New to this site - my feedback

Hi,

I'm a part-time website designer and I wanted to give some feedback about a short-but-infuriating experience I just had with your site.

This is the first time I have used your site.

I went to the main page of the forums and clicked a post. I realised I could contribute to the post and decided to leave a reply...except, there was no reply button anywhere on the page. After a few minutes of intense frustration and disbelief I ended up actually Googling "permies how to reply to a post". I then saw a post on the Permies forums where somebody else asked an almost identical question. It was then explained that new users could not post on certain sub-forums.

My suggestion - when a new user does not have sufficient point score to post to a forum, do not hide the reply button, just change it's behaviour so when you click it you see a message that says "You don't have enough points to post here yet."

Matt

P.S. Thanks for all you other good work.

hi Matt...I think you have a good idea...the less mystery the better ...and welcome to permies!
I wonder if it's my post in 'toxic gick' you were going to reply to?  I started to put it in the regular forums but thought it would end up in the cider press in the end so I just put it there to begin with

What an incredible coincidence - yes it was your post!

My reply was going to be:

I'm not certain when it comes to structural timber, but for cladding / roof shingles there is a Japanese preservation process called "Shou Sugi Ban". It involves charring the surface of the wood but leaving the core untouched. The charring makes the wood rot-proof and the untouched core retains the overall integrity and allows nails to be driven through without shattering / splitting the wood.

I hope to try this process myself one day.

There's loads on info on the web about it.

Matt

Edit: forgot to add - the aesthetic that Shou Sugi Ban has on wood can be absolutely beautiful.

Matt Coston wrote:What an incredible coincidence - yes it was your post!

My reply was going to be:

I'm not certain when it comes to structural timber, but for cladding / roof shingles there is a Japanese preservation process called "Shou Sugi Ban". It involves charring the surface of the wood but leaving the core untouched. The charring makes the wood rot-proof and the untouched core retains the overall integrity and allows nails to be driven through without shattering / splitting the wood.

I hope to try this process myself one day.

There's loads on info on the web about it.

Matt

Edit: forgot to add - the aesthetic that Shou Sugi Ban has on wood can be absolutely beautiful.

that's a good one!  and fortunately one that can be discussed anywhere on the forums ...here's a few topics that come up in a search here that talk about that method shou sugi ban

I put my post in the ciderpress because of the 'treated lumber' subject..I wanted to talk openly about the chemicals involved and their toxicities although the down side is that it limits who can post there.

do we have a link to the thread in question?

paul wheaton wrote:do we have a link to the thread in question?

https://permies.com/t/72359/pressure-treated-lumber-bad-finding

Naturally, the whole time we have had the cider press, I've had enough apples, so I always see the button to reply.

I take it that the same is true that if you are looking at the forum, you don't see the "new topic" button?

I do see that when I am not logged in that there is a faded "post reply" button.  When I hover over it, it says "you must log in or register to reply".  I take it that when you log in or register, the button just disappears?

what if there was a 'reply' button in the cider press threads for everyone - but for those who haven't earned enough apples yet, when they press the button a pop-up occurs that tells them a short message like "you haven't permission to post in this forum yet.  For more information on the Cider press, here's a link to the thread all about it" (only better worded)?

Would that reduce confusion?  

paul wheaton wrote:I take it that the same is true that if you are looking at the forum, you don't see the "new topic" button?

I do see a "New Topic" button but it is faded out. The "Post Reply" button is completely gone. Ironically, it is visible but faded when I am NOT logged in

r ranson wrote:what if there was a 'reply' button in the cider press threads for everyone - but for those who haven't earned enough apples yet, when they press the button a pop-up occurs that tells them a short message like "you haven't permission to post in this forum yet.  For more information on the Cider press, here's a link to the thread all about it" (only better worded)?

Yeah that's basically what I'm asking for.

At the moment, I am thinking that the reply button should be there, but faded, and hover text should talk about how many apples are needed to post to that forum.