What is wrong with the site? (Please read updated post #1)

Maguined

Under the new site I cannot post and I have no "legacy site" option.

The only way I can post is by going to my member page which automaticaly converts back to the old site however cerain forums then automatically convert to the new site so I cannot post in them.

It is just not functional for me at all. Even on my phone I have no legacy site option.

Seve OB

Maguined wrote: »

Under the new site I cannot post and I have no "legacy site" option.

The only way I can post is by going to my member page which automaticaly converts back to the old site however cerain forums then automatically convert to the new site so I cannot post in them.

It is just not functional for me at all. Even on my phone I have no legacy site option.

I have the exact same problem

did a delete history and temp internet files

restarted pc

then it seems to work again for me.... as in, bringing me back to the old way

Wibbs

Amadeus 2014 wrote: »

I'm not sure that's true. There is an element of "the good old days" about conversations like these but it does feel like this site is withering on the vine these days. Some of the niche forums feel like virtual ghost towns compared to a couple of years ago. You could argue that's just old timer fatigue and "things ain't what they used to be" but the stats on the Distilled Media website that talk about 35% of irish internet users visiting boards dates back to 2010, which is a lifetime in Internet terms. The Wiki on Boards says that in April 2014 the Alexa rank was 5,129 now it's 8,890 and falling. In 2012 Boards was (just!) in the top 20 Irish websites, now it's 32nd. You get the drift...

+1000. It's a nonsense to suggest the site has "more users than ever". Unless there's a super secret forum that's bulging at the seams(if you could find it), traffic is most certainly down across the site as a whole.

So the guys in the office have a pretty impossible job - change the design and way things work and you get howls of anguish from the asset that they are selling (the committed user base). But don't change the design and the way things work and the evolution of the Internet will wipe you out.

You see A, I don't quite believe your last sentence. Yes people are using mobile more etc, but Boards has a largely "captive" audience and it's there because a) it's local and b) it's comforting in it's layout and how things work. Middle management going forward meetings completely miss this. No, we must "improve" to stay "current", but by doing so the risk of losing the comfort built up over a decade is incredibly strong.

Take other big forums. There's a hobby one I'm on called Watchuseek. About watches and shít. It's about the same age as Boards and has huge traffic and has grown that traffic and stayed with the same basic vbulletin down to today. It's still growing, while Boards isn't. And yes that hobby would have a lot of competition from other forums. There are shedloads of them worldwide, most have come and most have gone.

A loosening of control and a focus on doing what the community wants rather than what will drive revenue would help. Controversially I think most people would be happy with a slightly slower load time and a clunkier interface if it meant fewer ads and a maintenance of what's left of the cheek and fun that used to be a feature of the site.

+1. That above WUS forum can be slow as all hell to load. Doesn't seem to matter, even when others load much faster.

Not much help with the new design here I'm afraid but that feels like shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic so you might as well carry on.

loyatemu

Bit of constructive criticism on the Beta site (is there a dedicated thread for feedback on this? - there was at one point but I can't find it).

On the current Boards frontpage it shows the top 25 threads for Trending, Latest, My Threads etc. The Beta version only shows 10 threads in each - this is not an improvement.

Best I can say for the Beta site, having used it for a while yesterday, is that it look better (i.e. less confusing) than it did when it was launched a few months back. It's still not great though.

Wibbs

loyatemu wrote: »

Bit of constructive criticism on the Beta site (is there a dedicated thread for feedback on this? - there was at one point but I can't find it).

Without deliberately setting out to do so L, in that one sentence you've just summed up what has become an increasing problem with this site and how it operates.

smash

Wibbs wrote: »

Without deliberately setting out to do so L, in that one sentence you've just summed up what has become an increasing problem with this site and how it operates.

The funny thing is that companies spend tens of thousands on user testing. Boards doesn't need to spend a penny because the users have a vested interest in the site. Because the users ARE the site!

The feedback they receive is invaluable, but it's just not listened to and there's generally a very condescending tone from the team in regards to the feedback. All I take from this thread and others before it (Which were just deleted and opinions discarded) is a sense of "It's our way or the highway!". Which is fine... it lets us, the content generators, know where we stand in relation to the product that we have made a success.

Michael D Not Higgins

Dav said he was going to make another announcement this morning, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until we get dedicated feedback and proper communication going.

While I was aware of the beta, I had never used it or known of the status or developments on it until it was announced yesterday and foisted on us. I still haven't used it in any great detail yet but I'm willing to give it a go and provide whatever useful feedback I can. I will reserve judgement til then.

CramCycle

The_Conductor wrote: »

Recent trends surely show a change- a lot of people are moving from using the mobile site on mobile devices- to instead using the fullfat version of the site- on their mobile devices instead. With reasonable 4G coverage and as much as you can eat data- the imperative to have a fully fledged mobile site is diminishing?

I use the full site on my mobile, always have, I find it easier to use. Haven't used the new site yet though

New Home

I mostly access Boards from my computer, but when I'm on the phone I also always use the desktop version too. Yes, the text looks small in portrait, but I just turn the phone to landscape and that sorts itself out.

eagle eye

I went into the sports section just now and this is what I got.

smash

The_Conductor wrote: »

Recent trends surely show a change- a lot of people are moving from using the mobile site on mobile devices- to instead using the fullfat version of the site- on their mobile devices instead. With reasonable 4G coverage and as much as you can eat data- the imperative to have a fully fledged mobile site is diminishing?

Data speed and coverage hold little bearing on the version of the site being used on mobile devices. The resolution on a mobile coupled with reduced functionality for actions like 'hover' makes using a full site a bit of a headfcuk so the vast majority of people are perfectly happy to use a responsive site once it works well.

Synode

I'm beginning to like the new design on desktop

smash

Synode wrote: »

I'm beginning to like the new design on desktop

Synode

smash wrote: »

splitter.gif

It's the round edges man. I'm a sucker for them :pac:

Dav

OK, you can now check our bugs/features tracking, I've started a new thread to explain here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057588235

Synode

Dav do we mention bugs here or in that other thread?

My site is alternating between the new design and old all by itself at the moment. Presume this has something to do with the changeover and isn't a bug as such.

But on the new design, my ignore list isn't working. Am seeing posts from people on my list

Dav

The other thread will be handier for me, but I'll add those issues about Ignore onto the list now.

ibarelycare

I dunno if this is boards related (I've checked a few other sites and it's not happening) but in the last few minutes I've been getting malware pop-up ads when clicking on random links on boards.


Edit: NVM, happening on other sites now

_Kaiser_

Dav wrote: »

OK, you can now check our bugs/features tracking, I've started a new thread to explain here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057588235

Any thoughts on the rest of the points raised on this (and even the AH) thread? To be fair much of the "complaining" has justifiable cause and I'd really like to understand why The Management are determined to push ahead regardless of the feedback being given by the user base that the site depends on.

You want to get away from VB, fine.. you want to have a common interface across platforms, fine.. but pushing an unpopular, less functional and poorly designed interface on users instead just seems like a sure way to kill the already declining traffic.

I'd be genuinely interested in why it is that the constructive feedback being offered here is being largely ignored unless it fits in with The Plan

Dav

The members of the site are only a part of the site's audience. They're the most important member by a considerable margin, but they're the only ones who say they're happy with the status quo. Registrations are down, this is no secret. Making a site that's less confusing and more enticing to the overwhelming majority of our visitors (people with no account who find us via a search) is one of the biggest driving factors.

smash

Dav wrote: »

The members of the site are only a part of the site's audience. They're the most important member by a considerable margin, but they're the only ones who say they're happy with the status quo.

If their opinion is the only opinion you're getting, then how can you dismiss it favour of an assumption of other opinions?

Dav wrote: »

Registrations are down, this is no secret. Making a site that's less confusing and more enticing to the overwhelming majority of our visitors (people with no account who find us via a search) is one of the biggest driving factors.

The new site is more confusing and it's messy. This is not enticing so it's hardly going to entice new users.

Halloween Jack

Dav wrote: »

The members of the site are only a part of the site's audience. They're the most important member by a considerable margin, but they're the only ones who say they're happy with the status quo. Registrations are down, this is no secret. Making a site that's less confusing and more enticing to the overwhelming majority of our visitors (people with no account who find us via a search) is one of the biggest driving factors.

There won't be any searchable content to entice new users, if those who generate it become alienated

_Kaiser_

Dav wrote: »

The members of the site are only a part of the site's audience. They're the most important member by a considerable margin, but they're the only ones who say they're happy with the status quo. Registrations are down, this is no secret. Making a site that's less confusing and more enticing to the overwhelming majority of our visitors (people with no account who find us via a search) is one of the biggest driving factors.

Ok, so maybe the issue is a difference in how the management team see the site vs how the users see the site

To me it's a forum first and foremost.. a place for discussion and debate and a way to keep up with current events and topics of conversation here in Ireland (and indeed elsewhere - AH for all its failings is actually a very valuable source of news at the same time)

It's a place to get a quick answer on a variety of topics from Motors to Plumbing and to have a chat about your favourite TV show with other like-minded people.

But all of that works because of the core structure and functionality of a forum, the consistency (even switching to the Talk To forums can be jarring when you're on the dark skin as I am) and ultimately the community that lurks here, without which the site would be nothing IMO.

Now.. how does that fit with your/the team's vision? Because from what I can tell none of these things seem to matter in the drive to turn it into whatever "cool" site you're trying to pitch it as to the mobile youth.

smash

I'm finding it difficult to comprehend the business case here.... "Lets mess up the experience for our existing members in the hopes that other people who aren't members will like it and become members!"

gandalf

Dav wrote: »

The members of the site are only a part of the site's audience. They're the most important member by a considerable margin, but they're the only ones who say they're happy with the status quo. Registrations are down, this is no secret. Making a site that's less confusing and more enticing to the overwhelming majority of our visitors (people with no account who find us via a search) is one of the biggest driving factors.

As others have said Dav without the content boards is nothing. If you sacrifice the opinions of those who create the content, the users of the site then you will eventually kill the site anyway.

As I said in the other thread I understand the need to get onto a unified DB platform but that doesn't excuse the complete and utter mess of a front end that we are seeing now. What is being presented as the new look is not fit for purpose imho and in a lot of others posting on this thread and in the one on after hours. Putting aside the bad bugs when viewing on a laptop there is too much space, too large ad content and confusing and very small actual content. Far from enticing new users to become members I fear boards will scare them away for good with what is being proposed. Couple that with alienating the people who create the content that drives the users to the site then it will be the perfect storm. I'm sorry if this isn't what you, the developers and the management want to hear but it is what I really feel about this change and it's a fear that I had when Daft/Distilled Media took over Boards originally and it is now coming to fruition.

rex-x

I would have to agree with all above posters. Fire the UI and UX designers, they are clearly no good. Keep the nice new backend (hopefully written in nodejs) and make a new frontend that looks just like the bulletin one and then tweak from there with improved features and functionality, thats the 'right' way to do it.

I think the staff have alot to answer for to be honest, its a very very bad screw up overall and needs to be abandoned completely until a proper idea is in place. Stop pushing forward, take stock and start again is my suggestion.

gandalf

I agree separate the teams working on the backend from the frontend. It sounds like the backend team have done their job and sorted out the DB. The frontend team have failed, badly.

The Moldy Gowl

I can see a dav meltdown coming soon, with all the hate that is ongoing.

rex-x

The Moldy Gowl wrote: »

I can see a dav meltdown coming soon, with all the hate that is ongoing.

If he had listened to the criticisms all along we might have a useable new site now but forcing ahead with blind ignorance has gotten him into this situation and it will get worse. And just to add I don't hold him personally accountable or anything, this is a general shot at the staff, noone personally. I'm sure there is one if not two people who are actually responsibly for this mess but we don't know who they are.

There is nothing at all wrong with failure but its when you cant see you have failed and take the steps to correct it the problem becomes much larger.

smash

The Moldy Gowl wrote: »

I can see a dav meltdown coming soon, with all the hate that is ongoing.

Being on the front line isn't ideal, especially when decisions lie with management and not staff. None of us know what was said at internal meetings but we can hope that someone is now saying "we told you so" and pointing at the feedback. It's not fair to target Dav considering he's only one of many, but he's the one engaging with us.