Thank you for the link to the previous thread. I hadn't found that one yet. It does seem that a tutorial would be beneficial on this function. That may clear up some things. Then we can see where else we need some assistance.

The attachment thumbnails should still have that feature. Are you not getting the lightbox pop up when you click on the thumbnail?

It's not that we don't know how to upload pictures, it's just that the process is cluncky and inefficient. Uploading files, noting the file id and then having to insert the link into the message. The last time I posted a large trail report (WCT) it took me almost 2 hours to get it entered and looking the way I wanted. That's the problem, the use case is people being able to submit complex and large trail reports (well above your typical day to day post) in a simple and convienent manner. You shouldn't have to read a tutorial to complete a core task on the site

Yes, but the lightbox is not the same as the previous floating child full frame we had in the old client app CT. That said, it may not be much of priority. I just liked that kind of feature.

Yeah, that sums it up. Dragging and dropping pics in while adhering to file size/dimension limitations, then having to copy the image address into the TR, then attach XML [IMG] tags, then delete the 'ampersand thumbs' statement subsection, then place the XML statement into the TR body ... all to get the image to frame up right, *&%$!!. This is all just damn awful.

Part of the appeal of Facebook is the ease of dragging and dropping pics into their container and the image is resized and formatted without the user doing anything. It's gotta be that simple.

I think I mentioned it in a previous thread, but it may be worth you or other admin snooping around livetrails.com to check out the features they have. can link to pics from FB, Flickr, etc when making a TR, can add a GPX that is visible on TR with distance, elevation and other stats when posted, all TR's for a given trail are linked to the main trail description/wiki, easy to search, all trails are located on the map page so you can search via that, and other good features. Not sure if it's easy to figure out how they added the features but may help you with ideas and how certain features could look here.

Photo uploading has been the major issue since takeover; I know for a fact people that have quit because of it. I am not best person to ask what is exactly wrong, because I am fine with just about anything. But others are not.

I suggest creating separate thread: "Photo Upload UI". Let people comment. You will hear all kinds of complaints and suggestions; filter it, and take out essence. Bottom line is that it must be really intuitive and easy to use to someone who is not seasoned computer user.

The ability to attach captions directly to the image was valuable too.

I think Trip Reports have always been more valuable for people who don't have their own website. If you use this as your primary repository, it's a great setup. When you do full "trip reports" of a sort somewhere else, making them here is always going to be a sort of a duplication. I understand CT's focus on local hosting, but I found TRs consisting of a few highlight photos, and overview and conditions report, and link to full details to always be plenty valuable.

For sure. I totally forgot about that. a very nice feature indeed

I respect that the job of moderator is not easy. I saw the whole thing with Darren go down (with him being threatened and treated like crap) and I have seen numerous clubtreaders not listening or respecting the moderators; However, I still think friendly, warm, welcoming moderators who come across in a positive manner will make a world of difference to this site. You can fix this site up so it's technically sound and works smoothly - and it won't make an iota of difference if you have a moderator painting the whole site with negative cynical energy.

We also have people who have been running this whole site who haven't yet fixed the most basic things (photo uploader so it's seamless and easy) in TWO YEARS. Now they have increased the size of thumbnails - which I have been scratching my head about (what was the point of that? was that even an issue to begin with?). The issue is how do you get photos woven into your trip reports quickly and painlessly. I respect the fact they appear to be working on some things and am hopeful.. but I really haven't seen anything yet that makes me think we're on the track to coming back to life again.

While Clubtread probably was on the downswing anyway when the site was taken over (with the takeover massively speeding it up); adapting and being creative and keeping things interesting here is all of our jobs. I think there are lots of people here that would step up to the plate and inject some life into some of the ideas we have. However, that will all lead to nowhere if you have owners of Clubtread who don't care to get the site functioning seamlessly and negative energy from our own leadership.

^ Hang in there.... looks like some changes are in the works. There's been lots of good discussion since you started this thread.

Personally I feel having a post-to-Facebook function is a great idea and a must-have. I would use it for all my TRs and some others as well, which would help publicize CT.

I would probably also post more TRs, as when I don't have much time I usually just post to FB.

I would post to this site if it was as easy as on Facebook. I'm not pro Facebook or Clubtread, but when I have 5 minutes to do something I can only choose the option that takes 5 minutes or less. For a Facebook post I click one button, upload photos that are automatically resized, they appear, and I add a caption to each. I also include a link to my website that has many more photos. This generates a response from 50+ people, which to me says it was worth those 5 minutes of my time. The same process on Clubtread is much clunkier and most times something goes stupidly wrong, and even if it works it only appears to reach a fraction of those Facebook reaches.

So for improvements: Make uploading photos and captioning them as easy as on Facebook. Directions on how to use Clubtread won't be useful; my point is that it should be simple enough that even the most dimwitted person can do it with ease, just like on Facebook. A link to Facebook would perhaps also generate more traffic so that posting here felt worthwhile too.

That certainly sounds like a convoluted way to use the attachments manager. I was reading this work-around in the other thread, and this is why I think the tutorial will help some of you. There is no right-click, no URL or IMG tags manually inserted. It's uploads and buttons. Check it out here: https://forums.clubtread.com/97-getti...our-posts.html

As I understand, the need for the work around was because the attached image thumbnails were so tiny. Linking to the full size image was the only way to get a good image view in. That is why the thumbnail sizes were increased here as well. So you can now use the attachments manager to insert the larger thumbnails in to your posts.

I have taken a look at this (I did see it in the other thread). I'm looking in to a compatible map for us here, so far no such luck. I did add the .gpx files, but there's no imagery with them. I'll see if I can't find something along those lines.

This I've seen elsewhere, and I believe would be compatible here. I'll send a request and see what tech can muster up for us.

I will mention the reality of the forum software limits is that it will never be a direct competitor to Facebook. The development team assigned to FB is leaps and bounds larger than ours here.

That said.. I am still doing my best to get anything I can here that will help you in any fashion. Some of these recent changes are small and trivial, but as I said earlier the main changes will take some time. I haven't overlooked them. They are with their respective departments and in queue for review. I will update you as I can.

Frankly,. I find it much faster to drag all my images into the green bordered drop area and then clunk them into place using the convoluted method. The one by one point click upload of the attachment manager is even more painful although perhaps a bit more intuitive. Neither method are good. We need a simple drag drop display that's smart enough to resize reformat without user even thinking about it, yet let's user place images where they wish within text for their TR

The larger thumbs are useful for a quick TR where you put up some verbiage and drag in the images with no further monkeying around.