New Look A&R Forum, and it's not my fault this time!

o1s1n

The fact that new threads/posts aren't highlighted in bold (and all thread titles are bolded)is driving me absolutely mental. Didn't realise how much I relied on it to navigate around new posts.

Retr0gamer

Lots wrong with the site. Don't like the non-highlighting of threads with unread posts and categories is horrible, it's not even alphabetical. I'm sure this will be changed.

But most egregious of all is my avatar is no longer showing. It's part of my identity! I actually got a lot of annoyed people asking me to change back to mario after a brief period where I decided to change it.

Can't see any option to change it either.

CiDeRmAn

Not loving it at all, nor liking it for that matter

But, I imagine there is no way back, so hopefully they can refine and improve in the coming days/weeks

Lemming

There's a lot of functionality missing, and painfully obviously so with a lot of work to do on what is clearly not a finished site. Not to mention no dark-site (bring back the cloud theme!) and the volume of white, white, and nothing but white on screen is hurting the eyeballs.

Not enjoying it thus far; the lack of highlighting new content is infuriating and finding any of the forums I sub to is an exercise in patience. The Atari Jaguar was a more finessed product than this ...

Edit: HAHA ... just noticed. If you hover over another users username the dropdown context menus appear but you cannot select anything because as soon as you move your mouse off the name - i.e. you want to select a menu option - it closes. This new site was never given anything but the most rudimentary shakedown (if even that) prior to starting the whole process off.

KeRbDoG

Seems many uploaded images are lost - wonder if they will magically re-appear?

eddhorse

This is just an elaborate scheme to make the site unusable and they can turn off the server then.

Steve X2

Looks terrible on high res screens! I have to zoom in 250% on Chrome before it looks close to normal, but then everything is all weirdly formatted.

Anyway....

eddhorse

You can follow a forum on your mobile phone.

Then you will have access to it on PC on the links below depending on which view you like.

https://boards.ie/discussions?followed=1&save=1&TransientKey=

https://boards.ie/categories

DaveyDave

Jaysis what the hell is this mobile layout...

Likes, Facebook/Twitter shares, 'leave a comment'. This isn't The Journal or news article it's a bloody forum. Old one looked a lot neater and everything was easier to find!

80s Synth Pop

welcome back eveyone :D

All the bookmarks go to the home page. Hopefully the are working on this.

e.g.

Old link: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058192370

New link: https://boards.ie/discussion/2058192370/

even a basic rewrite rule might do

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^t=([0-9]+)?$

RewriteRule ^ discussion/$1/ [L,R=301]

Andrew76

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117612872#Comment_117612872

Pain in the hoop not being able to quote only part of a message but anyway - yeah, you and others missing their avatars is quite annoying actually.

Hold on, is there no way to preview a post now either? No dark mode is scandalous too I tells ya. 😁

Also, have any of the mods been able to find the Moderators forum or does it go by another name now?

DaveyDave

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117616613#Comment_117616613

Moderators forum, eh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sX_sE31r9Q&ab_channel=MartianBoy87

Inviere

I actually can't use it, it's too much work (desktop and mobile.) I would have much preferred it to stay offline another week, for some proper refinement to be made (though given Boards is a business, that probably wasn't feasible.) No doubt there'll be plenty of refinements and changes ahead, but for now, I'll happily skip this seeming alpha-testing phase of the site. I know the backend had to change, it was held together with cellotape and hamster eyelashes, but I really get the impression this new version is live far too early. The old Reddit site with the RES browser extension will be my go-to for the next while.

o1s1n

I use Reddit here and there but for the life of me cannot stand it. The lack of linear discussion and cohesive communities just doesn't work for me, it's all far too fleeting.

Plus the level of complete and utter morons and arseholes is something else, I spend half my time there just arguing with idiots!

If boards dies as a result of these new changes I think that'll be me giving up on forums. Will hang in till the bitter end though!

geotrig

The categories and navigation are still too clutered and much info the fact that inactive forums are soprent is facepalm worthy ,should be buried at the end , infact I never liked the categories in how its been presented here and unfortunately it seems to transfered over !

i like a few things on the new presentation though

I like the way quotes are mostly hidden and can be expanded /contracted !

I Like that the 1st post is above the pages like a header , pity that it doesn't stay viewable as you go down the page or continue to subsequent pages though

Lemming

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117618666#Comment_117618666

Annnnd another thing; apparently you cannot selectively quote. Well that's sh1te. Anyhoo, I suspect your issues on reddit stem from arguing with idiots. Remember these wise words *ahem* that someone once had on their boards signature:

"Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience".

o1s1n

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117619527#Comment_117619527

Ah god, don't get me started. Boards.ie is a bit of a haven as yes, you get idiots, but there's still a modicum of intelligence throughout most of the place.

Reddit on the other hand usually results in me doing this:

eddhorse

Well ill be heading to Reddit if it doesn't get solved quick, a lot of issues and only one developer.

iAcesHigh

is it me or there is no saved/subscribed threads anymore, or "mark all as read" etc. If this isn't coming I don't really see myself using this forum anymore, way too much effort.... :(

faolteam

Dissapointing to be Honest, If its Not Broke Dont Fix it.

eddhorse

Well it needed to be moved to a new platform, but as mentioned elsewhere communication and testing was lackluster.

Inviere

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117618666#Comment_117618666

I actually feel that way about Boards these days....there's certain forums I've just completely stopped visiting because reading the tripe in them just isn't worth my time. My list of followed forums (broken now) has gotten a lot smaller than it used to be...and the ones I do frequent, I rely on the ignore list and the user made ignore script to enhance it (not working anymore either). This forum is probably the only one left I've not had to ignore people on. The non-linear discussion on Reddit is a bit different, but once it clicks, it clicks....and I actually prefer it these days. They're like little mini-threads, the highest rated ones being nearer to the top. On Reddit, so much of the real nonsense gets downvoted into oblivion. Boards is still better for certain things, but on the whole, I'm finding it a slow, creaking, antique these days....maybe this is the first step in fixing that, but good lord this current release is rough. I know it'll improve, and it definitely had to be done though, but I don't envy the staff and the work ahead of them.

Andrew76

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117622939#Comment_117622939

I've forgotten what I was going to say in response to your post as I'm just sitting here shaking my head at how awful the desktop version of the site has become (mobile is slightly better but still worse than the previous touch version). No dark mode is literally painful on the eyes especially now there is so much more white space. Although the biggest issue has to be how hard it is to find things now. Great that it sits on a more modern backend or whatever, but the UX is so much worse than what we had before it puts you off interacting with the site.

Close to zero testing must have been done once the migration was eventually completed. Anyway, it will eventually get better but I'm guessing it still won't be as user friendly as what we had previously.

Christ almighty not being able to partially quote a message is annoying. 😡 I feel the same as yourself in relation to staying away from certain forums - I would love to post more in F1 but there's so many twats over there it's unreal - they just bring up the same crap over and over in an attempt to start an argument and ppl still take the bait.

That 'user made ignore script' you mention - was that to hide quoted posts from ignored users? I had to re-ignore someone on the new site but annoying I can still see their quoted posts. A small issue when compared to everything else wrong with the site at the minute. :pac: (Don't care if pacman icon won't show, I'm still using it. 😊)

Inviere

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117623101#Comment_117623101

Aye the F1 forum is a place I've completely stopped using, it's beyond bad. The driver bashing that goes on really reflects poorly on the place, constant schoolyard level bickering. It could really do with a rules update, but the suggestion fell on deaf ears many moons ago. It's just far better for me to stay away from it these days. Mind you the F1 subreddit is filled with the same shite, so I just tend to subscribe to it for news and updates, rather than get involved in posting.

Yep it was a script that prevented people on your ignore list having their quoted posts shown, worked wonderfully well up until the update - as expected.

KeRbDoG

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117612793#Comment_117612793

Just realised this now myself, hopefully this will be on the snags list?

80s Synth Pop

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117616260#Comment_117616260

yay they have fixed the old link redirection and the bookmarks work again. Good stuff

The Last Bandit

Don't like it at all. Took me this long to find the A&R section.

I'm old and don't like change :)

DaveyDave

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117612793#Comment_117612793

Just noticed this now, was wondering why I wasn't seeing anything new!

Andrew76

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117627593#Comment_117627593

I don't mind change as long as it doesn't bring you backwards. The only thing I can see that is better with the new site is it is easier to upload images. Everything else is worse. If I was the one dev they have I'd be looking for a job elsewhere.

Inviere

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117640245#Comment_117640245

Very much agreed. Change is one thing, but this site shouldn't be live yet...it's beyond bad. My time on Boards has plummeted since the 'update', and doesn't look set to increase any time soon. All of this beta-testing should have been done in a closed group, or at the very least a live test alongside the actual working version that was retired.