Alternative Forum Software

[Alan de Enfield]

I am really struggling with the new software and, as many have commented it is both restricting my enjoyment of the forum and resulting in far fewer visits.

 

Is it too late to reconsider ?

I am a member of several other forums, many who are using "vBuletin 2017, V4:2:2".

They have historically had far, far fewer issues than this forum and dwarf this forum in terms of threads, posts and membership numbers.

I have just had a quick look at the stats for one of these forums :

438,477 Threads

3,807,161 Posts

98,596 Members

6313 Active (posting more than once per week) Members

Current  Active users 1,445.

 

The forum 'layout' and operation appears to be virtually identical to the Canal World Forum we had a few days ago.

 

[Boat&Bikes]

Not usually one to moan but I agree with Alan. This isn't very user friendly.

 

Ian.

[mross]

vBulletin is commercial software and would need to be paid for.  I'm not sure if all the data could be moved across safely.

[matty40s]

26 minutes ago, mross said:

vBulletin is commercial software and would need to be paid for.  I'm not sure if all the data could be moved across safely.

Are you a member of the technical team Mr Ross?  Perhaps you should be as most of the advice and answers have been yours in the last few days.

 

Mot of us are struggling with this and trying to make the best of it with lots of questions.

Looking from outside, the forum is awful. Painful. Not user friendly.

Why should a prospective member have to spend any time at all changing settings/creating "activities (whatever they may be).

The site was and should be very simple for the most non computer literate person to enjoy. 

It isn't. 

[mross]

No, I am just an ordinary forum member, aged 61.  I enjoy helping others.

[Naughty Cal]

I have to agree that I am not really enjoying this new format.

[wandering snail]

Me neither.

[john6767]

I am getting used to it, but the large amount of white space is annoying me.  I don't know why the admins have not sorted out the excessive size of the forum image in the header, that is just silly having that take up so much vertical space on both desktop and mobile.

One thing perhaps to think about before another major version change is to set up a beta version of the forum to get some feedback, I think a lot of the issues could have been ironed out without exposing the non-technical forum members who you can understand it is vert frustrating.

[nicknorman]

I have been using this software for slightly longer than some of you since it's on another forum I use a bit. I really didn't like it at first. But now I have spent a moment setting things up, and a little while getting used to it, I do like it. It is just a matter of acclimatising to the new style.

If you are the sort of person who says "I can't be bothered to follow simple instructions and spend about 1 minute setting up a "view new content" type icon, but instead I demand that someone else (a volunteer) must spend hours and days changing things to resemble the way they were and presumably pay for the cost of new software out of their own pockets" - all because you don't like change, well then I think the forum is better off without you.

[alan_fincher]

Presumably if some things can no longer be achieved as they were before without creating personal activity streams, then they cannot still be achieved by the many people who read but do not post on the forum, and do so as a guest without logging in.

I'm guessing this is the problem David's wife has hit.

(Yes, clearly they could solve this by registering an account, and logging in, but some may not want to).

[cuthound]

3 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I have been using this software for slightly longer than some of you since it's on another forum I use a bit. I really didn't like it at first. But now I have spent a moment setting things up, and a little while getting used to it, I do like it. It is just a matter of acclimatising to the new style.

If you are the sort of person who says "I can't be bothered to follow simple instructions and spend about 1 minute setting up a "view new content" type icon, but instead I demand that someone else (a volunteer) must spend hours and days changing things to resemble the way they were and presumably pay for the cost of new software out of their own pockets" - all because you don't like change, well then I think the forum is better off without you.

Once it was explained to me how to make an "activity stream", I found it easy to use.

However, my concern is that people trying CWDF for the first time will not know how to make an activity stream,  will find navigating the forum cumbersome and drift off to use another forum.

As a result CWDF will dwindle to just a rump of old timers.

At the very least, simple instructions on how to produce a VNC activity stream should be pinned in each popular sub-forum to help newbies.

[mross]

But even without making a custom stream, they can click on 'Unread Content'.  Isn't that enough for newcomers?              

 

[Jerra]

While I am still trying to get things to how I like them I don't find things too bad.   With respect to new readers (and I mean new rather than lurkers" the software will be no problem (IMO) as what they haven't had they wont miss.

Starting to read a new forum always requires a learning curve.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, mross said:

But even without making a custom stream, they can click on 'Unread Content'.  Isn't that enough for newcomers?              

 

If they are newcomers,then most of the content will be unread anyway.

[Alan de Enfield]

Maybe (I know - horse bolted, stable door) Admin could have asked for feedback from members who use other forums (most of us, I would guess) and ask for suggestions as to the pros & cons of each of those forum formats before the migration was made.

A consensus could then (maybe) have been reached with 'buy-in' from the members - and - as a benefit could maybe have got the best forum structure available.

I am sure that members would not be adverse to pledging a couple of pounds a year if needed.

 

[Mac of Cygnet]

I'm not technically minded, but I haven't had many problems since first being directed to the instructions for creating View New Content.  Although I expected to have to do it all again on the tablet I use on the boat, with different device, OS and browser, hey presto! it was all there as soon as I logged in.

TBH, I took much longer to get to grips with a new (to me) car I got last year.  And as for having to explain everything about the boat when I lent it to my son (and him a marine electrical engineer), well..........

But although I feel Nick is being a bit harsh, I do think that a View New Content button with the same settings as the old one should have been incorporated as a default.

 

[haggis]

I must admit to quite liking the new software as it now gives me what I want. Perhaps my needs are less ambitious than others or I am easily satisfied :-) . One big plus for me is that it takes me to the first unread post in a thread right away  unlike another place which I have visited where  you get taken to the start of a page every time and you have to laboriously scroll down trying to remember what you read last. I didn't like that at all! 

Like Mac I expected that I would have to go though the few minutes setting up on my phone too but, no, it was all there the first time I looked. Another big plus! 

haggis

[nicknorman]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Maybe (I know - horse bolted, stable door) Admin could have asked for feedback from members who use other forums (most of us, I would guess) and ask for suggestions as to the pros & cons of each of those forum formats before the migration was made.

A consensus could then (maybe) have been reached with 'buy-in' from the members - and - as a benefit could maybe have got the best forum structure available.

I am sure that members would not be adverse to pledging a couple of pounds a year if needed.

 

If feedback had been asked for, I can guarantee that 99% of folk would have said "want no change". But as has been repeatedly explained, that really isn't an option. As to giving a choice of forum, whilst I'm no expert I would very much doubt that the back end database would be compatible between these different makes, without major surgery and inevitable disruption to peripheral data.

To those folk who are catastrophising that the forum is now doomed since new people will find it all too difficult, I say "funny how there are plenty of other forums out there using this software, that are thriving." Or is the point that the type of person who would use this forum is exceptionally computer-illiterate?

[Traveller]

The Norfolk Broads Net Forum is one such forum. It changed to this format some time ago. There were those who were not happy, now it seems most are content. 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Traveller

[GUMPY]

I hated it at first having now set up an activity stream its better but I havent refined it enough. Still get notification of pictures coming up when they are posted which is a pain if someone posts a lot of them. Seems I can't opt out of that I have to opt in to everything else instead........

So I'm still on the fence

[mross]

in the first filter choose 'Content items only' instead of the first choice and you won't get the photos.

Show me

• Content items, comments, and reviews
• Content items only

[RichM]

I used to run a vBulletin powered forum which was somewhat larger than this and I agree, vBulletin is superior in some ways and I too prefer it from a user point of view. Moving to it wouldn't be too challenging from a technical point of view either having done it before and vice versa. Both are are widely used around the world by some of the largest forums in the world.

Problem is; I am not sure users would find it easier to acclimatize to vBulletin as it is vastly different and some features (including the member map) would probably have to go. Then there is cost. It would cost us £321 for the licence plus more on design work. We are a completely non-profit community funded by members. That said, it was/is definitely on my radar given my previous experience with it but it wasn't a viable option.

Also, a lot of work is done behind the scenes that people do not see. For example; I'm now planning a server migration to host the site back in the UK while using AWS to store our data as to avoid running out of space. All of this will also need configuring to meet our requirements. Then the chat room will need to be replaced with a new one before May (more on that soon) What you see on the face of it is just half the work that goes into it. 

All comments will be taken aboard but do remember we have working lives too. Next week, I will be working 7 days straight... 

 

[lulu fish]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

I must admit to quite liking the new software as it now gives me what I want. Perhaps my needs are less ambitious than others or I am easily satisfied :-) . One big plus for me is that it takes me to the first unread post in a thread right away  unlike another place which I have visited where  you get taken to the start of a page every time and you have to laboriously scroll down trying to remember what you read last. I didn't like that at all! 

 

Every forum I've ever seen can take you the first unread post in a thread. I'd bet that on the other forum you were just clicking in the wrong place.

[john6767]

21 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I hated it at first having now set up an activity stream its better but I havent refined it enough. Still get notification of pictures coming up when they are posted which is a pain if someone posts a lot of them. Seems I can't opt out of that I have to opt in to everything else instead........

So I'm still on the fence

Have you been into your notifications settings and turned everything off, I was getting notifications for all sorts of things as it seems the default for quite a few of the options was on.

[Martin Megson]

Maybe it just needs a bit of tweaking to make it easier to navigate.  I don't really need both a gallery across the top and a "top gallery pics" on the right - it's largely duplicated.  Also don't need the "most popular" posters list. Could this space be better used.