Just curious to know if I’m the only one

MarieBuch10

Hey everyone!

Been on this site for years now, and honestly haven’t been as engaged since the roll out of this community’s new “look.” I used to love coming to the community for inspiration and it really helped me stay focused. I’ve tried giving it time to get used to it but honestly I’m bummed out. I don’t enjoy coming on here anymore due to how clunky and awkward the message boards are.

Is it just me? Does anyone else miss the old layout?

mtaratoot

You are not alone.

In the IT world, the motto is, "If it ain't broke, add more features." There's a number of features that have actually gone away that were quite useful.

There is some concern among staff (and some members) that traffic in the discussion groups is down. I think a big reason is all the new bugs that have been added and features that were taken away. But unless you're a Premium member, we get what we pay for....

yukfoo

Yep me too. I've lost interest in participating in this bland unmotivating design. The old layout wasn't "inspired" either IMO but it was easier for me to navigate at a glance and decide if there was something I wanted read or participate in. Now I just log in as a matter of habit to log my stats. I rarely look at what's going on. They had a "decent" product that most "veterans" were comfortable with (I think). But the inevitable thought process here seems to be ..."if they liked that...then they'll love this". As mtaratoot said "If it ain't broke, add more features."
This is the "new coke" of websites.
Ah well. They never cared what I thought before so why would they care now?

End rant.

snowflake954

Yep, miss it a lot. It won't change anything, and the newbies don't know the difference. It's just confusing and more passes to get where we got before. Why can't I go directly to my food diary like before? Why do I have to pass through my Home page? Sigh.

NorthCascades

I'm using the community part of the app less, too, because of the redesign.

paperpudding

for the most part, I have got used to the changed layout now.

But I have noticed less traffic on the discussion boards recently - whether the layout is to blame or the Christmas period or what, I dont know.

AnnPT77

Stuff changes, often in ways that I don't care for. (Most people IME don't much like change, and I'm no different.)

Software always changes, and I have the impression that the Community upgrade was deferred for a while, but reached a point where the Community software vendor (Vanilla, not MFP) was telling MFP that they were stranding themselves in an unsupported backwater of aging software. Most software vendors of this type don't make changes to make existing users happy, but to attract new ones by having cool new features that can be bullet points in marketing materials. (I have no idea what those would've been in this case, but I'd pretty much bet on their existence.)

In this particular case, I suspect there may've been efforts to make the new thing more like the old thing where it could be twisted that way, which is a common strategy with software upgrades, but usually not a wonderful, productive one.

I spent around 30 years in an IT career where things were dynamically changing all the time, not always in fun ways, and part of my job was changing other people's stuff, not always in ways they thought were fun.

What I came away from that with was the perception that if there was nothing I could do in a particular case (as in the case of this "upgrade") there was no personal advantage in thinking about how much I didn't like it, and that it was usually more productive and long-term less negative an experience if I turned that energy to figuring out how to use it however the new way was. Bailing out is an option in some scenarios, of course, but that's not always a life-enhancing choice, either.

Bottom line: This isn't going to go back to how it used to be. I'm not going to bail out because of the change, personally. So I'm learning how to live with it. 🤷‍♀️

Machka9

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Bottom line: This isn't going to go back to how it used to be. I'm not going to bail out because of the change, personally. So I'm learning how to live with it. 🤷‍♀️

Absolutely!

And it's really not that much different from "before".

snowflake954

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Stuff changes, often in ways that I don't care for. (Most people IME don't much like change, and I'm no different.)

Software always changes, and I have the impression that the Community upgrade was deferred for a while, but reached a point where the Community software vendor (Vanilla, not MFP) was telling MFP that they were stranding themselves in an unsupported backwater of aging software. Most software vendors of this type don't make changes to make existing users happy, but to attract new ones by having cool new features that can be bullet points in marketing materials. (I have no idea what those would've been in this case, but I'd pretty much bet on their existence.)

In this particular case, I suspect there may've been efforts to make the new thing more like the old thing where it could be twisted that way, which is a common strategy with software upgrades, but usually not a wonderful, productive one.

I spent around 30 years in an IT career where things were dynamically changing all the time, not always in fun ways, and part of my job was changing other people's stuff, not always in ways they thought were fun.

What I came away from that with was the perception that if there was nothing I could do in a particular case (as in the case of this "upgrade") there was no personal advantage in thinking about how much I didn't like it, and that it was usually more productive and long-term less negative an experience if I turned that energy to figuring out how to use it however the new way was. Bailing out is an option in some scenarios, of course, but that's not always a life-enhancing choice, either.

Bottom line: This isn't going to go back to how it used to be. I'm not going to bail out because of the change, personally. So I'm learning how to live with it. 🤷‍♀️

This is very interesting from the point of someone that understands the technical difficulties involved in changing web sites. Those of us who don't know, think that "new" means "better" and "easier". That's why when there's a big new rollout we're hoping to be happy.

I know it's just "suck it up buttercup".

Machka9

snowflake954 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Stuff changes, often in ways that I don't care for. (Most people IME don't much like change, and I'm no different.)

Software always changes, and I have the impression that the Community upgrade was deferred for a while, but reached a point where the Community software vendor (Vanilla, not MFP) was telling MFP that they were stranding themselves in an unsupported backwater of aging software. Most software vendors of this type don't make changes to make existing users happy, but to attract new ones by having cool new features that can be bullet points in marketing materials. (I have no idea what those would've been in this case, but I'd pretty much bet on their existence.)

In this particular case, I suspect there may've been efforts to make the new thing more like the old thing where it could be twisted that way, which is a common strategy with software upgrades, but usually not a wonderful, productive one.

I spent around 30 years in an IT career where things were dynamically changing all the time, not always in fun ways, and part of my job was changing other people's stuff, not always in ways they thought were fun.

What I came away from that with was the perception that if there was nothing I could do in a particular case (as in the case of this "upgrade") there was no personal advantage in thinking about how much I didn't like it, and that it was usually more productive and long-term less negative an experience if I turned that energy to figuring out how to use it however the new way was. Bailing out is an option in some scenarios, of course, but that's not always a life-enhancing choice, either.

Bottom line: This isn't going to go back to how it used to be. I'm not going to bail out because of the change, personally. So I'm learning how to live with it. 🤷‍♀️

This is very interesting from the point of someone that understands the technical difficulties involved in changing web sites. Those of us who don't know, think that "new" means "better" and "easier". That's why when there's a big new rollout we're hoping to be happy.

I know it's just "suck it up buttercup".

When it comes to software, new means different. It doesn't necessarily mean "better" or "easier", in particular not for the user.

As Ann says, "the Community upgrade was deferred for a while, but reached a point where the Community software vendor (Vanilla, not MFP) was telling MFP that they were stranding themselves in an unsupported backwater of aging software." MFP had to make a decision to change things. Happens all the time.

I was a little disappointed initially when we couldn't use the BBCode, but being able to use the BBCode is old technology. They've brought that back temporarily while users get used to the pale colour of the site, but I would not be at all surprised if they start phasing the BBCode out this year. Or maybe pull the plug on it all together in 6 months time.

For now, other than the pale colour of the site, not much has changed. At least not significantly. One forum software is much the same as another. When they phase out the BBCode, you'll notice a few slightly more significant changes.

MarieBuch10

Interesting, I appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts on this. I do understand the need for “upgrades” and what not. While I’m still not a fan of this one, hopefully I’ll find some engaging threads that will pull me back in.

NorthCascades

snowflake954 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Stuff changes, often in ways that I don't care for. (Most people IME don't much like change, and I'm no different.)

Software always changes, and I have the impression that the Community upgrade was deferred for a while, but reached a point where the Community software vendor (Vanilla, not MFP) was telling MFP that they were stranding themselves in an unsupported backwater of aging software. Most software vendors of this type don't make changes to make existing users happy, but to attract new ones by having cool new features that can be bullet points in marketing materials. (I have no idea what those would've been in this case, but I'd pretty much bet on their existence.)

In this particular case, I suspect there may've been efforts to make the new thing more like the old thing where it could be twisted that way, which is a common strategy with software upgrades, but usually not a wonderful, productive one.

I spent around 30 years in an IT career where things were dynamically changing all the time, not always in fun ways, and part of my job was changing other people's stuff, not always in ways they thought were fun.

What I came away from that with was the perception that if there was nothing I could do in a particular case (as in the case of this "upgrade") there was no personal advantage in thinking about how much I didn't like it, and that it was usually more productive and long-term less negative an experience if I turned that energy to figuring out how to use it however the new way was. Bailing out is an option in some scenarios, of course, but that's not always a life-enhancing choice, either.

Bottom line: This isn't going to go back to how it used to be. I'm not going to bail out because of the change, personally. So I'm learning how to live with it. 🤷‍♀️

This is very interesting from the point of someone that understands the technical difficulties involved in changing web sites. Those of us who don't know, think that "new" means "better" and "easier". That's why when there's a big new rollout we're hoping to be happy.

I know it's just "suck it up buttercup".

Better and easier, yes, but for whom? 😉

paperpudding

Could you please explain what 'phase out the BBcode' will mean for users?

In language suitable for a 5 year old (or a 58 year old technophobe )

Machka9

paperpudding wrote: »

Could you please explain what 'phase out the BBcode' will mean for users?

In language suitable for a 5 year old (or a 58 year old technophobe )

You won't be able to use colours.

Like RED

And some other neat formatting features.

Chef_Barbell

:laugh: I'm gonna miss that little guy...

Oh and :flowerforyou:

Machka9

Machka9 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Could you please explain what 'phase out the BBcode' will mean for users?

In language suitable for a 5 year old (or a 58 year old technophobe )

You won't be able to use colours.

Like RED

And some other neat formatting features.

These are some BBCode options ... some work here, some don't.

paperpudding

that will make posting boring if we can't use emojis or colours, bold etc

Machka9

paperpudding wrote: »

that will make posting boring if we can't use emojis or colours, bold etc

Yeah, it was a little bit boring for the first few days when this forum change happened. They had taken the BBCode away and changed several other things. But fortunately they brought the BBCode back and put several things back to the way they were to appease the users.

This is why I'm saying that right now, the changes are quite insignificant ... compared to what they were during the first few days after the forum change happened.

When the full forum change happens, then we'll notice some differences.

kshama2001

I really hate that I can't see how many new posts are on a thread that I've read. I don't want to bother if there are just 1 or 2. Now that this feature is gone, I realize how much I relied on it to determine what threads to read.

I thought I saw a post that a fix for this was in progress, but do not see it now. If something hasn't been fixed in 6 weeks - 2 months after a rollout, I don't have high expectations for it ever being fixed

This has definitely reduced my engagement.

BarryTone99

I am a long time MFP on-and-off user. I noticed the change as well. Don’t care for it as much as the simple format from before. It also takes a lot longer to load and I can’t see how many new posts anymore. Even so, this change is not nearly as bad as when MFP added all of the Blog-clogs to my feed.

PAV8888

BarryTone99 wrote: »

not nearly as bad as when MFP added all of the Blog-clogs to my feed.

But that, increasing business and difficulty in accessing friends posts has led me to cut down on participating there and commenting on friend walls.

And, together with the deletion of old logging data, made me look at alternatives. Am I over-joyed with Cron? Once cleaned up to a set of select entries MFP logging remains, I think, faster. But for my current "looser" logging where I am willing to accept close enough "similar" values for things as long as they're relatively correct.. Cron does the trick for me, and I can get MY data out in a csv file if I ever want them!

So moving to today:

NorthCascades wrote: »

I'm using the community part of the app less, too, because of the redesign.

What can I say.

kshama2001 wrote: »

This has definitely reduced my engagement.