Suggestion Don't like this....

[neophytediver]

I'll be the first to say it, I don't like this new and "improved" SCUBABoard. The location of posts doesn't make sense, if anything, the layout is worse than it was, and even more difficult now to figure out where to post topics. I personally would love to meet some of the folks that complained about not being able to find anything under the old board.

 

[Ted S]

It would be helpful if you can give me some specifics as to what "doesn't make sense". The changes seemed pretty logical to me... Underwater Photography for example isn't a forum that belongs next to news, it belongs with the other scuba forums. Technical specialties belong in, well, the technical area. Almost all of the changes were along those lines -- remove excess sub forums (like the O-rings U/W forum) and combine forums when logical (i.e. the 3 food related forums become one).

Understandably there is a learning curve which can be annoying at first but it goes away very quickly. As for the reports of having problems, they came from all over. Users who have used the board for years, moderators and most of all, new members or people who wanted to become new members but were just plain lost. Even I get lost surfing around the forums from time to time, there's a lot of topics and a lot covered. Remember, just because it's "new" doesn't make it bad -- try to think about things from the perspective of a new user or of finding something in specific. Sure, it's annoying to not see a forum where it was yesterday but that doesn't necessarily mean things are more difficult, they are merely different then they use to be.

With that said, I'm not planning to revert our new structure -- however, if you have some specific issues we can certainly put them on the discussion list and if there's a strong consensus from the users then sure, we can make some more changes, nothing is every perfect on the first try.

 

[kidspot]

For the most part, once I got over the "where did everything go" shock, I found the layout makes more sense. The one aspect I'm not really liking yet is the new regional travel and Dive Clubs forum. With 30 sub-forums it just seems too cumbersome. Would it be possible to do with it like you did with the technical forums and combine regions? With all the information on Scubaboard I understand organization is going to become more and more difficult to manage as time goes on. In my "wild imagination" I wonder if eventually we could make a personalized page where we could sort things into our own configuration... but like I said that's just in my dreams at this stage I'm sure.

All in all it looks like things are going in the right direction - keep up the great work T.A. and thanks for all the time you spend keeping SB functional!

Aloha, Tim

 

[Ted S]

Thanks for the feedback kidspot. Several other members including some of the moderators have commented on the travel & club forums... right now we are trying to come up with a better solution because as you said, 40 forums really doesn't work.

I imagine we will have completely personalized homepages in the future... but not today

 

[kidspot]

Hey T.A. - that was a quick reply (somebody's working late or is it early...)

Just another thought - it makes sense to keep them all in the same category (since they all belong together) but it seems most folks would only regularly visit one (their home area), so is it possible to make the others collapsible like you do with the major categories? - I don't know, just thinking aloud...

Thanks again for getting us organized,

Tim

 

[Ted S]

The only way to make anything collapse (at this point) is to have it be a category and I don't think we want 40+ categories. I'm sure there's a better solution but I've put it in the hands of the moderators (or the users) to figure it out because right now I'm not certain!

 

[El Orans]

Just a suggestion: Diving with disabilities doesn't sound technical or advanced to me. It should have its own forum as is the case with freediving and snorkeling.

Laurens

 

[kidspot]

LOL - very true ... looking ahead to 2040 when SB has 1,500 categories with 23,000 sub-forums... Have fun!

I'll pass along any "brilliant" ideas that come to me in my current sleep deprived state...(which should promptly be discarded)

Aloha, Tim

 

[SeanQ]

I've only been online for a few minutes and so far I like the new changes. Thanks!

 

[Snowbear]

I'll be the first to say it, I don't like this new and "improved" SCUBABoard. The location of posts doesn't make sense, if anything, the layout is worse than it was, and even more difficult now to figure out where to post topics. I personally would love to meet some of the folks that complained about not being able to find anything under the old board.

Rather than just saying you don't like it, how about making somesuggestions for improvement?

From what TechAdmin replied, the changes were a result of input from users who wanted change. Now it's your turn - what do YOU think should be changed (not that it's going to automatically happen, but your input will definitely be considered)?