Newcomers Feedback

[Christinea]

I (and my husband) are also newbies to the whole astronomy thing.

We have read loads of books about equipment, actual star finding etc etc, but the problem with books is that they cant always tell you what you want to know when it comes to personal experiences and comparisons.

We have looked at 'other' astronomy sites that have been interesting, but this is the one that seems to have enough informed members to be able to give a variety of answers to many, many questions.

Bearing in mind that we are newbies, we have seen questions and answers on topics that we didn't even know existed !!!

Having read a lot of the posts and forums over the past few days, not once have I seen evidence any of anyone, or their questions, being dissed. How refreshing for a group of this size.

Long may this site and its wonderful leaders / members continue, and long may it remain Troll free.

Many, many thanks to all who have made us welcome and everyone who has replied to our questions so far.

Christine

[Davie]

So far everyone has been very friendly and informative, exactly what a newbie needs.

Very frustrating that I can't buy used items until I reach 50 posts. I can understand when it comes to listing items but buying seems excessive...

Hello Boshank23,

There's a site that deals in second hand astronomy gear, astrobuysell.com/UK it's worth a look there as there can be more than 40 items per day show up.

Hope that helps a little

Cheers

Davie

[djpaul]

Hi

Found this forum very helpful so far

Paul

[odeon]

I'm new to the forum and to the art of handling a reasonably modern Newtonian, but not to astronomy. This site was very helpful when I agonised over which scope to choose (I lurked and read lots of old threads rather than repeating questions that had been asked before) and what accessories I need now vs later, so I decided to join and participate. So far, it's a very friendly and helpful forum, and I don't really have any suggestions at the moment. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone contributing.

[Browny]

SGL is a great source of information for a beginner like me. I have just about got used to navigating around the site and now finding lots of advice and articles that answers many of the simple questions that a someone like me are too embarrassed to ask . Having said that everyone on here have been great and more than happy to take the time to answer any of my "newbie type" questions.

[Prenf]

I find SGL invaluable for a beginner like me. I read loads on here to aid my decision on what to buy and to validate all the other sources I used, such as local groups and the intech beginners night.

Minor frustration with the post count trigger points but understand why, just means I am on here more!

Great source of information

:-)

[quimby44]

words cannot say how good this site is i have been on here since 20/march/2015 it is a load of information nothing to much trouble if you have a question you will sure get a answer world wide to wish i had known about this site years ago thanks for a good site just keep going as you all are Stephen Doncaster

[brancusi]

I think the content and people on the forum make it what it is - great - however I find it much, much slower than other sites with pages often taking 20 seconds or more to load. This is pretty regular and seems unique to this forum compared to others I use. Whether I'm using a PC, Mac, Safari, Chrome makes no difference and my internet connection is generally around 50Mbps so it's not a local issue.

Does anyone else find this?

Roger

[Psychobilly]

I think the content and people on the forum make it what it is - great - however I find it much, much slower than other sites with pages often taking 20 seconds or more to load. This is pretty regular and seems unique to this forum compared to others I use. Whether I'm using a PC, Mac, Safari, Chrome makes no difference and my internet connection is generally around 50Mbps so it's not a local issue.

Does anyone else find this?

Roger

Can't say I notice any problems ...  Is it always that slow?  can you provide more info on What OS and Browser etc are you using?

Peter...

[Crell]

No problems with site or page performance and I live in the sticks with a 3 Mb/s tail. 

I'm not a fan of the lack of editing. I don't think I've every used a forum where that's the case. I like self - edit just because I like to correct my own typos etc which is really useful if you're posting while mobile and "autocorrect" kicks in.  

As for the forum, I don't think I've used a friendlier one before. The beginners area is great; full of useful stuff and helpful advice (I know what it's like on forums when people essentially ask the the same .questions over and over for forum regulars).  

[DeanSL]

No problems with site or page performance and I live in the sticks with a 3 Mb/s tail. 

I'm not a fan of the lack of editing. I don't think I've every used a forum where that's the case. I like self - edit just because I like to correct my own typos etc which is really useful if you're posting while mobile and "autocorrect" kicks in.  

As for the forum, I don't think I've used a friendlier one before. The beginners area is great; full of useful stuff and helpful advice (I know what it's like on forums when people essentially ask the the same .questions over and over for forum regulars).  

Absolutely agree with this. Extremely  friendly and helpful, not sure if that is down to the moderation or the astronomy community in general. Probably a bit of both.

Also agree with the editing, I guess there is a valid reason, although there are some forums that allow a few minutes of editing after the initial one has been posted, which is helpful in correcting typos. Might be worth considering if it is available as an option or plug-in.

[Snaxmuppet]

As a very newcomer (2 weeks) I would say that SGL is simply great. Very friendly, helpful members and a nice layout.

My only comment so far is that I too would like the ability to edit my posts to correct typos if nothing else. I know that many forum software has the ability to allow editing for a certain period of time after posting and that would be very useful.

I can see the fear of allowing editing all the time as people can then make changes to their posts that then make subsequent replies irrelevent or redundant. But editing for, say, 10 mins after posting would allow people to correct any silly mistakes before there are many (or any) responses.

Apart from that - loving being a member.

Curious who pays for it all though. Is that somewhere on the forum and I have missed it?

[Snaxmuppet]

One question though... I see some people can edit their posts. It shows when the post was last edited. Who can do that then... is it just mods?

[Ant]

We have had issues in the past where members have edited their posts and replaced all the text with a full stop.

This version of software doesn't allow us to see post edit history, so the compromise was to allow members to edit their won posts once they reach 250 posts.

But even then it's limited in time.

The member ranks is just a bit of fun and actually signifies nothing at all except the number of posts made.

Cheers

Ant

[Anthonyw85]

Best forum by far. Most helpful people and so inspiring to see what people achieve on here. The editing thing is a pain but I can understand why it's like it is.

[Piero]

I think this forum is superb, and the website structure is very functional. 

The only think I could suggest is to add a quick way (e.g. a button, or a checkbox+button) to remove threads an user follows as shown in "The content I follow" in the user menu. 

If an user decides to stop following a thread, he/she has to: 

1- click on his/her user label

2- click on 'Content I follow'

3- click on 'Change' next to the forum of interest

4- select 'Stop following' 

5- click on 'update selected' 

This is quite a long way to me for a recurrent task. True, you can unfollow using the link when you receive a post by email, but I found that I do not have a real control of the posts I want to follow in this way. 

Possibly, adding

1. one button 'Unfollow' next to each followed post in the section 'Content I follow', so that the user would simply click the button for all the posts he/she decides not to follow any longer;

OR

2. adding a check box next to each followed post and buttons: Select All, Deselect All, Delete at the top. 

Do you think this would be useful? If not, is there already a way to do this in a quick way, instead of pressing 'Follow' manually for each post I am interested in?

Many thanks for reading

Piero 

[Grant]

I think this forum is superb, and the website structure is very functional. 

The only think I could suggest is to add a quick way (e.g. a button, or a checkbox+button) to remove threads an user follows as shown in "The content I follow" in the user menu. 

If an user decides to stop following a thread, he/she has to: 

1- click on his/her user label

2- click on 'Content I follow'

3- click on 'Change' next to the forum of interest

4- select 'Stop following' 

5- click on 'update selected' 

This is quite a long way to me for a recurrent task. True, you can unfollow using the link when you receive a post by email, but I found that I do not have a real control of the posts I want to follow in this way. 

Possibly, adding

1. one button 'Unfollow' next to each followed post in the section 'Content I follow', so that the user would simply click the button for all the posts he/she decides not to follow any longer;

OR

2. adding a check box next to each followed post and buttons: Select All, Deselect All, Delete at the top. 

Do you think this would be useful? If not, is there already a way to do this in a quick way, instead of pressing 'Follow' manually for each post I am interested in?

Many thanks for reading

Piero 

Under content I follow, at the top right if you click the 'Toggle Edit Options' button rather than a change button next to each topic you follow, instead there is a tick box - tick each one you want to change and then at the bottom of the page is a drop down box that will allow you to unfollow multiple posts at once.

If you don't see the 'Toggle Edit Options' button then it may be an admin only option in which case - sorry but there is not much we can do about that.

The other suggestion would be to change the way you follow things - in your profile settings you can choose to not follow things automatically and then you can proactively choose which things to follow, rather than having to unfollow the things you don't want to follow.

[Piero]

Thanks a lot! I will follow your suggestions. 

[Piero]

Under content I follow, at the top right if you click the 'Toggle Edit Options' button rather than a change button next to each topic you follow, instead there is a tick box - tick each one you want to change and then at the bottom of the page is a drop down box that will allow you to unfollow multiple posts at once.

If you don't see the 'Toggle Edit Options' button then it may be an admin only option in which case - sorry but there is not much we can do about that.

I can see the 'Toggle Edit Options' and that was exactly what I asked for. 

Thanks very much, again Grant! 

[quimby44]

As a very newcomer (2 weeks) I would say that SGL is simply great. Very friendly, helpful members and a nice layout.

My only comment so far is that I too would like the ability to edit my posts to correct typos if nothing else. I know that many forum software has the ability to allow editing for a certain period of time after posting and that would be very useful.

I can see the fear of allowing editing all the time as people can then make changes to their posts that then make subsequent replies irrelevent or redundant. But editing for, say, 10 mins after posting would allow people to correct any silly mistakes before there are many (or any) responses.

Apart from that - loving being a member.

Curious who pays for it all though. Is that somewhere on the forum and I have missed it?

admin can spell check and alter your typos  for you i think

[damnut]

The Site is sponsored by First Light Optics (FLO)..And I have not seen any intrusion by FLO on the forum over the years. Long may this continue, and the hard job the mods have with us lot ...

[Highburymark]

Not just the best astronomy forum, but the best forum I've seen on the web - you do a great job

[hullobservertory]

Really great sight shame no one will actually talk to me puts me off astronomy

[JonC]

Think this is just about the best behaved forum I have ever used, also extremely busy. The added photography and microscopy forums add something different that's and interesting diversion.

[gazaddy]

I've never been serious about astronomy just occasionally taking the binoculars out on clear nights and I went to a star party a few years ago with a friend who invited me.....but now I am looking at scopes and this Site is just incredible, I have done nothing but read the articles and posts whilst off work ( shoulder op forthcoming ). It's brilliant, friendly and so informative....carry on the good work guys