Thursday Mindless? Chat August 22, 2013

Newest at the top is also disorienting.  It's not so conversational as it used to be, and is now more response-driven.  Will take some getting used to.

I'm still super lost. I'm so disoriented that I don't even know how to make any suggestions on what they might do to help make things less confusing. I guess in time it will seem like a breeze.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's lost. It's super hard to find anything or to figure out where on the forum I am ... and I couldn't find NDR listed under any heading, but somehow this seems to be it. I don't understand why progress has to make things so much more difficult.

tacran To log out, go to the little picture of you at the top right and click sign out. It's not you, it's just not obvious atm.

Last post for me tonight... I have a question. What is it that you guys miss about Non-Dog Related that isn't covered in General Chat?

We are happy to bring NDR back, but not sure I am seeing the difference... Thanks for any insights you can share. J

Jonathan -- hopefully you'll see this reply after the weekend.  Thanks for the tip about logging out.

Maybe other long-time members will post their thoughts, but for me, I've always treated General Chat (on the old forum) as general DOG-related chat (i.e., miscellaneous topics that wouldn't fall under the specific sections like Behavior, Training, Health, Nutrition, etc.).  For example, someone remodeling their house might start a thread asking people for input about flooring materials or fabrics that hold up well with dogs.

Non-Dog Related was the area for all kinds of random things that did NOT have anything to do with dogs.  In recent months, it's been mostly "daily chat" or "mindless chat" where we check in and "visit" with each other each day.  But other threads might cover issues related to human family members, workplace or job-hunting topics, requests for input about various decisions people are facing (car shopping, house hunting, school, child-rearing, etc.). Yes, some of these things come up in our daily chats, but now and then someone wants to have a thread dedicated to a topic because it may generate more posts than if it were "lost" in the daily chat thread.

Personally, I like being able to "reach" forum members about random topics like that because it's a nice way to get a range of objective input about all kinds of things, and often times forum members present valuable info or perspectives I might not have thought of on my own. 

Hey @nymaureen. You're right it will make more sense over time and as we refine the way the site works to make it easier. There are almost too many ways to do the same thing, so we'll be addressing this as a priority. I promise I will share with you all what we're changing before we change it so you are not surprised!

We agreed and have changed it @the_gopher. Enjoy!

OK @tacran. Best explanation of NDR I've read. We'll bring it back. Is it ok if we leave old NDR posts in General Chat as this simplifies opening the new forum? Jonathan

Jonathan, I personally don't have a preference where the old NDR posts reside as long as it's easier to find the new NDR posts going forward (i.e., if they reside in their own clearly labeled NDR section).  However, other members might have a different preference. 

That leads me to another issue:  I hope other members will see your question here since this is a thread started so many days ago.  I somehow noticed it because it was closer to the top of the page where all the threads appear when I first open the forum, but I can't say I like how things appear on that page.  I think I'm not the only one who is still struggling with how to find "Posts You Have not Yet Read" (or something like that) when we log in.  That was a very helpful link on the last forum.  Now I have to look at the post "count" and see if I can remember what the count was the last time I logged in.  If it's higher, I know I missed a post (or several) on that thread.  It would be easier to just have that link we used to have.

I don't know if I'm describing it correctly or using the right terminology (e.g., "link";).  I'm not at all a high-tech person, so I'm sorry if I sound unclear.  Thanks, Jonathan!