I would like to see one more option: Disable hashtags.

When selected, "#anything" would be treated as plain text.  Also when selected, as with other options like Directory, the #Hashtags tab would not be displayed.

I "own" 2 groups.  One of them uses hashtags extensively.  The other one not at all.  For the "Not at all" group the tab just creates confusion and questions.  If the user understands what hashtags do, they try to use them.  If they don't it becomes a question of "That is a hashtag?"  In either case, it creates questions which require time to deal with.

Peace,
Tom

Changes to the site this week:

• SYSADMIN: Upgraded the main database instance.
• BUGFIX: For groups without subgroups, you can now go to https://groupname.groups.io, and it will redirect correctly.
• BUGFIX: Fixed escaping of special characters in search query strings.
• BUGFIX: Fixed two bugs in the DKIM verifying library we use.
• BUGFIX: The 'Bulk Remove' button was being shown to some moderators who didn't have the right permission to use it (they were not able to actually use the feature).
• NEW: Added a section to the Help about the FBL and people being removed because of spam.
• NEW: When viewing a subgroup where you aren't subscribed, but you are a mod/owner of the parent group, the tag on the sidebar will now say 'Parent Mod' or 'Parent Owner'.
• CHANGE: Tweaked the sidebar width in certain instances, making it a little larger.
• BUGFIX: Disabled the 'Subscribe to Calendar' button for subgroups where you are not a subscriber (but are owner of the parent group).
• CHANGE: Parallelized updating the DNS servers to speed subgroup creation up.
• BUGFIX: Fixed a problem with repeating event reminders that could cause some of them to not be sent.
• BUGFIX: Fixed some labels on the group settings page for screen readers.
• CHANGE: Added wording on Display Name edit pages: "Note: When you post, your email address is also shown to group members who receive messages via email."
• NEW: On the pending message screen, if you use the Approve & Unmoderate Button to approve messages from non subscribers, a dialog will now pop up telling you that these people cannot be unmoderated (because they're not members).
• CHANGE: Upgraded Go toolchain from 9.4 to 10.3. This unexpectedly broke several parts of the web site that dealt with uploading files. Fixed.
• SYSADMIN: Upgraded main bastion host.
• CHANGE: Don't fig leaf email addresses when viewing source.
• NEW: Adding Authentication-Results header line showing DKIM/SPF tests. Only visible when viewing message source in the archives.
• SYSADMIN: Renewed *.groups.io ssl certificate.
• CHANGE: When posting a message, ignore returns clicked when editing the subject.
• BUGFIX: When viewing or editing an individual database row that has a date column, the date displayed would always be today.
• BUGFIX: When viewing or editing an individual database row that has an empty date column, the date displayed would always be today.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Mark

--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 11:22 PM, J_Catlady wrote:

Re-reading her message more closely, on top of everything it actually seems like this is a bug. She apparently(?) corrected her message to have an allowed hashtag, but that didn't work. She was told it was awaiting release, but I never got anything about it. She finally, according to what she says here, just resent a new message through email. So if what she's saying is right, the system for correcting a hashtag to an allowable one is not functioning.
--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

I just checked again to see what what happens when a user tries to use a new hashtag and that isn't allowed. If done online, there is a dropdown called "Tags" to pick from valid hashtags. If the user insists on entering a new one in the subject line, there is an error message saying it is not allowed.

If the user is making the post via email, the user is sent an email explaining the issue and requesting it be corrected by clicking on a link. That is not a reply to the original email and can easily end up in a spam bin. Once the user does get the email and follows up and makes the requested correction, the post goes through. So, it is working as designed for these cases. Perhaps with moderation in force, not so much.

My recommendation is to not use the "bounce" option and just use the "strip" option. At least the message gets through.

--
Gerald

Re-reading her message more closely, on top of everything it actually seems like this is a bug. She apparently(?) corrected her message to have an allowed hashtag, but that didn't work. She was told it was awaiting release, but I never got anything about it. She finally, according to what she says here, just resent a new message through email. So if what she's saying is right, the system for correcting a hashtag to an allowable one is not functioning.
--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

One correction: my group is now on moderation (due to a troll), so it's correct that her message, once corrected, would have been moderated and needed to be "released." However, I received no notice of the original message, anywhere. 

What about putting such messages into the pending queue for editing, with a comment about a disallowed hashtag? That seems preferable to having the system - completely outside the moderator's knowledge - ask the user to substitute a different hashtag. That could go on and on, with the member trying one hashtag and then another, and the mod still having no knowledge that it was even occurring. This leaves everyone in the dark.
--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

This is not working well for my group. A member typed a current hashtag incorrectly in an emailed message this morning, and she emailed me offlist 12 hours later to ask me why her message had not yet been "released" and asked me if I could release it.

I was perplexed because (a) she's not on moderation, and (b) THERE WAS NO RECORD IN ANY OF THE LOGS of her even having sent a message. I even wondered whether she had mistakenly sent it to another group, and asked her to check, and I asked her for details. She wrote:

"I put the wrong hashtag and it had me go to the groups.io site to change it and re-submit. When I did that it said it was being held for the moderator to release. I did it twice today with the same result. I will just resend it through my email with the correct hashtag."

To me this is unacceptable. She had tried to use the #large-cell-lymphoma hashtag, but instead typed just #large-cell. At the bare minimum, I think mods should have some sort of notification that this occurred, or at least just a log entry. At best, the message should indicated that members can't create their own hashtags in the group (I'm not sure whether it already contains that info - it's possible the member didn't report that part of it to me).  

I'd actually prefer a straight-up bounce to this behavior. 

--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 01:45 PM, Jim Higgins wrote:

as I slowly shrink the browser width it gets smaller until at about 85% screen width it gets suddenly quite a bit (disproportionately) larger,

I agree with Jim about the algorithm having a hiccup at a certain point as the width gets narrower.

On the other hand, the display rendering is pretty nifty for really narrow displays when it puts the menu in a compact version below the messages.
 
--
Gerald

It's a nice width - same as I remember or close enough - when my browser (Firefox) is full screen (1280w X 1024h), which is my norm. Then as I slowly shrink the browser width it gets smaller until at about 85% screen width it gets suddenly quite a bit (disproportionately) larger, then gets smaller from that point as the screen is shrunk further until it disappears suddenly at maybe 55% screen width. I can't say I've ever seen behavior like that anywhere before. Not a problem at all, just saying because it was really strange... all of which I'd never have noticed if it hadn't been mentioned.

Jim H



Received from Mark Fletcher at 8/17/2018 04:06 PM UTC:

--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

With absolutely no sarcasm intended, Mark runs this service like a pro. Marv

On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 05:06 PM, Mark Fletcher wrote:

I'm happy to revert the change if it's more of an issue for people than word wrapping because the sidebar is too narrow.

I'm not going to pretend that it's a major issue because from my point of view it isn't; I was just wondering if (a) it was my fevered imagination, or (b) it was accidental.

As it's neither of the above I'll wait and see like everyone else.

Thanks for the prompt clarification.

Chris

Every one of my individual Groups.io groups has had the width of the (left hand) sidebar increased with the exception of the "summary" page with all my groups listed. As a result the side bar is much wider than it needs to be, and of course there has been a corresponding reduction in the width for the "substance" of any page.

Is this deliberate or a mishap of some sort? If intentional, what is the intent?

Chris

--
J

 

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.

I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't. - Desmond Tutu

On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 11:00 PM, "main@beta.groups.io Calendar" <main@beta.groups.io> wrote:

I will put up a banner on the site during the day of, announcing the downtime.

Not seeing any banners (yet?).  Will the banners be a manual thing or were they scheduled?  If scheduled, possibly related to the GO update?

Thanks,
Duane

On Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 08:55 AM, Susan Fox wrote:

This response is a bit OT, but the contrast is just too overwhelming not to mention

I had the same thoughts when I let my subscription team know about the problem with adds and invites the other day! Isn't it amazing to deal with someone who lets us know what's going on? They all agreed - having lived through many days of YG being totally "down" with not only no explanation, but no acknowledgement afterwards that it even happened. Wish we had switched years ago!

Barb

I got a notice this morning so the notice part of the process is working.

Jim H



Received from Bob Bellizzi at 8/16/2018 06:50 PM UTC