  Please post a “reply” here after you have a chance to see the changes.

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

I don't think we'd miss HomeManager on UV since it no longer has Internet content.  HM is now just a fancy wireless home phone with a digital photo frame.

Maybe it would find a better home on the Wireless side under Converged Devices?

I'll wait for other HomeManager owners/users here to give their thoughts.

[BeeBeeSA ACE - Professor]

Just move the HM here: http://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-HomeManager/bd-p/internet-ATT_HomeManager

It's already at that location so no harm no foul.

[RCSMG ACE - Expert]

I have seen several repeats of posts in different forums.  Is this a result of adding the newer forums, or will the mods go in and delete the posts that appear in multiple forums?

[pamelaz]

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RCSMG wrote:

I have seen several repeats of posts in different forums.  Is this a result of adding the newer forums, or will the mods go in and delete the posts that appear in multiple forums?

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Hello RCSMG,

Double posting is a Guideline violation so if you see double posting please make a abuse report so a moderator can look into it.  We ask that users do not tell others that a post is in the wrong board and they should be posting elsewhere, that will lead to double posting.  Instead make a abuse report so a moderator can move it to the correct board.  Thanks!

[pamelaz]

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BeeBeeSA wrote:

Just move the HM here: http://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T-HomeManager/bd-p/internet-ATT_HomeManager

It's already at that location so no harm no foul.

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That is the new location and was moved there last night.

[RCSMG ACE - Expert]

I don't think OPs intentionally double posted, it looks more like since the different forums were added some of the posts were duplicated.  Either that or the OPs posted in forums I don't visit. 

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

I'm liking the drop-down for Macros, in the Reply window!

[flhthemi]

I realize you're trying to make the forums better and improve the way message are handled and catagorized. But, what you have just completed doing to the forum, makes me want to leave. Now instead of just making one or two simple clicks has turned into WORK to read through the message boards. When all the television stuff was under UVerse TV, two clicks and I was reading new messages. Now it's more like three or four...it's too much like work and makes me just want to not read through any longer.

Ah well, I know you won't change it back so maybe I'll just get used to it, but I think it's a mistake. You just broke things down TOO much.

[aviewer ACE - Master]

flhthemi hit the nail on the head. I was thinking the same thing & trying to come up with a way to say it withiout sounding bittter.

Equipment, programming/features & billing are the best categories. Only three are needed.

To improve - put the timestamp of the last post with the description on the first window. If I can see I am up to date I do not have to open the category.

When trying to think of improvements, the first objective is to minimize clicks - Not see how many you can gebnerate.

You can improve the current "improvement" by creating a new category called "last two days". Post in here a copy of any posts (original or replies) to the detailed categories  for the last two days. Once a trail is two days old remove it from the to day category. Replies can be posted in either category & appear in both.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Expert]

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aviewer wrote:

To improve - put the timestamp of the last post with the description on the first window. If I can see I am up to date I do not have to open the category.

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I don't think it will do the date/timestamp, but you can show the latest post for each subforum on the home page by enabling:

My Settings -> Preferences -> Home Page -> Show the latest posts

[aviewer ACE - Master]

Somejoe - Thanks for the suggestion. I already see the subject, but it does not tell me if it has been replied to since I last looked.

I think there is a recent posts way down the page that satisifies my suggestion of recent posts. I will just have to change & go directly to the "recent posts all" then back into the trail to get the history

[oobleck]

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aviewer wrote:

Somejoe - Thanks for the suggestion. I already see the subject, but it does not tell me if it has been replied to since I last looked.

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You can set it to mark all posts as read when you log off.  When you log in again you'll see which topics have been replied to since you last checked.

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oobleck

[Escapee]

If you go through and mark everything as read then you a see on the main page which main topic have had threads posted because the number will be greater then 0.

If the site has not be too busy you can see the last few threads with new posts at the bottom in the summery. If you only look once a day or longer the summaries would not be that useful because it only shows the last few posts unless you click on Show All

[Kong57]

Sorry but i dont really care for the way you have the forums now. It is causing me to spend more time here. I have to go more places to read what "I" want to read. I dont have a answer to my problem but i do not like what has been done here. Sorry

[dhascall ACE - Master]

Agree with the initial posts by flhthemi, aviewer and K57.  Change is not always good.  I'm sure that we will become acclimated to the change but IMHO, this was change just to give someone something to do.  Sorry.

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

I see the social media quick-link icons have been added.

edit--There are Privacy issues (ads) with these links.  You can OPT-OUT for the Email (envelope icon) and Add/Bookmark icon here.

Would guess with FB and Twit--you'll be broadcasting for ads if I understand correctly how they work.

Just FYI for anyone who is interested.

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Master]

Interesting Spd and thanks for the link.

I was snooping around my profile right after the upgrade and noticed a couple new things. If you don't want to view the kudos button, or the counts in members posts, you can go to Settings > Preferences > Kudos > Hide Kudos buttons and counts > check box > Save. It actually just hides the Kudos buttons so you can't give Kudos and can't see the Kudos button in the posts for counts. You can still see the Top Kudoed Posts and Top Kudoed Authors on the Forum home page along with the Boards home pages. Don't see any way to remove all the new social media icons though.

I also have been viewing the Twitter feed for the past couple days on the right side of the screen. My Settings > Social Connect > View Twitter streams > check > Save. Wonder if they are monitoring them somehow before they're shown? They seem pretty mellow compared to what we were seeing before.

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

YW.

Hiding Kudos has been there before the merge, and maybe more people would like to use the option.   

Yeah, I was wondering about the Twit feed as well...haven't seen any cursing like the last attempt when the merge happened.

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Master]

Guess I just didn't notice the Hide Kudos option before and know what you mean about maybe some people would like that option. I've been looking all over for the Hide Solutions button and can't find it anywhere. Just kidding.

Believe one thing is it looks like they've removed the first names from the Twitter feed users. I thought they used to include them before and people sure can up with some cleaver names.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Expert]

Overall I think the new forum is functional.  Not nearly as problematic as the last upgrade or the merge, obviously.

However, there's one thing that is irking me that I wish we could get changed.  The pull-down menus at the top (Wireless Forums, U-Verse Forums, Internet & DSL Forums, Business Forums) are really irritating because:

1. They appear on mouse-over, instead of mouse-click.

2. When the mouse leaves the area of the menu, they don't disappear.  Even clicking the mouse outside of the menu area won't get them to disappear unless you've also popped out a submenu.

Whenever I go up to the top of my browser window, the mouse generally runs over one of these menus and pops it up and there's no way to get rid of it.

This is really irritating and the behavior needs to be changed.

[dhascall ACE - Master]

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SomeJoe7777 wrote:

Overall I think the new forum is functional.  Not nearly as problematic as the last upgrade or the merge, obviously.

However, there's one thing that is irking me that I wish we could get changed.  The pull-down menus at the top (Wireless Forums, U-Verse Forums, Internet & DSL Forums, Business Forums) are really irritating because:

1. They appear on mouse-over, instead of mouse-click.

2. When the mouse leaves the area of the menu, they don't disappear.  Even clicking the mouse outside of the menu area won't get them to disappear unless you've also popped out a submenu.

Whenever I go up to the top of my browser window, the mouse generally runs over one of these menus and pops it up and there's no way to get rid of it.

This is really irritating and the behavior needs to be changed.

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Noticed that behavior in IE7 but not as much in Chrome.  At least in Chrome, the ESC key releases it or mousing over another drop down.  Wireless gets stuck even in Chrome, if you pull the mouse up and over the AT&T logo but even then it will go away.  Not sure about FF.  I will say that their are many websites that  have this behavior, unfortunately and one (maybe Fry's?) gives you the option of turning it off.

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Master]

I'm using FF and agree with SJ that area of the page is way too touchy. Can't even get near where the pull-down menus are or they pop up everywhere. But I'm only seeing a hang time of about 2 seconds for the boxes. This is probably due to not being able to get away from them without a sub-menu popping up. If I navigate around the top of the page the main pull-down menu boxes will stay in place even when the curser is on a post, or other part of the page, like SJ said.

Not quite sure why this thread was started under the "Announcements" section. We usually can't reply to any announcements and it may receive better exposure/input in the "U-verse Community Suggestions" board. I noticed you can't reply to the "New Forum Enhancements" announcement in the Wireless Forum and someone started a thread about the Forum changes in the "Community Suggestions" board. Also no users have provided any input to the same announcement in the Internet Forum even though you can do so. Just a thought, and suggestion, about maybe moving this thread.

I saw where the font/text size in the "News & Highlights" in both the U-verse and Wireless Lounge boards was reduced in size and this may have happened last night. It looks a whole lot better and matches the font/box size in the other "Member Discussions" boards.

[nwrickert]

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SomeJoe7777 wrote: 2. When the mouse leaves the area of the menu, they don't disappear.

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Using firefox, they disappear about 1 second after the mouse moves from the area.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Expert]

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nwrickert wrote:

Using firefox, they disappear about 1 second after the mouse moves from the area.

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Only if a submenu has also been popped out.

If you only mouse-over the main menu drop-downs, and then move the mouse out of the way without popping out a submenu, the main menu remains displayed permanently.

Do this: With the page scrolled all the way to the top so that the 4 menu headers are visible, move your mouse from the center of the page into the top of the Firefox browser window (suppose you are travelling up there to go click on a different tab).  On your way, let your mouse pointer roll over one of the menu headers.  The menu will come up and stay up.

Now move the mouse pointer back into the displayed menu in order to pop out one of the submenus.  Now move the mouse pointer out.  The menus will then disappear within 1-2 seconds.

[dhascall ACE - Master]

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SomeJoe7777 wrote:

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nwrickert wrote:

Using firefox, they disappear about 1 second after the mouse moves from the area.

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Only if a submenu has also been popped out.

If you only mouse-over the main menu drop-downs, and then move the mouse out of the way without popping out a submenu, the main menu remains displayed permanently.

Do this: With the page scrolled all the way to the top so that the 4 menu headers are visible, move your mouse from the center of the page into the top of the Firefox browser window (suppose you are travelling up there to go click on a different tab).  On your way, let your mouse pointer roll over one of the menu headers.  The menu will come up and stay up.

Now move the mouse pointer back into the displayed menu in order to pop out one of the submenus.  Now move the mouse pointer out.  The menus will then disappear within 1-2 seconds.

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Same with Chrome and IE.  ESC did not work (in Chrome) but if you did move to another menu header, it will release.  This needs to be fixed ASAP.  I will say again, other websites with similar mouse over menus often fall into the same trap.

[nwrickert]

Interesting.  Except, I don't have to see a submenu.

It looks to me as if the menu disappears in second or two, as long as I move the mouse briefly into the menu area.  I don't have to position it over a submenu.

My normal accidental moving the mouse over a menu heading normally also normally moves it into that menu area for a moment.  I have to try hard to avoid that.

I guess it depends on personal mousing habits.

[dhascall ACE - Master]

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nwrickert wrote:

Interesting.  Except, I don't have to see a submenu.

It looks to me as if the menu disappears in second or two, as long as I move the mouse briefly into the menu area.  I don't have to position it over a submenu.

My normal accidental moving the mouse over a menu heading normally also normally moves it into that menu area for a moment.  I have to try hard to avoid that.

I guess it depends on personal mousing habits.

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The problem is that if you accidently run your mosue over one of those four menus with drop downs, it hangs until you refresh the page or roll over another.  This is especially bad in IE.  I do not have FF on this PC but Chrome seems less prone.  One website, maybe it was frys.com (aka outpost.com), would eventually fill the entire viewable section with inadvertant menus.  Frustrating!  They did add an option, IIRC that the menus could be toggled off.

[dhascall ACE - Master]

Another oddity is posting to the forum.  I click post and I'm taken to the thread where I posted but don't always see my post.  I do see a "Sucess!  Click here to be taken to your post" banner but I used to see that and my post.

[dhascall ACE - Master]

Test.  Hmmm, now I do see my posts.  Maybe it's thread specific?