Dear Forum Members,
You may have noticed that the forum has changed a bit since your last visit. This is in response to some critiques and suggestions for improvement, which, following a software update from the web provider, I have now been able to implement for you.
The forum is now split into a series of categories. This aims to allow people to focus on areas that are of particular interest to them, without having to scroll through all posts. More categories can be added by forum moderators, so if you would like to see a new category, or even a subcategory within a particular area, please let us know, and we will look at accommodating this.
The current categories are:
1) Forum Rules and Queries (for forum rules, questions and requests)
2) General Discussions (where old forum posts are based – this will NOT be deleted, and you are NOT obliged to move the post to its relevant category, but please ensure that future posts are placed in the most appropriate category)
3) Napoleon (for discussions on the man himself)
4) French Revolution
5) Coalition Wars (you may well want us to break that down for you)
6) Peninsular War
7) War at Sea
8) Politics
9) Napoleonic era society
10) Key figures
11) Napoleonicist (for questions, comments and requests on my podcast, available via the tab above)
12) New work and Research
13) Social (so that people can chat more generally during the coronavirus crisis)
Posts are now listed in horizontal strips so that you can quickly see what the latest posts are, what the most recent activity is on each post, and what people are talking about. Previously posts were laid out in boxes, which made it harder to determine this.
Latest posts – at the bottom of the page you will find nine white-backed boxes which show you the last nine posts on the forum (across all categories). I can increase this number if members would like me to, but thought that too many would potentially overload.
Please be aware that by clicking the three vertical dots at the end of each strip, you can ‘follow’ a post, and get updates every time someone comments on it. You can also list posts in order of most recent activity by clicking the ‘Sort by’ button (next to the black ‘Create New Post’ button), and then clicking ‘Recent Activity’ in the drop down menu. You can also stay up to date via the wix.com app.
Please also remember that you can search for posts on a particular topic, using the search function on the top right of the forum page. You can search the entire website for material on any topic by using the search tab in the menu on the top left of the page.
Can I take the opportunity to thank my brilliant team: Phoebe Style, Jacqueline Reiter and Gavin Lewis. I also want to thank all of you. The forum now has around 225 members from across the world, has had 13,000 post views, and 1600 comments across 223 threads. Please keep your comments, questions, and info about the latest research coming, and let friends know about what we do here, as we continue to develop the legacy of the great Napoleon Series Discussion Forum.
Stay well, and stay safe
Zack
Hi Zack, many thanks for that! I see a few people introduce their latest projects. I wonder would a Introductions thread be useful for when someone new joins?
Excellent thought Ciarán - I tried to start something like this in January. I'll add a category into the social section!
I find it difficult to track down recent answers looking at the horizontal stripes, I would have missed Jack Gills question in Swedish Army at Leipzig.
Hi Hans-Karl, As I mentioned in the post, you can follow individual threads by clicking on the three vertical dots and selecting the 'follow' option. By doing this, you will get notifications on every new comment made in the thread, which ultimately makes keeping up to date easier. You can also browse the last nine new posts across the entire forum quickly by looking at the bottom of the forum page. Hope that helps!
The 9 new posts is not working, Jack Gill's recent contribution would have fall through this scan
Hi Hans-Karl,
My apologies, the new posts only covers newly created threads (I'm afraid I'm also getting to grips with the changes!). However, you can still keep tabs on new developments quite quickly.
If you click on the bell icon on the top right of the screen after you have logged in, you will be taken to a page like this, which shows notifications on all the posts in the categories you are following:
Furthermore, once you are inside a particular category (such as general discussion, you will see that on the right hand side it shows who the last person was to post, and when, allowing you to quickly see where new material has been posted:
I hope this helps - do let me know if you have any other queries.
Zack,
Very well done indeed. You have made it much easier to use the forum and to find the older threads that haven't been used much lately.
Thanks very much.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Very nice. Thank you.