This New Forum Is A Downgrade.

Benedict

I have 365 pictures and counting on my photobucket account, so it may just have been an upload error. 

Picture number 101 was there and I got the link.  When I referenced the picture here, the image that displayed was a message, "Photobucket has deleted your picture".  Thats all, nothing else.  I deleted two pictures, re-uploaded the picture and then I was able to reference here.  I will have to try going beyond 100 to see if you are right, next time I upload.

 DPU, maybe it was too big. I have 377 photos and 11 videos there.

The lack of a search function here is the one that continues to baffle my simple mind.  Every other web site in the world manages to have a working search function so, I assume, it isn't that difficult.  Why we continue to complain about it here, after six months, I just don't understand.  OTOH, if the rate of decline of active posters continues, in another 6 months, it won't make any difference anyway.

I'm gonna agree on the photo bucket thing being a pain.

And offer a suggestion.  Could the Welcome and Announcement sections somehow be locked so that ONLY admin or mods can start a new thread?  I try to keep current with that, but so often someone posts "hi, new here" threads there and they knock the important stuff back.  Newbies don't know that they are posting in the wrong area, but it bugs me.  Must be my over developed sense of order......

I'll have to chime in late here - I really dropped off participation here when I didn't have time, because I thoroughly dislike the posting interfaces.  If I'm not careful, 50% of the time I'll get a "bad connection" and my post will disappear into the dreaded land of "Server is Not Responding."  I can prevent actually losing the post by typing it somewhere else (but then I can't use the code buttons and have to hand code stuff) or by copying my note into the buffer before hitting post.  Whether this error occurs or not is directly related to how long it took to type up the note, how time sensitive it is, and whether another copy exists somehwhere.

As others have mentioned, I find the interface very slow in spite of the fact that I'm on a good fast high speed connection.  My husband works at home and his job is pushing files, so we find the connection otherwise very robust - it's not "us" in other words.

Finally, it's hard to navigate around - I'm a big fan of the "last unread posts" feature, or "new posts" or whatever - I know I'm missing a lot by not being willing to go into every subforum every time.  I've abandoned the training sections altogether as way too unwieldy - how do you all have the time, really!?  The time I spend just clicking around in there and reading I could totally have done a session with two different dogs.  So, I don't even go there though it's one of my primary interests.  There's much more streamlined discussion groups out there.

All of this makes me very reluctanct to read more than a bare minimum, much less participate.  I'll admit that when things get busy, this site is the first one to get knocked off the "must visit" list.  To put a positive spin on that statement, the sites I like best, that almost never get put on the "not enough time" list, have elegant and simple interfaces, are tightly moderated for on topic-ness and politeness, have good and easy to use search and "new posts" functions, and are compact with regard to subforums.  I find that forums like that tend to foster the "community" spirit even for people who can't spend hours a day in the forum.

I am working very hard to change all of these issues for all of you.  I don't want any of you to leave, or not contribute, or frankly have any problems at all.  You've all been patient, and I appreciate that.  I'm hoping soon none of you will have anything to complain about, but I am not going to pretend for a split second that these complaints here aren't valid.  They are, I'm listening and I am spending a lot of time discussing all of this with the higher ups.

Benedict

I am working very hard to change all of these issues for all of you.  I don't want any of you to leave, or not contribute, or frankly have any problems at all.  You've all been patient, and I appreciate that.  I'm hoping soon none of you will have anything to complain about, but I am not going to pretend for a split second that these complaints here aren't valid.  They are, I'm listening and I am spending a lot of time discussing all of this with the higher ups.

*two thumbs up*

I will say at this point my main complaint is that the forum does not update or display in real time.  For example, I went into a thread DPU started, I posted a response.  Now a few minutes later, I came back to iDog and on the main page it says DPU was the last person to reply.  So I think that he's read my response and posted back.  Nope, my response is still the last one showing.  This happens to me countless times per day. This is the only forum I've ever been on where when you click Refresh you are not seeing real time posts; you can click in a thread and there might be 2-3 additional posts displaying beyond the one that the forum says is the most recent.

Liesje, I HATE THAT.. it drives me bonkers that it doesn’t update right. I thought I was the only one…lol.

Thank you for addressing peoples concerns Kate. It honestly feels some days like peoples concerns fall on deaf ears and that there is too much talking with the higher ups and not enough action taking place to correct peoples’ complaints and problems. I am not sure how far above idog admin that one has to go in order to get changes made, but every time I have used this forum since the start of the new one, I have had daily frustrations.. most of which have been addressed here on this thread and others for many, many months now. Thanks for understanding our concerns are important.

ottoluv

IMO there is no reason that any of these complaints have to be aired on a public thread, it's in poor taste

Why is it in poor taste? This is the How Are We Doing/Our Forum section is it not? I've been here a while, but don't post much because this forum isn't very user friendly, and in fact, the person that referred me here doesn't even come any more because it's such a pain. To use it being free as a selling point doesn't really work since there are tons of other quality dog forums out there that are also free. I hope to see things like the search function addressed soon, so that this forum can maintain its high quality reputation.

Gizmo83036

ottoluv

IMO there is no reason that any of these complaints have to be aired on a public thread, it's in poor taste

 

Why is it in poor taste? This is the How Are We Doing/Our Forum section is it not? I've been here a while, but don't post much because this forum isn't very user friendly, and in fact, the person that referred me here doesn't even come any more because it's such a pain. To use it being free as a selling point doesn't really work since there are tons of other quality dog forums out there that are also free. I hope to see things like the search function addressed soon, so that this forum can maintain its high quality reputation.

ottoluv

IMO there is no reason that any of these complaints have to be aired on a public thread, it's in poor taste

Then why is there an entire forum called "How Are We Doing?"  That's the point of the entire forum.  If it was in poor taste then the forum itself should disappear. 

I don't think anyone here is slapping anyone in the face.  It's a forum and we're discussing issues directly related to the forum itself, specifically issues with tools that do not have full functionality.  No one has pointed any fingers, and I have no doubt that finger pointing would not solve any of these issues anyway.  

Having a great forum full of knowledgeable folks is a wonderful thing, to be sure.  Being able to search out previous posts that those knowledgeable folks have posted would also be a wonderful thing.  As it is, the search function on many other boards (as well as the former incarnation of this board) function quite well and can be accessed and used by almost anyone to prevent post redundancy.

 As for issues with not updating and PMs going missing, well, that's why my friends and I have MSN.
 

.  As it is, the search function on many other boards (as well as the former incarnation of this board) function quite well and can be accessed and used by almost anyone to prevent post redundancy.

ottoluv

.  As it is, the search function on many other boards (as well as the former incarnation of this board) function quite well and can be accessed and used by almost anyone to prevent post redundancy.

Preventing redundancy like people posting the same complaints over and over on a thread that was started in january? I think it's quite clear that some people liked the old better, it's also clear that we are not going back to the old software, so why can't people get over it and move on? I don't see new issues here, just the same thing over and over and over and over..............

Exactly!  Had the search function been working, perhaps these last few posts would have never happened.

It has nothing to do with preference of new or old.  It has to do with functionality.

What would happen if your hospital replaced all your scalpels with folding knives?  You'd still be able to perform surgery, and still at a very high level, I imagine.  However the functionality would be completely different.   That's what we're talking about. 

well i cant speak for others, but i DO see differences and they are the reason i dont come here as often as before and dont post as much when i do. so yeah. i obviously liked the old board better. the new one has a few things that are nicer than before but in general it doesnt make up for all the issues at hand.

in complaining we are just trying to get some improvements done.