11 replies to this topic

[Mihai Moldovan]

It's no secret that the new site is having less activity from experienced users than there used to be.

The old layout worked fine for over a decade, so I'll give you a radical suggestion to revert back to it.

Probably not very realistic to expect, but who knows. I don't think your targeted audience needs Facebook-Like buttons or mini blog activity thingies.

Edited by Mihai Moldovan, 30 April 2012 - 07:19 PM.

[Telastyn]

Honestly, the signal to noise ratio plummeting has an absurdly greater impact on the activity of experienced users than what bells and whistles the UI has.

[Cornstalks]

The new site has progressed a lot from when it was originally released. It's thankfully lost a lot of the "Facebook" feel, to me (though originally it had a very Facebook-ish feel).

For the most part, I actually like the new site. I don't think the old site will magically resurrect some of the old time users. And I don't think it was the new site that caused them to leave.

To be honest though, you've only been a member since October 2011 (which was after the GDv5 release) so I'm not entirely sure I trust you knowing how active the site was years ago... unless you've got an alternate account you've abandoned.

[jbadams]

It's no secret that the new site is having less activity from experienced users than there used to be.

I've seen comments to that effect a number of times, but I'm not entirely convinced it's necessarily true. I do think there's been a drop in over-all activity, but I don't think we have a smaller percentage of experienced users contributing than we used to. We're also seeing increased usage of the blogs, which is probably drawing away some traffic that would have previously been in the forums.

This is all just my own impressions however, and I haven't actually seen any numbers to back this up.

The old layout worked fine for over a decade

Sure, to a certain extent, but the software was a bit hacked-together, and any new features appeared very slowly (if at all) and were sometimes a poor match for the rest of the site. Since the update to the new forum software we've already seen two major feature additions (Classifieds and Marketplace) in a relatively short period of time, and our developers are now free to concentrate on the specifics of this site rather than basic forum functionality, security updates, etc. It has taken some time to settle in to the new system, but I think things are running pretty smoothly now, and we have a solid platform to move forward and really work on making the site the absolute best it can be.

That being said, there are more changes in the works, and I have a feeling that if you preferred the older site layout you might like some of what's coming.

[Cornstalks]

The old layout worked fine for over a decade

I'm actually going to comment again here, and say no it didn't. GDv4 was active for about 5 years, which is hardly "over a decade."

[Madhed]

The old layout worked fine for over a decade

I'm actually going to comment again here, and say no it didn't. GDv4 was active for about 5 years, which is hardly "over a decade."

Ahh memories...

[Michael Tanczos]

Shortly we'll be revising the post format as shown below:

[Cornstalks]

*snip*

What does that large check mean? And will the "Was this post useful to you?" still be there? It seems like an orphan without the buttons by it.

[Michael Tanczos]

What does that large check mean? And will the "Was this post useful to you?" still be there? It seems like an orphan without the buttons by it.

Ah weird, there should be up/down arrows there.. the upgrade may have broken them. I guess I should explain the check.. it's only visible to people with a certain level of reputation. If you can't select something as an "answer" you can't see the gray buttons. Q&A only will be available in technical forums.

Edited by Michael Tanczos, 30 April 2012 - 09:24 PM.

[Wan]

I assume the IP addresses aren't visible to the public either?

[Michael Tanczos]

I assume the IP addresses aren't visible to the public either?

Yeah.. whoops. That's the moderator view.

[glaeken]

Any word on bookmarks being imported from the old forums? Or at least being able to browse the archives of the old forums (for areas that I don't think were carried over, e.g. IOTD)?

Edited by glaeken, 02 May 2012 - 11:59 PM.