[Don Salmon]

Thanks Zak.This is REALLY excellent. I’ve seen a lot of formats for online discussion and this is one of the best I’ve seen.

I’ve created a separate group oriented toward the practical implications of Iain’s work (it’s the one with the “BE” logo)

I hope others join in. I think it could be lots of fun as well as potentially profoundly transformative.

[Peter Foliant]

This is actually a reply to Zak, but I do not get a Reply-button to the entry of Zak.

I think it would be a good idea that someone of the technical team creates a group for technical issues. Group General is probably too general 😉

[Peter Foliant]

Here you can see there is no reply button.

[Zak Safra]

Hi Peter

It might be a browser issue. I’ve opened up the group as you suggested. If you could report it there and also mention your browser maybe someone can help.

I’m using an iPhone and I seem to have a reply option.

Best

Zak

[Zak Safra]

Hi Peter,

I think the website gives you an option to reply to a specific comment, as I am doing now to yours.

I’m not quite sure how to go about setting up a technical forum, if I get my head around it I’ll do. Perhaps you would like to before me?

I think any support from members in these early stages is welcome.

Zak

[Peter Foliant]

Hello Zak,

I would love to help. It is common practice for Software Development to have an issue tracker. Maybe there is already some tool that the developers used? You can put all kinds of issues in such a tracker. From bugs to wishes for new functionality. A good tool provides you with an overview of all issues and with the possibility to assign issues to developers. It also needs to track the person who has contributed the issue. When an issue is solved, the person can than be notified. When a new requirement is assigned to a new release the person can be notified. When the development team works in a scrum based approach, issues and other work items are listed on a backlog and issues can be assigned to a sprint in which the issue will be solved. An example of a tool that is used a lot is Jira from Atlassian. This tool is ment to manage issue. The channels via which issues are contributed can be this forum, but also e-mail and maybe telephone. I would start with a group. Because you already have the infrastructure for that. I would not want you to have to high costs for a site that has just been started.

PS: I did not get a notification that you replied. So I just made a group for feedback on the new site myself. I will remove that now I see you have made one already.

PS2: If you would like to speak in person I am open to that. I am happy to contribute to this site ans its ongoing development.

[James Willis]

I just logged in to the new site for the first time, after struggling with the old site from its inception.

Generally good impression, certainly a vast improvement, but I am experiencing a very long lag before the site responds to anything I do – around two or three seconds. Is anyone else getting this?

(I’m using MS Edge on a PC with a fast connection – I’ll try Chrome now and add a comment if it’s any better)

[Zak Safra]

Hi James,

I’ve experienced the same slowness issue. I reported it to the team so I trust it will be looked at. I hope people will feel it’s worth the effort to get the new website going well despite the teething pains.

Best

Zak

[Mark Delepine]

As others have mentioned the processing speed is pretty slow but at least it is worth waiting for. But the general layout of groups and discussions is pretty scattershot and only likely to become more so if more begin to use it.

I wonder if there has been any thought of paying for a good forum browser such as Discourse. I don’t have a lot of experience with what all might be out there. But I’ve found Discourse to the easiest to navigate amongst those I’ve encountered. Just checked online and it looks as though a basic package is $100/month. Worth it?

[Mary Attwood]

Thank you Mark and everybody for your feedback. As a newly launched discussion forum this will take a little while to populate and get used to, plus it seems a very small percentage of members are using the discussion forum.

At this stage, the layout of the replies and feed from people writing is working fine. You should be notified of responses if you click the box below “Notify me of replies via email”. I have checked it and it works for me so if it isn’t working for you, please let me know.

Regarding the slowness of the site, we are aware of this and the tech team are looking at improving this, so it is in the pipeline.

Anybody can start up a discussion thread or group and invite other members to it to engage with them. We will take a look at the groups every couple of months to see what is working and what isn’t and tidy them up. We won’t be looking at getting yet another platform for the discussion forum as this one needs to flourish fully first so we need to give it time to see how things develop.

As guests come and do talks with Iain they are being invited into the forums too to discuss any thoughts and ideas so again, this is something in its fledging stages and will develop over time.

Do please keep the feedback coming!

Many thanks