[Q_BE]

As Gonzo has said elsewhere, problems with the HTML coding on the forum tend to be like deck chairs on the Titanic; rearrange them all you want, but it doesn't fix the underlying issue of the sinking boat.

With that said, I have been noticing ever since the '09 Forum Fastapazool (as Palomine so succintly named it) that old code references to posts and threads on the forum no longer work, ostensibly because we changed the forum software that renders the coding references to threads and posts. There's really not much to do about them either, in terms of fixing them manually, because they are so ubiquitous and the vast majority of them reference individual posts (and thus don't have the forum thread I.D. coding listed with the individual post I.D.

One glaring example is something I'm going to reference here. Inre to this problem, we have the thread Big Breasts are Evil. Not coincidentally, the problem crops up in my post, which happens to be the most recent one in the thread currently. That would be this one. As you can see, I link to a quote by another member, CyberPlainsDrifter, but it remains in the old forum's HTML coding, and when I click on it, it says the "requested URL" is not located on the server. Now, I know the post and thread exist, because based on the reference to CPD, I was able to rummage through his (relatively small) collection of posts, and based on the message number listed in the HTML reference, find approximately the range and time of his post (since the message number references the total post count for the entire forum), and go from there.

The difference may be listed like this:

Code: [Select]

http://forum.bearchive.com/showflat.php?Number=409702#Post409702(Pre '09 Forum Fastapazool)

vs.

Code: [Select]

http://forum.bearchive.com/index.php/topic,409579.msg409702.html#msg409702(Post '09 Forum Fastapazool)

I may be venting a little bit here, but what more can we do to get around these old links and find the original content which exists behind these archaic codes? As you can see, the main difficulty is in locating the topics of individually-referenced posts, as I demonstrate here. I don't think the problem extends to the "beginning" of topics because the post and topic numbers are identical in that case, regardless of forum coding format. Of course, this is a case where it would be helpful to have a moderately-intelligent Forum Search, but I think that's another complaint for another day.

Q-"Too much time on my hands? You decide"-BE

[gonZo]

Good observations, but we've asked the admins to fix the problem several times since the SMF software was installed. They only have a limited amount of programmer time to devote to the forum, and this bug isn't at the top of the prioritized list of unfixed bugs. (Higher priority items are generally issues with the account/access/password scripts and things that affect the everyday browsing experience, like the thumbnails thing.)

[Q_BE]

Thanks for sharing, Gonzo. I guess this is more of a "Damn those haxxors" moment than a "Curse those admins" moment.

Q-"Maybe it's a 'Counsel this user' moment"-BE

Pal suggests: though I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a response, you're always welcome to contact Matt and Gabe about this Q_BE... who knows, maybe you'll catch them on a good day and something might get added to an admin's 'to do' list. -Pal

[TheZookie007]

I damn those haxxors every single day since the Fastapazool esp. when I think of all those pictures of Sofia Vergara that I forgot to save from my SV megathread! Arrrghhh!

Damn you, haxxors! Damn you to hell!

[tdotter]

Yes,and all the threads that no longer have the pictures on them because of the 2009 snafu.
👺😾🛠