FerrariChat.com update - Day 1 Poll

These old eyes don't like all the white. Like being stuck in a Canadian blizzard...

 

The URL for new posts is what you have without the number, just remove "1544/" from your shortcut. ie. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/find-new/posts
Cheers

 

OK, that'll mark all forums read, but how can I mark an individual forum read without affecting any others?

 

Still no access to the tech and DYI threads Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

ok thanks

 

I don't like this at all.

 

I would't go quite that far as the knowledge and images are still here. It is just using the access to them in a different way. The new "old view" style is a bridge that still gets you most of what you want to do here?
Mark should get thread of the month for his almost real time updates of his journey in Europe!

 

Trust me....no one likes change less than your's truly. I stay away from new cell phones. I hate computers....period. Can't stand this type of crap. I don't have the patience nor the desire to learn these kinds of changes. When I logged on yesterday....it was a "WTF....this will never work" experience.

It's already changing for me. It's not that bad. As a matter of fact...there's some better features (one man's opinion)

The biggies, I believe....will be addressed. A lot of this is nothing more than getting used to "different". But the truly unusable will get fixed. One man's experience....one man's opinion. It's worth less than ya paid for it....

stay on the "old" style

 

Rob - some unsolicited advise - GET IN FRONT OF THE CHANGE. You are behind it and dealing with little complaints all over the place.

1. Get your message out about the IMPROVEMENTS. Email it. Sticky it. Make it a required read before getting to the forum for a period of time. Do everything to ensure your customer know WHY they are dealing with this change.

2. TEACH US HOW TO USE IT. From your testing (if adequate - heck even if barely adequate) you should have known (or at least you now know after going live) what the questions, concerns and customization your customers will want and need are. Get that teaching information (how to size pics, how to get newest post first, how to minimize white space, how to minimize scrolling, etc, etc) out to us in several ways so we can LEARN and adapt.

3. SHOW US YOU CARE. Track the things that need fixing (and that can't be fixed) and SHOW IT TO US constantly. Show us how you are addressing those things. [edit, the sticky on this is a good example of what I'm talking about. However, its in a subforum and should somehow be visible before entering any forum or at the top of the forums list page]

Look, its (partially) your business, the above steps are SOP for forcing change onto software customers. You don't seem to have been following that SOP and now you have all this unhappiness in your customer base. You can insult us (as a couple of your posts have), you can instruct us how to get the experience we desire (as you have many times in the various threads) or you can say "meh, tough luck" and just keep doing what you are doing without following those steps. Heck, your site has a great and loyal customer base, so you may just get away with it.

 

I bet there are some improvements over the old software...but I haven't seen any yet. Can you tell us which features you are referring to in your quote?

 

I would like to thank Rob and everyone else for their hard work here, but I like the old style better.

I noticed that in the new style, I couldn't give a thumbs up to a post. But here in the old style it is possible to "like" a post.

Thank you for your time, Rodbuster.

 

Some of this may have to do with how well we each knew how to use the use the old one. (reading here shows me how little I knew about the old one)

The way I knew you asked me this....I just looked at my computer and there were 2 red alerts in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I clicked...and it brought me here.

The "watched threads" button on the top of the screen. This thread, "FerrariChat.com update - Day 1 Poll".....I've looked for it on the main menu in different forums and as we speak I can't tell you where it is in Fchat. But I look there and I don't have to look any further for a thread,.... (from what I've read....this may have been a function on the old 'chat)

When replying....bold is one click, italics bold is easy, bold underlining is easy,
normal underlining is easy
centering is cool
want color? no problem
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I haven't had any problems posting full sized pics in my posts. I know some have. But I'm still doing it the old fashioned way....(I told ya I don't like change )

It's nice being able to "like" a comment without having to respond to it. I can be somewhat of a quiet guy, but I see a lot of comments that I really enjoy reading....and now there's a way for me to let that person know I liked his/her post without having to comment.

That blank space to the right doesn't bother me so much today. It's just the way it's positioned on the screen. So what? What it gives is the new posts box. That makes it easy to see what's going on without having to do anything.

I hated all of the space everywhere else yesterday....but today it's not bothering me so much. So what? Yesterday I was letting it be known in no uncertain terms....lol...."That's BS!" Today it's more of a "So what?"

All of these things may be things that were available on the old site. But....like I said....I'm not one that likes to change the way I do things. This set-up makes doing so....easier....I think...for me. But...I'm kind of a novice at all of this (all of this meaning....learning how to do stuff on a computer).

the one change that has to happen, I think, is opening a thread and having to lol read from lol day one. That *is* BS. I don't think the powers that be understood how important that was. And I think they miss it too. That'll get changed.

That's all I've got...but it's only been one day...

​

 

thanks. I'm seeing some of those:

- Alerts feature (not sure how to use it yet, but I see what you are talking about)
- Ease of bold and italics
- Watched threads (I hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out - not sure if its different that "subscribed threads" in the old version)
- Ability to "like" a thread

Cool...now we have 4 new enhancements that are positives. I wish there was a "selling document" that showed this to all of us easily and constantly for a few days...

Edit: the "new posts" is of very limited use...it only shows a small number of posts, so its not super useful if the forums are busy

 

9 people said there were "MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS" in the poll...come on the 9 of you...share what major improvements you are aware of with the rest of us!

 

okay, the "alerts" feature - now that I'm using it - is very nice.

Come on Rob (and others that see these things)...share these new cool things with us!!!!!!!!

 

not happy with the change. it is very hard for me to even read the posts. my eyes are not that good these days...the new format is too much work for me.

 

this still stinks

 

I just don't like that ⅓ to ½ of my screen is now blank or occupied with information I don't want. (the new posts/ user info on the right- a pet peeve is wasted screen space) I can handle the other changes.

 

With the old system, I could do a search for posts I made, and it displayed the thread, along with whether or not the there were updates since I last viewed that thread. Now, it shows my individual posts. I'd definitely like it to work like it did before.

 

Rob Lay, you still haven't responded to my complaint in post #126:

My main complaint is that, having switched to "old style", there seems to be no way to compress the headings, like there is in the "new style". There are some headings which I would like to compress so that all I see is the heading title, not the threads underneath it.

 

I've been going back and forth, but why can't there be a new format with old colours? Why do the styles have to be different with different functionality? We just need a new style with high contrast.

The BIG problem for me with the new style is the lack of contrast - gray on gray on gray... it's very hard on the eyes, not easy to read at all. Is there any chance we could have a new format with different colours that give more contrast? For example - the new format/style posts are gray boxes on a gray background, whereas the old style have a blue border around the posts - much easier to distinguish the posts.

 

Well, well well... I am guilty of making an opinion based on only ½ the evidence. And without stopping for a moment to think the administrators are just trying to make things better. I was using the old theme- with an assumption that it would function the same- the only difference would be the "skin". It turns out, at least for me, the new theme is much more functional! I suppose it makes sense to go to a theme with red as this is Ferrarichat. Sometimes I am not good with change. I guess this was one of those times.

My apologies for the initial criticism. The new theme allows me to see the forums as I think they should be seen- full page. And it also displays pictures better than the old theme- or maybe its just because the old theme places the user info/ new posts/ etc at the top right; whereas the new theme places these things to the bottom. Hooray!

Have to agree with dm_n_stuff above. Its just a bit of a visual adjustment, and it almost seems like the new theme scrolls a little better on my machine- it is at least cleaner looking.

 

+1