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

CoBo55 · 21-07-2021 06:05PM

I've tried and tried to come back but it just isn't happening for me, my interest is wavering fast especially with the touch site.

Pretzill · 21-07-2021 06:11PM

Yep I'm still lost. I am more of a browser anyway but it's not that friendly there either.

archfi · 21-07-2021 06:51PM

I'd like to thank the three (I may have missed others) posters on the various threads about the interface woes/annoyances who have posted the bits of css to help wrestle the whitespace and fbook/twitter sprites and even adjust the quote boxes and the recommendations for the two extensions for the most popular desktop browsers, Chromium based ones and Firefox - Stylebot and Stylus

Ads by Google, fritzelly and Gregor Samsa

To these guys the little bits of css might be trivial but it's enormously helped me staying on here daily as I was pre-downtime and I've learned the power of such snippets for other sites that annoy the feck out of me!

Cheers.

Dyr · 21-07-2021 07:47PM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117643066#Comment_117643066

No they ain't, previosuly if you commented on a thread, the thread woud subsequently show up in "my threads". The notification options are for emails or pops, which would be cat piss in comparison

_Kaiser_ · 21-07-2021 11:06PM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117642939#Comment_117642939

As I said over in the Feedback thread, the problem is that what they've moved to (Vanilla) isn't fit for purpose - by which I mean setup to support a forum that was as customised as the old site (which was something often used as both a reason for not doing stuff and ultimately for this move) - and so now the staff are busy trying to shoehorn in changes that will ultimately result in the same huge amounts of customisation.

As this site is (as far as I can gather) now on a hosted platform, what happens if Vanilla decide larger issues are "unsupported" because of this, or what happens when they change the underlying platform or update the version? Will that break all the custom changes again?

My read of it all is... either,

Someone either got the spec/requirements BADLY wrong, or were taken in by a sales pitch and promises of great aftersales support (by a company 5 hours behind our timezone and that doesn't work weekends)

or

It was a pure cost-based decision vs maintaining the old site

In any case...

It's obvious that there was little to no testing done
The migration itself was massively underestimated and/or my first point around this platform being not fit for purpose resulted in huge issues during the process
Boards is massively under-resourced to address these problems (one dev on staff and a volunteer I gather) and per the updates in Feedback, seem to be working off their own list of what they feel is important, or just doing things as they get around to it/it pops up - there seems to be almost no correlation between the feedback offered and the items on the list
Communication to the userbase throughout this whole project... well, it's Boards right?! :(
Traffic seems to be hugely down. Personally, even with the very helpful tweaks being offered by posters with more knowledge than me :) - but which shouldn't be necessary either - this site is still a mess to navigate and use and I'm just not bothering anywhere near as much.
More than that, the disregard for the voice of the userbase is grating on me even more than it usually does (how many feedback threads with lots of well thought out and reasonable, constructive suggestions have we seen ignored over the last few years?), and I think it'll take months to get this back into some sort of shape - and even then it'll likely be less than we had before! No doubt though we'll get some new subscriber "widgets" and paid-for content like cosmetics (as another objective is to increase revenue from users by offering better "value" from subs) - but is anyone going to pay for that, really?

I've called on Odhran and co to provide a clear statement on all of this - how we got to this point, acknowledging the clear message from most of the users, and a real plan (with feedback-led priorities and timeframes) for how they plan to fix it... but it seems the idea of engagement is a "dump and run" post of random updates daily with Niamh (in fairness to her) trying to add some bits as well.

To be honest though, I have a feeling that it may already be too late to recover from.

Gregor Samsa · 21-07-2021 11:30PM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117643591#Comment_117643591

Sorry, when you said “notifications”, I thought you meant “notifications”.

The lack of “my threads” and not having threads automatically bookmarked when you post on them is a pain in the arse, though.

Edit: Actually, check the Home page. Are the “My Forums” and “My Threads” tabs working as they did on the old site now?

Dontfadeaway · 21-07-2021 11:36PM

Are they going to change it? I can’t see boards lasting too long if they don’t.

21-07-2021 11:42PM

I just don't understand how they didn't do it in a test environment. Why wasn't everything tested first and then transferred to the live environment.

Surely even the basics could of be done in a test environment. Is it down to budget? The wrong people in charge?

I'm honestly stunned and bewildered how they let his happen without it all working in a test environment.

I'm not to judge but the way some of the regular long term posters were treated in prison forum by certain moderators is why the site is dying a death.

Duckworth_Luas · 22-07-2021 02:34AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117643017#Comment_117643017

Potential-Monke · 22-07-2021 07:02AM

It's definitely slower than before, but as mentioned most likely down to the new layout, white space and lack of previous features. But, as someone who uses this site completely free, I have literally no reason to give out. Over 20 years of content to be moved for thousands(?) of users, pictures, videos, links.... I don't know the structure of Boards, but I always assumed it was a skeleton crew to run it, considering it's probably free for 99% of the members. Fair enough if you're a paid subscriber, but that'll be smoothed over with free something or other.

I just hope it can return, because it would be a shame to lose it, it's the last forum I still post in, with the handful of others I liked closing down over the last 10 years. Can't be easy to keep a site like this going, hard to understand how it would be profitable tbh, but I'm not a business person. I'll keep sticking around anyway, the Gaming forum is basically my news source for gaming.

California Dreamer · 22-07-2021 07:26AM

Come back P45.net!!!!!

Wibbs · 22-07-2021 07:49AM

In the motors forum, which was a pretty popular forum hereabouts, someone yesterday posted a thread asking about a potential car purchase entitled "Is this forum still active" No replies. Really not good on both fronts. The site is bleeding users and views.

Cool feature though: if you copy and paste the thread title the software turns it into a link to the thread. Great.

The singular problem of navigating the site itself is appallingly bad and should have been priority number bloody one. The site will continue if colours are a bit off, or whatever, but it is doomed if you can't find things to discuss on a discussion site. And clearly, very clearly people can't. About the biggest traffic for discussion in the place now is why the hell can't we discuss things. It beggars belief frankly. I do NOT blame Niamh or Mark the dev. Quite the opposite, I bloody well feel for them. Their stress levels must be off the scale dealing with this. I do blame management and the lack of basic cop on when faced with the bleeding obvious.

cj maxx · 22-07-2021 08:44AM

I can just echo that the layout and navigation around the site is awful to the point of off-putting , even trying to find my regular fora and threads on the touch site is a pain.

Rawr · 22-07-2021 09:28AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117644994#Comment_117644994

It's also gotten really quiet on many of the forums where I'd usually expect to see a couple of new posts a day, if not dozens. That's my main fear for the future of Boards. That lack of discussion will turn people off coming here, which will result in less discussion and just churn attendance of this site down to nearly nothing. I hope not...but it feels like a real possibility.

fryup · 22-07-2021 10:07AM

and lack of users will result in lack of advertising revenue - so something will have to give😐️

22-07-2021 10:24AM

I think the more systemic issue for Boards in the medium term isn’t the move to a new platform (where things will be resolved) but rather its user base, which now appears to be mostly made up of cranky lads in their 40’s and 50’s moaning about change, political correctness, and modern music.

It’s a demographic that appears to be impossible to please, and, more importantly, a demographic whose opinions others don’t want to read or respond to. Bang of denim jackets, receding hairlines, and retro computer game consoles off the place.

Wibbs · 22-07-2021 10:42AM

Sure, but cranky oul lads are a big demographic and have plenty of spare cash to spend and advertisers love them. Reddit confuses them, their wives are on Facebook, twitter doesn't appeal so much and tiktok is the sound the inherited clock in the hall makes. They're ripe for a platform. One could argue Boards was such a platform. Which brings the big problem with the change; oulfellas don't adapt well to change for the most part. Add in nightmarish navigation and here we are.

Oh and the young are just as impossible to please and generally more flightly and less likely to stay out of loyalty and nostalgia.

GiftofGab · 22-07-2021 10:51AM

On the old mobile site m.boards.ie, not touch.boards.ie - I was able to view the most thanked posts of the day. Is that feature still available? Would appreciate a reply from a mod here as I've asked numerous times without a reply.

CoBo55 · 22-07-2021 10:56AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117644598#Comment_117644598

I have to agree with your last paragraph.

dmcg90 · 22-07-2021 10:57AM

I just want 'Followed Forums' to come back. I loved having a list of posts across topics I care about and would visit it multiple times a day. Now with that gone, totally stopped me checking in.

Really hope these changes can get rolled back.

22-07-2021 11:23AM

Well.. for my own part, I find the whole thing extremely clunky. It's difficult to find threads that I'd been posting regularly to, and when I do, I can't go to the last post after mine, as opposed to the last post of the thread. On active threads, it's too easy to lose track of the discussion without that feature. The lack of ordered posts by date, is annoying too.

I'm solely on desktop, and the new appearance hurts my eyes. It makes them tired far quicker than the old format. TBH That's the killer for me. Why stay on a site that hurts my eyes?

I liked the simplicity of the older format. That's gone now, and I have little appreciation for what's replaced it. I understand the desire to change, and improve what went before.. but.. I don't see any real improvements.

Still, I was looking for an excuse to decrease my boards usage, and this change has certainly provided one.

22-07-2021 11:30AM

The change has definitely emboldened the woke / social justice warrior types (who always no matter what and say black is white if it suits their point) in the place so much so their post count for 1 in 3 posts here, up from 1 in 5 in the old system.

xieann, you may go the way of 5rtytry56 soon enough

noplacehere · 22-07-2021 11:33AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117644994#Comment_117644994

I suspect that most people on mobile are doing what I’m doing. Logging on, looking at/reading from the first page of recent posts across the site then logging off.

Because there’s no easy access to my forums I just don’t see the stuff that I’m interested in because I can’t get to the forums quickly. It means I’m still logging in but only really commenting/reading on posts that were already active or are popping up on the front page. Other stuff isn’t getting a look in coz I just don’t see it

timetogo1 · 22-07-2021 11:37AM

I used to use it 90% on my phone. Now it's unusable on my phone in mobile mode. It's OK in desktop mode but obviously tiny so I don't bother with it so much. Spend about 5 minutes a day on it now when I'm at my P.C. just to check some threads I'm following.

jmayo · 22-07-2021 11:44AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117643325#Comment_117643325

It shouldn't be up to the users to start adding bits of code, addons, or anything else to their browsers to make the site somewhat usable.

We have users such a Gregor Samsa offering help and at the same time excusing the site due to how many people they manage to keep some commerical sites in operation in comparison to the small numbers involved in boards.

I would have quoted his post, but not sure how mulit quote works anymore. !!!

One question for Gregor is: would you roll out a new site without adequate functionality testing, without user acceptance testing of some sort ????

It doesn't matter how many staff you have, the rollout of the new site was badly planned, ill timed, and that is before we even look at the fact that the site is poorly designed.

This fiasco could be used in future in web design courses to show how not to do things.

fryup · 22-07-2021 11:46AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645541#Comment_117645541

ah come off it will ya,

its got nothing to do with the 'demographic' of the users....either the new site is user friendly or not...and this new site clearly isn't! regardless of the so called 'demographic'😐️

jmayo · 22-07-2021 11:59AM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645541#Comment_117645541

You remind me of the puppy jumping up and down basically shouting "look at me, look at me I am the young cool thing".

Change isn't always good and it is something you will learn in time along with a few others things.

Oh and you might not like older people's opinions, but I will let you in on a little secret, advertisers and sellers do because those older boring guys normally have more disposable income to spend.

The socially cool with all the cool modern opinions and feelings are fine, but they don't have enough dosh to spend, well apart from for maybe ill fitting skinny jeans.

The new site design is shyte and for that matter so are most modern websites.

Go to likes of vodafone you are greeted with pages full of fooking pictures of people using phones and tablets, as if we didn't know what a fooking phone looks like without them having a big picture to show us.

You have to scroll and scroll to get to relevant actual info.

It is the same now with most websites, it is like Fisher Price designed the fooking things.

Maybe they have to do that because the younger generations have the attention span of a knat and get bored if there are too many words on a page.

Yeah I am grumpy and fooking proud.

BTW the hairline is fine, haven't worn a denim jacket since I was a kid.

Oh and modern music and modern cinema is shyte in general, relying on rehashing older ideas and overly dependent on special effects.

Gregor Samsa · 22-07-2021 12:20PM

So I've made a little jQuery script (running in the Custom JavaScript for Websites 2 plugin for Chrome) that changes the "Like" button to a "Thanks" one. Slowly but surely I'll fix this site myself 😁

This is the code:

 $(document).ready(function() {
  	$(".ReactLabel").text(function(index, text) {
  	return text.replace('Like', 'Thanks');
		});
  });

Gregor Samsa · 22-07-2021 12:30PM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645926#Comment_117645926

I'm not excusing anything, jmayo. I kind of resent that comment, to be honest. I'm not the problem here at all. I'm just pointing out the reality of the situation Boards is in. The're under-resourced. Under resourced to to this migration or to maintain a site of this size regardless of platform - which puts them in a Catch 22 situation (unless they hire a proper team, or outsource to one). That's a simple fact.

I'm not sure why you're asking me if I'd roll out a site without adequate testing, when I clearly said "Where they went wrong was in not preparing properly". Maybe I was too general in that statement, but "preparing properly" includes testing. Lots of testing.

I 100% take your last point about this being an example of how not to do things, but it's squarely a Project Management issue, not a Web Design one. There was clearly no proper project management done in this migration.

jmayo · 22-07-2021 12:53PM

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117646129#Comment_117646129

ok I am not blaming you for the site, I am saying you offered opinion on how ill supported they are due to numbers and to me it looked like offering excuses.

BTW you have been very good at offering solutions and fixes, something that you definitely shouldn't have to be doing.

There is a huge problem with the web design, it is poor, must posters will agree with that.

Even if the project management was brilliant, even if it was tested to the nth degree, even if the rollout was flawless, you are still left with a design most users simply do not like.

That is what i mean by poor design.

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

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