Considering the recent re-vamp will you continue to use boards?

Blazer

No

Nope..I'm practically gone from it already.

From someone who'd use boards several times a day etc now I'm down to about once a week and really this would be my last week. All of the threads I've following have all died a death since the makeover.

I've been on boards since 2004 and while previous upgrades were always a pita this is by far the worst one..it was done without any customer feedback taken into account...

TheDriver

I'm already noticing I'm not using it as much at all. The main reasons is that a) all my bookmarks on the mobile didn't work, then they did and now they don't again. But it also seems there's a lot less posts in my fav forums so a daily glance is all that is required now rather than an hourly habitual look.

The week off also weaned me off the site which is probably a good thing too.

I’d like to but it’s making it really awkward to use and that’s just putting me off.

The bad layout and needing clunky workarounds with bookmarks to do anything basic, like finding your own posts, isn’t really much of a user experience. There comes a point when you couldn’t be bothered.

Poll needs a “will probably use it less “ option

airy fairy

Maybe I've missed it, but is the notification of posts to your starred or relied to post not go to emails anymore? Is there somewhere I haven't clicked this option?

Purgative

Yes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117682286#Comment_117682286

I tend to ignore notifications (there are gazillions) and just work from Bookmarks. This shows threads that have new posts and clicking on the last post brings me to the first unread. Its not great but it works for now.

Desktop btw.

FromADistance

I'm already using Boards less than before. It's hard to see how the site can recover from this awful 'upgrade'. Shocking really to be honest.

ancapailldorcha

Yes

I'm using it a lot less to be honest. I hope it gets better.

Listrydude

Yes

unfortunately using it less and less. too much work trying to find the threads i have saved. Even if you go into a thread and hit the 'last post' arrow, it bring you to the first post in the thread. What the hell is that about? Decent looking upgrade but clunky to use, which is a pity

Suvarnabhumi

No

I'm on it less and less. I've been on it for years (lost my previous account due to password forgetfulness).

When I post on a thread it's not showing up in my threads. All my other threads like I followed are gone missing. Bit of a mess really.

Anyone else finding that when you’re posting on mobile, sometimes it just lags and freezes and you can’t enter text for a few seconds? It’s far from fluid.

It’s nothing to do with my connection either - happening on WiFi on a fibre connection, standing next to the router.

bmay529

Yes. Boards is often a useful source of information but for the moment the main difference apart from style is that I am finding it difficult to distinguish threads in the few forums I frequent between those I have read and those I have not yet. Perhaps this has been covered or I am missing something but thread I had read would be low-lighted in the old version and those I had not remained highlighted!

I’m finding it very hard to read as it’s just like a wall of text. If you go into My Comments on mobile for example, it’s hard to see where one post ends and the next begins.

There’s way too much white space and scrolling around involved in doing absolutely everything.

The only thing I would say has improved is a modern interface for posting images, everything else is a retrograde step.

airy fairy

I find that there's no choice if reading iykwim.

Old version was a large menu, with options to browse under a wide range of headings.

Now, if the replies aren't forthcoming, the post dies away quickly.

The notifications in the menu bar are pathetic, it doesn't stop notifying, and you've no way of getting to the last post you read, it just randomly picks a spot mid thread.

archfi

They really need to change the frontpage from the old now non-working interface and have the new links there.

This is where desktop users are getting frustrated between My Forums in alphabetical order and My Threads not showing if a thread has new posts.

The new Discussions section and choosing 'following' is the replacement for My Forums.

The new My Bookmarks which is buried behind the avatar topo right is the new My Threads and shows any followed thread when it has new posts with the word 'new' and # of new posts highlighted.

These are the two majority complaints not forgetting basic navigation on pages - the unnecessary amount of scrolling is ridiculous, autop follow thread when iuser posts to it and being unable to follow a thread on desktop, it's there but hidden!.

So boards - although it was a valiant idea to keep the old frontpage format the plain fact is it's plainly not near ready for users, it's a useless intro to the new layout. Make Discussions and My Bookmarks prominent along with My Comments on the frontpage and header bar which is always visible and users can get back to some percentage of normal use of the site.

feelings

Still a mess. Using it a hell of a lot less these days.

Suckit

I turned on notifications for my thread I commented on, started getting bombarded by popups. I turned off all, turned on threads, categories and threads I posted in, turned off everything except threads, now I have no idea where I am.

I'm getting notifications, but about random threads.

No conversation is possible unless I keep a thread open or remember where it is, and how to get back to it.

I didn't vote, because I do intend on continuing to use boards, but if there is a big enough exodus, and more importantly if I can't get my head around it or if the bugs aren't fixed, I'll probably post less and less, as I post more and more elsewhere.

The last few weeks, it hasn't been relieving my boredom at all. It has been a frustration at worst, and at best less than 10 minutes of browsing.

bidiots

No

Have used it for years but I feel the revamp is a backward step that could be the end for me.

Put it this way, if we were told in the morning that the site was going to be upgraded, then we were presented with the old site, we would be very happy with it!

Yes

I think for those of us who have been around for years, and have expressed concerns about Boards policy, Boards modding etc. the mess that is the re-vamp is wholly unsurprising. Perhaps there was an issue, but as usual it's been a bad response, badly explained. And the reaction to this thread will involve wagon circling, so no point investing too much time and effort into more analysis.

prunudo

I'm trying hard to adapt but its bloody hard work. Can't find threads, nobody online, takes too long to scroll through threads and catch up, especially in fast moving threads, the likes of the covid forum. Although its also got fewer participants.

Shame as I've found boards beneficial over the years for various topics, can't see how it can survive with the current layout.

It lags and freezes when I post on mobile to the point that I couldn’t be bothered making a long post anymore.

bidiots

No

Dear God the more time I give it to get used to it, the worse it gets. Shambles. Goodbye.

Jim_Hodge

No

It's just taking too long and the promised fixes are still well short of what's needed. I've come across the alternative site and it's flying with all the old reliable features so I'll stick to that for the foreseeable future.

seligehgit

Yes

Yes but to a lesser degree.

It's still a very informative and enjoyable site but I can find few positives post this re vamp.

It is not user friendly at all.

I pine for the previous version.

Comhrá

Yes

Yes for the present anyway. I'll give it another month or so to see if there's any real improvement in how the site functions, and how many of the missing features are restored.

I find it very difficult to navigate (on desktop) and I've totally given up on the mobile site.

When an internet forum needs to have a user's guide https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058199126/how-can-i-a-users-guide-to-the-new-site#latest I think it says everything about the 'update'. I don't think I've ever had to resort to a manual to use a forum, and I've used an awful lot of them over the years.

A real shame as I loved Boards. (A member since 2006)

Yes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117692767#Comment_117692767

"The alternative site"?

You gotta give me more!

Jim_Hodge

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117693992#Comment_117693992

Well maybe not 'THE alternative site' but the new one at **** seems to be like the old boards format.

WhiteMemento9

I find the site so unfriendly to use. I used to visit it quite regularly but since the revamp my usage has gone way down. I expect it to stay quite low as I just find it unpleasant to use, browse, read and contribute to.

shrek008

No

Can’t make head nor tail of it all, head wrecking 😱😱

PintOfView

Yes

Yes, will probably continue to use it, possibly a bit less.

My main issues are

• Response time (though that may have improved!)
• Hanging sometimes when writing a response (it may be the auto-save kicking in and taking a long time to complete - 30 secs+ sometimes). It can be very frustrating, and I noticed someone else complaining about this today on a thread I was following

Thargor

No

I look into cycling and weather every now and then but my usage has collapsed 95%, its just too hard and too slow to use now and you feel completely crippled when you try to see if anyone has replied to you or posted in threads you were following, I would usually check 30-50 threads a day and reply to a few but now I just cant be bothered, Ill use Reddit Ireland and **** from now on. An amazing disaster, has there been any apology?

Darkglasses

I'm really trying, but it's just bloody grim. The navigation is still a disaster, and there's issues that have been just left there for such a long time. Hard to fathom how the loading is still so bloody slow, even though usage must have shrunk by at least half. No idea what's going on here anymore to be honest.

Lemming

Yes,

although like others, I find myself using the site far, far less and with a much narrower field of forums than before, mostly down to the spectacular dogs dinner that Vanilla has coughed up and told us is navigation. The loss of "My Forums" compounds that lamentable state of affairs.

I am concerned to see forums like the politics forum become ghost towns; the Brexit thread (whatever its incarnation) typically has dozens of new posts in the space of a couple of hours away from the site. Now if there's a dozen in a day it's "busy". Other forums that I frequent whilst not the busiest are now practically catatonic.

Also, Cloudlands/Dark mode please. For the love of fvcking fvckity fvcking fvck (and my eyeballs).

Turtyturd

No.

I had pretty much stopped using it anyway due to an admin cycling through my posts on a daily basis to see what he could card but I can’t see myself being a regular user again.

I’m pretty much just watching from the sidelines out of curiosity to see how restrictive posting becomes and how long before any negative mention of the changeover is deemed an infringement and you can already see it starting.

I think this will ultimately go down as the thing that killed the site but a small number of volunteers been given free reign to control the discourse was equally as damaging, it was just taking longer.

m8

Yes

Yes I will use but I find the layout just does not work form me tbh, so I'm just visiting less than before and come back in the hope that this latest layout changes.

Higgledy-Piggledy

Have any of the boards owners or top admin made any comments?

LollipopJimmy

No

I think I've about 5 posts since the change. I mostly browse on mobile and it's not great. I certainly won't be using as much as I did, its just so hard to navigate.

ThunbergsAreGo

Yes, but far far less

No Dark Mode and No My Forums is a killer

bladespin

Yes

Yes, it's nowhere near as easy to use etc but still though I've pretty much stopped using the mobile version though which would account for the majority of my activity.

osarusan

Still using it for some stuff - had car trouble and looked for help, updated the thread of my local LOI teams as I've been doing for years.

But wandering into forums like CA and posting there? No, too much trouble to navigate, too many clicks to get there, too slow to load.

Fly_away

The one thing that will really kill this site if it's not resolved is the speed at which pages load. It is chronic and I haven't seen any change to it yet.

You could just about suck up the other stuff and adapt, but the speed is a deal breaker.

kerdiff

Is there an app and if so can you point me in the direction.

airy fairy

Have I turned something off, have I been restricted, or wtf am I doing wrong?

I can't open/ start a new discussion....

Yes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697904#Comment_117697904

Hopefully one of the unintended consequences of the crap search facility is that the mod on the soccer forum who cycled through my posts on a daily basis to see what he could card is frustrated!

Necro

Yes

Less and less as time goes by and no proper fixes are implemented. I'm only here still for the Forum Games community if I'm honest.

embraer170

Yes

I used to come to the site multiple times a day.

With the new interface, I come once a day at the very most.

lawred2

Yes

I will but I find myself increasingly reduced to just posting in a handful of bookmarked threads whereas before with followed forums I'd have found a lot more to post in

Stealthirl

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117652420#Comment_117652420

Exactly how i feel, i may check back in from time to time, but my usage will drop of.

If Boards dies off it will be slowly and a direct result of the changes [I would not dare call THIS an update]

Boards hadn't been making money for some time so chances are the owners would like to dispense with it. Any stats on what % traffic is down since the move ? In 2020 boards was the 45th most popular site in Ireland

Yes, but like numerous others, it’s a “watch and see whether it improves” approach. I used to check boards.ie regularly, now it’s less than once a day. Forums hard to find, slow, pages hop about as different ads load and so on. I think it will gradually die, unfortunately.

Stealthirl

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117708208#Comment_117708208

It was 21st in 2018 and the most recent i can find is 45th :(