Well, it’s been here for a few days now, and deserves comment and discussion.
I find this new forum format less than desirable. It is a definite step backwards, at least for me.
First, I miss the easier navigation tools in the older formats. Most importantly, there was always a link-path at the top of the page, allowing quick return to the forum index. (Better would have been an always-present set of links to all of the five forums.) Here, we see some ‘click here for sort and search’ bozolink. A definite slowdown and not welcome.
Second, and related, why should I now have to enter this new menu forest just to look at older posts? Again, a definite step backwards, not a good thing at all.
It would seem the html-happy webmaster, like almost all of them, is really looking for something to do; hence the proliferation of more massive, more difficult to navigate websites generally.
Of course, since I am not a ‘most-frequent-poster’ (thank heaven for THAT), it’s clear my opinions are not of much value. (This, even tho I modeled in HO scale probably 20-30 years before most of those folks were born.)
I still see the link path here. When first starting out it isnt but once in the forums it’s at the same spot. That is of course if I’m talking about the same thing you are.
The biggest thing I noticed besides being a little slower is that the forums are designed more around the magazine and towards selling stuff. I may be wrong but it seems that there is more opportunity to find out what you’re missing if not a subscriber, including constant pics of the latest MRR magazine cover.
Edit: If I remember right in the past they used to show how many subscribers were on line and how many total. The ratio was way high non subscriber vs subscriber. That isn’t showing now. Looks like the nudge is push more subscriptions for sure. I would recommend that those who are subscribers shouldn’t have to look at these items.
This website continues to be free, for subscriber and non-subscriber alike. I appreciate that, even though I’ve been a subscriber for 15 years. Kalmbach is in the business of making money, just like any other commercial concern. If they want to push subscriptions and/or place paying advertisers in prominent positions, it is their website. We need to live with it.
That being said, I’m not wild about some of the functionality changes either. I know that a brand new format is a work in progress, and the designers are probably listening to us and looking at improvements. I also know, from experience, that any new format takes some getting used to and that requires some time and patience.
I’d like to see a link at the bottom of the page that takes you back to the top of the page, where you can then click back to the index. Every other forum I participate in offers this, but here I have to scroll all the way back to the top. The Previous/Next button doesn’t help, because I probably don’t want to see the previous or next thread…
Oh well… I also don’t like the visual clutter of all the ads on every page, but alas, someone has to pay the bills, and the ads keep it from being me!
One thing that I REALLY miss is the ability to highlight some text and hit ‘QUOTE’ to have it put in at the insertion point in my reply. Its a real pain to hit quote and cut out all the stuff you don’t want, especially if you’re taking a post point-by-point and replying to a lot of stuff.
I don’t view that as a minor feature that nobody will miss if its gone.
Another thing is that now there’s so much clutter on the right side that its hard to distinguish what’s interesting from what’s not so I tend to ignore it all.
(I hope that’s not where somebody’s hoping to generate revenue…???)
