The new look: Should it stay or go?

[NikeM]

ok, I'm getting the hang of the posts and it's not quite so bad. . . but, I still really do miss the old threads, especially the red "new" sign next to posts I hadn't read before. I find myself jumping around a little and re-reading.

[KathleenM]

Sorry, really miss the old format, easier to find your way through threads. I've really stopped reading this new edition.

[Mary Alice]

I know I already replied in this section, but every time I come back to check people's opinions, I feel more and more afraid for this site's survival. Richie's right, this site's dying. Ken, please do something fast!! I know the changes you made can't have been cheap, but lots of us never had a problem with the old boards were. In fact, I used to check in first thing in the morning, and a couple of times after work. Now I check with a sinking feeling in my stomach! We've only owned our old house 2 yrs. and I found the information on these boards invaluable!!! I miss the regulars- all my "old house friends"!! This board did supply community, and I feel it's lost in this format. PLEEEZE, Ken, take us back to a simpler time!!!!! (And get rid of those freakin' emoticons, for crying out loud!)

[oldhouse]

Hi all,

Having started this thread, I've been following it closely. Here are a few thoughts:

First off, any reports of OHW's death are, well, more than a little bit premature.

Our site traffic always drops a bit between Thanksgiving and the day following Christmas and this year has been no exception.

On the other hand, our traffic has been more than twice as high during this year's holiday season as it was during last year's. And I'm happy to report that use of the site has more than doubled this year, which is pretty cool. Last month - our best ever - we reached an average of more than 15,000 people a day.

Second, for what it's worth, OHW's bulletin boards are near and dear to my heart.

One of my goals when I launched Old House Web five years ago this month was to create the framework for a community where old-house lovers could swap technical questions and answers, thereby creating - over time - a repository of old-house information. My other (equally important) goal was to provide a place where people could connect with others who share their passion for old houses.

I think our old boards succeeded in creating that friendly gathering place.

Alas, I don't think they were terribly successful as a repository of old-house information. They were difficult to search ... and they were becoming mighty slow under the weight of many thousands of messages from the past several years.

So, here's what I am considering doing at this point.

1) I'd like to leave in place our new board software. It gives us the framework to build an easy-to-search repository of solid old-house info. Anything any of us might do to our old houses has already been perfected by someone else. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get that stuff out of our heads and into a place where our collective knowledge could be shared by others?

2) Over the holidays, I'd like to launch a couple of updated forums using our older look-and-feel. My goal would be to continue to provide that friendly, lively gathering spot.

Feedback, as always, is encouraged.

[EnTheos03]

At first, I thought that the "new" look wasn't necessary, and believed that it wasn't as "user" friendly as before. However, I decided not to respond in regards to my opinion until I'd had time to get used to the new. Now that I have, I believe it is actually better than before. The best part of it to me is the ease of reading all responces within a thread. No longer do I need to upload page after page in order to follow a thread. Now, one only has to load one or more pages to read them all. I've not performed a search on a particular subject, but I have to believe it will be easier as well.

As for these boards not being as "friendly" as before??? That is up to us the users of this forum. A particular format has nothing to do with that.

As for me, I will continue to visit this site no matter the format.

Have a Merry Christmas All!

[jeffb]

Now that I know I can click the yellow icon to see only the new posts. I like the new board a lot better. Reading several posts per page now makes it a lot faster for me. I still miss the threaded view though for the bird's eye view of the discussion. That seems to be the tradeoff with showing the content of multiple posts on the same page. I'm going to stick around for sure!

--jeffb

[CM]

Ok....I am slowly getting used to the new features. I still feel more comfortable with the old format. However,for the sake of continuing to be able to read great posts/answers to old house questions, I am willing to give the new way a try.

[jojobi]

I first visited the boards not long before you made the change to the new system. I have to admit, I was amazed any board was still operating the old way. I find the new format quicker to search and more streamlined to browse. One question that may have already been covered...do you not get e-mails any longer when someone responds to your posts? I enjoyed that feature of the old system.

[Don M]

Hi,
Once you register you can check a box that will send you email notification that a response has been posted. In fact I am responding to your post because I received notifcation of your post in my email. In fact by simply clicking on the URL in the email took me directly to your post.
Don

[Guest]

I detest the changes to this site. It is much less user friendly. I'm sure if you know all about how it works it is great. I don't and I don't care to put in the time to learn it. It is absolutely awful and I seriously doubt I will be hanging around much longer if we don't see some changing back. And get rid of the damned emoticons. Please how childish can you get. Hate to be so critical Ken but this whole system bites.