Forum Home Page Default Preference
by Tribro on December 13, 2007
Current : http://www.trifuel.com/forum/3
26% (11 votes)
Old Index style : http://www.trifuel.com/forum
74% (32 votes)
Total votes: 43
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I don't really care with those options... I never use either. I find I always go directly to http://www.trifuel.com/forum/tracker
Is there any way to set a preference in user settings?
I'm with Kylie, I have my shortcuts setup to just bring up the Recent Posts page.
But the new format is starting to grow on me.
Cool. ya I think the tracker and mythreads is pretty much the best way to get the latest overall and personal. Ideally setting your own forum default page would be ideal. Maybe I'll look into something like that.
I made a link on www.eventsbc.ca to Trifuel a few months ago. It comes out to
http://www.trifuel.com/
and that's how I navigate to Trifuel, then I use the nav-menu at the top to go to forums or to blogs depending on my need that day.
I don't really notice a pattern in my browsing beyond that.
If that is of any use?
PoC
i picked new, but I usually use the recent posts and mythreads...
cool, thanks for the feedback. i think people are getting used to the new options.
Honestly, I think visually I prefer the old because it seems "cleaner" - less stuff happening on the page. But, since I really care more about how it looks when I hit "New/Recent Posts", that's the visual listing I reference most.
It would be great to have the last poster on the recent posts view - like in those other views.
I agree with Tamara about the current page being too "busy." If we could clean up the recent posts page, I think I would be more tolerable of the new page. There is just too much stuff hitting me at once when I am used to "this is what you missed since your last visit." Now we get "this is what you missed, and a bunch of other stuff you've already read but have to sort through o see the stuff you havent."
o.k. ya I think we're talking about two different things.
I don't think there is any difference really in the old forum page layout and the new forum page layout. i just default directly into the main forum in this new one.
But.. you would prefer the "recent posts" to be "show only what's new to me" instead of what it is (which is an overview of recent posts in all forums so one doesn't have to click back forth between them - really for everyone, registered, new users, etc.)
I'll continue to look around for a "only show me threads with new" and "mark all read" but not sure those features will be available.
I don't want to be negative, but what are the positives associated with the forum change. Here are a few things I really liked that don't exist anymore.
1. User Profile that would automatically show all subscribed threads with new posts, and only threads with new posts.
2. Easy post formatting. No manual typing of html tags. Just little icons that I can click to add pics and links.
3. REPLY WITH QUOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't want to be a jerk, and I appreciate the amount of time and attention that has gone into changing the forums, but it seems like a lot of my favorite things are missing, and I don't really see many positive differences. Please disagree with me so I can learn about the positive changes.
I hear you and understand your frustration. i will try to implement some features to bring those elements back. The positive changes have to do more with the site as a whole, not the forums.
So, comments on gear pages, seeing what other members use, reviews from members, marking items as favorites, easier adding of products, articles, soon photos and races, soon site wide search, race reports, forward to friend, invites, lots in the pipe. All this couldn't be done with the old forums system. And maintaining the rest of the site, gear and races had become very difficult and so became outdated and stale. The changes were not implemented to improve the forums, but to improve the usefulness and maintenance of the site as a whole. The site continues to grow and I am still one person trying to keep it all together. Deleting Nokia ads, and spam from the forums daily was not the most productive use of my time. Adding products and races had become very difficult to keep up with because of the old systems process for doing so.
You need to understand that the forums and participation in the forums is but 10% of where the traffic of the site goes on any given day. Maybe 50 people post in it each day. Closer to 2,000 visit the site every day, mostly for training articles, news, gear, and race information. It was critical that I make changes to the system to accomodate for that traffic and needs of those visitors. This isn't a forums site. It is a Triathlon resource that has a forums component. So while extremely important, I need to also accomodate for other areas and for where the majority of the visitors are going. Unfortunately that meant losing a few features on the forums side. For that I apologize but bottom line is I couldn't continue running the site they way it was.
I will conitnue to look for better solutions for posting in the forums but I can't promise anything.
I didn't mean to sound like a jerk, because I still really like the forums. I don't spend much time in other parts of the site, so I didn't even think about that. That makes total sense though. I think it's probably like that with most forums. I'm just used to BikeForums, which is pretty huge, but that's all it is, so I understand that the forum is kind of just an extra part of the website as a whole.
When it comes down to it, it's still a great forum, and I've had plenty of questions answered, and learned tons from it (and will keep learning hopefully). Thanks for working so hard on it. Honestly, the fact that you are in such close contact with the users is pretty awesome. It was cool to have someone request a "My Threads" section, and later that day, there it was. Keep it up.
Oh, and I'll have to go check out some of the other stuff on this site. I'm assuming that's how most people found the forums in the first place. Thanks again.
Not a jerk at all :) I totally understand. Was just trying to explain why the changes had to come. Will definitely be continuing to try and improve the forums along with everything else.
Yeah, after I posted the second time, I spend about an hour in all the other parts of the site. It's really a great site. I'm hoping to do my first Olympic tri next year, and there are lots of great resources. Anyways, just thought I'd say that maybe my eyes have been opened a little bit.
definitely prefer old style but don't really care if it's the default - as long as it's available I can just bookmark it directly so it's *my* default.
/k
I always have been supportive with your changes Tribro but I really don´t finish to feel comfortable with this new format.
The forum usability really got hurt. I normally wished to stay the whole day in the forum and now...... It really doesn´t feel like home when I come. so I don´t stay here as much as I used to.