Still Not Happy!

[wigpro]

I am still not happy with the forum software upgrade and I have noticed a huge fall-off in participation. The thumbnails don't work most of the time on the photo forum and it is cumbersome to post photos and get them to work correctly, the steps are the same, but it just doesn't seem to be as easy.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I see they are doing another upgrade tonight, hopefully the new features they are promising will get us closer to back the way it was before the improvement.

I visit the site several times a day and the posts never change, it used to be the length of time anything was on page 1 was about 24 hours, now with the in-activity they stay the same for days if not weeks!

We need more participation and I fear the new software drove some regulars away!

Done with my rant!

Jim

[andrewteee]

Well, there were 4 posts updated today and four posts updated yesterday. Pretty dang slow IMO. I came here today in the first time in a while. Seems there is a lot of clutter in the UI. And all that Facebook stuff...well I'm here, not on Facebook. The actual content - posts - gets buried. They seem to be using the same forum software as serious compacts.com. There, you go to the home page and on the right is the latests posts. Some days are slow, others not; also depends on the time of day. But at least it's easy to know what's going on.

[lkeeney]

I am still not happy with the forum software upgrade and I have noticed a huge fall-off in participation. The thumbnails don't work most of the time on the photo forum and it is cumbersome to post photos and get them to work correctly, the steps are the same, but it just doesn't seem to be as easy.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I see they are doing another upgrade tonight, hopefully the new features they are promising will get us closer to back the way it was before the improvement.

I visit the site several times a day and the posts never change, it used to be the length of time anything was on page 1 was about 24 hours, now with the in-activity they stay the same for days if not weeks!

We need more participation and I fear the new software drove some regulars away!

Done with my rant!

Jim

I noticed the same thing. It is too bad because this site used to be a great source of information on the Olympus systems.

[Johannes]

My membership will expire soon ................

[craig]

I'm sorry to hear that you are not happy.

You will be pleased to know that the Photos section has been fixed today.

If there is something that is not the same as it used to be, you need to let us know what it is. We were not members of the site before we took over management so you need to give us more detail than just, it's not the same as it used to be.

And if you do not like the Facebook sidebar, you can click on the >> at the side and this will hide the sidebar for you.

We will do our best to try and make things as they were, but software needs to be updated to prevent security hacks and to allow the forum to move forward, unfortunately this sometimes means that things have to change.

Regards,
Craig

[darkesha]

I don't mind it.
A bit to distracting with forum and threads being secondary to (hard to describe and quantify) "everything else" instead being the main draw on the page.
On the other hand, it's summer and people have better things to do then being on Internet all day.

p.s. was the redesign a consequence of change in management ?

[craig]

The change in look was a result of the forum moving to more modem software. It was a requirement due to security.

If it has driven people away then I'm afraid there is not much we can do about that. This is the Internet, things tend to change.

[craig]

Well, there were 4 posts updated today and four posts updated yesterday. Pretty dang slow IMO. I came here today in the first time in a while. Seems there is a lot of clutter in the UI. And all that Facebook stuff...well I'm here, not on Facebook. The actual content - posts - gets buried. They seem to be using the same forum software as serious compacts.com. There, you go to the home page and on the right is the latests posts. Some days are slow, others not; also depends on the time of day. But at least it's easy to know what's going on.

Not sure what you're looking at... These are the post statistics.. New per day

June 11, 2012		42
June 12, 2012		72
June 13, 2012		51
June 14, 2012		64
June 15, 2012		54

[craig]

We need more participation and I fear the new software drove some regulars away!

Participation is only going to come from the members.

From an Admin point of view I own a number of websites and time (and hence money) is spent on the ones which are thriving the most.

If anyone wants to apply to be a moderator and start running some assignments etc again then I am open to it. In fact this is not the first time I have asked.

[barkly]

I am still not happy with the forum software upgrade and I have noticed a huge fall-off in participation. The thumbnails don't work most of the time on the photo forum and it is cumbersome to post photos and get them to work correctly, the steps are the same, but it just doesn't seem to be as easy.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I see they are doing another upgrade tonight, hopefully the new features they are promising will get us closer to back the way it was before the improvement.

I visit the site several times a day and the posts never change, it used to be the length of time anything was on page 1 was about 24 hours, now with the in-activity they stay the same for days if not weeks!

We need more participation and I fear the new software drove some regulars away!

Done with my rant!

Jim

I agree. When I now log in and I get the latest posts it is a dogs breakfast - well my dog that is.

I will stay around but find I have to concentrate too much on the threads. I would like as we had in the past ONE thread - latest post and then we enter in and had a look around.

[craig]

Really? Am I missing the point here or something?

When I log in I am presented with all the forums and I can click on which one I want to see the posts in. Or, I can click on the "What's New" link in the navigation bar and be presented with all the latest posts in reverse chronological order.

I'm not sure what else could make it any simpler.

And lastly, this isn't just this forum. This is typical layout for the vBulletin forum software which would have to be the most popular forum software out there. I'm fairly certain they know how people like to navigate around.

This is really starting to bother me. I, obviously, want to fix it if I'm driving users away but I can't see the problems yet? Am I talking to the majority here or just a noisy few?

[tomsi42]

Just a few words from rainy Norway.

The lack of activity here is almost identical to what I have seen on other fora. I don't think the update of the software can be blamed; I think the culprits are Facebook, the general economic climate and the fact that digital photography has matured.

Facebook has taken over for forums for the larger group of users; especially those who don't engage much in gear talk and just like to show off their photos. The economic climate and a mature industry slows down innovation and speed of new releases. Now, 2012 looks like a good year with lots of new kit; but how many are buying?

Personally, I have mostly been in lurking mode here since around Easter; many reasons for that. But the new forum software is not one of them. And I am not on Facebook, either

[Don Kondra]

Well, I am one of the noisy few

Fortunately I am familiar with Vbulletin and their various incarnations so the updates, in hindsight, have been relatively painless.

I'm pleased the thumbnail issue has been resolved. To be clear, if a member uses the forum attachment feature a thumbnail will be generated.

If the image is uploaded from Photobucket, etc. there will be no thumbnail. Same as before.

Another plus is the drag and drop feature in the Manage Attachments now works. In the past it didn't work here or on other sites.

The "Auto Save" feature is Great, can't remember the last time I lost a reply half way through writing it, he, he..

Although I am on Facebook (to see what the niece and nephew are up to) and "liked" 4/3's there it's presence on this forum is rather inconspicuous and can easily be ignored...

Can we have the spell checker back please ?

Using my own iSpell is just another click but....

FWIW I preferred the up/down arrows to increase/decrease the size of the text box. Freaks me out when all the text outside the box gets highlighted when resizing the text box

IMO the lower post count is seasonal, it's summer and all the forums I frequent are slower.

I do miss the posts of some of the more familiar faces but I'm sure they have their own reasons for moving on.

Best of luck to them, for me it is onwards and upwards

Cheers, Don

[KHatfull]

Really? Am I missing the point here or something?

When I log in I am presented with all the forums and I can click on which one I want to see the posts in. Or, I can click on the "What's New" link in the navigation bar and be presented with all the latest posts in reverse chronological order.

I'm not sure what else could make it any simpler.

And lastly, this isn't just this forum. This is typical layout for the vBulletin forum software which would have to be the most popular forum software out there. I'm fairly certain they know how people like to navigate around.

This is really starting to bother me. I, obviously, want to fix it if I'm driving users away but I can't see the problems yet? Am I talking to the majority here or just a noisy few?

I just get to the main page, hit "New Posts" and go.

It's really simple to keep up...if you want to make it simple.

[drp]

I may be missing something but can someone tell me how to resign my membership? I have no trouble navigating to the "membership" area but I have no clue and cannot find one as to how to resign.

I signed up for automatic annual payments but I just don't like the new fourthirdsphoto. And I HAVE given it a chance but I don't want to waste more money on something I don't and won't use.

And thanks for a good ride in the past.

David

[Don Kondra]

I may be missing something but can someone tell me how to resign my membership? I have no trouble navigating to the "membership" area but I have no clue and cannot find one as to how to resign.

AFAIK there is no "I quit" button, you just go away. And you can't take your posts with you

I signed up for automatic annual payments

If you paid with Paypal here is how to..

Log in to your PayPal account.
Click Profile near the top of the page.
Click My money.
Click Update in the My preapproved payments section.
Click Cancel or Cancel automatic billing and follow the instructions.

but I just don't like the new fourthirdsphoto. And I HAVE given it a chance but I don't want to waste more money on something I don't and won't use.

Well David, I can only take that personally. The "new" 4/3's is the same as the old, except with upgraded software that a Lot of other sites use.

And thanks for a good ride in the past.

David

C U out there...

Cheers, Don

[drp]

Thanks Don.

Just followed your suggestion but it looks like I didn't use PayPal so I'll check with my credit card companies.

Thanks again.

[Don Kondra]

It appears Paypal is the only option to purchase a membership so you must have used a credit card through Paypal.

If you can't find a recurring payment on Paypal you should be good to go (no pun intended)

Cheers, Don