Has the 1 week downtime & move to vanilla killed this place?

sporina

the site is woeful.. I would not know where to begin with its faults.. feck all right with it..

any hope of it improving???? thats what I wanna know

ohnonotgmail

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636515#Comment_117636515

I'm not sure that is true. Boards is on the hosted version of Vanilla as far as I can figure. They are getting support for vanilla for the move which lends credence to that. Vanilla don't do that for people on the free version. The text at the bottom has not changed since before the move. To my mind they just copied the text from the previous version and didn't bother to update it

Gregor Samsa

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636568#Comment_117636568

Good point about the footer. None of the links in it work.

Just came across another annoyance. I can't edit the quoted text above to highlight a particular bit. Usually for a reply like this I wouldn't quote your entire post - I'd just pick out the specific relevant bit like "to my mind they just copied the text from the previous version and didn't bother to update it" that I'm replying to. That's annoying.

ohnonotgmail

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636636#Comment_117636636

it certainly is. another annoyance to add to the list.

retro:electro

All the basic practicalities that make a discussion site functional and attractive to post in have been bizarrely removed. The mobile site could not be more of a disaster imo. I’m more of a browser/poster while doing other things like watching tv or on the bus and can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve used boards on desktop, so I’m really struggling with the update. Can’t find any of the threads I used to view/participate in, and even if I could, meh, the interest is just not there.

I loved the layout of the older design and how the “latest posts” enticed you to click in and engage with the recent happenings but what it has been replaced with just doesn’t have the same draw for me. I’m not looking for new threads which is something I would regularly do. Even as I’m writing this post on mobile it’s not auto scrolling for me as I reach the end of the space, little things like that aren’t conducive to a touch site in this day and age. I shouldn’t have to stop posting and manually roll down. I could pick up my phone before and be reading one thread and one hour later be reading something entirely different on another forum. It was a testament to how user friendly and flexible the site was. The link that allowed that to happen has been broken for me.

I just hate it tbh. The old design had everything I needed from a touch site. Easy to use, functional, inviting and could work it with my eyes closed. This by comparison feels like a massive step back. All of the little things that had me previously attached to the place are now gone

[Deleted User]

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117633861#Comment_117633861

The excess white space is highly off-putting alright - does not work well AT ALL for reading a forum imo 🤮

The old style was far "tighter" which suited a mainly text site.

Another thing (of many) is that only full posts can be quoted - not just parts of them.

Tork

I get the impression that they got so caught up in sorting the background issues and the technicalities around migrating the data, the end user's experience became an afterthought. Old Boards was far from perfect and I'm sure the people working behind the scenes have stories to tell about the crumbling infrastructure. But it worked and people were able to find their way around the place. We're now learning how important site navigation is, and how frustrating it is to try and find your favourite forums if you can't subscribe to them any more.

It's easy to be wise after the event but the people behind Boards should have done more testing of the actual site. If numbers are limited behind the scenes (I think I saw mention of a handful of staff and one developer), why didn't they reach out to the people who use Boards regularly? There are people out there who would have gladly helped out with the testing of the new interface and would've given helpful feedback. Again and again, we're seeing people asking about Dark Mode. Why was that not an option from the get go? Why is the mobile version of the site so badly hobbled? That should have been a priority, not the desktop version. From my experience of dealing with software developers, they like to tell you what you should have, and are a lot less willing to give you what you actually need (unless you pay up, of course). It looks like the people behind Boards went to Vanilla like lambs to the slaughter and didn't know what they wanted.

HildaOgdenx

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636694#Comment_117636694

I 100% agree about the ease of use of the old layout. I am lamenting the loss of the 'Most Thanked' feature (well of course thanks are no longer an option, just likes which are not the same, imo). I often found my way to a thread or into a forum I would not visit otherwise by running through the Most Thanked posts on any given day.

I can't explain this but I know others have said similar, it feels like shouting into the void now, when posting, rather than having a chat or a discussion. It's not user friendly at all. I mostly use the desktop version and am adapting to some of the new things, as I go along, but the feel, overall, is just not great.

I already use and read other discussion fora like Reddit, but boards was my favourite for all kinds of chat, serious, or funny, and often enlightening too.

I'm sure that it needed an upgrade from a technical point of view, and I am hopeful that some things will improve, but can't help thinking that overall, this wasn't the best choice.

ohnonotgmail

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636720#Comment_117636720

Not only would there be people willing to beta test there would be people willing to test that actually do that for a living. I'm not sure they did any beta testing at all.

JupiterKid

Can I just say that whilst the migration and site revamp have been below par and might well have negatively impacted the number of regular posters, posts like some on this thread which offer nothing but criticism, frustration, anger and negativity do nothing to help the admins in terms of constructive feedback.

It's like a mirror image of the Current Affairs forum, where negativity, judgmental attitudes, ignorance, anger, and bitterness seem to predominate much of the time.

Perhaps the admins could set up a survey to see how the users of Boards want the site to develop going forward as a way to mitigate all the problems associated with the migration. One thing is certain: it was not thought through properly.

motionwaves

Bring back the old website. It was better

sporina

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117637292#Comment_117637292

people have a right to be angry and frustrated - the negativity and criticism is only natural - its a disaster!!! there is lots of feedback in the relevant threads... admins I am sure are well aware of the issues - no need to reiterate them.. I wouldn't even know where to start... its a disaster.. unbelievable how they cud ruin something so good

Strumms

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117635402#Comment_117635402

Yes, digging shouldn’t be necessary really though...

should be a button on the top of every page, top right beside the search, notifications, messages and smiley face.. Just a button ‘AP’ ( all posts ) or whatever to bring users conveniently to a list of their x number of last contributions...

in my view that would make a big difference in reverting the forum to a more user friendly experience.

Feisar

Can someone explain to this luddite what is meant by "architecture crumbling". Surely if it worked yesterday it'd work today?

Feisar

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636515#Comment_117636515

Also, I'm a little sad that all the attachments and thanks from the old site are gone. That's a lot of Irish internet history lost. Maybe they can migrate them back over at some point.

(In the quote box it didn't seem to bring that bit with it, maybe it did)

Feeky McGee's exploits gone forever!

Edit - I had to quote the whole post, I couldn't see an option to pull the bit I wanted and it didn't even quote said bit.

mrslancaster

Current users showing as 4239 all the time, not even 1 extra or less, bit odd.

Trigger Happy

This new site is like learning how to drive again where you steer with your feet and clutch/brake with your nose.

Too much effort.

Tilden Katz

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117636699#Comment_117636699

I know! I am hating that I have to quote the whole post and can't even bold text the part I'm interested in highlighting.

I don't know, this feels like sabotage. Does somebody want this site put to be bed? Or are we just being drama queens and the masses are using this away with little hassle?

Tilden Katz

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117637292#Comment_117637292

I don't agree. The userbase is a very important part of a site like this working. There's plenty of constructive criticism here.

Man Vs ManUre

Bring back Marathon this Snickers tastes like sh1t.

Mars Bar

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117637975#Comment_117637975

I've seen this observation posted time and time again and I'm wondering why people are even interested in it?

antimatterx

I was primarily a boards touch user. Since the relaunch I haven't really posted much, and the threads I follow (such as Crypto) seem dead. It's just so difficult to use, there's no differentiation in posts when there's a new post to read (new posts use to bold the thread card, now they're all bold all the time.)

It's just not easy to use. I suspect traffic has fallen off a cliff tbh.

Stone Deaf 4evr

The very fact that there isnt a button on the font page to take you directly to your followed threads is baffling. I managed to find it via a random sticky I stumbled across

https://boards.ie/discussions/bookmarked

Outside of that, I've all but stopped using the touch site as navigation is so obtuse, it borders on being something that was purposely designed to be hard to use.

whole sections of subforums seem impossible to find now.

ger vallely

I haaaattttteeeeee it, hate it, hate it, hate it. Is this it? Will it improve? It's ugly and not pleasant to navigate on a phone. Eugh. True the weather has something to do with people being occupied elsewhere and the downtime probably got people up to other stuff. But this new look, it's the oldest new look ever. Like shopping in Dunnes for decent clothes. It's like 1990.

mrslancaster

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117638268#Comment_117638268

Maybe it would be interesting to see how many are using the new site even with all the issues.

Cienciano

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117635807#Comment_117635807

If it's like most places I worked, every dumb idea is considered at the meetings, no one wants to be seen as "negative" so no one speaks out. Tested by a few people who don't use the same features 99% of people uses so they think it's fine. Top it off with no one in power admitting it was shít because then they admit they fúcked up.

You can't click on a username to see their previous posts, how the hell do you multiquote, your own posts are buried somewhere, mobile site is terrible, it's hard to see when a post was even made, you have to use desktop which has loads of white space.

HoliyMoliy

Not a fan of the new site. Finding it very hard to navigate and find forums.

jmayo

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117637292#Comment_117637292

Sorry Jupiter Kid, but when the design is an unmitigated shambles, the migration took weeks and is a shambles, then the users have a right to gripe and complain.

This site would be nothing without it's users, something the site owners seem to be endeavouring to proof.

Our contributions, however bad some of them were or however much some people disagreed with them, over the years helped build this site.

We are not alone users, we are a commodity to this site that can be harnessed for the profit of the owners.

And as they say if you aren't paying for a product then you are the product.

There appears to have been no proper testing of the layout, no market testing, nothing.

I would like to know who was the eejit that signed off on the new boards site layout?

I would also like to know how much the developer(s) charged for this abomination?

Oh can someone let us know when they finish school so some of us can avoid hiring them in the future. ;-)

Quantum Erasure

still slow...

listermint

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117638781#Comment_117638781

Still not slow for me. Faster than the old touch site by miles. And posting is lightening.

Again I still don't like all the white or finding my forums. The hidden likes and search all goosed.