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Question for forum owners

mbradsmbrads Posts: 8
in Discuss the website with the team
Hello

Are you really going to stick with this format ? and has anyone actually told you that your upgrade has been good ?

It's stinking awful and I'm gobsmacked that you seem intent on sticking with it. The forum looks like a child's project and is completely un-intuitive.

Posts

  • slowbikeslowbike Posts: 8,498
    The base functionality is fine - it's the presentation that is making it difficult to use.

    A fine grey line between threads in the list makes it difficult to see. The previous format had a distinct line between - and the background of the functional part of the forum was different to the white space on the side.
    I think you could afford to widen the display - it seems to be optimised for those with just 1000 pixel width screens
  • slowmartslowmart Posts: 4,412
    oli_admin said:

    slowbike said:

    The base functionality is fine - it's the presentation that is making it difficult to use.

    A fine grey line between threads in the list makes it difficult to see. The previous format had a distinct line between - and the background of the functional part of the forum was different to the white space on the side.
    I think you could afford to widen the display - it seems to be optimised for those with just 1000 pixel width screens

    Yep, I've put this readability issue at the top of our bug sheet and we'll be looking into getting this fixed as a priority.

    Thanks again for your feedback @slowbike



    It’s not just the readability that’s the issue, user navigation and the overall look and feel of the site require vast improvement. Are these aspects on the bug list and prioritised accordingly?

    It’s been a great resource in the past, I’m hoping the owners can deliver the technical improvements without damaging the environment or culture of the forum. We have Er some Er characters on here and there’s an ebb and flow to the place as posters come and go but overall it’s a good place to lurk and learn.

    “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”

    Desmond Tutu
  • slowbikeslowbike Posts: 8,498
    slowmart said:


    It’s not just the readability that’s the issue, user navigation and the overall look and feel of the site require vast improvement. Are these aspects on the bug list and prioritised accordingly?

    Yup - agree - being able to navigate quickly between the sections was great - I can see what they've done - each subsection is now just a section - so there is no "Road bike" or "MTB" section persay - it's just a long list of top level categories.
    slowmart said:

    It’s been a great resource in the past, I’m hoping the owners can deliver the technical improvements without damaging the environment or culture of the forum. We have Er some Er characters on here and there’s an ebb and flow to the place as posters come and go but overall it’s a good place to lurk and learn.

    it's too late now - but it may have been better to announce that they were going to implement a new forum and it would look something like this ...
    I know it could be described as programming by committee - but perhaps better than putting in a new programme only for the committee to say sod that I'm off and flicking to a new site.
  • slowbikeslowbike Posts: 8,498
    Ah - you can use flicking in this software :) and sod ... :) I wonder what other banned words we can use ... :o
  • JBAJBA Posts: 2,852
    oli_admin said:

    Hi @mbrads,

    Thanks for your feedback,

    The new system is here to stay. We understand that things are far from perfect right now, but rest assured that we are listening to all feedback and are working to make this a better resource for everyone.

    Honestly?
    Have you actually tried to use the forum? It is a mess. Too much empty space, navigation is painful and the user experience is awful.

    Have a look at some of the boards and see how long it has been since some threads were posted on. Users are leaving and a lot of them won't come back.

    It's free resource and I appreciate that but there is now nothing attractive about the forums to bring people in.


    “Life has been unfaithful
    And it all promised so so much”

    Giant Trance 2 27.5 2016 ¦ Sonder Broken Road 2021¦ Giant Revolt Advanced 2 2019 ¦ Giant Toughtroad SLR 1 2019 ¦ Giant Anthem 3 2015 ¦ Specialized Myka Comp FSR 2009
  • slowbikeslowbike Posts: 8,498
    JBA said:

    oli_admin said:

    Hi @mbrads,

    Thanks for your feedback,

    The new system is here to stay. We understand that things are far from perfect right now, but rest assured that we are listening to all feedback and are working to make this a better resource for everyone.

    Honestly?
    Have you actually tried to use the forum? It is a mess. Too much empty space, navigation is painful and the user experience is awful.

    Have a look at some of the boards and see how long it has been since some threads were posted on. Users are leaving and a lot of them won't come back.

    It's free resource and I appreciate that but there is now nothing attractive about the forums to bring people in.


    don't confuse the base code with the presentation of the content.
    The forum functionality is fine - it's the display that needs (drastic) improvement.

    If I've read it right - the base code is here to stay, but they'll change the display style.
    Hopefully they'll put the sub categories back in place too....

    I've found that if I restrict the width to ~1000-1200px then it's more readable (desktop, not tried mobile).
  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,018
    edited November 2019
    As mentioned above - functionality is fine (although the spammers still seem to be getting through), but the 'look & feel' at the moment is pretty dire. Too much white space, not enough colour or enough contrast. Some colour or user-selectable 'skin' options would be nice, too - unless I've missed those..
  • bikes`n`gunsbikes`n`guns Posts: 959
    Thanks for sorting out my name at least. :)
    Trek,,,, too cool for school ,, apparently
  • pinnopinno Posts: 50,637
    slowmart said:

    We have Er some Er characters on here...

    What yer sayin' like?

    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • oxomanoxoman Posts: 11,745
    Why does the the forum platform insist on logging me out sporadically and forcing me reset PW,s every time it does it because it doesn't recognise auto saved PW,s. It's a royal PIA especially when I just reuse the original PW.
    Too many bikes according to Mrs O.
  • Darius_JedburghDarius_Jedburgh Posts: 675
    oxoman said:

    Why does the the forum platform insist on logging me out sporadically and forcing me reset PW,s every time it does it because it doesn't recognise auto saved PW,s. It's a royal PIA especially when I just reuse the original PW.

    Same here.

    And why can we not mark all posts as read?
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