VE Announcements

With the upcoming site upgrade, there will be some changes in the forum categories. It'd be great to hear what you think about these changes.

With an increasing interest in the Grand Traverse, we are considering creating a dedicated category for it, or at least a sub-category under the Drakensberg Hiking category (currently it is simply handled in the Hiking category). I've created a poll to see what users think about this (see home page).

We also do not want the list of forum categories to become too long, especially with categories that are not used often, so we'll be closing the Drakensberg Climbing category (which will be moved to the Peaks category), as well as the Drakensberg Getaway category (which will be moved to the General category).

There will also be a brand new Lesotho forum, which will feature categories very similar to the Drakensberg forum.

We are considering adding a Notice Board category for people that want to link up with other hikers, or want to advertise a trip that others can join.

Let us know what you think.

Like the notice board idea.

The topic icons have changed, and you can now opt to choose "Flat" vs "Threaded" views when viewing a thread - the flat view is what we all have been accustomed to, the other view being something like a tree system. The indentation option becomes relevant if you have opted to reply specifically to someone's post within a thread vs replying to the topic of the thread (there is a small difference between the two). On this topic, you can opt to make either of the two your default view by changing the setting in your profile. You can also opt to have the oldest or the newest post first.

You will also notice a little flag next to some topic titles in the Recent Topics or Category pages. These indicate threads that you have posted in.

Most of the changes to this new version of the forum software have been behind the scenes however. The database schema has been changed and the code was apparently totally rewritten. This will allow the software to run optimally in very big forums (where the number of posts are literally in the millions) and there also were a lot of changes to make the forum more compatible with the new Joomla series, which this site will soon be upgraded too. So, when I get around to the upcoming site upgrade, this is more or less what the forum will look like, but the rest of the site will look different.

The speed at which each forum page is created has been improved a little, so the software runs more efficiently now. It may not be that evident in your day to day use though.

As part of the forum upgrade, I also increased the number of posts per page from 8 to 10. This will allow you to read more without having to page through a thread. Upcoming changes to the forum will be focused more on "fun factor" and will include stuff like expanding the smiley library (if I can find more suitable ones) and a new ranking system.

The Logout button at the top looks a bit weird; text & backround being white, this is how its displayed on Firefox. It changes to blue with the cursor over it

The above may have been a caching issue and has now been resolved. If anyone else experiences something similar, try clearing your browser cache. If that still doesn't help then send me a PM.

A dedicated section for Drakensberg trip write-ups is now available, check it out:
Drakensberg Trips
I have started migrating some existing threads across to this new category and will continue to sift through the forum to move all of them across. Threads for checking who is doing what on upcoming long weekends should also be posted here. Hike planning and questions should still go under "Drakensberg Hiking", and specific feedback on questions can still be given there, but any longish write-up should be posted in the Trips category.

If you have done trips to areas outside of the Berg, these can still be posted in the "General" category of the forum.

Thanks intrepid!

Can I suggest that people put the area or pass in the thread title somewhere, it makes it much easier for people looking for info at later stages

Ghaz, I enjoy your titles but looking for something at a later stage is not easy, for example your last thread could be "As the crow flies (Chain Ladders)"