Boy, I just can’t get my hands around the new forum. I’ve tried but I don’t have hours to devote to learning how to make it user friendly. It should JUST be friendly without having to make it so. What I like about this site is being able to pull up the last 50 changes, view just the topic headlines and decide if there is something I want to view. I am fairly computer literate so for me to hate a tool should mean that it’s really a pain in the keister.
Amen: I will second the motion, I made a living using computers for 15 or so years and I still like the ease of use of this site.
I totally agree with u. I’m no technophobe at all. I’m willing to submit to a learning curve, but that new forum is just all over the place and lacks the user-friendliness of this site.
It is what it is, and somehow the 32,000 visitors and 350,000 page views are learning to deal. The best way is to go to the main page and scroll down.
Do that every day and you’ll get used to it soon enough. It’s not changing to something else, and that’s where most of the discussion is.
See especially
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=472
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=491
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=451
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=446
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=436
OTOH, here is here, and if you’re comfortable here, wonderful!
I might be crazy but this seems to be the same as the old forum-only FASTER. And that is better.
It’s faster because it now has less visitors.
This software can’t handle more volume than that, alas.
Why are there less visitors?
That would be “fewer” visitors. There would be “less” activity”. In any case this site is more intuitive to use. Some folks like complexity. So be it.
I view both forums, but I still come here first. I like the less complex stuff!!!!
Trying to convince someone why you like coke better than pepsi usually doesn’t get very far. ;-)
To DemFromCT
“It is what it is, and somehow the 32,000 visitors and 350,000 page views are learning to deal”
That was just me trying to find my way … still lost sorry.
DuLuca, most of the folks moved over to the new forum & don’t come here with us much at all anymore so that means less ‘business’ here & therefore a faster response time for page loads.
I never relied on the “last 50″ here and I prefer here better, too, just scrolling down through the threads list & picking what I want to read. I’d watch the name changes & keep up that way.
If you’re interested in the new forum, I changed my settings to let me see 99 of everything, so I can scroll down through the diaries on the right or the comments on the left & find things to read. If you’re visiting over there you could try that to see if it helps any or just visit with us here daily until they close this location down.
It’s more “functional” over there and I have a hard time finding anything ‘lighthearted’ like the enjoyable threads here, and since you can’t ‘bump’ threads that means digging around….maybe we should all ask for some sort of forum thread-detector for Christmas that we could use over there! :-)
I know they’re trying to make things better over there and we have to remember that they made changes ehre over time that made things better too — for instance it used to drive me crazy when they’d go on a thread-closing blitz without stating in their signature that they were closing something….I’d open thread after thread after thread only to find it closed!! Then they started stating “Closed” beside their name & it made the whole world speed up for me! :-)
Anyway, the 2 different places are totally different & each has a purpose, and keep in mind we’re the minority here so enjoy the slower pace, the friendlier atmosphere if you want to call it that, and the ease of use while it’s here and don’t forget to say thanks!
THANKS MODS!
anonymous:
LOL
32K times? ;-)
Look, folks, there are people over there doing fine, and a number of them who actually prefer it. That remains true, no matter how you feel about it.
In the meantime the activity is accomplishing something (tremendous amount of info there in a short period of time), as well as attracting new viewers (ordinary people officials, professionals). It’s cheaper to run, easier to administer, easier to find things if you make the effort (especially older comments), and better suited to handle volume (it’s relatively slow on the bird flu news right now, but we’ll see what happens in the next few months).
The other site isn’t going away.
Have your cake and eat it, too.
However, the other site become MUCH easier to navigate:
I’m-workin’-on-it
we try harder. ;−0
I view both sites every day. Only used this one a couple months before new one started. As Dem and others have pointed out, both have their good points. I have no problem visiting both as I visit Recombinomics, Effect Measure, PFI, CDC, Google News and Bird Flu Breaking News. After all that, what’s the big deal with checking two flu wikis? ;-)
I urge everyone to give the new forum a try. I have no time for learning anything new and my life is complicated enough, but it really didn’t take me long to learn enough to 1) post and 2) get the new news and discussions. I reckon it took me about 2 hours to feel more comfortable and get used to things. That’s how long I’d spend waiting for pages to reload in a week on the old forum! (-:
There’s a lot of substance going on over there right now and people need your input, if you should choose to venture over there.
Of course, here is nice too, and it is good that some “oldbies” are making this their primary home for the folks who wander in here as newcomers; they need advice and help same as always.
I go to the new site, but I do feel this old one was so much easier to navigate and quickly see all the “diary” headlines to decide whether I want to view them or not.
But, the slow speeds would really kill my interest, so for that I like the new site.
I now visit both.
I would love to see the new site have a similar set up as this one on the Home Page in the middle section with the headlines only and # of posts & “New” posts shown, along with the main key 3 or 4 stories they want to perpetually display set in place at the top, in headline form, rather than those same stories in extended mode as they are now. I think it just makes the whole new site appear overwhelmingly “busy” and full of text (that was already read and reread) the way it is displayed now.
But other than that, it is what it is and just has to be gotten used to if you want to follow the BF and the wonderful peoples’ posts you met here previously.
I go over to the new site daily- to look at news and diaries. and I’m still having a real hard time with it. For me- it’s hard to look at- too much in front of my eyes- it confuses me, and I still think it is very difficult to find what I’ after. I’m just not getting the hang of it really. But I keep trying. I also keep trying salmon cooked different ways- but I still don’t like it :)
Cinda — at 13:02 --- I also keep trying salmon cooked different ways- but I still don’t like it :)
That has got to be one of the funniest analogies I’ve ever seen…thanks for the belly laugh!!!
LOL,Cinda.Especially about the salmon.I know that it`s good for you, but blech! I`d much rather have bass,crappy,or even canned tuna.I go read over there, bit still have trouble finding stuff. Diarys seem to evaporate.I`ll keep on trying,will make sense eventually.
Honest—diaries don’t evaporate. The setup there is much like if you’re here viewing the Last 50 Changes page---as newer diaries appear, older diaries sink lower on the Recent Diaries list.
If you look in the upper right corner in your menu, you can click on Diaries and get a complete list of all the diaries on New Forum. Granted, you may have to click on the Next button at bottom right a couple of times…but you will eventually see all of the diaries…
also, bgw in MT is making a linear page, AND we have requested a bump feature in the next upgrade to make “most recently commented diary”float to the top.
see http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=385
One of the most oft-made comments is ‘I don’t like it because I can’t find what I’m looking for.’ Rarely (alas) is that followed with (‘…and here’s what I’m looking for’). But for those who want a yellow forum type list, go to the diaries page and scroll down.
Cinda, you hit the nail on the head. Oh how I would love to even like salmon, good as it is for you.I once bought a whole one, and the cats in the neighborhood finished it off for me.They licked their chops whenever they saw me, but I never bought salmon again. I get as much information as I want over here. The other is dizzying as it gets fat and thin, and trickles to the right. I find it irritates my eyes. I’m satisfied with old fashioned tuna.
i recommend the brook trout, myself.
Anyway, here’s the latest list:
I found that the best way (other than the search feature) to find something again, is to make a comment in that diary. Then I just go to my own page and look at the diaries that I have commented on.
Or click on the little plus sign to put it into my “hot list” if I don’t want to comment. The part I like about the new FW is the “new” label in on posts I haven’t read.
Some of the instructions make my eyes glaze over, though, so I haven’t done anything fancy so far, just news posts and replies. Also, I don’t use the lookout posts much, because it’s hard to tell if there’s anything new now because they don’t get bumped. There isn’t enough time to look at all of them. I’m hoping that crucial news will be on the main news diary.
Well, I messed that up! -Supposed to say red in red color. Oh, I forgot to close the percentsign command, too, so too much was red-ed.
“It is what it is, and somehow the 32,000 visitors and 350,000 page views are learning to deal. The best way is to go to the main page and scroll down.
Do that every day and you’ll get used to it soon enough. It’s not changing to something else, and that’s where most of the discussion is. “
Gosh…Well…
You already know my opinion of statements like that. Nothing else needs to be said.
And with that, I’ve checked the swans and now I’m backing out. You needn’t respond or comment unless you feel you must. I won’t see it though. Best of luck and may the swans keep swimming upright.
Thanks, TR. Any time you’re unhappy with the wiki, the new site or this one, feel free to write me for a refund. ;-)
Have a good holiday, everyone. This is a time of year to appreciate what we have, and remember those who don’t have.
Appreciate the work on the new site, but would caution to not forget the KISS principal!
We can’t accomplish everything with KISS, alas (though the point is well taken).
There’s more to flu prep than just reading about it!
Another example: cottontop is looking for something. Help her find it, and understand that if it were the new site, it’d be found already.
I rather like the diminished postings. Check in, spend minimal time and my pre-occupation or addiction to H5N1 news is satisfied.As an old hand at this I’m pretty much sated with information.I am unusally mellow during the worst of times
Jane, me too, glazed-over eyes & don’t look at lookouts - same reason….too much work on this lazy soul’s brain to figure it all out on the lookout threads.
I can tell what’s the ‘new’ comments because of the red word ‘new’ underneath the ones that have been written since I opened the page the last time, but if I close that page before reading ALL of the new ones right then, the next time I open the page I’ve lost the red “new” bookmark and only those posts that have been posted since I opened the page the last time show, so I end up having to backtrack through the thread to find where I’d left off — and that’s EXACTLY what I have to do here too, so that’s no different.
Texas Rose, I sure wish you’d read this because I don’t want you to head off in another direction without us-Dem didn’t mean anything hurtful by the statement — everything in the statement is true — it’s just not what thrills you and me, but that’s OK, isn’t it? Hope you feel like coming back this morning & staying with us. I visit about 5 flu sites, each has it’s own great points and something about each one usually sucks, but all in all I get the info I need to prepare & help others and isn’t that the most important thing?
Personally I wish some things would be switched at our new forum and my wish list would start with the fact that instead of promoted diaries being in the center of the main page, I wish that’s where we could see one-liner titles of threads WITHOUT ANY explanation of who wrote them or any other clutter — just TITLES — I don’t care how many comments they have or who started the thread or even who commented last, I just would love a main page table of contents where *I* could choose what I think is important on my own.
The “promoted” stuff, in my opinion, since it can only be promoted by mods means that there are 3–4 people ‘choosing’ what I will see first on the site & I don’t like that now that I’ve seen how it’s working out. For me it’s NOT working out.
I think mods ideas of what’s great reading should be under a link to the Mod’s Hotlist, or something like that. If I can have a hotlist for MY stuff, it seems they could have one for them that everyone could access. Sort of like the “Mods Reading Room”. Especially since there’s not been anything chosen to be promoted yet, in 3–4 weeks, that I’m truly interested in reading-I’m forcing myself to vist those diaries, but honestly, I have no interest in most anything that’s happening in them. That says something to me….it tells me the whole site must have changed from leisurely learning of many things by many people which I liked, to hard-core contributors of one point of view discussing that point of view to death front and center! :-) At least that’s what it “looks” like and that’s what it “feels” like to me.
I just have not understood from the get-go why the ‘table of contents’ of the site has to be hunted down in a small Diaries link in the upper right corner of the main page or read in 1″ wide columns along the right with extraneous info jumbled in as well. Does that REALLY make sense to anyone except the people who designed the Amazon main page and I guess to the mods here?
If there were a ‘table of contents’ or a common list of ALL diaries or whatever you wanted to call them, on the front page — front and center then first of all, it would make a LOT of people happy, but also then all the heavy, dull or morbid reading would blend in a little better it wouldn’t stand out so much. I just don’t think the morbid stuff needs to be front and center every dang day, and it COULD actually be better if it all ended up in one place where it’s NOT the first thing someone sees when they’re new to the site — real authentic news is one thing but orphans????? really just give me a break—I’d prefer it didn’t turn off people on their first visit, like it did my sister, by scaring them to death with thoughts they’re not ready for yet. Obviously the site is being marketed through the ‘promoted’ stuff for an audience who’s more entrenched in bird flu info than either myself or my sister is or want to be!
And there are promoted diarys that I don’t even understand what the title of the diary means without some thought (like the mitigation one I scanned that ends up talking about closing malls) & reading it doesn’t help — it’s that out of touch with a “normal” person like me — seems to be for the scientists & the abstract thinkers & the people who are detail-oriented & so on….but it didn’t keep me interested & I’m probably not alone there.
It appears that a lot of people don’t know there’s ‘more’ than what they see on the first page, at least that’s what I find from reading comments here.
Here’s what I’d do to turn this process around from the most people seeing a few promoted diaries and finding them less than enjoyable, to the most people seeing the most diaries and being able to choose for themselves whether to view more or not:
If news were a fixed link (and we all know that’s all that’s possible at this point since there’s no bumping) at the top of the list of diaries in the center of the main page where the mods stuff is now, you could go there if you wanted to read the news. Then if there were a fixed link below the news link for Mods Reading Room, you could go to all the heavy discussions about the morbid stuff that fills the promoted part of the site now.
Then all the other threads would be listed underneath those two fixed links and that way the front page wouldn’t be dominated with all the diaries that only 3 or 4 people conclude are important. I know I know, I know, more people are commenting there in those diaries & that’s why the mods are filling up the first page with that stuff, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most important stuff being said on the site. In other words, if another thread that deals with cooking (which had tons of response on the old site) gets more responses, then by all criteria I can figure out going on now, *it* should also end up on the front page since more people are ‘talking’ about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing to be on the front page either in my opinion.
CONTENTS OF DISCUSSION Today’s News Links (link) Mods Reading Room (link) Diary (link) Diary (link) Diary (link) Diary (link) Diary (link) and so on…
If there were a true table of contents, ALL the diaries would finally have an equal chance of being seen even without a bumping feature instead of us getting the suggested reading list front & center when most of the stuff is only interesting to a few people who are posting a lot of comments.
My sister thought that those few threads she saw when she visited were the only things that were being discussed for the most part & she’s now not interested…too ‘heavy’ for her she said (and she used to visit here some and read, but never posted) and I don’t see any way she’ll ever be back….says she’ll just wait for my emails.
But, the front page stuff is too heavy for me too, but unless I and other people suggest something else it’ll never change because it’s set up the way the mods want it now. May not change anyway, but at least I tried to make a constructive suggestion.
I have to assume the mods can pretty much choose where content goes, how it looks, etc and could choose to do a table of contents easily, but have chosen not to for some reason I’ll never understand.
I’m NOT talking about either the righthand column or the lefthand column of diaries and contents, I’m talking about a true clean cut, simple to read, clear table of contents in the center, without any other info in it but titles. Just titles and the link to that page.
If nothing else the mods could ‘promote’ the entire table of contents as a boxed thingie or just line after line after line of titles, but seem to want to do neither.
I started this post about 10am and it’s now after 3pm because I’d stepped away, taken a nap (we drove for 16 hours yesterday from Bham at 8AM to pick up a rescued dog from a shelter in Mobile to take her to LaGrange Ga & were delayed 3 hours along the way and didn’t get back to Bham until after midnight & I’m just plain bushed), etc. so if it seems choppy in it’s ‘flow’ that’s because I wasn’t typing it all at the same time — sorry.
But I think the idea that I wanted to get across is in here somewhere and I hope it makes sense. I don’t think I’ll ever see any of the changes I mentioned because I don’t think anyone but those of us still here want them because they’re simplier & not so ‘highway billboard’ type attention-getting changes. They are changes that would draw LESS attention to certain places rather than MORE attention. Clean-cut is not what’s important on this new formated forum.
Anyway that’s my 2 cents for today. I just want to go to bed but feel like we have to make appearances at 2 Christmas parties before we can find any peace tonight. When I reread this tomorrow if it’s stupid-sounding, then I apologize now for it and will again tomorrow.
I appreciate the time you spent on the comments and we’ve read them all.
I have to assume the mods can pretty much choose where content goes, how it looks, etc and could choose to do a table of contents easily, but have chosen not to for some reason I’ll never understand.
No, the software is not that flexible. We didn’t write the software, we just work with it. We can’t ‘make a table of contents’ (hence your answer to why we haven’t) although we do have the recent diaries and the recommended diaries and the diaries entrance all acting as same. Going through the diaries entrance might be a solution for some. But if it suits the needs of the current posters and not the casual reader, that’s a trade-off we will have to live with (however grudgingly).
If nothing else the mods could ‘promote’ the entire table of contents as a boxed thingie or just line after line after line of titles, but seem to want to do neither.
We are making this a regular feature. We can’t make the news thread stick to the top, though it’s always the first or second feature because we promote it to keep it up there. We can’t make it into a Table Of Contents scroll (and it’s because we can’t and not because we won’t).
Nonetheless,it still works for the people who are there. Search out your friends or your subjects. And if a topic gets 90 comments on the side or 300 on the front page, i have to assume the system is working for someone.
Again, I appreciate the time and effort in this comment. We’ve asked for the bump feature in the next upgrade, but for now this is what it is. That which we can encourage (like using this entrance) we will.
The new forum is a pain for the eyes. Too splintery, fragmented, too bright background and too wide spacing. Maybe not so difficult to navigate, but the layout makes me headache.
Texas Rose, I sure wish you’d read this because I don’t want you to head off in another direction without us-Dem didn’t mean anything hurtful by the statement — everything in the statement is true — it’s just not what thrills you and me, but that’s OK, isn’t it? Hope you feel like coming back this morning & staying with us.
Sometimes it’s not what you say, but HOW you say it.
Sometimes it’s not what you say, but HOW you hear it. ;-)
In any case, let’s move on.