Obsidian Portal Launch Feedback

Maesenko

I remember, SkidAce, and I've used a typewriter. I still prefer most of the modern darker backgrounds with light text nowadays. It's easier on my eyes and slightly less battery consumption on my laptop and smartphone.

OT, any word on that file storage beta they were talking about "here":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/strech-goal-updates/ ?

_~Mae_
"Whispers in Tamris":https://whispers-in-tamris.obsidianportal.com/

GamingMegaverse

Thank you Twiggy, for making me feel old as well- I had a similar typewriter.

twiggyleaf

Hey Killer, I'm pretty sure mine was an Olivetti!

Basileus

Looks like we are seeing the beginnings of the file storage implementation?

My image library is suddenly alphabetized and shows much larger pages (though takes longer to load). Inserting the image uses a more generic syntax that seems to be geared toward accommodating other file types (than images).

I like the potential ease of uploading and inserting files. Takes a couple extra steps to get the absolute URL of images I've uploaded now, but nothing major.

Seems good in theory so far, if this is indeed how file uploading will work.

EDIT: Okay, encountered one problem with the new format. It no longer handles percentages as size for images.

SkidAce

Basileus; feel free to deduct cool points of I'm wrong...

But I don't see why its any harder to get the absolute images now, it works the same way for me that it always has.

@Click to open insert images screen.
Right click on the pic I want the address for.
Click Copy Image Url.
Paste it where I want it.@

"Like Here":https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/54055/assets/321002/square_thumb_ScreenClip_A.png

SkidAce

Not sure why its so small though...its 500 or so px by 500ish.

Basileus

Because that's the thumbnail. To get the URL of the actual image, you need to display the whole thing and then right click > Properties, and copy the URL out of there.

If you've just uploaded it is fine, because you see the full size image, but if you're trying to get an image that is already in your library, you get the thumbnails and have to go through an extra step or two.

I don't know, maybe there's a faster way.

SkidAce

Well I'm dumb.

Deduct my point now...whereas before it gave you the url to the image, now you are getting the url to the thumbnail.

So, after all that beating around the bush...Delete the words

@square_thumb_@

from the link and it works.

I'm going to bed now.

Basileus

Hmm, nice, that may save some time.

But my real complaint is that I don't know how to use percentages now (or if they work at all), and I hate using raw pixels for sizing.

SkidAce

I'll look into that tomorrow, but don't hold your breath. I fix things by being stubborn. Innovative trouble shooting..not so much...

PhoenixMark

I am also suffering headaches from the new code for the images. I don't know how to edit it, other than change the size or make it right left or center. I used to be able to copy and paste code from another page, drop in the url of the pic, which I have no issue finding. Lately, with the new code, it has been hit and miss as to whether this works. To make my pages more visually appealing, I often add margins to the pic, and I don't know how to do that using this new format. When I have tried in the past, it has not been cooperating, and all I see is the code, not the pic.

Also, sorting pix by name rather than date is annoying to me. Is there a way to give us a choice? I am sure I can get used to it, but with as many pix as I have, it is a pain to try to grab the last pic loaded (I have to try and remember its name, then take a long time to find it by scrolling through all the pages). I guess allowing us to do a search by pic name would also be useful.

Sorry to gripe. I just get one thing figured out, and something else changes. I am trying to reforge 3 campaigns (converting one to a new format altogether). Just gets frustrating. Thanks for all the good stuff, though!

"PhoenixMark":http://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/PhoenixMark

"CRIMSON SKIES":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/crimson-skies
"COTM June 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/crimson-skies-junes-campaign-of-the-month/

Also "Sactown Blues":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/sactown-blues

SkidAce

Looks like email notifications may have stopped working again.

Maesenko

Quick question, did they fix the email issue where GM/Player Secret information would be seen in email notifications even if the recipient was not normally privy to said information?

_~Mae_
"Whispers in Tamris":https://whispers-in-tamris.obsidianportal.com/

SkidAce

Not sure, I always made sure the block for emailing was unchecked when I did GM only, and haven't done a Player Secret in a while.

GamingMegaverse

@Phoenix Mark- Sorry it took me so long to reply. I do images this way now-
Load image
Preview page
Right click on image- copy location
Copy into my preset code ( I always add float/margins as well- hate having text go into images)

There may be a faster way, but that is how I am doing it. With so much old-school code on Rebuilt, got used to the old img src coding....
PM if any questions.
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
"OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/

GamingMegaverse

I have created a ticket for those of us that have CSS to hopefully get the edit text to black and white "here":http://help.obsidianportal.com/discussions/problems/13564-please-apply-text-color-change-to-css-section

GamingMegaverse

Is anyone else having major issues with the new image upload taking forever? Many clicks on the continue button? Have tried in Firefox, Chrome, and even IE- and same trouble every single time!!
If you are having issues, please add your voice "here":http://help.obsidianportal.com/discussions/problems/13602-i-cannot-add-pictures
As of 5/14- Micah fixed the issue.
"I changed the order of some of the Javascript and that resulted in a significant speedup for me. Please give it another try and see if things are working better."
Thanks Micah!

twiggyleaf

I must confess, I haven't used it in the last couple of weeks. Will see if it is still playing up next week and add to the ticket if it is.

twigs

GamingMegaverse

As I said, Micah fixed the issue...

krank

Hm. Long thread, not sure if this has been mentioned before. Did a Ctrl+f search of each page for the word "width" but didn't found anything...

I'm a big fan of the reforged version of the site, and I think natural editing is going to be awesome.

However, I really really dislike the fact that the site has inconsistent width. Who the heck thought this was a good idea? The dashboard and some other pages use 100% variable width, while others (like the adventure log" uses centered, fixed width. This makes the menu jump around a LOT when navigating a campaign, at least as a GM... It's just really, really bad design.

GamingMegaverse

A year later from the original scheduled launch date- and I have decided to do a review of where OP actually is versus the Kickstarter pledges. As many of you know, I have been an unabashed supporter of the site, but this will be an honest review.
Reforge- Complete- There are plenty of people that were very upset, and many have never come back. While I cannot prove this (due to the fact that much of the campaign search capability was lost in the Reforge), doing a quick search of the campaigns updated in the last update shows 51 updated. I saved a group of screen shots pre-reforge of the campaigns page- it showed 213 updated within 2 weeks, dated 3 weeks prior to the Reforge. That means 3/4 less of truly active, bi-weekly or more regular campaigns, lost.....
These forums used to have an average of 10 new posts subjects/day... now we are lucky to get 2 or 3. Not to mention the new posts would get 5-10 responses/day, rather than the one or 2 average now.
Stretch Goals-This is where OP has fallen on its keister.
1- Maps: They finished the larger size, 4096x4096 pixels instead of the old 1024x1024. However, the other 2 promised elements, A library of map markers - Different colors and shapes. Imagine dropping crossed swords to mark a battle, a tower to mark a wizard's abode, and a cave for...a cave. and Better connection with the rest of your campaign - Add markers for specific characters and/or wiki pages, instead of only the general purpose markers we have now. have not happened.
2- Name Generator: Not delivered.
3- File Storage Locker: The free limit will climb to 250MB and the Ascendant limit will rise to 10GB. Delivered.
4- Custom Campaign URLs: Partial. mycampaign.obsidianportal.com delivered, but Ascendant campaigns can set up their own raw domain (ie. “mycampaign.com”) not delivered.
5- Mega Stretch Goal - Extra Month at $75,000 For every $10k we raise over the initial goal, we will be able to extend the premium Ascendant time for every backer (Hasted Ascendant and above) by 1 month. Delivered.... although I personally feel that they should have given extra months for the delay in getting the Reforge completed, and do something for the fact that a year later very few stretch goals have been delivered.
5a - Natural Editing -Not delivered.

So, to sum up, out of the 6 listed above (and lets face it, adding months was not exactly difficult in time/programming, just a cost to them), they have delivered completely on 2, partially delivered on 2, and not delivered at all on 2.
Perhaps most frustrating is the last message from them on the Kickstarter page was February 11, 2014, and the last message here was by Dread Gazebo on December 2, 2013, promising to be more active- refer to the post "here":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=3414&page=2#Item_20
Even if you count the blog update, posted by Jerry, that was back in March of this year, promising more regular updates. "We apologize for the silence thus far, and you should expect more regular updates on the blog as we move forward on feature developments." They also disabled comments on that post, to keep the discussion away from them. "Please be advised that comments have been disabled because we are currently working hard on implementing the discussed features, and they are not open for discussion/debate at this time."
Now don't get me wrong- this site is still the best at what it does. I am not going anywhere, and I push it when I come in contact with people that want to find a good way of organizing their campaign. Heck, I even signed up to be an emmissary (of course, still have not heard back on that yet- it was May) Some of the Reforge was a positive. The reason for this very long post is to talk about the lack of feedback, and the lack of updates, 1 year after the Reforge was supposed to be complete.

Please add your voices, here and on the help page (which seems to be the only thing that is read any more) "here":http://help.obsidianportal.com/discussions/suggestions/906-customer-service

Edit was adding help page link.

dr_venture

May I suggest, on item 2: Name generator -- why don't you just write a simple interface to use the Inspiration Pad Pro server engine. It's very robust, has a huge list of available tables which can be used, and is easily programmed by users. It doesn't save you the work of integrating it into the site, but it saves you the work of work of programming the random table engine itself, and allows users to use their tables both online with OP and offline with the Inspiration Pad app. If you were going to allow users to program their own tables, then it saves you the work of building a table editor, as the IPP app has a built in editor and help files. I'm betting the guys at Nbos would be up for some business synergy... after all, it's a free product to start with.

FWIW.

bluesguy

There was a point in time where I offered to provide some 'free' help to the OP team in the form of project management support. This is what I do for a living.

Honestly this is a mess. I am glad OP is meeting my current needs. But now I am starting to think about other options - Realm Works is starting look like a very viable option.

What would change this? How about communication! Every month!

Basileus

My +1 to communication being the biggest factor.

None of the stretch goals are a big deal to me, but I'd like to see a lot of the "minor" usability features fixed (proper campaign searching, email notifications, etc...)

EDIT: And image code was made practically unusable. This is my single biggest sticking point as far as my regular use of OP. I believe this is part of the ongoing Reforge process (to support file upload), but it was better previously.

twiggyleaf

Thanks KVP for bringing this up again. Communication is most important and I have added my voice (again) to the thread.

twigs

HumAnnoyd

I have to say that after a great deal of frustration with the reforging I was able to get all my campaigns back in shape. Eventually. It took months but it is done. I think that, ultimately, Reforge could be a good thing but I would like to echo what everyone else is saying and ask for more transparency in the process. Or at least an acknowledgement that things are actually progressing. Something would be nice.

Keryth987

I too must echo KillerVP's comments. Things have been quiet and silent for long enough. It is time we all got some regular communication and updates. I willingly and joyfully supported the Reforge, only to see all of my sites broken and destroyed. It took quite a while to get them all back up to 'code' and I too believe it was for the best. However, after so long with no word or updates, it gets frustrating.


Keelah Se'lai,
Keryth
"Shadows Over New York":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shadows-over-new-york
"2013 Campaign of The Year":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/2013-coty-shadows-over-new-york/

SkidAce

I endorse all the above comments.

The silence is astounding.

To be honest, I suspect they bit off more than they could chew, and are still overwhelmed. (There is no disrespect intended here).

And they probably feel cornered...say something and it turns into an argument...say nothing and get fussed at. No win situation likely.

Basileus

So, to be forward facing rather than dwelling on the past, here's my theoretical roadmap to restoring functionality and community (composed over lunch on my phone, so it's all very well thought out and researched):

1) Publish a new, realistic timeline for when the remaining Reforge goals are expected to be done, whether it's next month or two years from now.

2) "Communicate" to rebuild the "community". Specifically use the community and help forums to talk to users. Facebook updates and blog posts are "talking at" us, not "talking to" us. This was the biggest loss from the Reforge and, IMHO, the most important to restore.

3) Discuss how things like updating documentation and secondary resources (i.e. Tutorial videos) will be addressed officially. This is more a usability issue for new users and will be critical for growing the community. Preforge OP got lots of recognition from the RPG community for being usable.

4) For the sake of those who backed the Reforge Kickstarter, give an accounting of where that $80k+ went. I imagine those who backed are wondering how that was spent/what went wrong. While not essential to moving forward, this would go a long way toward accountability and restoring trust, even if the truth is ugly.

Praesi

I'll let it run dry, now.
My remaining 18 ascending months will kind of go to waste, as I decided to stop activities on my campaign pages.
Problem is: even if I was willing to go through all the changes, repairs, workarounds and silence, my fellow players and GMs won't.
Some years ago I stumbled over OP and began to build our running campaign on the site.The GM and my fellow players were really excited when I showed it to them, and there was a good amount of reading, sharing and contributing to the pages afterwards.
But now, the last visit of our actual GM was more than three months ago and the other players haven't been visiting for even longer. This situation makes my pages sort of obsolete as nobody will look at them - let alone use them. And that would be the main reason to use OP, right? I mean, that was my "reward" as the builder or editor of the campaigns / pages: my guys having fun with it and considering it useful. That seems to be gone.
Are you guys here on the forums experiencing different? Or the same? What do your fellow gamers, GMs and friends who are not as heavy users as yourself say or think about the current situation? What do you do this all for?