Community upgrade is live!

Is it possible to just post a comment on a thread without having to use the reply button after someone else's comment. .

Is there a simple "post a comment" box somewhere as I do not always want to post a reply, rather just a general comment.

I did see that on a new thread there was a post comment box after the initial first post, but this seems to disappear and is then replaced with a reply button after the second person posts on that thread.

Thanks for your reply, Jon, and for the how to guide.  But I do not post photos so I must leave it to regular posters of photos to tell you how helpful your first guide is or isn't. 

However, in addition to having various difficulties coping with the new setup it is just as aggravating for some of us when our questions are not replied to, so please keep replying!

Rather than taking time to write more how to guides now for us, I wonder if it might be best for your team to quickly change a few of the things which others have flagged up as very important to them, perhaps in addition to making photos easier to post, things others have mentioned such as:

1.  Delete the 'Related' list (or if you really must have them, please stick them in the very lowest right hand corner the page, underneath the blogs (see number 2 below!)!  We can use the search box if we want more threads on a topic.

2.  Please re-introduce the list of latest blogs from staff over on the right hand side of the page where they used to be!  I'm already having withdrawal symptoms from not being able to read, for instance, the wonderful every-Friday-report from Frampton Marsh of the weeks sightings (and I am only able to visit there once a year!)  Not to mention that I'm missing seeing blogs from places I can actually visit several times per year--for example, Rainham Marshes.

I have more comments, but fixing these two things would be a fantastic start!  Many thanks for your help.

That was my big problem, Richard B.  The only way to start a new post, back on the margin, is to go to the first post (ie to JonB's post on this thread), and at the foot of his post, on the left hand side, there is a big blue REPLY.  Hit that, and it will give you a dialogue box to fill in and then press reply in your box.  Your post should end up at the foot of the posts!
Noisette, lovely to see you here.  It is all very confusing at the moment, and not at all intuitive.  But I think that once we understand how to post in a thread it will look and read far better.  I fully understand your angst about chronological order.  It took a while for me to get the hang of posting from the opening post.  Like you and me, to begin with all I could do was post a reply to a previous post.  Then someone knew how to post an individual one, and someone else replied to an existing one and thus the total mess over the chronological order.  I hope that makes some sense!

The chronology thing is worrying.  Not sure how it happened, but my most recent post in response to Jon's post above ended up above WJ's post although mine was posted nearly an hour later.  Sorry WJ.

I'll forgive you :-)

The threading of replies to replies does make the reading of, er, threads very messy.  It can easily degenerate into side conversations and comments made in multiple places.  The old method of a single thread with the Quote ability to refer to previous comments was actually a far more elegant solution and made for far more readable threads.  Particularly when you consider how people actually use these forums. eg the LG status update threads, those describing visits to locations.

Question - is it actually POSSIBLE to switch off this multi-threading capability - so we end up with a single timeline to the thread??

Checking my settings, it appears my timezone was Casablanca (should be London/Dublin etc)

Has this defaulted incorrectly for everyone?

Thanks, WJ!  Amen to your idea of switching off the multi-threading capability and bring back the single thread with quotability function, the way threads were before the so-called upgrade!

Also, it must be only young people with young eyes working on the 'upgrade' team because they would not think the faintness of the print to be a problem--only old fogeys like me, even with prescription reading glasses!

Whistling Joe said:

it appears my timezone was Casablanca

That's probably because you wish were there right now. My timezone is OK but I wish I was in Lisbon.

Gardenbirder said:

bring back the single thread with quotability function,

You can do quotes Ann but only if you are replying to a specific person as a you will see from this.

I suspect that the single thread idea could only be achieved by replying to the original post at the top of the thread but then you lose the quotability function.

I suspect that that this new forum has been designed by people who grew up with Facebook. 

With my poor eyesight I've had to enlarge the pages within Chrome (Ctrl +) until I can read it without using a magnifying glass. LOL.

Casablanca, WJ?  How did  you manage that?!

TJ, I have yet to quote anyone (although there's still time!).  

Never having entered anything for my profile, I find that someone has entered one for me.  The RSPB must have been reading my threads!   Ooooo--spies everywhere?!