My native language is English but Forum is only showing me Italian

[Deleted User 4833]

If you can't beat the enemy… join him!

Eventually you're going to run out of Italian sentences though, right?

Right???

[gmads]

If you can't beat the enemy… join him!

Eventually you're going to run out of Italian sentences though, right?

Right???

Indeed! Right now I'm at unit 36: discuss science, use the conditional. So I still have 15 units to go. However… (yes, there is always a "however"), after I finish I will then do the legendary for the spa–ita course Then, that will be it because I haven't finished my other courses

[John Little]

As a phpbb forum (of which this forum is an example) admin myself, I think this is an off the peg software issue. There is a phpbb forum owners forum that may have an idea about how it might (or might not) be resolved.

https://www.phpbb.com/community/

Discussion here:-

https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2612501

It suggests doing a search of the "new posts" search results; which makes sense.

Screenshot_20230321-153352~2.png (233.96 KiB) Viewed 1564 times

[gmads]

Screenshot_20230321-153352₂.png
As a phpbb forum (of which this forum is an example) admin myself, I think this is an off the peg software issue.

I would not be so sure about that. Admins first need to know from users what is the problem their having with the software. If I am not mistaken, the issue in this case is how to list only the posts one is interested in, and discard the rest.

It suggests doing a search of the "new posts" search results; which makes sense.

Do you mean the part that says:

A custom search URL that returns all topics that have received at least one new post (message/reply) during a specified period would be preferred to the current New Posts”

First of all, the advanced search page does not offer that option, not currently at least (or I just haven't found it).

Secondly, the so called "advanced" search page really leaves much to be desired:

1. "Search for keywords". Unless one knows what one is looking for, how is one supposed to search for a term if one is looking for new posts? And one needs to enter something in this box! And forget about just entering: *

2. "Search for author." Yes, search for author, but one would also need to know how to exclude author(s), like excluding "sentence bot." I know about regular expressions and so far I haven't managed to do it. How are people supposed to use them if they are not familiar with them (there should be a small area, box or window explaining at least the basics). Granted, I haven't googled for how it works on this specific forum, but this current drama is actually beyond me, I don't have any issues with my using the New posts option as I have always done.

3. "Search in forums." Unless a user is somehow familiar with how Selecting works, not many are going to use the Ctrl key to select more than one forum/subforum.

No wonder no one uses this forum option.

[John Little]

No. As in my screen shot. You can search for "portugues" among the new post results.

[Deleted User 4833]

No. As in my screen shot. You can search for "portugues" among the new post results.

You're assuming that a user would be wanting to search for posts in a particular language. But I don't think this would help if the user just wants to see new posts/threads they might be interested in. There's no one search term (or even a group of search terms) that you could use.

[John Little]

Screenshot_20230321-163031-851.png (278.92 KiB) Viewed 1550 times

Search for "French" among the new posts search results.

So select "new posts" from the menu, then type your desired language in the search box and hit return.

[gmads]

No. As in my screen shot. You can search for "portugues" among the new post results.

Ok. There was no need then to refer an article that was misleading: "A custom search URL that returns all topics that have received at least one new post (message/reply) during a specified period would be preferred to the current New Posts.”

Yes, I agree with what you are saying, however:

1. that doesn't bring entries only from the language in question (pt = portuguese), as it is not being intrepreted as such; it is just a regular text and it will bring all entries which have "pt" in the text, like "PtolemysXX"
2. doing it that way still brings more entries than needed or wanted (e.g. the infamous sentence bot threads)

Anyway, I'd say that the main issue still has to do with how "advanced" search works.

[gmads]

Screenshot_20230321-163031-851.png

Search for "French" among the new posts search results.

So select "new posts" from the menu, then type your desired language in the search box and hit return.

Nope. You are assuming it searches for those language-related posts, but it doesn't work that way: it brings all posts that have that string, regardless of the language, author etc.

I went to New posts, entered Spanish at the search box, pressed Enter, and I got the following results (not what one would expect or want)…

search-spanish.png (179.7 KiB) Viewed 1537 times

[Corinnebelle]

The search does leave something to be desired. It won't let you search for certain words if they are too common. I know there was another topic a while back referencing the sentence bot in the unread posts, but can I find it? No. My latest search did bring up these two articles. Both along the same topic from months ago.

viewtopic.php?p=8476#p8476

viewtopic.php?t=2618-extensions-request ... -exist-yet

@gmads Has the problem with the sentence bot not always picking the right sentence being one of the drivers in the creation of all the sentence you generated through it? Just curious.

[gmads]

@gmads Has the problem with the sentence bot not always picking the right sentence being one of the drivers in the creation of all the sentence you generated through it? Just curious.

No, not at all. I was just confirming that it was also happening to me.

[John Little]

Searching new posts for

"-sentance bot" (that's "minus")

seems to eliminate all the bot posts from the search results

[gmads]

Searching new posts for

"-sentance bot" (that's "minus")

seems to eliminate all the bot posts from the search results

It doesn't

sb-still-there.png (152.22 KiB) Viewed 1448 times

[John Little]

Well it does for me.....sometimes.

I cant work out why or whats different. I posted a topic in the phpbb forum and the only person to answer (so far) cant see the problem. Its not helped by me spelling "sentence" as sentance" sometimes. It worked just now on my android phone. But then when i do it again to take a screen shot of before and after, it dont!

Edit:
bottom screenshot is a straight "New Posts"

The top one is with the search of "new posts" to eliminste "numbers and money" - which it did but also gave a completely different result!

Screenshot_20230325-130650.png (286.85 KiB) Viewed 1411 times

Screenshot_20230325-130211.png (306.6 KiB) Viewed 1411 times

[John Little]

Ive now got another answer by asking for screen shots.

[gmads]

Ive now got another answer by asking for screen shots.

I've been saying it all along: who knows how it works —assuming it works

It suggests doing a search of the "new posts" search results

2.  "Search for author." Yes, search for author, but one would also need to know how to exclude author(s), like excluding "sentence bot." I know about regular expressions and so far I haven't managed to do it.

I didn't go into listing the different ways I tried, but certainly the minus was the first method I used (you know, Searching Alla Google, hehe —this brought to mind: Rondò Alla Turca).

Wouldn't it be easier for you, as a phpBB Forum administrator, to look into the manual, the help section or the FAQ about the software? Asking at their forum could also be another option. I am sure this is not the first time someone faces this issue.

dmf-search.png (57.78 KiB) Viewed 1392 times

[John Little]

Its been a long time since i got my hands dirty with html, php etc, at least 15 years. I only started my own forum when another forum i was using shut down. I thought it might all come back to me but it hasnt. So im really just a novice now.

[gmads]

Its been a long time since i got my hands dirty with html, php etc, at least 15 years. I only started my own forum when another forum i was using shut down. I thought it might all come back to me but it hasnt. So im really just a novice now.

Yes, I know. We get and handle so much information that once we get away for a while, our minds just let go of all that burden. Trying to get back is not worth it. Best to leave room for the ones coming behind, let them do all the dirty work

We just need to handle and do that which we like and enjoy; in my case I like doing web pages in which I register that which I am learning (e.g. Italian grammar). Long gone are the sysadmin/developer times

[John Little]

Its a "cache" thing!

[Corinnebelle]

I think I'm going back to the old way of looking at the forum before I knew about the unread posts. Just look at an area that I'm interested in and if the date is today, then I'll look at the topic in that subforum.

[Thomas.Heiss]

I don't know why Italian learners still keep flooding the sentence bot sub forum.

@Corinnebelle

Q: Is the Discuss button permanently gone on the Duolingo website? A/B test? All sentences? Only a few?

I still see it on the Android app V5.52.5 (old tree design) and SD open in my Portuguese course.
Have later app moat up-to-date versions for the path/snake removed it too??

I heard there are new issues accessing discussions in read-only mode?
Did staff take it away that Discuss button? Can anyone confirm?
Was something about it posted on Reddit maybe?

@gmads

You confirmed you're using the Chrome browser plugin but you now know from this thread that it basically floods all our ActiveTopics / NewPosts streams.

Seems like Maxime @duome didn't find an easy way to exclude this "Unanswered sentence bot forum" from the four streams.

@John Little

Last week I tried to read through dozens of old threads on the phpBB vendor forum.
Found some matches and requests.
Other users wanted that functionality badly too.
There may be 2-3 ways.

As basic forum functionality is that much broken without bigger changes, can we others somehow ask those Italian learners like you and others to STOP using this stupid very buggy Chrome plugin for a while, we beg you??

What's the point of dozens of empty threads with no further questions so they're only good for to be thrown away?

Seems either a learner is using it the wrong way, the Duolingo website removed rudimentary functionality so it has to be over used or that this addon/extension is very much broken.
Why does it even always create a new SD thread immediately when no new reasonable text was entered first???
No, I don't use it on Firefox.

Of course, the other part of a normal user problem is then that the Italian sub forum is still included, so even a few answered SDs will later show up in the streams, but only a few in comparison to the other current flood
(PT created SDs hardly make any sense either).

..(...)..

On mobile I have not yet manually changed myself the forum ids in the Url according to the found Howto guide.
Still playing around on the Pc for the final Url, nothing permanent.
Neither will have other Duome users as it is a very nasty workaround which requires too much work without much assistance.

Until the forum software is fixed, admin @duome workarounds applied on the Sql DB level to exclude a specific forum id, in. the forum configuration or to let users enter specific ids in the profile (a mod was once posted on the vendor phpBB forum a while ago for profile pages but this user said he stopped support for all his previously written mods), can we all please negotiate that this damn browser extension won't be used anymore, to finally stop this forum flood and mess until the plugin developer returns and enhances it?

It's difficult enough to navigate the whole forum of unreadable foreign script language posts on Duome without being a polyglot in 10-20+ languages.

Please guys, don't make it harder for the other "normal Duome users" than it necessarily needs to be.

We can't edit forum ids natively on the streams, especially on mobile and phpBB won't save automatically forum and sub customizations from that advanced search form when NewPosts/ActiveThreads was selected first.

That afterwards -keyword filter is IMHO the wrong way to exclude posts on the four streams anyway.
Regardless of whether there is another caching problem on a browser or not.
It IMHO needs to be excluded on the DB level BEFORE constructing the stream of new/active posts so nobody has to see them, or a user needs to be in a special group to include them.

Why doesn't the author take down that browser extension as it currently negatively affects the Duome forum software that much?

We first need to find fixes and customization form options to permanently save sub forum active subscriptions in a more elegant way.
Active development of the advanced search form would be desirable, but that's up to the phpBB guys.
Customization without entering topic keywords is currently not supported when you come from ActiveTopics/NewPosts.

Can take months...

My 2cents

[Thomas.Heiss]

@duome
According to the phpBB vendor forum linked above there is a way to include or exclude a specific forum in the management software?!?

• deselect the sub forum from active threads inclusion (row/column editor)
• apply security restrictions for a normal registered user group for that unanswered sub forum
• hack the search.php and change the Sql and manually code in the forum id

For the latter a modified Sql code was posted on the vendor support forum.
The question is for which version it may be working.
Haven't downloaded the software, have not installed it so I'm not sure if this info is still up to date.
Will try to link the found post on phpBB vendor/community forum next 2-4 weeks if I find it again, if I can get back to it.

Excluding that unanswered forum on the admin level in the forum editor, if possible, sounds reasonable, if this is supported.
Experienced admins said you need to do it for each forum and sub forum anyway?!
Have you already checked if you maybe can simply deselect that unanswered sentence bot sub forum from ActiveTopics inclusion?

But I didn't fully understand the hint/explanation without installing the software on my own (my v-server Linux version and libs may be too old for this).

The second security rule thing would apply to 99% normal/restricted forum users.
Maybe create a second security rule where that sub forum is allowed to be accessed.
All standard users are not allowed to view, or something.
It was said that this influences if posts are included in the four streams for the first security rule/group??
It was more than 1-2 simple things what shall/can be configured and side effects, so it was very hard for me to follow without having seen the phpBB or any other forum software. Also I read it in the night

Sadly to say, I'm kinda busy with other important stuff in my personal life which sucks out all energy (damn weather it's cold and raining!) so it's hard to free my mind to jump onto that boat and go "full in" and catch up with you way more experienced admins/devs.

Wanted to contact you before by PM exchanging some ideas how to make everything a bit more customizable.
Like another subscribed channel/language filter on top so less "active" forums can be shown.
But without official phpBB support that probably all gets to be very difficult.

I truly miss a subscribed channel editor per selected language, like Duolingo community forum supported it before.

What I don't understand:
Right besides the single Unanswered sentence bot forum you can click on the - button to hide it on the main page.
Great idea, would love that for all other languages as well, any main forums and sub forums I can't understand.
But clicking the - somehow doesn't unsubscribe me from that forum.
4 Streams at the top (NewPosts, ActiveThreads,...) get the new posts anyway.
So the search.php doesn't know what + or - was clicked

The mod idea of having an edit forum ids or exclude forum ids field in the user profile settings sounds like another good workaround, easier adoptable than the other How-to guides to manually list all forum ids in the Url.
But doesn't help if the author doesn't support his own mod or maybe it's not supported for the latest phpBB version.
Any search.php would have to be changed too to check what values were entered somewhere.

..(...)..

There are a few Rc forums which I'm using:

• www.helifreak.com (doesn't support to exclude US Sales forums on NewPosts either, I already asked admins - same problem, full stream gets flooded)
• www.rcgroups.com
• www.rclineforum.de (the top Portal link is very helpful for a quick overview)
• www.rc-networks.de
  (they used another forum software previously after an upgrade and the user base got hacked with a big permanent hole left in - so they (admins) installed something different - may find old security announcements from 2+ years ago)

Another negative example:
There were 1-2 other Rc forums which had an ultra-long forum list which intimidated me.
Like reading all about cars and boats, but you only want to see planes, helis and Rc radio main and sub forums.
Once a NewPosts/ActiveThreads stream is filled with not subscribed newer posts from the wrong interesting forum list (e.g. cars) it makes it very difficult to visit a forum.
So I don't use the other two German rc forums as helis, planes often have much older threads and there can't be a quick overview thread like Portal or NewPosts/ActiveThreads as all the mess will be displayed to me.

Are no newer plugins available for phpBB to customize what a user really wants to see and hide or to customize a search and permanently save it so it automatically applies to the top 4 active streams?

[John Little]

.......I don't know why Italian learners still keep flooding the sentence bot sub forum....

........Seems like Maxime @duome didn't find an easy way to exclude this "Unanswered sentence bot forum" from the four streams.

"-unanswered" in the "new posts"search box also works (though, again, you might have to clear the cache).

And, although I have found the members on the phpbb help forum....helpful, some of their answers/solutions are like a language of their own!

Perhaps duolingo should include a "php geek" language course.

[Thomas.Heiss]

@duome
I've been wondering a longer time about the mobile compact view table of the ActiveTopics stream.

Some general sub forums are called "Discussions".
But the main forum headline (I speak English, Italian, etc.) is always missing.
Only the very latest sub sub forum name is listed in that search view, why?!?

Following up what @John Little has suggested:

You simply can't redefine the search as -"it)". An error message is displayed that "it" is too general. Of course it is.
The closing bracket is being ignored.

I can't try to exclude Italian answered posts in -"Sentence discussions" successfully.
Too much is wrongly removed.
Often behaves to also exclude all other "Discussions" sub forum posts!! Maybe let's rename the forums...

For all Italian sentences: We can't filter out with the keyword "Italian".

So either the search.php code needs to be changed or the forum structure always needs to include the main and top forum name.

On the mobile view search result it may be enough to add the two columns as rows.

On the Pc desktop view I need to check again.

A concatenated specific forum name is OK, but the space is not there that much on a mobile phone with a fixed width.
On smartphones it's better to use the max 6.67" display size.
Width is limited.

I have no idea if the two -keyword statements -"Sentence discussions" -Unanswered are correct.

@John Little

On Firefox Nightly I also run into the caching issue on mobile.
-Unanswered doesn't work reliably; the posts are often not filtered out.

I hit the refresh button and FF Nightly asked me if I want to repost the form. I said yes.
So where does any caching come from?
Maybe the phpBB search.php code needs to be changed to tell the browser not to cache the search result.

Anyway, I was not very successful.

By caching you don't mean Duome.eu site cookies but browser app cache?
I could empty the browser cache on Android my hitting that button for the app icon on the Home screen, no problem.
But having to do it each time for new searches sounds overcomplicating to me.

phpBB search functionality gives not many useful options.
Looks partly broken to me for the second redefined filter search box.

I first did not know what you mean with clearing the cache.
Do you open the browser "Clear browser data" menu in Settings?
You don't delete everything, not the cookies, user data, right?

The Android empty cache thing would be a bit faster if FF correctly picks it up between searches; have not tried.

Either we find a way to do it internally on phpBB with the help of vendor support forum and admins or I will be very soon using the manual workaround of changing URL and providing the forum Ids list with sub folder search turned off.

Despite all -"Sentence discussions" -Unanswered form tries I noticed that Arabic forums use forum names given in Arabic.
So using English names helps nothing.

I wonder why 90% of all the forum structure can't be minimized/collapsed and make hidden for a user and why the search.php phpBB doesn't respect this for ActiveTopics/NewPosts.
That would be much easier to handle...

That custom subscribed forums view (like Duolingo community) is definitely missing.

I probably can't even select all forums easily on mobile for the advanced search so I would have to copy over a text file with the complete search Url from the Pc to the phone by the Usb data cable (or Google Drive).

Geht's denn auch noch umständlicher?
Is it even more complicated?

That's very basic functionality but on the other listed Rc forums I don't run into it exactly (exception of US Sales section on HF) as nobody spams the NewPosts stream as much as unanswered sentence bot and SDs and Non-English native speakers.

I never actively subscribed to Italian, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Russian,...

The auto search of all target sub forums is plain wrong when I can't permanently save a list of actively subscribed/ selected forums.

We need the phpBB forum NewPosts/ActiveTopics to respect those selections made in the background.

A user profile subscribed sentence or excluded text , which can be saved and edited, would be a more manageable workaround.

@Maxime

I will try to search and list the bespoken 2-3 phpBB forum options next weeks...(first I need to better understand or try it myself).

All the other stuff is too time consuming.
Hard to believe phpBB forum lacks a lot of this desired functionality.

All the long forum lists on Home/Main scares away new users, I can imagine, once they've registered.
Especially if the four streams of the search are not intelligent enough to filter unwanted posts.

I wish I could quicker come up with concrete tested solutions, sorry.

[Deleted User 4833]

Why would you assume that the long list of forums on the Home screen scares away new users?
When I joined in December, I started out by clicking on the board titles that looked interesting to me to see what threads there were. I ignored the boards that are in languages I don't understand.

I only came up against there being a lot of bot generated threads after I'd been here a while and started selecting the "New Posts" and "Unread Posts" options.

Also, I think it was mainly one Italian learner flooding the sentence bot sub forum.
Don't know if they're finished, haven't seen a fresh flood today.

[gmads]

Before answering… I do apologize in advance in case my comments come to appear harsh or personal or anything similar. They are not, and I haven't intended them to be so

I don't know why Italian learners still keep flooding the sentence bot sub forum.

No plural "learners"… just me. From the very beginning, I made it clear.

@gmads

You confirmed you're using the Chrome browser plugin but you now know from this thread that it basically floods all our ActiveTopics / NewPosts streams.

Well, I really didn't need this thread to become aware of it

The bot, by itself, does not anything at all, less of all flood the forums. Users have to click on the link for the script (not actually a "bot") to bring the sentence pair from duolingo into here.

Seems like Maxime @duome didn't find an easy way to exclude this "Unanswered sentence bot forum" from the four streams.

Well, here is where the real issue lies indeed: being able to exclude a particular user (or even better, users) from a search.

As basic forum functionality is that much broken without bigger changes

Maybe it is time then to change the software and install something that actually works?

can we others somehow ask those Italian learners like you and others to STOP using this stupid very buggy Chrome plugin for a while, we beg you??

I am about to finish Legendary, only eight units to go

What's the point of dozens of empty threads with no further questions […]

As matter of fact, there is a point behind, one only needs to see it not from one's own perspective, but from a broader point of view, and neither from a just present time or a present group of users, but from a future time and a future group of users.

This forum should be used —in its majority at least— to discuss language related issues, specifically, the sentences from Duolingo! Instead, it has become a place to complain —basically— about Duo, to try and find ways to go around Duo's changes and anything and everything along those lines… even if no one in here works at that company and thus, is unable to actually do anything about its decisions and changes.

So… for those of us that are here interested in the languages themselves and not in the company nor in its software nor in the decisions and changes they make… it does make more sense to have empty sentence discussions that may have an interesting aspect to be discussed about and to be learned from, than having tenths of threads and hundreds of posts discussing issues that go beyond anyone in here, after all… this is definitely not a site handled by Duolingo! And while I have commented about this, I definitely haven't complained about it nor have tried to stop people from discussing whatever they want to discuss about the company or their software; as a matter of fact, I have even participated and tried to help those that do, even if I myself don't care much neither about Duolingo nor about 99% of their software.

[…] so they're only good for to be thrown away?

At one point, I actually thought the same, and I even recommended the same —this is true, I am not making it up!

So… do allow me now to expand a bit about my previous "there is a point" regarding your "dozens of empty threads with no further questions" comment.

Being both a native Spanish speaking person and interested in languages, at one point while I was getting familiar with the forum, I decided to go through both, the Spanish empty sentence discussions and those that had already been commented, to see if I could be of help regarding this language.

If you take a look at:

• I speak English > I'm learning...Spanish > Sentence discussions

You'll see there were quite a number of empty entries which I brought to life by adding a useful comment, like the following one:

• Si yo tengo sueño, tendré que tumbarme

as well as many that had already been answered or commented but to which I provided extra information, like the following two:

• Cuando no hay nada de luz, hay oscuridad y yo le tengo mucho miedo. (en → es)

• Si vienes de vacaciones con nosotras, vas a pasarla bien. ¡Haremos muchas actividades divertidas! (en → es)

Therefore, for people interested in learning Spanish, it does make a lot of sense to have in here sentence discussions that were originally empty because at that time there wasn't anyone interested in this particular language, but which some time after they were answered or commented by someone who decided to take the time and make the effort to contribute in some way to their learning. There are still many unanswered entries or threads, but maybe someone at some future point will find something interesting to comment about or to ask about.

Seems either a learner is using it the wrong way, the Duolingo website removed rudimentary functionality so it has to be over used or that this addon/extension is very much broken.

Neither any of those options, well, maybe the second one would actually answer it.

1. Seems either a learner is using it the wrong way :: I am not, I am fully aware of what I am doing

2. the Duolingo website removed rudimentary functionality so it has to be over used :: yes, they closed their forums!

3. that this addon/extension is very much broken :: it is not, or at least I do not think so nor see it to be broken or useless
   
   

Why does it even always create a new SD thread immediately when no new reasonable text was entered first???

Well, I previously talked about the Spanish sentence discussions, none of which I created (because I am not registered in Duolingo to learn Spanish… because I myself am a Spanish speaking person ).

Thus, now I'll explain about the Italian sentence discussions or even better —given that all my previous arguments apply here too— I'll just consider your emphatic question

1. I am that it creating the sentences in here

2. Many threads I comment immediately if the subject allows for a short quick useful comment

3. Others I leave to be commented at a later time, given that the subject, at least to me, allows or demands for a longer interesting useful comment —or maybe I was just tired/lazy/whatever for commenting at the time—, for example, right now I have almost 20 threads pending to be commented, like this one or this one

Let me reiterate: everything I explained regarding the Spanish discussions threads (which I did not create), applies to the Italian ones (which I am currently creating).

Of course, the other part of a normal user problem is then that the Italian sub forum is still included, so even a few answered SDs will later show up in the streams, but only a few in comparison to the other current flood

As far as I understand it, the complaints have to do with the "New posts" listing being "flooded" (OMDG! Yes, I am being … ). However, this listing shortens every few hours or each day. If someone misses entering a day, s/he would then need to go directly to her/his forum of interest to see the "new posts" from the previous day.

(PT created SDs hardly make any sense either).

This one is very easy to answer, and I have already answered it:

• One man's trash, another man's treasure

That some may not be interested in Italian or in any of the languages they are not interested in —just like I am not interested in Hebrew or Chinese—, that doesn't mean that the sentences "hardly make any sense" —beyond, of course, how absurd many of them are (like Llegué al pueblo primero que la oscuridad), but that is the fault of whoever was tripping or lacked enough knowledge about the language, and came up with them (probably using an online translation tool).

Until the forum software is fixed, admin @duome workarounds applied on the Sql DB level to exclude a specific forum id, in. the forum configuration or to let users enter specific ids in the profile (a mod was once posted on the vendor phpBB forum a while ago for profile pages but this user said he stopped support for all his previously written mods), can we all please negotiate that this damn browser extension won't be used anymore, to finally stop this forum flood and mess until the plugin developer returns and enhances it?

It's difficult enough to navigate the whole forum of unreadable foreign script language posts on Duome without being a polyglot in 10-20+ languages.

Please guys, don't make it harder for the other "normal Duome users" than it necessarily needs to be.

We can't edit forum ids natively on the streams, especially on mobile and phpBB won't save automatically forum and sub customizations from that advanced search form when NewPosts/ActiveThreads was selected first.

That afterwards -keyword filter is IMHO the wrong way to exclude posts on the four streams anyway.
Regardless of whether there is another caching problem on a browser or not.
It IMHO needs to be excluded on the DB level BEFORE constructing the stream of new/active posts so nobody has to see them, or a user needs to be in a special group to include them.

Why doesn't the author take down that browser extension as it currently negatively affects the Duome forum software that much?

We first need to find fixes and customization form options to permanently save sub forum active subscriptions in a more elegant way.
Active development of the advanced search form would be desirable, but that's up to the phpBB guys.
Customization without entering topic keywords is currently not supported when you come from ActiveTopics/NewPosts.

Can take months...

My 2cents

Instead of asking for something useful to be stopped, all that energy should rather be focused on solving the real problem: the software inabilities to handle what it should have done since the very beginning: offering better search options or being more configurable so anyone could set it up to work according to one's own ideal environment.

I do not see healthy or useful in any way to discourage users from using the script just because it is inconvenient to a number of persons.

This is a language forum, isn't it? Or is this to be a so-called "language forum" that will only allow to have one or two threads with simple trivial sentences to be created every once and then? If so, well, then a clear and explicit rule would need to be stated. There have been streams of other threads, by other users, in other languages, and I haven't seen anyone complain about those.

By the way, I don't mean this comment to be personal, I am just trying to make clear the fact that one cannot eat the cake and keep it at the same time: you previously said, "Not very useful what I'm reading about in the Portuguese SD threads on here...very difficult sentences are not discussed." How can anyone discuss something that doesn't exist because there hasn't been anyone interested in publishing? And now, given the current complaints… I wonder if anyone would actually become interested: how would anyone dare to publish more than two or three sentences and risk a corresponding flood of complaints?

If users are not to be allowed to publish Duolingo sentences, then, this should definitely not be a Duolingo-language-related site.

So, from my point of view… let there be light… haha No… sorry! Let there be sentences from each and every language, in whatever quantity they may came, and let's just endure them a bit while they are being created, and then bring them to life by commenting on them

Anyway, and regardless of whatever decisions or action the admin or admins take, I would most definitly advice against deleting any entries or making irreversible actions (so-called "solutions") regarding the sentences.

I'll now sign this post as a person used to sign his posts in another forum I used to participate…

سلام (peace)

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  ㆍenglish ㆍSentenceDiscussion ㆍgeneral ㆍdebate ㆍduome

[gmads]

Also, I think it was mainly one Italian learner flooding the sentence bot sub forum.

Who could that user be?

Don't know if they're finished, haven't seen a fresh flood today.

Indeed there hasn't been any because I was busy writing an answer

[gmads]

Oh! I was forgetting about this!

[Deleted User 4833]

Also, I think it was mainly one Italian learner flooding the sentence bot sub forum.

Who could that user be?

Don't know if they're finished, haven't seen a fresh flood today.

Indeed there hasn't been any because I was busy writing an answer

And a very comprehensive answer at that.

For the record, the bot-generated sentences created when you use the plug-in while doing lessons on the web don't bother me personally. And I think they do have a purpose, as they can be used to generate discussion about a particular sentence, as has happened many times.

I do understand that it can be frustrating when you look at "new posts" or "unread posts" and the feed is full of these sentences, but I just mark as read the ones I'm not interested in right now (for the record, I find it easier to do this from a browser on my phone). Problem solved! (Though it does take some time to do it that way if a lot of sentences have been generated.)

[gmads]

Don't know if they're finished, haven't seen a fresh flood today.

Indeed there hasn't been any because I was busy writing an answer

And a very comprehensive answer at that.

Thanks!

Also, I think it was mainly one Italian learner flooding the sentence bot sub forum.

Who could that user be?

For the record, the bot-generated sentences created when you use the plug-in while doing lessons on the web don't bother me personally. And I think they do have a person, as they can be used to generate discussion about a particular sentence, as has happened many times.

Yes, there is always someone behind the thread being created in here, that is why I rather call it a script than a bot.

I do understand that it can be frustrating when you look at "new posts" or "unread posts" and the feed is full of these sentences, but I just mark as read the ones I'm not interested in right now (for the record, I find it easier to do this from a browser on my phone). Problem solved! (Though it does take some time to do it that way if a lot of sentences have been generated.)

Yes, it can be a bit bothersome, I've also been there, but tha's just a mere inconvenience, and one worth experiencing because at least that would show not only that there are people interested in that language, but that they are taking actual time and effort to spread the seeds that can lead to a more active forum from a language-related point of view.