Really dont like it after a week of trying.....

PeterM · 11 June 2011, 00:52

After a few days of trying I just dont like the 'new' set up on RIBNET. It seems to have become overly 'gimmicky' and lost a lot of the 'simple' usability that I loved it for. I just cant be doing with the way stuff is harder to find now.

I have met and know a lot of great people through it but just dont like at all the changes. Yes it looks great but I'm finding it bloody hard to use.

So I'm going to stop using it. I used to not log in and read stuff , but am finding the new screen format to fussy to do that.

So farewell, I am sure that I'll still see the people I know from here and they have my number and I have theirs. I'm still a great boating/RIB fan , but just not on here any more.

Pete

C2 RIBS · 11 June 2011, 06:35

Peter, keep trying and let the forum sort itself out.
I asked about the google ads and was updated "We will not be showing the ads in any of your posts or any of the other supporting members. The same policy will apply to our trade members as well."

We all have had great use of a terrific forum and change is something we all hate but given a little more time with feedback being sent to the forum administrators, the gremlins and set up I think will change to a workable system. Good luck Ian

C2 RIBS · 11 June 2011, 06:38

So Peter here is one for change, we used to be able to click on click links and see if a friend or colleague was on line, but today I found when I hit the link I go to another set up,

Forum Admin- is there something wrong or what have you done?

Nos4r2 · 11 June 2011, 07:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by C2 RIBS

So Peter here is one for change, we used to be able to click on click links and see if a friend or colleague was on line, but today I found when I hit the link I go to another set up,

Forum Admin- is there something wrong or what have you done?

Sorry, not quite sure what you mean? Do you mean that you can't click on a members name to see if they are online?

Saying that, I'm finding everything painfully slow this morning and pages are refusing to load.

biffer · 11 June 2011, 08:19

If you see this it will be a result. After getting a message from Ian m and me sending him a blank screen. I doubt it. I willing to give the site the time it needs to sort itself out I only wish it was more reliable. Well here goes

Sent from a remote device

John Kennett · 11 June 2011, 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterM

After a few days of trying I just dont like the 'new' set up on RIBNET. It seems to have become overly 'gimmicky' and lost a lot of the 'simple' usability that I loved it for. I just cant be doing with the way stuff is harder to find now.

I have met and know a lot of great people through it but just dont like at all the changes. Yes it looks great but I'm finding it bloody hard to use.

I'm sorry you're struggling with it - not that you'll be reading this anyway!

There are obviously a few things that need to be sorted out, but we have people working on it and I hope it won't take too long.

Apart from that though, I'm surprised that you find the new design so difficult to get on with. There are very few fundamental changes, and mostly it works the same as it ever has. On the off chance that you are reading this, let me know if there's anything specific that you'd like to change back. I can't promise anything, but we're happy to take a look.

John Kennett · 11 June 2011, 08:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffer

If you see this it will be a result. After getting a message from Ian m and me sending him a blank screen. I doubt it. I willing to give the site the time it needs to sort itself out I only wish it was more reliable. Well here goes

Sent from a remote device

Biff, are you just getting problems with the phone app, or is it the same when you log in using a proper computer?

GJ0KYZ · 11 June 2011, 08:59

I don't like the new forum layout either. I hardly visit the site at all now things have changed.

John Kennett · 11 June 2011, 09:13

I'd be interested to know if there's anything specific that you don't like. I haven't had a lot of involvement in the makeover, but it's very close to what I've had in mind for RIBnet for a long time.

I think the updated design is smart, and not overcomplicated. On a reasonably large screen the right sidebar doesn't get in the way and we may even grow to like it. I'm neutral about it - I have it turned on, but on a smaller screen I might choose to turn it off (bottom of this page).

If you don't like the community forums section at the top of the page you can shrink that down to almost nothing by clicking the white arrow to the right of the title bar.

I've always resisted multi quotes and the quick reply box, but people don't seem to have gone completely mad with the quotes and I'm actually typing this using the quick reply box now!

Overall it seems like a pretty light makeover to me, and the changes are almost entirely positive. Given that this is what we have now, and we won't just be putting it back the way it was, what would you change?

gotchiguy · 11 June 2011, 09:42

Sorry, what did I predict a week ago?

Can we please have Ribnet lite sometime, the site is slow and unnecessarily gimicky. Like I said before it has simply become another "standard" forum like all the others under the SK network. Which is fine but it means Ribnet has lost some of what made it special. I warned you that people would start to leave, and there you go that's the first one.

Possibly a consultation with the masses would have provided a good basis for knowing what to change and what not to. There are a number of new things which I think are really good: eg. the rotating album pictures. There are unfortunately a number of other things which are significant regressions: eg. the amount of time now spent scrolling, avatars for members, multiquote, community forums at the top, not being able to clearly see what topics I have posted on, the addition of "contact" and "buddy" lists which for so long have been the preserve of forums with far less technical and important content as Ribnet.

RIBs and RIBbing is not a mainstream topic. Heck, boating is not something the masses are able to indulge in. Why therefore turn the forum into something that looks designed for the masses?

(

)

PS. the smilies arn't working, clicking them simply sends me to the top of the page.

willk · 11 June 2011, 09:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by gotchiguy

Sorry, what did I predict a week ago?..... and there you go that's the first one.

A true leader should lead from the front.

Dirk Diggler · 11 June 2011, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

A true leader should lead from the front.

biffer · 11 June 2011, 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Biff, are you just getting problems with the phone app, or is it the same when you log in using a proper computer?

John. The probs I had while on hols I think were related to 3G. This thing last night was related to my main computer. I entered a text about trailer bolts but never got it posted. It just came up with I need to put in more than 5 letters. Then I answered Ian m and he said I sent him a blank screen and no smilies either. Truth be known I'm not fussed about smilies. Regards

Sent from a remote device

martini · 11 June 2011, 10:29

I've got mine set up so it's almost exactly the same as it was, just a couple extra buttons and a different colour.

Getting used to the photo's up top but we need more content from users. Lincoln Charlie's bread knife is bang tidy but a bit of variety is always good!

And yeh, we do seem to have a smilie malfunction

Chris · 11 June 2011, 11:07

I think its fine. I can still read posts and most of it seems the same dunno what the fuss is about...

Oh yeh of course this is ribnet. 20 pages on how to drill a hole in a console what was I thinking (Smiley rolling around laughing) ;-)

RyanPratt · 11 June 2011, 12:35

PeterM, Put on your big boy pants and help solve the issues you have with good constructive feedback. The site is new but mostly the same. If you are so turned off by a few changes then you must not find this to be much of a resource and i can respect that if thats the case but if not give it some time.

Max... · 11 June 2011, 13:33

I don't see the big deal or big change - just looks a slightly different colour with a (very useful) latest discussions section on the RH side. Apart from that reading topics, checking sub-forums, searching or PM'ing people seems much the same??

Bern Hanreck · 11 June 2011, 13:48

I can understand Peter's comments ! There have been a lot of changes in a very short space of time ! Many of them I like .....

I don't like the apparent change to the Quick Links pull down menu on the " home " page . One of the options used to be " Todays Posts " .

This does NOT seem to be the same as new posts . For one thing once you read a new post it sort of disappears into the ethers !!!!!

Perhaps we need some time to consolidate and understand what's going . That said it's daft to forgo the site just because it's trying something new.....

Just give us old gits time to catch up .

( Just tried a smillie , but it doesn't seem to work , FFS ! )

John Kennett · 11 June 2011, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by gotchiguy

Sorry, what did I predict a week ago?

I don't know, I stopped reading your posts ages ago. But I've made a special exception for this thread

Quote:

Can we please have Ribnet lite sometime, the site is slow and unnecessarily gimicky.

There may be other styles/themes/skins in the future, but it's definitely not going to happen in the short term.

Quote:

There are unfortunately a number of other things which are significant regressions: eg. the amount of time now spent scrolling, avatars for members, multiquote, community forums at the top, not being able to clearly see what topics I have posted on, the addition of "contact" and "buddy" lists which for so long have been the preserve of forums with far less technical and important content as Ribnet.

I'm not sure why you are spending more time scrolling. Can you expand on that?

Avatars and multi quote are here to stay, but really aren't going to make a critical difference to anything.

The community forums can be minimised in a single mouse click if you don't want to see them. I don't think that the "new posts, no new posts" icons are that hard to decipher, but we may be able to improve them. If you don't like contact lists and buddy lists, then don't use them - we have friends lists for a long time, but I don't think they were ever used very much.

Any changes to the forums are bound to please some people more than others, and we're always happy to consider ideas. We may lose one or two people along the way which is a shame, but people always come and go anyway. I don't think that anything has been changed that fundamentally affects any of the important things about RIBnet. Once we get it working properly for Nasher and Biffer of course!

kerny · 11 June 2011, 14:00

I must admit that I am not keen on the new changes, I'm a creature of habit and it takes me sometime to get used to anything new, I think the new friends request thingy majig is very face book,,ish but I am happy to wait and see how things work out without spitting my dummy out just yet. I'm sure things will work out for the best in time. Hopefully