The new forum design sucks!

1. brandon0409
   Member

   

   I know this is not the place for this, but...  I have been reading and posting on these forums for almost 2 years now. 

   The old format was easy to look at, easy to navigate around, and there was no investigative journalism needed to fugure out how to use it. To tell you the truth, it took me 1/2 hour to figure out how to post this comment. 

   I haven't read these forums since it was changed because I haven't been able to figure it out. Videomaker may have thought that a new look is better, but this is rediculous.  I don't know who makes these decisions but I think they need to re-evaluate things. 

   If this continues, I may be heading to another forum. First Videomaker changes their magazine by shortening it  by 30 pages because postage is "to expensive" and now they completely butcher the forums to make it only accessible to people whom are graduates of a computer science program. All right, that is all I have to say about that. Brandon0409

   Posted 4 years ago #

2. birdcat
   Moderator

   

   A little less eloquent than I would be but the sentiments are mine as well.....

   This new software is really pretty poor - Even things like posting are totally un-intuitive.  For example, when I am posting a reply (like I am now) and I hit two line feeds, expecting to terminate the current line, add a blank one and start at column 1 of the one afterf that, I instead get  two blank lines and when I then hit backspace, the cursor moves to column 2 of the line above - Things like this.

   I also miss the old format where I can see individual forums annotating whuch have messages I have not viewed yet.  This new all in one is not worth the time to work through it.

   I will probably stop coming here to read and post if this software continues to work this way.

   Bruce Paul
   7Squared Productions
   http://www.7squared.com

   Posted 4 years ago #

3. Anonymous
   

   Just to add, if you edit to correct a typo or make a point clearer after submitting a post, all the paragraphing is lost and you'll need to sort that out as well!

   I agree that it would have been better to have these things working properly from the outset but I'm sure it's all fixable if things are pointed out as we notice them.

   Posted 4 years ago #

4. Don
   Member

   

   to tell the truth, the only complaint I have was my profile got deleted and it wouldn't accept my old "NAME" so call me the guy who used to be: ;0)   but now is :0(

   Posted 4 years ago #

5. Ryan3078
   Member

   

   I have to agree that it should be either redesigned or made back into the older version.  Before, I could easily scroll down and check out new posts easily.  As well as quickly find all Categories.  Now, it seems to only have the top 5 categories - I can't find the rest, although they must be there.  The hot tags selection on the side only makes the forum look more cluttered and unprofessional.  We had a good thing here...let's stick with it!

   Posted 4 years ago #

6. Don
   Member

   

   I tried creating a new password and the next day that password failed. I had to reset my password and start over.

   Posted 4 years ago #

7. Endeavor
   Member

   

   Yup. I'll be back when this forum design in gone. Later!

   Posted 4 years ago #

8. HQ1406
   Member

   

   I agree I'm not really feeling the design.  And I use to pick up videomaker off the stands but I guess i will have to subscribe because no one carries the mag anymore I had to go to NY  to get one while on vacation.  But over all I like videomaker.

   Posted 4 years ago #

9. Coreece
   Member

   

   I can see the potential...I like some of the new features, but until the final corrections are made, I still rather be on the old system.  I think we just need to keep giving our constuctive input and just be patient.

   Posted 4 years ago #

10. Coreece
    Member

    

    For starters...It would be nice if your post would show up next to your name.....The post above is mine as well but its next to HQ1406...

    Posted 4 years ago #

11. KBVP
    Member

    

    One of the things that make this new format hard to read is the red print. A darker blue would be easier on the eyes. I think they did this for advertisement space. I can't see any other purpose to get rid of a better format.  Management seems to be hog tied over this- why?

    PLease fix the forum!

    -KBVP

    Posted 4 years ago #

12. KBVP
    Member

    

    OH GREAT!!! Now my posts are being posted under somebody elses name! WHAT NEXT????

    I added my signature so you can figure out where I posted this from

    -KBVP

    Posted 4 years ago #

13. Don
    Member

    

    well, if the idea was to deter people from posting, or frequenting the forums it certainly worked for me.

    haven't spent 1/100 th of the time I used to here. used to come daily...now just once a month or so..... 

    Posted 4 years ago #

14. KBVP
    Member

    

    Well, time hasn't fixed the problem.  DOn's post is under my avatar

    Posted 4 years ago #

15. KBVP
    Member

    

    If a camcorder was having issues as bad as this forum, we'd throw it away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Posted 4 years ago #

16. KBVP
    Member

    

    OH!  That was cool!  Now it's really broke!!!!!!!

    Posted 4 years ago #

17. jburkhart
    

    

     Hi guys,

    As you can tell, we're going through some changes here. They're not 100% done yet. There's going to be a few hiccups, but some points to keep in mind:

    1. Assume that we're changing the forums for a specific purpose, a purpose that the old software was incapable of doing. Not just to change it for the sake of change.

    2. Assume that we think this new purpose will be of much greater value to our users than the old forum.

    3. Assume we have a fair amount of control over the look and feel of this forum. If you have any specific suggestions, please leave them HERE

    4. Assume we're not doing this to directly antagonize you. :)

    Seriously we think this will be pretty impressive when it's all done, and an extremely valuable resource. Please bear with us as we are going through a bit more of an extended beta than we anticipated. We really appreciate the time and effort everyone puts in with their posts, please be patient with us a bit longer.

    Thanks,

    JB

    John Burkhart
    Editor-in-Chief
    Videomaker

    Posted 4 years ago #

18. Anonymous
    

    Have to say, the problems I'm experiencing with Firefox are very minor and I'm not getting this one where posts are under the wrong name - the main one for me at the moment is when I'm not logged in and want to respond, I get moved to the main page when I do log in. I'm not about to throw myself off a cliff, though! :-)

    Posted 4 years ago #

19. KBVP
    Member

    

    Beta testing?  That is done off line until it's stable enough to publish to the web.

    "Assume we have a fair amount of control over the look and feel of this forum." 

     "Assume that we think this new purpose will be of much greater value to our users than the old forum."

    OK, lets assume this will be better than the better forum format.  It may help if you share the goals you have set for the expanded capabilities of this new format.  If we have something to look forward to, it may make this current format a bit more "bearable".  I personally can't stand the red text.  Red text inserted into a B&W/grayscale backgroud does not work well in human visual processing.  Try a dark blue but not bold.   

    Posted 4 years ago #

20. KBVP
    Member

    

    Here's an example of a format with blue mixed with black text. It's easy on the eyes.

    http://www.airshowbuzz.com/forums/

    Posted 4 years ago #

21. JeTrent
    Member

    

     To whom it may concern,

     The red text has to go.  It's giving me a headache.  It doesn't make me want to hang around at all. Goodbye.

    Please email your member list when you fix it so we can come back. Thanks.  Aloha.

    Posted 4 years ago #

22. Aspyrider
    Member

    

    I like an active forum. The problems here seem to have run everyone off. I just subscribed to VM, and wanted to interact more with other videographers but this site is dead.  Might I suggest you visit the DigitalJuice.com forum for ideas? It works well over there.

    Posted 4 years ago #

23. Steve
    Member

    

    I don't understand why people want to reinvent the wheel.

    vBulletin is by far the best forum package out there. Can't the magazine buck up the 200-300$ a year for the licence?

    You can make the $ back in spades just by offering people to sponsor various subforums.

    There is no reason to torture us all with this setup.

    Posted 4 years ago #

24. birdcat
    Moderator

    

    Hi Jay -

    I certainly agree - I haven't been here in about a month and really don't miss it - DJ forums rock - I also frequent the Sony Vegas forums but that would only apply to Vegas users.

    See you on DJ

    Posted 4 years ago #

25. Aspyrider
    Member

    

    I have noticed an increased decline in Videomaker. It's hard, if not impossible to find the magazine on the book shelves anymore, The zine is smaller now and they used to do more video on the site. Now it's just a tips video.

    Makes me wonder if Videomaker will be around much anymore. With the problems with this forum and the apparent lack of attention to the problems, it is not encouraging.  It's sad.

    The video market is exploding and more people now can afford extreme high end camcorders and equipment to make very good video. A magazine like Videomaker should be growing, not collapsing.  People are hungry for information to make better video. Things like UTube and others offer an audience once only dreamed of.

    I do hope Videomaker gets it together and improves their image and presence on the net and in print.

    This forum has the potential to be the largest community for videographers anywhere. Unfortunately all these issues are spelling the doom of a once great resource.

    It's time to address these issues and start building a real community.

    J.

    Posted 4 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.