At least this is a new topic we can discuss that hasn’t been beaten to death yet.
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the underlying force behind the change to the site
- Thread starter slagheap
- Start date
I was hoping for a back end software change/update that wouldn't affect the end user experience so much. I haven't figure out (so far) how to recreate my old reading methoed that used to cover my interests in a very efficient way. Still trying though.
As a UX designer and co-owner of my micro web design agency, I find this re-design is a super interesting case study.
We know they had to make this massive update of the platform, and I can only imagine how hard they worked to keep the UI as familiar as they could, to be thanked with a barrage of insults.
We know 90% of the negative feedback come from resistance to change.
But I find the reaction of the community is so unfair! I wouldn't like to be in charge and receive such aggressive feedback and lack of recognition.
Maybe they should have communicate upfront, share their vision, show the great new features. Maybe they did and I haven't seen it, but I spend a lot of time on TB so I should have seen it.
I think it's going to be great. Nobody talks about the voting feature, I think it deserves to be highlighted, because it's going to be super usefull for super long thread in order to give a better visibility to the best comments that are currently burried in the overwhelming majority of stupid comments. That feature alone makes me forget all the small remaining bugs.
Thank you guys, it's worth it, I think you've successfully refreshed a great online platform, we won't talk about it in a few weeks (or days), and in a few months (or weeks), when we'll see screenshots of the previous one, we'll be like: "oh my god, the previous version wes sooooo outdated, how could we even use it?"
We know they had to make this massive update of the platform, and I can only imagine how hard they worked to keep the UI as familiar as they could, to be thanked with a barrage of insults.
We know 90% of the negative feedback come from resistance to change.
But I find the reaction of the community is so unfair! I wouldn't like to be in charge and receive such aggressive feedback and lack of recognition.
Maybe they should have communicate upfront, share their vision, show the great new features. Maybe they did and I haven't seen it, but I spend a lot of time on TB so I should have seen it.
I think it's going to be great. Nobody talks about the voting feature, I think it deserves to be highlighted, because it's going to be super usefull for super long thread in order to give a better visibility to the best comments that are currently burried in the overwhelming majority of stupid comments. That feature alone makes me forget all the small remaining bugs.
Thank you guys, it's worth it, I think you've successfully refreshed a great online platform, we won't talk about it in a few weeks (or days), and in a few months (or weeks), when we'll see screenshots of the previous one, we'll be like: "oh my god, the previous version wes sooooo outdated, how could we even use it?"
Here's the deal with us old farts:
1) we were programming on punch cards when the latest generation of code monkeys' PARENTS weren't even a glint in the milkman's eye, so it's not easy to pull the wool over our eyes.
2) We can recognize change for the sake of change (99% of UI "updates") versus change for functional reasons.
3) We know that efficiency in carrying out any task is to develop "muscle memory" for keystrokes or other routine rote actions, and 99% of UI "updates" take this principle out, tear it into shreds, stamp gleefully on it, then urinate on the concept and tell everyone who has anything negative to say about it that they're "old men yelling at clouds".
4) We don't see "new! as advertised on Fakebook!" as a value in itself. If the new thing works better and more simply (hah! fat chance!) we'll adopt it wholeheartedly, but new for the sake of being new doesn't wash with us.
So when you (not YOU, personally, probably, but whoever decides to change not just the stuff back there in the engine room but also to put the clutch on the right, gas in the middle, brake on the left, and make it so you turn the steering wheel left to go right ) change up the user interface, which did not need to be changed, yep, we get a bit salty.
Of course this here is an entertainment website, no one's going to get hurt. But I use a variety of commercial software for a living, doing important things (like stress analysis of mission critical hardware...) and those software companies are just as addicted to changing stuff. "How the hell do I do X, it was over here last week and now it's freaking disappeared!" and almost universally it's more keystrokes and even less-intuitive command names than it was, with a couple new bugs introduced as well.
Now here's how you can mitigate this (not that any IT or SW entity cares, because customer satisfaction is down around priority #33,000 in that industry).
1) Tell us up front that there'll be changes to the way the thing looks and operates, because the company that owns it has changed a bunch of stuff and we can't do anything about it.
2) When something's worse than it was before and there's not a thing you can do about it, don't try to make us believe S$%^ is chocolate pudding. Own up to it. "Yeah, we're sorry that sucks worse than it did, but it came down from Corporate and we're stuck with it" is a hell of a lot more palatable than "Oh, no, it's not worse than it was, you're just a bunch of old technophobe folks yelling at clouds while you wait for lunch to be served at the nursing home, and if you were young and hip and intelligent like us, you'd realize it and thank us with tears in your eyes, for making the operation that used to take 2 keystrokes and 4 seconds require 15 keystrokes and two minutes and fail every 16th time or so."
"....We know 90% of the negative feedback come from resistance to change..." No, 90% of the negative feedback comes from resistance to UNNECESSARY change that makes our tasks harder, more time-consuming, and buggier.
How many people out there you know still making engineering calculations on a slide rule? Not very damn many. That's a change that actually improved operations. How many people do finite element analysis by hand, taking days to do one matrix operation? How many people refuse to drive an automobile with computer control of fuel-air mixture and ignition?
No, the oldies will rush to adopt change when it is actually change for the better. Just fiddly-dicking around with stuff so it looks different and works different? NAAAAHHHH.
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I imagine you can't swing a dead roundwound here without hitting an IT professional.
Stability is king, and the best upgrades are usually the ones that nobody notices. But ultimately, all software becomes obsolete, vulnerable, and unable accommodate newer technologies and processes. Once that happens, you gotta make the leap. There's really no choice. Otherwise, instead of asking "why did it change?", you'll be asking "where did everyone go?".
Agreed. But the new sites wallpaper/background should be changed to Tort.
Is there a "get off my lawn" emoji? They could win some folks back.
I don't mind the change. It was time for a refresh.
This sentiment is repeated in your post a few times, but is summed up nicely here. The owner of the site has indicated repeatedly that there were security concerns with the old platform, and keeping it in-place was a non-starter. Migrating to a new platform was a necessity to continue operating. I, for one, don't view that as fiddly-dicking. I'm not in love with the new UI, but to assume that it was for the sake of fiddly-dicking (whatever that happens to be) when the owner has openly stated the contrary and the reason given is perfectly valid... "fiddly-dicking" hardly seems like a fair assessment.
No, the owner doesn't develop the software. It's the software company that modifies the user interface for no good reason. Security updates don't require new user interfaces.
If you need to implement computerized control of fuel-air mixture and spark in a car, to meet emission and fuel economy standards, improve power, and extend service intervals, that doesn't require you to change from a steering wheel to a tiller, or swap the pedals around, nor does it require you to put the turn signal lever on the right side of the wheel (or tiller) and the gearshift on the left.
If you need to implement computerized control of fuel-air mixture and spark in a car, to meet emission and fuel economy standards, improve power, and extend service intervals, that doesn't require you to change from a steering wheel to a tiller, or swap the pedals around, nor does it require you to put the turn signal lever on the right side of the wheel (or tiller) and the gearshift on the left.
I could live happily with all the feature tweaks, and get used to finding stuff all over again.
What REALLY rubs me the wrong way is the plethora of huge and annoying ADS. Is this the drive to push everyone onto the ad-free tier?
My next logical account upgrade will cost Five Hundred Bucks American... that would buy me a few sets of strings
What REALLY rubs me the wrong way is the plethora of huge and annoying ADS. Is this the drive to push everyone onto the ad-free tier?
My next logical account upgrade will cost Five Hundred Bucks American... that would buy me a few sets of strings
The ads are so bad that I’m probably done coming here unless i need the BST forum. Everything about this upgrade is a downgrade to me. And wasn’t being a paid member supposed to eliminate or reduce ads?
The pinnacle of modern designs is when they somehow manage to make things harder than they were before.
Let's take windows 11 because it's just such a nice example. I'd like to ask the person who was responsible for developing a desktop right-click drop down menu with less information than the previous windows versions had (and in order to have those options, you have to click on "more" to finally get the old drop down menu) what he/she was smoking and actually what the whole board is smoking because they had to have approved that change after all.
So now to get the same functionality as before, one needs to do the same task twice for absolutely no reason. But hey, we're the bad guys, because we point these lapsuses out.
I'm not "old", I'm in my thirties but even I understand that a change for the sake of a change is no change at all but rather a big annoyance.
Which version of the software is best for metal?
I made no such claim, but the owner does have to make a decision about which forum platform they use to host the site. If the old one has untenable security concerns and they, as the owner, deem it necessary to migrate to a different platform, then that hardly seems like a "fiddly-dicking" (your term) move.
They do if it's an entire platform migration. I've seen similar things occur on two other forums where I'm a member over the years. That's not an all-inclusive list, but IME it's the nature of internet forums which are hosted on externally developed platforms. Eventually the platform dies and the site is migrated to a new one, including the UI.
All forums like this are skewing older. Younger players are few and far between. There is no need to practice when I can fix the mistakes in 30 seconds. Those that want to talk about playing online are even fewer.
I can actually read this new UI on my iPhone without my glasses whilst taking a poop.
You won my vote.
You won my vote.
i am level 24
TREMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHT
TREMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHT
