Canarsie

Currently, there are a plethora of threads throughout FlyerTalk concerning the performance of FlyerTalk and how to best use it. By launching this thread, I am attempting to provide a consolidated resource to supplement the FlyerTalkers Ask Questions (FAQs) with useful information on how to best enhance one’s FlyerTalk experience. The reason for launching this thread is to make life easier for the information technology staff at WebFlyer, as well as all of the moderators of FlyerTalk and Randy Petersen.

This thread is to be used as a service to all FlyerTalk members who not only have questions to be answered by fellow FlyerTalk members about how best to use the new vBulletin bulletin board software, but also as a place for FlyerTalk members to share their favorite methods of customizing and using the new FlyerTalk to help enhancethe experience of other FlyerTalk members.

Finally, please remember that not every suggestion is right for everyone. This is not the old FlyerTalk where customization was quite limited. Hopefully, however, this thread will serve to be very useful to virtually every FlyerTalk member.

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I will begin:

First of all, the MyFlyerTalk feature is absolutely incredible. I subscribe only to the forums (fora?) that I want to view regularly. Each forum displays the latest post in the most current thread and who was the author of that post, as well as the time it was posted. What a time-saver this is for me!

Once I enter a thread, I click on the link at the top-left of the window which allows me to jump to the latest post unread by me. After I read all of the unread posts, I then scroll to the bottom and click the Top link, which instantly brings me back to the top. I then click on MyFlyerTalk to go back to my customized FlyerTalk page while simultaneously updating every thread to display the latest post added to each thread!

For me, this method of browsing the new FlyerTalk saves me so much time versus the previous method of browsing the old FlyerTalk.

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My apologies, as I currently do not have much time to impart more helpful hints, tips and suggestions for other FlyerTalk members to fully enhance everybody’s experience. However, I will impart more information over time.

I now cordially invite other FlyerTalk members to ask questions and impart helpful information in this thread.

Ocn Vw 1K

Although I'm sure that the team at the House of Miles will be sending us periodic tips to enhance our FT experience on the new boards, this is a great interim thread! One topic that seems a natural flow from the first post is to explain to the community the power of the My FT options settings as it handles such aspects as e-mail and "reputation" settings as well as the time zone displayed.

Canarsie

Thank you, Ocn Vw 1K, for the kind comments pertaining to this thread.

Here is what I did to customize MyFlyerTalk for myself:

1. First, I went into the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left.
2. I scrolled down to the Default Thread Subscription Mode area and chose No Email Notification under the pop-up menu. This option disables e-mail notification while still allowing me to subscribe to any FlyerTalk threads to which I post. Other options which you can choose include Do Not Subscribe (which totally disables the subscription function), Instant Email Notification, Daily Email Notification and Weekly Email Notification, all of which are self-explanatory.
3. Even though this is a overall default setting, I can still override this setting as per individual post (in the Thread Subscription area below the first Submit Reply button if posting a reply or below the first Save Changes button if editing a post).
4. I can also cancel the subscription to any thread at any time in the MyFlyerTalk page without changing the overall default.

The threads to which you subscribe will then appear in the New Subscribed Threads area at the top of the MyFlyerTalk page. The cool part is that the threads will only appear there if there is a new post to that thread by you or anybody else.

Then, I went directly to each FlyerTalk forum that I visit on a regular basis:

1. In each thread, I click on Forum Tools at the top-right of that forum’s page. A menu with four options will appear.
2. I choose Subscribe To This Forum.
3. A prompt will then appear to receive No Email Notifications (which I chose), with an Add Subscription button below it.
4. Once this is completed, the forum will appear in the Subscribed Forums area (which is directly below the New Subscribed Threads area) on the MyFlyerTalk page.

All subscribed forums will appear there as you add more to the list.

Below the Subscribed Forums area is the Latest Reputation Received area which lists the thread from which the reputation was added, along with the date, time and comment by the anonymous FlyerTalk member (if there is a comment at all). To disable this feature:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left.
2. Deselect the check box in the Show My Reputation Level area.

I love the fact that I can set FlyerTalk to my time zone instead of always calculating when a post was posted on FlyerTalk. To customize this:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left and scroll down to the Date & Time Options area.
2. Next to Time Zone, click on the pop-up menu and select the time zone of your choice.
3. Additionally, there is a DST correction option to adjust for Daylight Saving Time. I have it set to automatic, but it can also be set to Always On or Always Off. This feature will be tested tomorrow in the United States.

I intend to go back and edit this post to format it for better clarity, but I wanted to impart this information to you as soon as possible, Ocn Vw 1K. I hope the information I have provided here is useful.

Canarsie

The old bulletin board software that powered FlyerTalk allowed 34 posts per page per thread.

The new bulletin board software allows each FlyerTalk member to configure their own number of posts per page per thread.

To edit the number of posts per page:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left and scroll down to the Thread Display Options area, where one can find the Number of Posts to Show Per Page area that has the pop-up menu that will set the default for all threads.
2. Choose the desired setting as a default.

I chose Show 40 Posts Per Page, the maximum number allowed, as my default for all threads to closely mimic the old FlyerTalk so that I have fewer pages to view (although it may take longer to refresh each page due to the increased number of posts). Other options are to Use Forum Default, Show 5 Posts Per Page, Show 10 Posts Per Page, Show 20 Posts Per Page, and Show 30 Posts Per Page.

To change the order of the posts per page in a thread:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left and scroll down to the Thread Display Options area, where one can find the Thread Display Mode area.
2. Choose Linear – Oldest First to view threads with the oldest post first (as the old FlyerTalk did) or Linear – Newest First to view threads with the newest post first, if one does not want to scroll past posts in the thread that have already been read.

I prefer the Linear – Oldest First setting, but I zoom past the posts I already read by clicking on the View First Unread link at the top-left corner of the page under the Post Reply button. One must be logged in to use this feature, however.

Canarsie

As you can see at the top of this post, one can title each post with a brief synopsis of the topic of the post. This is useful to other FlyerTalk members who can then choose to read the post if they feel the title contains information that is pertinent to them, or skip the post if they so choose.

When used properly, this can be another time-saving feature.

Canarsie

When posting a reply, one does not have to remember what was said in the posts immediately preceding the reply, as they are displayed below the area where the reply is to be typed. This is another time-saving feature that I like that was not available in the old software that powered FlyerTalk.

Canarsie

Another useful feature in the new vBulletin bulletin board software that currently powers FlyerTalk is that one can edit a post as many times as desired, yet only one indication that the post has been edited will appear, as opposed to multiple times in the old software, which caused FlyerTalk members to either manually delete the superfluous edit information from the bottom of the post, or leave it as is.

obscure2k

Thank you, Canarsie for the great tutorial. I am printing your posts as I type.
You are a wonderful asset to FT ^

Canarsie

At the bottom of the general FlyerTalk Forums area is a list of Currently Active Users. At the top of this list is the total number of users currently browsing FlyerTalk. This number is broken down into registered FlyerTalk members and guests who have not yet registered. Also displayed is the greatest number of users to have ever browsed FlyerTalk all at once and when this record occured.

If one is logged in, one will notice that one’s FlyerTalk name is displayed at the beginning of the Currently Active Users list, with all of the other registered FlyerTalk members listed alphabetically. This list not only allows one to view who is currently logged into FlyerTalk, but those FlyerTalk members can see whether you are logged into FlyerTalk as well. For some reason, one may not want other FlyerTalk members to know that one is currently logged in to FlyerTalk and may want to remove their FlyerTalk name from the Currently Active Users list.

To have your FlyerTalk name removed from the Currently Active Users list:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left navigate to the Login & Privacy area, where one can find the Use Invisible Mode area, which is the first area at the top.
2. Click on the Use Invisible Mode checkbox to remove oneself from the Currently Active Users list.

Don’t worry — this action is not permanent. One can always re-activate their FlyerTalk name on the Currently Active Users list at any time by de-activating the Use Invisible Mode checkbox.

Canarsie

For those of you wanting to “jump” from one forum to another but miss the method of doing so in the old software that powered FlyerTalk, did you know that there currently is an alternate version of doing this task that is already available?

If you scroll down to the bottom right-hand corner of the page of a thread, you will see four links. One of those links is labeled Archive.

By clicking on the Archive link, you can view the links to every single forum on FlyerTalk and access any one of them — or the threads within any one of them — with just two clicks.

There are no graphics or boxes — merely a simple list of links is displayed.

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The Forum Jump feature has returned to FlyerTalk. The Archive feature remains a viable option, however.

Canarsie

To enhance the speed of viewing posts and threads on FlyerTalk, sometimes one may not want to view the signatures of other FlyerTalk members — especially when accessing FlyerTalk while using a dial-up Internet connection. Signatures is text continuously displayed in the area at the bottom of posted content — usually separated by a solid line from the rest of the post — of a FlyerTalk member who activates this feature. Examples of a signature is a notice at the bottom of the post detailing an upcoming event, a blurb advertising a different thread on FlyerTalk, or perhaps it may be a notable quote from a famous author.

To de-activate viewing the signatures of other FlyerTalk members:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left and scroll down to the Thread Display Options area, where one can find the Visible Post Elements area.
2. Click on the Show Signatures checkbox to deactivate this feature.

To activate one’s own signature:

1. Simply go to the Edit Signature area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the first option under the Settings and Options area on the left.
2. Type in your message in the Edit Signature area, whose appearance is similar to creating or replying to a milepost.
3. Click on the Save Signature button, which is located directly beneath the area where one can edit one’s signature.

The signature should now be activated.

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In addition to de-activating Signatures, one may also de-activate avatars and images to help reduce the amount of “noise” and to help increase the speed of browsing through threads and mileposts.

Avatar — An image which regularly appears below the name of the user on the left of each post.

Canarsie

Since the number of posts per thread can now be customized (as there is no longer a definitve standard number of posts per thread for everybody viewing the threads, as in the old software that powered FlyerTalk), notice that each post is now numbered. The number counts the total posts in a thread up until and including that post, not the number of replies in a thread. The post number can be found in the upper-right corner of the post. If desired, one can click on that post number to view only that post in a new window in the browser.

A useful advantage to numbered posts is to either pinpoint the location of a problem on FlyerTalk to someone on the information technology staff at WebFlyer, or to pinpoint a post with specific information to a fellow FlyerTalk member. Perhaps this feature could also be used to alert a FlyerTalk member who posted information that had already been previously posted earlier in a specific thread by another FlyerTalk member.

In the old software that powered FlyerTalk, one had to count the posts and designate which page of the thread that post was on (if there were multiple pages in that thread) in order to pinpoint the location of a specific post, which was quite time-consuming.

The numbering of individual posts is another potential time-saving feature.

Canarsie

Is anybody reading the new thread you launched?

Nobody really knew in the previous version of FlyerTalk.

When currently viewing the threads in a particular FlyerTalk forum, the column on the right side displays how many times each thread has already been viewed.

Granted, if one person views a thread 5 times, the Views column will list 5 views, but that may be because the person perhaps finds that particular thread interesting.

Unlike the software that powered the old FlyerTalk, the popularity of a thread is no longer necessarily gauged only by the number of replies.

One way the Views column can be useful is that it may convince someone to read a thread that otherwise might have been ignored. Of course, this could also be perceived as a negative aspect...

Canarsie

If you do not like the way the threads are displayed in a FlyerTalk forum, don’t just sit there and settle — change the way you view them!

Simply navigate to the desired forum and scroll down to the bottom-left corner of the page below the list of threads. A box listing Showing threads X to X of X (X=a random numerical value) alerts you as to which threads in that particular forum one is currently viewing.

One can sort how they view the order of threads in a particular forum by Last Post Time (which is the default), Thread Title, Number of Replies, Number of Views, Thread Starter and Thread Rating.

All of the above choices are further enhanced by listing the threads in ascending or descending order and — as in the old version of FlyerTalk — one can choose to view threads from Last 10 Days (which is the default* of my choosing), Last Day, Last 2 Days, Last Week, Last 2 Weeks, Last Month, Last 45 Days, Last 2 Months, Last 75 Days, Last 100 Days, Last Year or Beginning, which views every thread ever posted to that particular forum.

*To change the default of the time period of threads to be viewed:

1. Simply go to the Edit Options area on the left of the MyFlyerTalk page, which is the last option under the Settings and Options area on the left and scroll down to the Thread Display Options area, where one can find the Default Thread Age Cut Off area.
2. Click on the Default Thread Age Cut Off pop-up list to choose the desired timeframe of viewing threads.

The choices in the pop-up list are exactly the same, except Use Forum Default and Show All Threads, which will show every thread from the beginning tothe most recent.

Now that there is no longer a FlyerTalk Archives in the new FlyerTalk and all of the archived threads have now been re-incorporated back into their original respected forums (fora?), searching from the Beginning means just that!

Canarsie

To report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts, click on the little icon at the bottom-left of that particular post that looks like a white triangle with a red outline and a vertical black line in the center. The icon appears similar to a traffic sign one may find outside of the United States.

This method is a more convenient way of reporting a bad post and may save some time versus e-mailing a FlyerTalk moderator.