What do you think of the new Bikeradar Forums?

Matt

The Joe Show wrote:

In all honestly, i think it's shambolic.

There appears to have been complete disregard for the existing members of each respective forum. It's a well known fact that they don't mix well, hence why there were 3 forums in the first place.

I also can't see that issue ever being resolved. The C+ guys and girls don't like being near the bottom of the forum, which is fair enough. But if they were moved to the top, everyone else would be annoyed.

I'm still also waiting for answers as to why they couldn't have tested the beta version while keeping the existing forums still open, rather than force everyone to use it or go somewhere else, which is would appear most people have.

QFT, QFE etc etc.

mmm_pie

Unfortunately, it seems you cannot put up with any competition whatsoever.

Why the hell can we not link to outside biking sites? Then you delete the threads asking why? Oh, I'm sorry, you lose money through advertising revenue.

Well get this. We're not here to make you money, and you can't make us stay. Already most of the experienced MBUK members I know have left, to talk about mountain biking in a well-moderated, friendly forum, where the main aim is to discuss biking issues, help eachother out and have a bit of fun in a proper sandbox. It is also self-funded. Now that is a community. Like the old MBUK was. Unlike this utter pile of excretement that you call a forum.

Also as much as you try and filter links to these better forums, you ain't gonna stop people going to them. Now start moderating properly please.

Anyway, would you mind keeping this reply here for more than 5 minutes, possibly?

http://nitrofire.net

Hairy Jock

Credit where it is due, there has been some improvement this week, hope you can keep it up and get it to the standard it should have been when it started.

Hint, when you set up a Beta version, invite users to test it, while still running the old version. Never try to force users to test the Beta version, it just up sets then, professionals should know better, it is call project management.

Big Red S

The Joe Show wrote:

In all honestly, i think it's shambolic.
I'm still also waiting for answers as to why they couldn't have tested the beta version while keeping the existing forums still open, rather than force everyone to use it or go somewhere else, which is would appear most people have.

It's possible, but not very workable, and involves more changeovers, so more scope for errors.

The only way it could be made to work on anything approaching realism is to copy the databases (users, posts, threads) used by the old forums, merge them, then modify them to fit the new frontend.
Then the new frontend can 'go live' as a beta, while keeping the old ones running.
Then, when it's been decided that the new frontend is ready, any changes to the two forum bases have to be reconciled somehow (since they'll start with the same threads, but obviously go off in two different directions), and then the three merged into one which is then converted into a form understood by the new one and merged with it.

It's not much of a test of the new forum if there's no posts in it already. And, given that the old one's working fine while the new one's prone to glitches, there's not a lot of reason to use the new one anyway. So you're unlikely to get much of a test out of running the new one alongside the old ones.

mmm_pie wrote:

Unfortunately, it seems you cannot put up with any competition whatsoever.

Why the hell can we not link to outside biking sites? Then you delete the threads asking why? Oh, I'm sorry, you lose money through advertising revenue.

Here's the reason I'm deleting links to other biking sites: Spam.
I, and the other mods and admins, would be fine with the occasional linking to other forums from here. We were to start with - there was quite widespread linking. When people were asking where to go, no-one deleted posts giving hints.
But when you (collectively, the 'splinter groups') started spamming the forum with these links, it's quite clear that we're going to have to stop them. As we would have done on MBUK and WMB and any other forum.
So you've had your chance at reasonable advertising/informing and you've blown it. Now, any link to another forum is potentially the beginning of another spam campaign, so is subject to deletion at the moderator's discretion.

Also as much as you try and filter links to these better forums, you ain't gonna stop people going to them. Now start moderating properly please.

I, and no mod that I know of, is trying to stop people going to any other forum. Sure, Future might, but there's no real incentive for the mods to. We're just trying to stop this forum being filled with links to other places by people who think everyone wants to be somewhere else. We're trying to foster a sense of community on a well moderated forum.
What are we moderating improperly? You never liked the idea of spam on MBUK...

Anyway, would you mind keeping this reply here for more than 5 minutes, possibly?

Yeah, sure.

Bunnyman 5.5

It's just too big and unwieldy

Big Red S

I watch the new posts list at
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/search. ... d=newposts
And it doesn't seem any bigger than the old ones. Just a bit more varied.

Hairy Jock

Was my last post deleted because it had a link to Cycle Chat or because you could face the truth of my comment that it is easier to loose members that to get them back?

There is a thread on this forum asking how many C+ members are still here, it runs to 3 pages. However, there is a thread on Cycle Chat asking how many C+ members have moved over there, it runs to 17 pages! Still think you are clever?

Maybe in next months Cycling Plus you could replace the the "This month on the Forum" column, with a "This month on Cycle Chat" column.


http://w w w .cyclechat.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=184 paste and take out the spaces to follow.

nickland.org

Actually I don't know, since I'm new here, when the board started... But I think it's okay, even if it was better, know that there's the first stable and ultra performing version, to develop the new forum on PhpBB3.0-RC1... That's just my opinion, but since I'm working closely with PhpBB3.0...

Red Panda

I actually quite like it on here...I just hope it settles down soon.

Dan67

Its improved the last week or so, so well done but on the old forums when we used active topics it came up with topics in each forum that we recently active not the all of the forums with the most recent post. It was easier for people to miss out forums or areas they werent interested in. I really like that option but the one on here i dont like.
But also if you hadnt merged all of the mtb and road etc together and still kept our indivdual forums on the same big site i think more of the people might stil be here. But still well done to making the improvements shame not so many regualrs from the old one arent here to see it

Big Red S

Dan67 wrote:

But also if you hadnt merged all of the mtb and road etc together and still kept our indivdual forums on the same big site i think more of the people might stil be here

I don't know - we lost an awful lot of members (certainly initially - not sure how many came back) when we switched to Snitz on MBUK. The 'new' forum had more rules (like a swear filter, you couldn't change your user name at will, there were visibile moderators) so it was seen as dictatorial. And everyone had to re-register and all the posts were lost. It probably didn't help that the forums were down for a couple of months for the changeover.
Within a couple of months of the change it was back to the pre-switch business. Whether through people coming back or just new people who liked it joining, I don't know. But I can see the same happening here.

rprodgers

I am Spartacus......

Red Lemon

rprodgers wrote:

I am Spurtacus......

Sheepish

The main site is great, very nicely applied etc. but that's not what this thread is about....

This place could be good given time, sadly you will have lost a large amount of old members by then, but i guess you will pick new ones up anyway.

I don't like it at all.

Jaded

It is all a bit like looking at the market opportunities for politically active people and deciding to merge the Tory, Labour and Lib Dem forums into one.

Red Lemon

I bet they all troll each other's forums anyway.

Hairy Jock

I keep hanging in here in the hope that it will improve, but no sign yet. There has been a drop in the number of post, but no doubt some will say it is just the time of year, people on holiday (some in Japan) etc. But the thing I really notice is the drop in the quality of post, since most of the old C+ crowd left for another place, there has been a real lost of knowledgeable discussion.