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Are there too many sub-forums / categories? Can you find things you posted?

Started by andy1702, November 08, 2017, 02:29:29 PM

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andy1702

Hi all,

I'm putting this out there as an observation that I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in never being able to find stuff I posted in the past because there are so many categories things always get lost. It's a bit like having a hundred filing cabinets with a dozen sheets of paper in each draw!

What do people think about seriously pruning the forum down to just a handful of categories so we have a chance of knowing which one things are in? At the moment I find it totally impossible to navigate and from comments I've seen in varous threads along the lines of "there's something about that here somewhere" I guess I'm not alone.

Just a thought.
Call me on C*net 0246 81 290 from the UK
or (+44) 246 81 290 from the rest of the world.

For telephone videos search Andys Shed on Youtube.

Haf

If I want to find a post of my own, I go to my user page (like others see it, most easiest way is clicking on the username at the bottom of starting page- who's online)- show posts of this member.

I guess most subcategories developed over the years as there was a proof of need. Would be nearly impossible to narrow some categories down... I'm using the search function most times succesfully.

Haf
Telephone:
0049-030-55474418
1-415-449-4743
1-604-757-7474

TelePlay

Quote from: andy1702 on November 08, 2017, 02:29:29 PM
Hi all,

I'm putting this out there as an observation that I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in never being able to find stuff I posted in the past because there are so many categories things always get lost. It's a bit like having a hundred filing cabinets with a dozen sheets of paper in each draw!

What do people think about seriously pruning the forum down to just a handful of categories so we have a chance of knowing which one things are in? At the moment I find it totally impossible to navigate and from comments I've seen in varous threads along the lines of "there's something about that here somewhere" I guess I'm not alone.

Just a thought.

Okay, taking that to its logical conclusion, then why not just one very large category so everything will be in one place?

Now, if you don't know how to find what you personally put up on the forum since your first post, everything you ever posted on the forum is just one click away.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=102898


BTW:  Your very first post:

"Have you found the original date of this phone yet? They tended to put that refurb sticker over where the original date code would have been. Sometimes you can peel it off to find the original date code underneath.

It's interesting because by 1965 the GPO had been issuing the later plastic cased 706 for about 5 or 6 years. Back then there was a premium to pay if you wanted a 706 (known as the modern telephone). If you didn't pay the premium you usually still got a 300 series, unless you needed some kind of special instrument and got very lucky. "


And, your 100th post:

"Hi Barry,

I just did a bit of testing here. I got a phone (basically a 706) with red to T8, white to T18 and blue to T6. This is a normal conversion for plug & socket working. I blew down the handset and could definitely hear myself in the receiver.

Next I swapped the red and white line cord terminals around and repeated the test. I could still hear myself as expected.

I'd say take all your modified wiring off and just test the phone like this for a start. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that you might have a fault in the original phone. It could be a crack on the circuit board or even some metallic debris of some kind (often the nut off the back of the base securing screw on a 746) that's lodged itself between the board and the base and is shorting something it shouldn't be.

Another thing that might be worth doing is chacking how your sockets are wired. When you look at a standard plug you'll see it has teh capacity for 6 contacts but most likely only the middle 4 are used. Of these middle 4 the outer 2 should be the red and white line. As you look at the pins of the plug from above with the gold contacts at the top the left one should be white, next green (generally unused at the phone end), next the blue 'ring' wire and finally the red side of the line. If you trace this back through the SOCKET it's not beyond the realms of possibility that someone might have connected red and white up backwards either on the back of the socket or even done by BT on the back of your master socket where the drop cable comes into the house.

Personaly I'm not a fan of the Rotatone. If you must have outgoing tone then the Dialgizmo is better because it's in a box which you plug in between your outside line and your phones. So you can have lots of extensions with lots of phones but just one box. However, having said that, for less than the cost of either option you can pick up a cheap PBX (mione was £10) that will convert pulse to tone for dialling out, which means LOTS of phones, and inter-phone dialling!  :)

Of course if you're doing the converter for fun then carry on. I just didn't want you to be doing something you thought you needed when there are better ways to connect up old telephones.

Andy."



And your 200th post:

"Hi Harry,

I should have said in my previous post that this is the set I've been messing with in an attempt to get it working. The red wire without the spades is a jumper I was told to add in the instructions at the Ericofon site to make these phones work on a two wire system (originally they had 3 but not the three I was expecting!) This mod does work because I've got the two red ones working using it.

This particular phone now rings (buzzes) and the mic works ok. The speaker in the earpiece is just about audible so it looks like that needs changing. It will also go off hook ok now.

What still doesn't work at all is the dial. So I guess there are contacts that must be so filthy they are not conducting when closed.

I'll investigate connections tohching as you suggested, but I think that might be a trick of the photos. I didn't notice anything touching when I was looking at it. I'll double check though.

Next challenge is how to get the speaker out of the top. I need to remove the receiver cap, which is glued on.

Andy."


And your 300th post:

"
I bought one off Ebay for £10 and it was local, so no postage. I then found the bottom half of another one at a local car boot sale for the same price. "



They are all there, forever, for what they are worth. And they are available for and can be found by any other member, no special moderator tools used to find topics, replies, or searchable (good quality descriptive) text.


Now, what were you looking for, anyone else can find it for you if you are having problems. Post the questions and let the forum help you find what you need. If you can't exactly remember what you want or a technically challenged by using the search function, help is only a post away, just ask.

poplar1

Go to search, add keyword, member name, and "most recent topic" option:


Search for:   [Add keyword]
By user:  [andy1702]

Search order:
  [Most recent topics first]

Options:
Show results as messages
Search in topic subjects only
Message age:
between  and  days 
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

TelePlay

Quote from: poplar1 on November 08, 2017, 03:02:06 PM
Go to search, add keyword, member name, and "most recent topic" option:


poplar1,

Thanks! An option I knew about, have used but forgot to post as an option to find the posts of any member.

Maybe posting the SMF User Manual in pdf form would help some use the forum.

RB


WEBellSystemChristian

This forum's search tool is excellent! Don't hesitate to use it!

Another forum I'm part of (though not nearly as often as here) is Ford Truck Enthusiasts. The search bar is so useless that most will try finding a post blindly than even bother using it. Even a very complicated search term there will bring you to the exact same topics search after search, even if those words aren't found in that topic at all. I don't think it searches for words grouped together in one post--it just searches for one topic where that word was used the most frequently. It brings up any topic where those words are used at all, and the topics with the most content are placed at the top of the search page. A simple, small topic is impossible to find that way.

This site is far more advanced with word grouping, and isn't drawn to bigger topics with more frequently-used words.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

TelePlay

From the SMF Online Manual:  How to Use the "Search" function:

Simple Search

The simple search field located at the top of the default SMF theme will, when viewing topics, filter search results to just that topic. The same applies to boards as well - when viewing a board the simple search field will filter the search to just results in that particular board.

While you can just type and search for any combination of characters, you should consider using modifiers to make the search really work for you.

The search tool searches the entire forum for any or all of what you specify that has been posted during the last 9999 days (which is more than 27 years)! To take more control of your search, you should use the advanced search feature.


Advanced Search

Although the advanced search screen might initially seem a little intimidating if a forum has many boards and child boards, it is surprisingly straightforward when reduced to its basic components.

    Despite initial appearances, there are really three options for how to search, with Match all words and Match any words being available from the drop-down menu, and Match as phrase also an option.

    The default * in the By user field is essentially a wildcard matching any poster. Please note that, while you can replace this with any single username for a more specific search, it is not possible to search for posts by multiple users.

    Show results as messages returns the full message containing the search string (with a reply option) instead of the usual linked excerpt, but will naturally result in much larger results pages which might be significant if you are searching for a popular word or phrase.

    Message age sets the minimum and maximum ages of posts to search.

    Choose a board to search in provides you with another tool to narrow the scope of the search, with the default being 'all' (the whole forum or, more properly, all the boards to which you have read access). To search by board you need to expand the list of boards by clicking on Choose a board to search in, or search all and select which boards to search in and check the correct box.

    The Search button not surprisingly sets the whole thing in motion, but pressing 'Enter' direct from any of the search fields is sometimes more convenient.

Modifiers

Using the simple or advanced search methods, you can still use search modifiers. These are powerful special characters which modify the way in which SMF handles your search string.

    Phrase search - use double quotes (") around your term ("search term") to search for the search term as a phrase instead of individual words.

    Excluding terms - use a minus sign in front of terms you would like to exclude from the search result. For instance, "search -term" will search for "search" but not "term". The minus sign must have a space prior to it.

===========================================

For example:

"western electric" ==>  search for exact occurrences (reports back only the phrase 'western electric'
western electric ==>  search for any occurrence of the words or word parts (will pick up electricity having electric in the full word)
western -electric ==>  search will look for 'western' but not 'electric' (only finds 'western' and excludes those that have 'electric')

The last search (western -electric) will find Western Union, Gray-Western, Western Telephone, Northwestern, Southwestern and even, yes, Western Electic (member spelling error when creating the topic)  BUT NOT Western Electric.


Given the above plus the use of user name, type of sort and the date range, if needed, and selected topics in the advance search, it's not hard to find a topic as long as you know the key words, you have more than just an idea of what the topic may be about. Search does not work well with "I think it was something like that."


Haf

Quote from: TelePlay on November 08, 2017, 04:15:09 PM


The search tool searches the entire forum for any or all of what you specify that has been posted during the last 9999 days (which is more than 27 years)! To take more control of your search, you should use the advanced search feature.


So by today it's still 6646 of 9999 days left.

The total number of days between Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 and Wednesday, November 8th, 2017 is 3,353 days.
This is equal to 9 years, 2 months, and 5 days :)

Haf
Telephone:
0049-030-55474418
1-415-449-4743
1-604-757-7474

dsk

One of the reasons I have to love this forum is exactly the way to find back the threads, please do not do anything to that.
The forums on yahoo, or Facebook are just terrible in that hence.

dsk