Wow, the forum is very slow (page 3)

minimus

I don't like the format as much but I'm glad it's still here.

EndofMysteries

I agree w/ snare. Especially if most don't know about snippets and the adjustments that can be made.

If not then it should default to title only like the old format and default to 20 topics. (from my experience until I asked and simon told me that, it was too much information and work to screen topics for me).

I think too that the right bar is too big. It's 1/2 page and when in a topic or looking at topics, I for one never look at or use the right side. Unless somebody is told, most probably won't figure out 'snippets' either. But it makes the message board seem very crowded and squeezed into 1/2 page, and if scrolled to the top of the page, the threads and message board are almost squeezed into 1/4 of the whole page in the lower left corner.

I'm recently going back on more, but for awhile it just felt 'tiring', having to read a lot for each topic vs just titles until I figured out snippets, and all menu bars and ads with huge fonts and space and the message board feeling crammed into a tiny area, only way I could describe is tiring.

Last thing, this won't keep me from posting or coming back, but thread views was a 'fun' factor and at times I'm more likely to post if I notice it's a hot topic with onlookers. Since that was removed, now we have no idea if a topic is viewed by only those participating or thousands of lurkers too.

baltar447

It's not really slow for me...

eyeuse2badub

I agree with dozy.

The capcha entries are very screwed up. Can't logging in be simplified?

just asking!

eyeuse2badub

NoGoodDeed

I am new here, so please be patient with me. This is actually my first live post, although I have been a reader and visitors for quite a long time. I was attracted to this site when it still had the old format and I do have to agree that it seemed more user friendly. I work as a researcher and have my head in books and looking at computer screens all day. There are some web pages that are so very friendly and easy to read for my old tired eyes, while others wear me down after just a few minutes. I wear rather involved blended trifocal glasses and on some web sites I have to constantly tip my head or reposition my computer monitor.

I will let the rest of you argue over the comparative formats of both old and new versions. I think the newer one is easier for me to read if I set my browser to 125%, while the older version was fine at 100 or 125%. I think the older format was more user friendly and comparable to other bulletin board style forums, so this style requires some of us who spend hours each day on other forums to readjust.

There is one thing that I found to be surprising. Because I was only a guest and a lurker here before I signed up several hours ago, I did not have to log on. But now, since I have become a member, I find it almost impossible to get past the front door because, at least for me, the Captcha text is nearly unreadable. Perhaps it is because I am constantly on the move and my IP address changes almost daily depending on whether I am in a library, a hotel, a meeting room, or in a coffee shop trying to work. But I have discovered in the past 48 hours that I seem to have to go through the Captcha test every time. It is truly unreadable. I never get numbers, only combinations of upper and lower text with black and white backgrounds that look like they have been scribed by someone with a severe case of palsy. Add to that my trifocal lenses and I've found that I have to try dozens of times and reset several times before I can successfully logon. Someone said that numbers appear? I have not seen any sets of numbers like so many other Captcha systems use (like a photograph behind a dirty window). I have simply given up trying to logon several times because my eyes felt like they would melt after so many attempts. If I had one major complaint, it would be the Captcha system Simon is using. I do not seem to have this problem on any of the other web sites I go to and I am often in dozens each day in my professional work.

But thank you anyway , Simon for the work you do. I hope that you can make some adjustments for older persons like me with bad eyes.

And oh yes, Hello everyone!

NGD

NoGoodDeed

My previous post did not load, but I copied it off line just in case. I had to move to another location and could not wait for it to load. I just logged in again and it took me over 30 tries to get past the Captcha. That is exhausting. I may just go back to reading and not worry about logging in and contributing.

It's tough to get old and blind and have to live with computers.

NGD

Simon

I think some people are slightly missing the point and are imagining that everything is now set in stone, never to be changed and don't want to give things a fair chance because things are just too different.

The current versions of Google, Facebook and a million other sites that we know and love are not what they launched as. They evolve over time as they discover what works and what doesn't.

I do believe some things are already better and can't understand the old site being more readable than this one - the line lengths and larger font sizes align better with all studies on readability but of course everyone has their own preferences. The way to address these for the minority who prefer things the other way is to provide customization preferences but that takes time and there is no guarantee that people will see and use them (esp if people are struggling to find "Active" topics when it's right there in the top level nav).

This first incarnation on a whole new platform is about getting the essentials working. Of course there are things that can be refined and over time we will do that. It's also obviously a learning experience as many of the things people are saying they want and need are actually available ... they are just perhaps a little different and it's often hard to unlearn things.

It's important to differentiate between things being new or changed and needing to be learnt and things not working right or as well as they could. There is no 'fix' required for Active topics for instance - it's there, you just need to recognize what to click on. Once you 'get' the features there will be many more ways to view topics and there are many more options in the pipeline still to come which will hopefully tie everything together more and make it more cohesive.

Finally, just to reiterate: there are no posts missing, it's just *some* counts that are temporarily incorrect. Some people obviously see a post count as *really important*. I actually see it as rather a cosmetic thing in the same way as the view counts on topics. I'd rather people focused on the discussions and the content than the meta data.

So please be patient and if you are struggling with something, just ask. Everything that was on the old site has an equivalence on the new site with more besides so if you don't know how to jump to the latest reply for instance, it's just a case of learning how rather than anything being missing or it being 'worse'. If we had used *this* version for the past 10 years and were now switching to the old one instead I'm sure there would be just as many if not more howls of protest. Progress sometimes hurts - suck it up princesses :)

I know too that I have a bit of a head start as I've obviously been using this incarnation longer while I've been working on it..

James Brown

I was able to get on today without any problems.

First time ever on the new site.

That is an improvement.

DJS

Simon,

I like the changes but understand others' issues. I only have one, and you may have already addressed this. Is the number of views ticker still available? I miss that feature.

Xanthippe

Well although I work with computers I never thought of myself as particularly a wizz with them but I have to say I haven't found the new site to be a problem. Perhaps I'm getting cleverer in my middle age

Wow, the forum is very slow

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