Now we are back the the old PS?

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/18/2010 10:00:41 PM
Author: kenny
Aren''t we being a tad rude?


I mean we are guests here.

It is their site to do with as they please.

I''m sure they put a lot of work into 2.0.


I say, feel free to make suggestions but don''t whine too loudly.

My 2 cents.

Now go ahead and kill me; I''ll don my fire-proof flame suit.


And while I''m at it, here''s my suggestion, allow PMs.

For years I posted on a message board on aol with friends I''ve had for years... but when aol finally went to the web I found their format so crappy that I stopped posting there altogether. Everyone hated it and eventually all went to myspace then facebook. HOWEVER aol didn''t listen to us and I get the feeling that PS very much cares what we think and that is going to make all the difference in the end There are going to be growing pains and things will be a challenge to switch over for both admin AND us... but in the end I think we''ll all adjust and be happy with it, some quicker than others. The things we''re hearing a lot about (width and rollover and speed) are all things they can fix and I bet they will

 

[Cind11]

I was having all kinds of problems with the "new" version today. Lots of red x's and when I tried to log in I was unable to. I don't think it was really working for me - everything on the site looked odd!

 

[AGBF]

kenny-we are so obviously not singing, "Kumbaya" in that picture! I don''t know what you were thinking! That was "Streets of Laredo". Sheesh!


AGBF

 

[charbie]

Date: 5/18/2010 10:42:39 PM
Author: Circe

Date: 5/18/2010 10:35:14 PM

Author: charbie

Looks like kenny and I are sort of on the same page, but said it a bit differently.


I know the admins want us to share what we don''t like about the new version, and I also have to say that I feel like just saying, ''why fix something that''s not broken?'' doesn''t necessarily help.



It was an outdated format if you ask me, and the new features will just give us more to love. I''m sure formating issues will be worked out.



And I guess ill add this too: I have an emotional attachment to the content in the site, and the forum posters. It could be harder to read, post, etc. But as long as the speed issues is worked out, ill work around it to keep getting all of the support and knowledge I glean from being a poster and lurker in the community.



Whew. I feel bettere now

Since I''m the one who spoke the offending phrase ... (and, this is neither meant in a catty fashion, nor is it imputing any such thing to you, Charbie, since I think of you as one of PS''s sweetest people - I just feel okay with spearheading the IiABDFi approach), shall I explicate?


PS means a lot to me. The community, the knowledge, the general atmosphere. But if it''s impossible to navigate, slow to load, and makes my eyeballs bleed, I can picture my time here tapering off. I can also picture new people who have no attachment to the community getting the info. they need and heading for the hills.


The old/current version of PS has a few glitches - the lack of PMs, the inability to easily load multiple pictures, the incompatibility with Macs. But the new version doesn''t really seem to be working for anybody: I''ve yet to hear anybody say, ''Oh, thank god: those rollovers were driving me NUTS. That readable 12 point font? HORRID. I''m so *pleased* they decided to eschew the easy toolbar navigation!'' Why throw the baby out with the bathwater when it would be easier to keep the old format and just add a few new features?

Why thank you, Circe
I think we are both on the same page here. There are features from both versions that will be kept, changed, etc. And giving our feedback is the only way for the community as a whole to enjoy the site for all of its intended purposes. I agree with you 100% that if the speed issue isn''t fixed, my PS time would go waaaaaay down (my husband already thinks I spend too much time on here!) I just meant that when the admins learn which features really made this user friendly (rollover, font choice, etc) that those will be easy fixes, and your eyes won''t bleed, plus you''ll get a site with a more modern appeal. I just don''t think there was enough time for people to get a good feel for 2.0. And to me its a 6//half dozen deal if they bring favorite features of beta to 2.0 or just uprade the beta with new features.

TG: what you''re saying about the FB changes is exactly what I mean! Gosh, I remember then they first put "status" one there and people were creeped out and said, "NO WAY!" And now BAM! Hello Twitter! Yay optimism!

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 5/18/2010 11:04:28 PM
Author: Cind11
I was having all kinds of problems with the ''new'' version today. Lots of red x''s and when I tried to log in I was unable to. I don''t think it was really working for me - everything on the site looked odd!

Ditto, Cindy. When I logged into the new PS, it was incredibly slow, no pictures in the threads, just red x''s, the type in the messages was very, very tiny...well, I''m sure if anyone was trying it for the first time last evening, they''d be long gone by now. Glad this version is back up.

 

[kenny]

Date: 5/18/2010 11:21:11 PM
Author: AGBF
kenny-we are so obviously not singing, 'Kumbaya' in that picture! I don't know what you were thinking! That was 'Streets of Laredo'. Sheesh!
AGBF

Okay, you got me.

Circe, what is the incompatibility with Macs you speak of?
I have a Mac and I'm not aware of any incompatibility.

What can you not do on your mac that PC people can do here?

 

[Ella]

Please rest assured Andrey is working diligently on fixing the bugs. They will be fixed in due time but he will need some understanding and patience while he is working.

Also to answer the question about new features a large reason for the new forum is that the platform this forum is built on does not support many of the features that users want. So if these new features are desired, we needed to move to a new platform.

 

[Octavia]

I saw the new site today but was unable to log in completely -- it took me to a "community agreement" page that was otherwise completely blank, and I couldn''t navigate off it. Still, I could view pages as long as I didn''t try to log in. Overall, the site in general had some pretty cool features, but the forum part felt very generic. Perhaps because practically every other forum I''ve ever used had that basic color scheme? It didn''t bother me, just didn''t feel unique. Things that did bother me were that the formatting was very strange -- drop-down menus were all extended and overlapped so I couldn''t read anything, font kerning was strange, font sizes were all over the place, and here was tons of blank space after each post. I missed the hover feature, as others have mentioned. I noticed that it gives info about when edits have been made to a post, and how many times, which I don''t like (I''ve always loved that I can fix mistakes after I post and nobody has to know!). I''m also not sure how I feel about the online/offline icons -- I can think of pros and cons, but obviously haven''t had time to see how it works out!

Overall, I didn''t think it was that bad and if it''s possible to incorporate some of the things a lot of people seem to like from this software into the new version, I''d be happy enough. I''m sure I''ll get used to whatever comes, but it would be really awesome if it can be customized to incorporate the best parts of both 1.0 and 2.0.

 

[marcy]

I could not reply or post.

 

[cara]

My biggest complaint on the new version, apart from the obvious bugs, was the amount of vertical space added to posts. Lots of blank space makes for more scrolling, and makes it harder to read multiple posts in one screen - this really affects the readability!! I avoid other forums with that much extra space between posts... its like the ''space'' is more important than the content! Plus it is harder to have a good dialogue when each person''s comments stand alone rather than having the context of other posts around. Anywho, hope the bug fixes proceed apace and the other feedback is incorporated into 2.0 before relaunch...

 

[Ella]

Date: 5/19/2010 12:30:46 AM
Author: cara
My biggest complaint on the new version, apart from the obvious bugs, was the amount of vertical space added to posts. Lots of blank space makes for more scrolling, and makes it harder to read multiple posts in one screen - this really affects the readability!! I avoid other forums with that much extra space between posts... its like the ''space'' is more important than the content! Plus it is harder to have a good dialogue when each person''s comments stand alone rather than having the context of other posts around. Anywho, hope the bug fixes proceed apace and the other feedback is incorporated into 2.0 before relaunch...

This is something we hope to correct very shortly. I promise we are working on all of these issues.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 5/18/2010 7:22:00 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 5/18/2010 7:10:46 PM
Author: Zoe

Date: 5/18/2010 6:39:02 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 5/18/2010 6:14:56 PM

Author: dreamer_d

I could reply in the same way I always did, by clicking on the upper right of someone''s response... not sure what you all are referring to?

Me too.

Huh -- I didn''t see anything to click on. I had to scroll down to the bottom of the page, but then it wouldn''t let me.

Ditto.

I am fairly certain you were seeing a bugged out version then. Today I was caught in some sort of bermuda triangle of PS and kept getting stuck in 2.0 after it had been taken off line and when I was in that bizarro world it looked like you describe and I couldn''t post or anything and the threads were all from last friday!

I finally purged the cookies and closed the browser and got back here again. Phew!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I liked the new version and the additional features. I totally think it is painful to try something new and then it gets easier with time. When I first found PS I was like, "Whaaaaaaaaat??" and now it seems so logical. Not so! We will all hold hands through the change over.

I think they can work out the kinks like speed and scrolling etc. But I also think its good to give feedback here, they want a great site too and we crazies... ummm... I mean "regulars" who spend so much time here are probably the best source of feedback they have!

 

[SeattleSweetheart]

I was really bummed out about 2.0 because I couldn''t even log in. It didn''t recognize my username or my password. I thought I was just going to have to give up or start out from scratch as a new user.

Also I really missed the "Posted Today" button. That''s my favorite because it gives a long, long list of all the topics. 2.0 had just a tiny list of the top 7-8 most active and I couldn''t see where to find a longer list.

Change is hard.

I''m going to miss 1.0, so many good memories.

 

[zoebartlett]

I was going to say that change is hard, and it looks like Seattle Sweetheart beat me to it. I do think that once the kinks are worked out in the new version, we''ll all get used to it. Also, yesterday was the first day 2.0 was available to us, so there are bound to be problems and issues to work out. I''m sure Andrey and everyone else working on the new site are doing everything they can to take our suggestions and comments and develop something we''ll find user-friendly. It takes time though. Of course it''s frustrating not to be able to log in and/or post (it happened to me too), but I''m sure it will be okay soon. I really hope the issues with the new site doesn''t prevent people from posting by choice. I do hope that Andrey is taking people''s comments as constructive criticism, but I also think we need to be a tad more patient.

 

[nytemist]

I know things change and upgrade, but I''m kind of happy that the old version is back. I couldn''t log in or post at all. I tried from three different computers.

 

[geckodani]

Date: 5/18/2010 7:10:13 PM
Author: April20
I logged onto P2 today and then could not post AT ALL. It took me back to some weird screen every single time.

And is the reply button really only at the very bottom of all the posts? That is awful.

I hate to say it, but I really, really didn''t like it. The other thing I noticed (and maybe I''m wrong), but could you not ''preview'' a thread by hovering over it like you can now? Annoying!!

Same thing happened to me as far as not being able to post at all. Very odd.

 

[arjunajane]

Honestly, I think it is all just teething problems and I am sure (as Ella said) Andrey and the crew are more than aware of everyone''s concerns - which is why we are back at old-school PS.

I must also be in the minority in that I liked it - sure, there are some things such as rollover that were clearly missing, but I''m sure (I hope) that will be added in due course.

I could post and reply just as usual, to any single post in a thread - I am with DD that I am not clear on what other people were seeing with that..I guess it is odd that different users see different things?
Even though I quite liked the new colours, I do agree that something a bit softer (perhaps blue and grey) would be better - especially for ones eyes during those couple-of-hour-long PS sessions..

I also agree that each thread header was given too much room - basically I liked to be able to glance at the page of a forum and see at least most of the threads on the first page.
imho, factors such as improved picture loading (has always been a big gripe for many PSers, especially newbies), improved search function, more detailed/fun profiles and an updated look will be well worth it in the long run...
Like everyone else in this thread, I love PS mucho too, and want to enjoy the most user-friendly experience of it..

Hopefully, with a bit more tweaking and a "settling in period", the glitches will be ironed out and folks can continue enjoying their time here

 

[Octavia]

Date: 5/19/2010 5:15:26 AM
Author: Zoe
I was going to say that change is hard, and it looks like Seattle Sweetheart beat me to it. I do think that once the kinks are worked out in the new version, we''ll all get used to it. Also, yesterday was the first day 2.0 was available to us, so there are bound to be problems and issues to work out. I''m sure Andrey and everyone else working on the new site are doing everything they can to take our suggestions and comments and develop something we''ll find user-friendly. It takes time though. Of course it''s frustrating not to be able to log in and/or post (it happened to me too), but I''m sure it will be okay soon. I really hope the issues with the new site doesn''t prevent people from posting by choice. I do hope that Andrey is taking people''s comments as constructive criticism, but I also think we need to be a tad more patient.

I agree, but I only posted with the intention of letting them know what kinds of glitches I was seeing, and a couple of irritating little things that could be quick fixes. It''s just software and I will roll with whatever they give us, but if the admins are willing (and able, of course) to utilize our feedback in order to make the new boards really great, I don''t see a problem with politely voicing it.

 

[marcy]

I am sure it will work great once they get the bugs worked out. I don''t care what version I am using - I am just happy to be able to post. Would it be wrong for me to call in sick so I can catch up on posts today?

 

[Shoopy]

Date: 5/19/2010 8:20:28 AM
Author: arjunajane
Honestly, I think it is all just teething problems and I am sure (as Ella said) Andrey and the crew are more than aware of everyone''s concerns - which is why we are back at old-school PS.

I must also be in the minority in that I liked it - sure, there are some things such as rollover that were clearly missing, but I''m sure (I hope) that will be added in due course.

I did too.

Maybe one of the admins can answer why some of us can still see the new site? On my BB I still see the new site and there are maybe 10 PSers that only see that site on there as well. They were wondering where everyone is

 

[Upgradable]

It was strange! Fiery and I were the only two logged in for quite a while yesterday. I even have a screen capture that says
1 user online:

I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone!

 

[Ella]

Date: 5/19/2010 8:53:07 AM
Author: fiery
Maybe one of the admins can answer why some of us can still see the new site? On my BB I still see the new site and there are maybe 10 PSers that only see that site on there as well. They were wondering where everyone is

Think of it as rolling out any new program, for example something like new water meters. Some people will get theirs the first day they are rolled out while some people will have to wait until their meter gets updated by their water company which could take a few weeks as they make the rounds to each street. Each one can't just be made new by flipping a switch, someone has to go out and manually change each old one out for a new one.

Similar concept here. Some people's computers will update before others. Hope that helps explain it.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

I didn't like the colors of the new PS, too bright and hard on the eyes.

 

[Shoopy]

Date: 5/19/2010 9:39:30 AM
Author: Ella

Date: 5/19/2010 8:53:07 AM
Author: fiery
Maybe one of the admins can answer why some of us can still see the new site? On my BB I still see the new site and there are maybe 10 PSers that only see that site on there as well. They were wondering where everyone is

Think of it as rolling out any new program, for example something like new water meters. Some people will get theirs the first day they are rolled out while some people will have to wait until their meter gets updated by their water company which could take a few weeks as they make the rounds to each street. Each one can''t just be made new by flipping a switch, someone has to go out and manually change each old one out for a new one.

Similar concept here. Some people''s computers will update before others. Hope that helps explain it.

It does thank you

 

[CharmyPoo]

Date: 5/19/2010 12:06:06 AM
Author: Ella
Please rest assured Andrey is working diligently on fixing the bugs. They will be fixed in due time but he will need some understanding and patience while he is working.

Also to answer the question about new features a large reason for the new forum is that the platform this forum is built on does not support many of the features that users want. So if these new features are desired, we needed to move to a new platform.

I think most of us have no problems moving to a new and better Forum Platform. The challenge is that the new look and feel - presentation layer - was not meeting the expectations of the PS community. We are requesting that we keep the existing look and feel (perhaps with a few minor changes) and upgrade the forum software in the back. The new forum skin and look and feel was really challenging for us (ignorning the performance issues and other bugs).

 

[RaiKai]

I was willing to give the new one a shot - I don't like how it looks though. As in appearance wise. It just does not seem as....forum like. I found it harder to navigate. It is less clean looking. I don't like the colours.

And....IT IS NOT BLACKBERRY FRIENDLY! It means a lot of scrolling, words all over the place, and even though I log in I can't find a reply button anywhere and so on. I played with my settings to no avail. That new site will dramatically reduce my visiting and posting. We opted out of internet at home about a year ago (just use our blackberry, iphone, or go to nearby Starbucks for their connection) so I won't be accessing it from home anymore.

I did like that you could post pics and it would automatically re-size them. And that it allowed for multiple pictures in posts.

I admit I am used to this format feel and look from other forums I have moderated and been a member on...it works for me...so maybe it is just resistance to the new change....but I will say I know other forums that have done a similar changeover that I just stopped going to as traffic seemed to drop off and it just was not as "user friendly feeling" anymore?

 

[Circe]

Date: 5/19/2010 10:13:27 AM
Author: CharmyPoo

Date: 5/19/2010 12:06:06 AM

Author: Ella

Please rest assured Andrey is working diligently on fixing the bugs. They will be fixed in due time but he will need some understanding and patience while he is working.


Also to answer the question about new features a large reason for the new forum is that the platform this forum is built on does not support many of the features that users want. So if these new features are desired, we needed to move to a new platform.

I think most of us have no problems moving to a new and better Forum Platform. The challenge is that the new look and feel - presentation layer - was not meeting the expectations of the PS community. We are requesting that we keep the existing look and feel (perhaps with a few minor changes) and upgrade the forum software in the back. The new forum skin and look and feel was really challenging for us (ignorning the performance issues and other bugs).

Ditto this - an eloquent and elegant solution!

 

[chrono]

The changeover hiccup was incredibly painful; it was enough for me to leave PS for several days because it was too frustrating to post anything. It was slow, pictures were cropped or not showing up at all and many times, the posts were cropped too with no way to display the entire post unless I hit “reply” and wait for minutes for the page to load up. I’m so glad the old PS is back while the bugs are being worked out. I like the look of PS version 2 but it was a pain to get around. I am also in the camp of having the forum keep a neutral background and colour which is a lot easier on the eyes.

 

[Steel]

I have been offline since the beginning of May as DH and I decided to give this house thing a final push; so the good news is that I am posting from my new kitchen. The bad news is that I now have man hands; they are cracked, sore, bleeding and blistered.

So I was delighted to have our first evening off to get on PS. And I could have cried when I couldn''t upload the page. It would let me log on but every forum was difficult to navigate to and ''unavailable'' when I got there. I was so sad. I also worried that the forum was gone I would really miss you guys.

As far as constructive criticism goes: I know that change is inevitable, but please don''t make the forum too fancy. I have really-crap-living-in-the-country-internet-access and will not be able to upload the pages. Also I would prefer that the personal statistics page be less detailed and I love on PS#1 that the forums tab is so easy to navigate.