The Forums are getting an update!

Edit: The update has now happened!

We hope you enjoy getting to know the new community. If you have any questions, take a look at our Quick Start Guide here:

(There is also a mobile version of this guide.)

For any further questions, please ask in the All About Nameberry category and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

(Pssst… Want to be in with a chance to win a $50 Amazon voucher? Check out our fun launch competition, full details here)

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We want to share with you some exciting news which, as many of you will know, has been a very long time in the planning and testing.

Next Sunday, April 26 we will be updating the Nameberry Forums to run on a new platform, called Discourse.

This will not change how you access the Forums, and all content on the current site will be kept.

The upgraded Forums will feature a much more modern, interactive, intuitive interface than the one we’re currently using, with a whole host of fun features we’re excited to bring to the community here (more on that below).

Logging into the new Forums for the first time

But first: the important bit.

When you log in to the Forums for the first time after the update, you should enter your email address rather than your username. Some usernames may have changed a little (e.g. some special characters removed), which is due to some characters not being allowed in usernames on the new platform.

Your current password should still work.

If you have forgotten the email address you registered with, please message us – including your username – at support@nameberry.com and we will be able to find it for you.

New features

Some of our favorite features of the upgraded Forums include:

  • The ability to @mention other users, which will notify them that they have been tagged;

  • The ability to like posts, earn badges and unlock different privileges as you contribute to the community;

  • Automatic embedding of images, videos, link previews and other media within posts;

  • Highly customizable user profiles and user cards (more on this below);

  • Improved anti-spam capabilities, and the opportunity for active community members to participate in Forum moderation.

We are also confident that this update will eradicate all of the annoying little glitches which have been springing up on our old Forums platform, and which have proved so difficult to fix.

Signatures

One feature of the current Forums which we know many of our members love is signatures. Unfortunately, Discourse does not include this function as standard.

HOWEVER, after listening to all of your feedback on this point, we do plan to add them back in as soon after the upgrade as we are able to.

We will not be able to bring over the content of your current signatures, so please save this somewhere before Sunday if you want to keep it.

In the meantime: The new Forums does include a feature called user cards, which function in much the same way. These can be customized to include background images, links and text, and are viewable by clicking on any member’s username or avatar.

You can learn more about user cards here. (Note: this link takes you to an external site.)

Getting used to the updated Forums

When you first log in to the new Forums, you will receive a message from @discobot, inviting you to complete a quick walkthrough of some of the key features. This is a fun way to get a feel for the new functionality – plus, you can earn your first badge!

We have also created this quick start guide which includes some helpful hints (with pictures) for navigating the new platform.

Thank you for reading! I will leave this topic open for any questions you might have.

[name_m]Will[/name_m] this be still accessed through this same URL?

@suziekim

Short answer: yes.

[name_m]Long[/name_m] answer: The URL will technically change but the old URL will still lead you here. Everything from the old Forums is being redirected to the new, with no need for users to do anything.

I hope that helps.

From what I understand, we won’t lose, for example, all our names in the “[name_u]Baby[/name_u] a day” thread?

@mauvia16

Correct. All of your old posts and threads will still be there.

Ooh, exciting! Thank you for letting us know, I hope all you mods are doing as well as can be in the current climate :slight_smile:

Thank you @charlottenina, and the same to you!

Its a bit difficult to use the new forum. Also I lost my friends list? :sob:

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Hi @bellerose,

It’s all new, I know, but I hope you get used to the new interface very quickly.

We’ve prepared a new quick start guide to help you get started. You can find it here:

and the mobile version here:

I hope that helps and please let me know if you have any specific questions!

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On the friends list, the feature no longer exists on this platform, unfortunately, but you can easily follow what people are up to by clicking on their name or avatar anywhere in the Forums, and then clicking through to their profile. You’ll find a summary of their latest activity there :slight_smile:

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Oh okay. Thanks for helping!

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14 posts were merged into an existing topic: Issues with Category feeds not scrolling down

Hi! When I signed in, it says my username is now jessicajanex171, but I’ve been jessicajanex17 (without the extra 1) since I joined, is there any way for me to get that back?

How do we search in a thread or know whether we have posted in the thread before?

Also, how do i see posts im the baby mame games thread from newest started? All i see is the threads that are newest posted in so those that had replies most recently. I want those that were STARTED most recently.

Not trying to be negative but this was a bad idea.

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Hi, this is a weird issue that has cropped up for a few users (including some mods). We’re not totally sure why it’s happened yet, but we’re looking into it!

@shivshiv

You can search a topic by going to the search icon by your avatar (top right), clicking it to open the search bar, then checking the box below to “Search this topic”. Topic = thread on the old Forum.

You can view newest started topics in a category (like Baby Name Games) rather than those with the latest posts by selecting “New” in the tabs along the top. On mobile this is a dropdown menu at the top left – click it and select “New”.

There is a list of users that have posted in a topic before below the OP and also next to each title in listings. I’m sure there is a better way to know exactly which topics you’ve already posted in, which I will let you know as soon as I find it!

A couple questions.

Is there any timeline for getting signatures back? It seems like such an important part of the community to just be left hanging.

Is there anyway to tell which threads we have posted in and which we haven’t? I can only see the profile pictures of the last four or five posters but that seems like a much less useful tool, especially on a site that identifies people more by their usernames.

Where did they “Talk about Names” thread go? I know it seemed redundant but where did all of the threads in it go?

Why do the categories not stay in one place on the home screen? I feel like it makes it much harder to find things and I could figure out which has been posted in most recently pretty easily without it.

Why are post counts gone? These were milestones for a lot of users and I’m a bit upset to see them gone.

Generally I think this has made the forum a lot less intuitive and inviting and a lot more sterile. It feels more like a company discord than a community that had built over the years and it will be hard to get used to.

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I dont want to see a couple of new posts, i want to see new posts from latest to oldest in decending order.

Thank you!!

@GenevieveReine

  1. The signatures will need to be added back in via a plugin, which we won’t be able to do until we’ve got everything straight.

  2. I’m looking into how you can see which threads you’ve posted in. I’m sure there’s a way, but this is all quite new to me too! I will put a post up explaining it when I work it out.

  3. “Talk About Names” has been merged with “Baby Names”; all threads from both should now be found under “Baby Names”.

  4. The categories appear on the homescreen in order of which was last posted in. I can investigate whether there is a way of sticking them.

  5. Post counts are still visible on each user’s profile page.

  6. I’m really sorry you feel this way! I don’t want it to feel like that at all, and I’m going to continue to do my very best to make everyone feel welcome here, even if it is all new to us all.