Pete B Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 As a result of recent work and some changes being carried out the forum architecture, a number of users have experienced difficulty when trying to post, with missing buttons and even missing Reply boxes. It has been recommended by the techies that users clear their Internet cache from time to time, which should normally resolve the problem. The cache stores images of pages to save time reloading all the standard items each time you go to a forum page, so if a change has been recently made, your browser may be viewing the 'old' version. There is a useful web page here which describes how to clear the cache on many of the more common browsers. If this doesn't work, then check the other threads in this section for compatibility problems, etc..... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 thanks, I'd been wondering about that ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 I'll just bump this thread as at least one user has had a similar problem overnight and others may be finding it difficult to PM the mods for a solution..... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Done that, it hasn't made any difference. The problem is at Modelflying's end-----something they did months ago caused the problem with older browsers and they have done nothing to fix their errors yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 With the greatest respect, kc, I'm not sure that it is reasonable to expect a forum to be able to accommodate every version of every computer than has ever been produced. Equally, operating systems and browsers move on - even Microsoft will only provide support for a limited time, which seems to become shorter between each new release. Things move on and, whilst I try to avoid the 'throwaway' philosophy as much as possible, even I accept that from time to time I'll have to upgrade my PC to cope with current standards Now, it may be that you don't have problems with other forums but unfortunately we have to make the best use of what we have here. If you would PM me with your specific problems, although I make no promises, I'll do my best to get your issues resolved....if possible! Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Until a couple of minutes ago I was about to totally agree with Pete! Though I'm not currently directly involved in the user-interface side of web development, I know enough from past experience to be well aware that supporting the idiosyncracies of old browsers, especially very old versions of IE can be a regular pain in the backside. However, having just "lost" nearly all the icons in the reply box I'm feeling less sympathetic towards the developers of this site... Yes, I've got them back, but what proportion of the users on here would know how (or why) to clear their cache† - and why should they?! † And I don't mean going on a spending-spree at the Nats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Posted by John Privett on 23/08/2013 21:03:17: Until a couple of minutes ago I was about to totally agree with Pete! Though I'm not currently directly involved in the user-interface side of web development, I know enough from past experience to be well aware that supporting the idiosyncracies of old browsers, especially very old versions of IE can be a regular pain in the backside. However, having just "lost" nearly all the icons in the reply box I'm feeling less sympathetic towards the developers of this site... Yes, I've got them back, but what proportion of the users on here would know how (or why) to clear their cache† - and why should they?! † And I don't mean going on a spending-spree at the Nats! John. Your last para hits the nail on the head ,as many regular forum contributors are getting on a bit and not very conversant with the latest IT terminology or the finer points of maniplulationg PC functions to offset deficencencies in a particular site. I am left unable to post photos from my album , so cannot service the enquiries ,or post build blogs, and the spell check no longer works ,along with other post box functions that do not correspond with the icons. My pc was new less than two years ago and runs XP proffesional , I dont have any problems at all with the many other sites I use . The mods here have been very helpfull but the problems remain . I am now faced with paying a proffessional to sort things out , or go to a more user friendly forum. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 Tom, Sorry to hear you are still having problems. Can I assume that you have cleared the cache as per the instructions in the link and that has not resolved the issue? If you can let us know which browser you are using, perhaps someone more computer-savvy than me (yes, I fit your description in the post above!) may be able to offer some words of advice.... Meanwhiler, I can only submit a bug report for the techies and see if they can clear this up. Why does it always happen on a Friday?, I ask myself....... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Sorry to be a pain Pete but I have followed the link instructions and still have the problem . I have all ways used Google as the search engine . Off to the Nats tommorow to as a distraction from all this stuff. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 The search engine isn't your browser, Tom - it's likely to be Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari or a lesser-used type. Letting us know which version of which browser you are using will help the techies establish the problem, so it's fairly crucial... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Pete My browser is Internet Explorer, is that bad ? . By the way I got the smiley by clicking the blank box next to the cam icon. . Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 24, 2013 Author Share Posted August 24, 2013 Not my preference TBH, Tom - in my experience it's a lumbering monster compared to Firefox However, many folk seem happy with it..... I'll copy the layman's-speak explanation we received from a techie - it may help to explain things in an understandable way: The cache is a folder on your computer where the browser stores temporary copies of stuff from web pages like images and stuff. For example the logo image at the top of the Model Flying website is the same on every page, so rather than the browser downloading it fresh from the server on every page load, it takes the image and stores it in the cache so on subsequent page loads it doesn’t need to get it from the server. This speeds up page load times and cuts down internet traffic. But files like javascript files and style sheets also get cached, and this means when we change stuff on the websites it sometimes doesn’t appear to all users until they empty their cache. That's the explanation, anyway. I should have asked this before, but if I am to hope for a specific solution for your case, I'll need to know your browser version, IE 7, 8, 9 or 10? Confirm your operating system is Xp Professional - presumably SP2? You'll get that from 'Help', 'About', in both cases. If I pass those details on, they may be able to suggest a solution. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Pete Explorer 8 Xp Proffessional. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Pete The post box top lines are now as they should be , with the icons correctly designated , bot tuh speal cheak doos note worc , and I cannot bring photos from my forum album to thread . At least some progress ....... of course you will have realised all this is all a management demon plan to asertain a patience rating for mods lol. I think you are up for a gold . Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly P Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 I have cleared the Cache on my machine, and in W7, Google Chrome (all latest versions) the post reply box onlly has 8 icons..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 24, 2013 Author Share Posted August 24, 2013 If it wasn't working right for me I'd be bit miffed too, Tom, so I'll stick at it until we get a resolution, one way or the other. The issue has been reported but at the start of a BH weekend, I don't know how soon it can be looked at. I'm at the limit of my computer knowledge, if not beyond, so the only additional thing I can think of at the moment is to check that you are running on the latest version of Java etc.... It's no help, of course, but I'm running on Vista and both Firefox v.23 and Chrome work fine. Emulating Tom's account from my PC, everything was working fine too, so my suspicions are that something in your machine is not quite right... Olly, I've included your issue in the report, too. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 I'm watching the F1 practice on the telly and viewing the Live Timing on my old - but not antique - laptop. It's running XP Pro and Firefox 23.0.1. I've not used the laptop since the Hungarian GP weekend (4 weeks ago) and browsing to here found the reply box totally missing... Again, clearing the cache restored it, but please, can't we do better than this? An update shouldn't really rely on the users knowing to clear the cache. Wasn't this issue found in the dev and test environments? And why apply an update on a Friday before going home for a long weekend? - it's something I deliberately avoided doing myself yesterday! I'd rather be around to pick up the pieces from anything that goes wrong after I deploy a change! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 24, 2013 Author Share Posted August 24, 2013 John, I've established this morning that some changes to the editor were made last Tuesday and that checks were made to ensure that clearing the cache would restore functionality across all systems and browsers - and in all cases it did. It's unfortunate that it has taken until the weekend for these user problems to surface. I quite agree that it shouldn't be necessary for users to clear their caches but it may be that the forum architecture doesn't give the techies, mods or users much choice.... If this resolution was the only option, then perhaps a global message to users might have been appropriate and we'll bear that in mind for the future. All I can do is reiterate the advice to clear the cache - if anyone is experiencing problems this thread is clearly headed and the solution, hopefully for all users, is to be found in the link in the first post. I have to then rely on users following the instructions to the letter..... Darn, missed the end of FP3..... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Pete Just to say that I'm using Win 7 (32 bit) and it's running both Chrome (Version 28.0.1500.95 m) and IE (ver 10). I have not cleared my cache but everything is working fine in both browers. Of course, the majority of users out there will be wondering what the problem which is not to say I don't sympathise with those who have the problem. It's so annoying when things go wrong with software provided by the big boys because you never know whether they have or are working on a fix, who's got the fix and when they are going to implement it!! Leaves the small fry, to try and produce the work rounds. Well done on the way you are handling these issues. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy48 Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 As one of those reporting similar problems, I've only just got round to seeing this topic. I didn't realise its relevance. I do think it needs a message round, or at least a clearer topic title such as "forum problems when trying to post a reply". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Mmmm I think Petes thread title covers the main issue people were seeing....PLUS its in the Site Technical queries section..... XP & IE 8 for me & it seems fine...also on Chrome..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazygit Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 I'm really untidy and rarely do any housekeeping like clearing caches, closing windows etc. I might have 40!windows open at the same time. I don,t have much in the way of problems, and I use Safari. It's not by choice, it's just there. Try it out Tom, it might help. My cache requirements might be reduced as I search using startpage.com. It doesn't record your IP address either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Thanks LG with help from Pete I have now got the issues sorted . Firefox was the solution for me ,but still think it a bit unreasonable that I had to change. Long time no see ? Regards Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly boy3 Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Hi Tom, I am a stick in the mud and do not like change (an age thing I think). Had a few problems with IE some time ago and changed to Firefox. Loving it. Glad it got sorted, as I would not like to lose your valuable expertize to another forum. LoL. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 26, 2013 Author Share Posted August 26, 2013 Glad your problems have been sorted and relieved to see you back, Tom - your disciples are pining... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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