The New Site

[Dabney Grinnan]

#11957

We want to hear from you! Please submit any queries, complaints, raves, or other. Our site is constantly evolving, and as you’ll notice, like life itself, not everything is perfect. The hope is to get as close to perfect as possible and we cannot do that without your help.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#38250

This is great! I’m loving the new functionalities & how updated everything seems.

[Sarah Johnson]

#38277

I agree! The site looks great, I love how easy it is to search for new reviews :)

[Carol Morava]

#38288

Seriously. This has been such a great change.

[Jocelyn]

#38693

I’ve been a daily visitor to AAR since 2002. It just keeps getting better. Thanks to the AAR team for providing this great website, resource, and community!!

[NoirFemme]

#38713

Can you please preserve the old forums for posterity? One of the most lamented changes to AAR was when the site switched to the phpBB, and erased the years and years of posts on the pre-2007 message board.

[Blackjack1]

#38714

Yes! I second that!

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39086

We were unable to do that. The cost of doing so was prohibitive. We had to pick and choose. I’m sorry.

[NoirFemme]

#39214

;___;

Is there some way for us to save our posts?

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39240

What do you mean?

Save your posts?

[Caz Owens]

#39302

Responding to NoirFemme:

I suspect you’ll have to find them and then manually cut and paste the ones you want to keep to a word document or whatever format suits you, if you’re taking about saving your posts and comments for your personal use.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39149

And we actually have a form for you to give us feedback with!

Here it is: We Want to Hear from You.

[Kayne]

#39272

How do I login? I clicked the login tab but my old password doesn’t work and I don’t see a way to create a new password?
How do I add an image to my name (profile image)?
What is the best way to post about books we are currently reading? At the old AAR board there was the Recently Read post. Is it better to post individually or lump them all in a Recently Read Post?
Is there a way to edit or delete posts?
Thanks so much!

[Janie]

#39305

I tried to log-in but neither my name nor password are recognized.

–Janie

[Janie]

#39308

But since that posted just now with my name and address, I guess logging-in isn’t necessary anymore?

–Janie

[dallase]

#39322

Testing….

[Mark]

#39327

Can the old message boards be kept available in a locked/read-only form?
Is there a FAQ for the new site & new message boards, or the equivalent of the sticky posts used on the old boards?

[Audrey]

#39344

I don’t see the Romances On Sale – I will be sad if this is discontinued as AAR’s list seemed to be the most comprehensive, without being full of stuff I don’t read.

[Caz Owens]

#39447

Audrey – Romances on Sale will be continuing here – the next will be for August releases, which I hope will be ready within the next week or so.

[tinabelle]

#39591

Glad to hear that the Romances on Sale feature will still be a part of AAR. Love the look of the new site – very professional and visually much more appealing than the old site. Learning the ins and outs but it seems easy to use.

[Mark]

#39394

I still haven’t spotted an obvious way to sign in for these boards.
Also, I haven’t spotted a visual cue about which messages I’ve already seen on previous visits like the old message boards had. I assume such cues require sign-ins.

[Karat]

#39416

I have the same question as Kayne: how to add an image to my name (profile image)?

[Manda]

#39434

Really love the new look!,It’s very modern and easy to navigate. Well done!

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39435

Right now that’s all you have to do.

[library addict]

#39444

I have the same question as Kayne: how to add an image to my name (profile image)?

Register at Gravatar. I was already registered there (sites like Dear Author and many,many other blogs use it as well) and my avatar posted with no issues. You just have to use the same user name and email.

[Karat]

#39504

Thanks!

[library addict]

#39515

I have some questions about the main part of the site (not the forum)

1) Will the results of the 2016 Favorites poll be added for 2015’s books (currently it just goes up to 2015’s poll)

2) No rush, but will the special titles lists which were opened for submissions last year be updated (Beta Heroes, Marms, Teachers, and Governesses, Favorite Funnies, and Villains)?

I know you all have been busy getting the new site going, so there’s no rush. I’m just curious.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39602

The Reader Poll for 2015 has been added.

[LinnieGayl Kimmel]

#39603

Oh yay! Thanks for getting the poll up for best of 2015 romances! Now to get thinking about the poll for best of 2016 romances :)

[dick]

#39543

I cannot open a particular poster’s comments as we were able to do on the old site? Will we always have to click on connections to move between forums?

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39558

The site is still in beta. Many of these problems will be fixed within the next week or so we hope!

[Lisa F]

#39592

Re-read some old reviews in the new format and everything looks lovely so far!

[msaggie]

#39594

The new site is lovely. I spent most of the weekend archiving my old posts at the old site – I just copied and pasted onto Word documents and saved them – don’t know of a better way to do it. I did this last time during the last AAR website messageboard change early 2007. How do we quote other posters’ comments so we could answer them?

[LinnieGayl Kimmel]

#39595

Can’t figure out if it is possible to quote either. Tried a few things with disastrous results.

[msaggie]

#39598

Linnie Gayl, I clicked “reply” on your post to see if that will quote your post – will it work? We will soon find out

[Dabney Grinnan]

#39600

The reply feature will work soon.

[erika]

#39741

almost missed the alert the site was changing! the new site is classy.
Once I determined I didn’t have to register yet…easy peasy!!

oh and I hope the books on sale stay. I use that for my monthly buying lists…

[HeatherB]

#39821

Love it! So far it seems so much easier than the old and I really like how it is organized. I also like how the message boards are much easier to navigate.

[Clutterconqueror]

#39900

I was just on a board where I wanted to agree with someone without having to make a post. It might have been lovely to have agree or disagree buttons.

[HBO]

#39919

NB: I am using the block quote tab for the first time; so, I hope it works the way the old site did. If not, then I look like the tech-challenged person I am at times. :(

I was just on a board where I wanted to agree with someone without having to make a post. It might have been lovely to have agree or disagree buttons

While I can see the ease of such a feature, wouldn’t the discussion forums then run the risk of becoming more like FB? Stagnant? An unintentional, yet unsubstantiated poll?

I like to know why a person agrees/or disagrees with another’s opinion. We all have something to say that adds to any conversation, and in this case I believe “more is better.”

[Clutterconqueror]

#39942

While I can see the ease of such a feature, wouldn’t the discussion forums then run the risk of becoming more like FB? Stagnant? An unintentional, yet unsubstantiated poll?

I like to know why a person agrees/or disagrees with another’s opinion. We all have something to say that adds to any conversation, and in this case I believe “more is better.”

I see your point, and I agree. I rescind my suggestion.

[msaggie]

#40173

I am trying to post about a new book I just read but it says “Forbidden” and that I don’t have permission (but I have posted before). What’s the problem? My post is not overly long

[leather hi top sneakers]

#40207

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[Ellen Schwartz]

#40278

You need a “return to the list of posts” navigation link. It is not enough to just have page navigation within a post topic. When I get to the end of page 3 or 4 (or higher for popular posts), I want to be able to get back to the forum main page with the lists of posts in one click and not have to click “back” multiple times or go out to the main menu again.

[test]

#40306

test replay to topic

[Lynda X]

#40411

Although I love the new site, especially the sales on e-books, what is terrible is how LONG it takes to download the blog or article. In the past, AAR had significant problems–at least on my computer–and these seem to have stayed. Isn’t there anything you can do?

[Lil]

#40420

The site looks very attractive but while I understand the number of comments, what does “Voices” mean?

[RichMissTallant]

#40438

I think the site looks great but for the message boards, there’s clearly a word limit and there’s no way of knowing if your post is too long (from what I can see)..

[msaggie]

#40468

Now that I think about it. I liked the old messageboards where you could find out how many times a particular topic/thread was read. Currently we only get how long ago someone commented on a particular post. I used to click on the popular posts to see what it was all about. Could we have that feature again (i.e. telling us how many times the particular thread/topic was read)

[dick]

#40479

The new site simply doesn’t work well when one is using IE as browser. None of the buttons work; loading takes forever. Chrome works, but it too is slow on the site.

[Anne Gresley]

#40486

I use chrome and haven’t noticed any problems.

[Eliza]

#40497

Two new links posted on the home range aren’t even showing up on the threads now. It’s been about 2o minutes.

[HBO]

#40522

The site is out of synch on the discussion boards. Timing is off. Or posts not showing up if one uses IE as a browser.

Also, not sure if the new beta site is getting overloaded with traffic, but commenting on blog or on books featured on the front page has been problematic today.

[Blackjack]

#40564

Only Google Chrome allows me to view new posts and submit too but it looks like the timing is still off and posts appear and then vanish.

[gracec]

#40588

I love the new site, it’s beautiful and well organized. I just wish it would be faster. I use IE primarily so that’s probably why. WIll try Chrome next time and see it that makes a difference. As of now, just moving from page 1 to page 2 takes a long time.

[Blackjack]

#40592

I have to hit the Refresh button every time on every thread I click on to view any new posts. I can only view the site on Google Chrome. I have a Mac and so can’t use IE. On my Mac though Firefox and Safari are not displaying this site.

[stl_reader]

#40680

Hi, there, what does “Freshness” mean? I assumed it meant how long ago someone posted to the particular thread that I’m thinking of clicking on; now I don’t think so. What does it indicate? Thanks.

[Eliza]

#40685

“Refresh is a command that reloads the contents of a window or Web page with the most current data. For example, a window may list files stored within a folder, but may not track their location in real-time. If the files have been moved or deleted since the window was first opened, the folder contents displayed will be inaccurate. By refreshing the window, a current list of files is displayed.”

“Web browsers include a Refresh command, which reloads the contents of a Web page. This is especially useful for dynamic Web pages, which contain content that changes often.”

FYI: The refresh button is usually upper lefthand on your monitor,–a partial circle with an arrow generally–next to the arrows that take you back a page or forward a page. It doesn’t reprogram your computer or anything like it. It just gives you the latest info (that the new AAR program is currently NOT doing).

Refresh just brings the most recent data to your unit, The program should be doing it for you, but since it is not, you have to hit REFRESH on the new AAR often to keep up with what anyone is doing

[tigz]

#40739

In most browsers on Windows PCs you can also press F5 to refresh your browser page. You can also press CTRL + F5 simultaneously for a hard refresh which is is a way of clearing the browser’s cache for a specific page, to force it to load the most recent version of a page. Sometimes, when changes are made to the website, they don’t register immediately due to caching.

[Eliza]

#40741

Sometimes, when changes are made to the website, they don’t register immediately due to caching.

True, but it usually doesn’t take three or four days or a personal refresh for an online site to update. I’ m still having to refresh most of the time, unlike the former site which did not have this problem at all.. Still a bug as far as I can see,

[Lynda X]

#40913

You know, I was impressed with this new site when it opened, but there’s hardly anything new in it for DAYS! We need more book reviews, more articles, more interviews, etc. I love this site, but it’s becoming irrelevant because it doesn’t have much to it. I don’t think the home page has change for five days–or more!

[Mark]

#40978

I noticed a couple days ago that the home page now needs the same kind of refresh as the message boards. There have been new reviews every day.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#40979

My dev team says there are some bugs with IE users. If you are using IE, the site will work better if you have the latest version.

[Eliza]

#40984

Like Mark said, I have to refresh the home page too each time I want to see updates. I have the latest Google Chrome.

[Blackjack]

#40989

I’m using the most current version of Google Chrome and no longer need to refresh the site in the past couple of days. But it’s all very slow to load on each new thread. I also have to sign in with a debugging plug-in every time I post. This site is not working well with Firefox.

[Eliza]

#40990

I wonder what the difference is. I had to refresh just today, both the home site and the “connections.”

[HBO]

#41021

DIKs aside, books that were reviewed more than a week ago are not showing up on the new Review page. Is this going to be a permanent feature to AAR, to have new reviews last only a week, or is the site still having technical issues?

[dick]

#41022

I find the site awkward to use, mainly because one must first go to a specific forum, then to a topic, and then scroll down to the last post to see what’s going on. As with other commenters, I use google chrome to access the site. The responses from the site are very slow, regardless which browser I use.

[Eliza]

#41029

I agree, dick, about the extra steps one must take, and that the site’s slow. Maybe slower than the old site? And with some missing functions?
A BF who is web designer told me some chose design and appearance over speed and functionality when most people just “want to get to the info.”

[Kristie(J)]

#41077

I like the new site quite a bit except, like others, find it painfully long to bring up and then reload

[HBO]

#41084

I am not sure why AAR set up multiple “what do you think about our new site” pages across its forums, if AAR wasn’t prepared to answer queries or address concerns that its readership have posted.

A “refresh” or “change browsers” isn’t a solution to what plagues this beta site.

And yes, I, too want to know what “voices” mean in the forums. Are they ghosts?

[Anne Gresley]

#41123

Doesn’t ‘voices’ just mean the number of people taking part in a thread?

Loving the new site, by the way, despite the niggles.

[Lil]

#41138

i don’t think Voices means the number of participants. A lot more than 6 people have commented here.

[Kathleen]

#41134

This site is so slow it is painful to use. Sorry to be negative but I gave it a week and today it is no better.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41143

We hope to have the speed issues resolved soon. We have struggled with a huge onslaught of spammers and are working to contain that problem.

[Anne Gresley]

#41162

i don’t think Voices means the number of participants. A lot more than 6 people have commented here.

Really good point. I’m embarrassed now. (#^_^#)

[Karen A]

#41195

This is a test post to see if I can actually post! When I try to log in on the website, my email is not recognized. If this posts, I just want to say the new site is SO MUCH BETTER! Best improvement of a website I’ve seen! Great job!

[Susan/DC]

#41229

Question: in the old site there was a way to go the most recent post since you last logged in. How do I do that here without having to scroll down all of the posts?

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41230

We are still working on improving the message boards. We are paying attention to all this feedback.

[Jillian]

#41321

I am among those who are curious about the term “voices”. Would someone please explain? Thanks.
I really like the sharp new look of the site & the Home page with the new reviews is a very nice start to my browsing.
My only complaint, aside from my confusion over “voices”, is that I find the boards a little clunky to navigate between.
The site is a refreshing update :-)

[TerryS]

#41232

I was looking for a specific review of a book written by Karen Templeton when I noticed that another book she had written was not listed in the results when I queried for books by “Karen Templeton.” I knew that a review of this book had been done at AAR because it was the reason I first started reading Ms. Templeton’s books. So, I looked up the book by its title, Swept Away. To my relief, the review was still available. However, no author was listed in the “Author” column.

In doing a little more research, I found that 122 of the reviews published in 2010 did not have a name listed in the Author column, 576 of the reviews published in 2011 were missing an author’s name while similarly, 284 of the reviews published in 2012 were also lacking a listed author.

So, be aware, if you are looking for books by Courtney Milan, you will not find Dabney’s review of The Governess Affair listed in the results. Nor will you find Deanna Raybourn’s Dark Road to Darjeeling if you look it up by author and not title. If you look up Nalini Singh’s works by her name you will find Lea Hensley’s review of the audiobook version of Archangel’s Blade, but not Wendy Clyde’s review of the actual book.

The results from using power search are very user friendly in that you can sort the results by any one of the column headings. I really like that feature.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41695

We are slowly fixing this. Unfortunately, all the missing data must be entered by hand!

[Kristie(J)]

#41322

Ugghh – I feel awful complaining but since there aren’t pages any longer, all replies are on the same page now, it takes FORE EVER to get to the last few if there are a number of posts such as in the Wild West Forum. I really like that you can respond directly to a previous post if you want, just wish it didn’t take so long to get to the bottom.

[Marilyn.K]

#41370

Wow! This is some makeover! Nice.

[Tinabelle]

#41518

One of the features I am really enjoying about the new site is the posting of classic DIK reviews. I know we could always search for
DIK’s but this feature brings them out on the main page which is great. I just read the review of Marsha Canham’s The Iron Rose. I absolutely loved that series and this review reminded me of that. I will definitely be rereading this wonderful historical series. Hope this feature stays.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41694

Thanks! They are killing my wallet!

[Mark]

#41692

I can’t find the monthly lists of romances on sale under your new menus. Where do you now post & record the lists?

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41693

The next month’s releases are on the blog. Here’s the one for August.

[Eliza]

#41775

What is still buggy is the connection between the topic board that lists the threads and the actual threads themselves, For instance, on the Wild Wild West board, it says Blackjack last post was an hour and some minutes ago, but once inside the actual thread itself, the last post is by erika. The was the Trump thread. I refreshed both locations but it remains saying that the last post was by Blackjack but erika’s post from last night is the last post showing up. Sorry if that is as connfusing to you as it is to me,

[Eliza]

#41776

More weird stuff:
1. My post above appeared immediately with something like “34 seconds” and the thread title “new site” did move to to the top correctly, BUT
2. Back at WWW, th Trump thread now says Balckjack 3 hour, and some minutes ago (instead of the one hour+) that it was minutes ago, AND
3. Erika’s post is still the last, BUT
4. Above her post a NEW Black jack post appeared that wasn’t there the last time!

I guess bugs are to be expected, but I see this one here fairly regularly. And in good conscience to the old board, I have to say it was slow sometimes but
it was far more accurate in the timing of posts and accuracy of who posted what and when.

[Eliza]

#41777

Maybe this will be clearer:

I am typing this post at 7:16 AM (ET) on Aug. 1

The Topic for Trum on WWW says Blackjack 3 hours, 43 minutes ago

Inside the topic on Trump, Blackjack;s post says posted July 31 at 10:08 PM

AFTER her post, erika’s post is July 31 at 10:11 PM.

Yet on the site I’m on now, my first and second posts immediately updated in both places.

—————————————————————

Here’s a more minor bug:

When I hit “reply” the board moves all the way to the top of the thread, and then I have to scroll down a second time in order to post. This has been consistent all along, as far as I can tell. Odd.

[Eliza]

#41867

One time when I was posting it wouldn’t allow me to put more than one link per message, Just a minute ago, it allows multiple links but change one of them into a photo. So I tried posting that individual link separately and the photo appeared again, Next I tried posting without the link-next page option and the photo still appeared. I finally just posted in English (instead of a link) where to find the article. This is under Clinton in the WWW board. Not the first time a link has resulted in a photo for me.

[Kristie(J)]

#41900

I love AAR, have since I found it probably over 15 year ago now but due to the new site’ I’m going to have to take a hiatus for a while. There are too many issues for me to deal with:

Slowness. I have an IPad 1 and the length of time it takes to do anything is driving me mad.

Refreshing. Now I’m having to refresh every single page I go and it’s driving me mad.

There is only one page for each topic whereas before there were pages. To read the latest post, after I refresh each and evert drill Dow page, I have to go through ALL posts again until getting to most recent post and it takes ages and drives me mad. I want to just skip however many pages there are.

Having to sign in again every single time I post something.

I just wanted to see the latest posts on The Wild West forums. Forget it!! As it was taking well over 5 minutes to get where I was trying to go, I gave up in frustration. In that time – totally wasted, I could have read at least one chapter in a book.

So, for now anyway, I won’t be coming here”. And that makes me so, so sad.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41932

We are working to improve message board functionality. We have found that clearing your cache helps hugely with speed. Also, older browsers are slower.

[Eliza]

#41938

This is putting the onus of what is happening on the user instead of the provider. Having worked with pc programming as part of my life-long career, that was a non answer. I can say for myself that it’s neither my cache nor my browser. It is this new site. How do I know besides my past experience in programming? Because other complex sites I visit have the speed and good functionality one expects on a regular basis, unlike this new one.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#41939

Eliza,

Given how unhappy you are with us–with a site, mind you, we work hours on a day and pay for (the internet isn’t free)–I think it would be best if you gave up posting here.

Thanks,

Dabney

[Rike Horstmann]

#41933

Kristie(J), I will be very sorry to see you gone! I’ve enjoyed your comments very much during all those years. I can understand your frustration at the slowness of the site loading, but perhaps clearing your cache would help, as Dabney suggested (it helped me a lot).

Perhaps the uploading will also be quicker as soon as some quirks of the new site have been dealt with.

Anyway, I hope to be seeing you again here in the future!

[JaneA]

#42037

Up until the last week or so the pages were loading very slowly, but most recently it’s been as fast as any other site I get on. I also find I don’t need to refresh like I did to get the latest posts to show up. I’m not sure why this is true for me and not for others who are participating here?
Anyway, just some more feedback for those working on getting the new site up to snuff.

[Kristie(J)]

#42083

I’m on my other tablet and it’s much quicker. Only trouble is I forget my password for WiFi at home. iPad automatically remembers it so if I use this instead I will keep visiting. It will just mean more trips to MacDonald’s *chuckle*

[dick]

#42247

It’s puzzling, but the connections button doesn’t work unless I’m on the reviews page. ?????

[chris booklover]

#42406

Recent blog entries no longer appear on the site. The most recent posting currently showing is dated July 27th.

[JaneA]

#42424

I find if I want to read the most recent blog entries I have to go to the latest one displayed (which is from July 10) and scroll through using the “next” button. Unfortunately, using the refresh button doesn’t help.

[Dabney Grinnan]

#42487

Refresh your cache. That solves the problem!

[JaneA]

#42508

It doesn’t refresh it for me. Sometimes it changes it to a different post, but not the latest. But each time it starts with the post of 7/10. It’s not so bad and I imagine it will eventually work itself out. The nicest thing for me is that the pages load very quickly now.

[Caz Owens]

#42509

Jane, is that the August On Sale list post? If so, that’s deliberate – it’s a sticky post so people can come back throughout the month and refer to it.