Tapatalk

[Cristina]

I will admit that I have been sad to see the drift away from the forums as the popularity of the Facebook group has increased. While it is easier to use the FB interface, I miss the community engagement outside of the social media platform. I have always found the forums to be a welcome escape/bubble, no matter what is happening in real life.

I admit I don’t spend a lot of time on FB so I hadn’t noticed a shift, but I am sad about how hard I (and others) are finding it to use the forums without the Tapatalk app. As G42 mentioned, we are learning alongside everyone else, and I was almost completely dependant on Tapatalk for the forum (deleting spam posts was the one thing I had to use the web interface for).

I am trying to get up to speed with it all, my two major sticking points being keeping on top of the latest new posts across all the various folders, and photo uploading. I cannot think of anything that would help make that easier apart from practice and a supportive atmosphere. I would love to hear from other ex-Tapatalk users about your sticking points or any clever workarounds you’ve found.

EDITED TO ADD:
Just noticed a workaround when this post published. When mentioning someone with the @ symbol (@-ing someone is probably a verb now), there is a little popup as you type in the name, and when you tap on that, the mention adds their avatar if any and moves the mention to the beginning of the post no matter where you type it. I was not sure if my mention of G42 above would @ properly or not because I didn’t tap the popup thingie. Pleased that the mention did seem to work anyway! So I can now stop tapping on the popup, hooray.

[NWhikergal]

I will admit that I have been sad to see the drift away from the forums as the popularity of the Facebook group has increased. While it is easier to use the FB interface, I miss the community engagement outside of the social media platform. I have always found the forums to be a welcome escape/bubble, no matter what is happening in real life.

[GrussGott]

I know many people love FB and have no problem with it. Just remember that there's a minority of people who don't.

+1 and I live and work in Silicon Valley! Just won't do it for ethical reasons - whatever beneficial causes one might believe in, no matter which ones, the greatest threat to them is FB.

[PaulT00]

Just a word of caution regarding Facebook and Instagram: not everyone is on them, not everyone wants to be on them. I'm a Facebook refusenik on principle: I don't trust the company or its management with my personal data, given its record, so I just won't get involved with those sites. That has caused a certain amount of inconvenience over recent years, especially since my employers decided to run a "Workplace by Facebook" site as one of the main internal communication pathways "because it's easier". I just don't have an account on it.

I know many people love FB and have no problem with it. Just remember that there's a minority of people who don't.

[cloverandmills]

I hear you @melaminimalist and I don't think you're coming across as negative! I appreciate that you're sharing your experience with us.

There's a possibility we might be able to create an app for viewing the Forums; we're looking into that option further!

In the meantime, if you're on Facebook (I know not everyone is, and that those of us here on the Forums are less likely to be on FB, so this is just a suggestion for those who are!) you may want to check out the TOM BIHN Facebook Group since you may find it easier to navigate on mobile. You can also follow us on Instagram (we post sneak peeks and answer questions on there too!) Again, I know social media platforms aren't everyone's cup of tea: I just wanted to share some alternatives that may be easier to navigate while we work on spiffing up the mobile experience of these Forums.

I just wanted to put in a pitch for the FB group (knowing not everyone is on FB). I jumped over to the Facebook group after struggling with the forum update and .... we have fun over there :P Join us! It's a good time!

I keep an eye out here, too, as people post different thing in the two spaces.

[NWhikergal]

Darcy, would it be possible to embed links to the Tom Bihn Instagram or Facebook pages at the bottom of the main page on the Tom Bihn site? I thought those were there at one point, though I may be imagining things. When I just looked on Firefox and Chrome, I did not see them. It might be a helpful pointer link for folks who are less active on social media. Just a suggestion, and if they are already there, and I have not had enough coffee yet, please disregard.

[GrussGott]

If you are, I’ll try to check the current forum interface on my iPhone SE.

FWIW, I have a vanilla samsung android phone and, using Chrome, everything looks fine natively and I can see the poll.

[moriond]

the forums on a phone browser are extremely difficult to navigate and I don’t own a tablet or computer. Very disappointed.

Can I ask whether your phone web browser is set to emulate desktop mode? If you are, I’ll try to check the current forum interface on my iPhone SE.

I know from comments that a few users are using phone apps that do web browsers with various emulations, but this setting should be available for all current phones. If you were able to see the forum poll that Darcy set up in her 03-08-2021 thread, then you’re obviously set up for desktop browser emulation:

Last Guide's Edition offering coming soon....

https://forums.tombihn.com/forum/tom...ng-coming-soon

If you can’t/couldn’t see the poll (which is not visible in TapaTalk), then II gave instructions in post #15 about how to do this on iOS devices. See whether it helps to be in desktop emulation mode for your phone if you’re not already set up for it.

moriond

[Darcy]

I am finding the switch-over quite difficult. Tapatalk was a lot easier to keep up with the forums. Not trying to be a negative Nancy but the forums on a phone browser are extremely difficult to navigate and I don’t own a tablet or computer. Very disappointed.

I hear you @melaminimalist and I don't think you're coming across as negative! I appreciate that you're sharing your experience with us.

There's a possibility we might be able to create an app for viewing the Forums; we're looking into that option further!

In the meantime, if you're on Facebook (I know not everyone is, and that those of us here on the Forums are less likely to be on FB, so this is just a suggestion for those who are!) you may want to check out the TOM BIHN Facebook Group since you may find it easier to navigate on mobile. You can also follow us on Instagram (we post sneak peeks and answer questions on there too!) Again, I know social media platforms aren't everyone's cup of tea: I just wanted to share some alternatives that may be easier to navigate while we work on spiffing up the mobile experience of these Forums.

[G42]

I am finding the switch-over quite difficult. Tapatalk was a lot easier to keep up with the forums. Not trying to be a negative Nancy but the forums on a phone browser are extremely difficult to navigate and I don’t own a tablet or computer. Very disappointed.

It's a total drag melminimalist - sorry it's a struggle.

The unfortunate thing is that there's really no good choice... this new version of vBulletin doesn't support Tapatalk and the old version of vBulletin isn't being supported... there's already a lot of challenge transitioning to this version, but at least this version of software is theoretically supported...it's a bummer all around


FWIW, I'm using the browser version of the Forums on my MacBook Air laptop running Firefox and the mobile on Chrome on my Google Pixel and they seem to both be working ok within the confines of what we know is working (if that makes any sense).

[melminimalist]

I am finding the switch-over quite difficult. Tapatalk was a lot easier to keep up with the forums. Not trying to be a negative Nancy but the forums on a phone browser are extremely difficult to navigate and I don’t own a tablet or computer. Very disappointed.

[Wanderlust77]

Is anyone else having issues with being logged out every time they check the forums? I’m not sure if it’s a Safari thing, but I have to log in every time I visit now. I’m also missing some of the views (like only see all new posts) that we had in Tapatalk.

That was happening to me also, quite frustrating! Then I spotted the little box to check for “keep me signed in” and, so far, it’s working.

[G42]

Thanks! Do you know if any apps which can be used to access the forum from iOS? Or am I sticking with safari?

To the best of my knowledge the only option is a browser...I happen to use Firefox in my Mac and Chrome on my Android phone

[Awesomepants]

Is anyone else having issues with being logged out every time they check the forums? I’m not sure if it’s a Safari thing, but I have to log in every time I visit now. I’m also missing some of the views (like only see all new posts) that we had in Tapatalk.

[yeg780]

Thanks! Do you know if any apps which can be used to access the forum from iOS? Or am I sticking with safari?