Hi Doug/Danny/Admins,
First, I'm not here to whine about the changes. Obviously a change from vBulletin has been needed for quite some time. So, no argument there. Obviously you guys have put in a great deal of effort to get things to where they are with this change over and that's commendable.
However, some of the things that made TMC a great forum seem to have been lost along the way. Maybe some of it is returning or something better taking the place of some of these lost features, but as of now I'm admittedly a bit turned off by the change. Aesthetically, I don't particularly care either way, but functionality is definitely more important.
So, what was gained? The short list I have is:
- Off of vBulletin - Long time coming, well needed, improved scalability
- SSL - Good, but I don't particularly care either way... not like there's anything super sensitive happening around here
- IPV6 - Probably a good idea in the long run
- More "Groups" functionality? maybe, not really sure the details there.
- Potentially better mobile functionality? Up for debate, but I hate Tapatalk, so this is a plus.
- Bigger avatars!
- Probably other things I've missed.
What has been lost, however?
- Content density and intuitive layout have been lost for sure. Much less detail available at a glance now.
- Locked at 20 posts/items per page
- I'm going to point out now that this is a deal breaker for me and I'll pretty likely not be using TMC any longer until it's possible to set this to 100 or more posts per page. You realize I've started threads that have 2000+ posts, right? Ain't nobody got time to page through that at 20 posts per page.
- Reputation system completely gone and all reputation previously gained lost
- Not that it's a huge deal or that the rep was super meaningful, but having built up to 2nd place in rep over the course of a few years to find that now the "Notable Members" are entirely based on quantity over quality. Seems like a major loss, even if it was a simple system before. There's no real way to see the actual top members anymore from what I can tell.
- Doesn't seem to be anything to replace the old rep system.
- No subscribed threads ('watched threads' now) folders
- Had a few folders of subscribed threads so I could keep an eye on my current popular/important threads at a glance, and the rest when I had more time. Now they're just all clumped together.
- Lost the image upload feature
- I haven't personally used this one for a while since I decided I wanted to retain control of my personal image postings, but definitely a loss for those who've made use of the feature regularly.
- Old PMs are disheveled
- Sent items mixed with inbox and other folders.
- Cant seem to find a way to download my PMs
- Also has the 20 per page limit
- Supporting members appear to still have advertisements and anti-adblock notice
- The latest anti-adblock campaigns around the net have caused me to abandon several other sites entirely. It's just one of those things that on principal bothers the heck out of me. TMC for example, I valued the content and community enough to pay/donate for an ad free experience... certainly gets TMC much more revenue since I'll never click ads anyway. I simply won't use a site that doesn't allow me some method, paid or otherwise (ad-block), of not dealing with ads. If the content is worth viewing, it's worth paying for. If not, then no amount of anti-adblock stuff is going to make the content more worthwhile. I'd much rather open my wallet for good content vs have advertisements in my face.
- I'll assume that this is one of the things that will eventually be fixed.
- The edit box for posting new threads is super small
- I generally browse the web on my 4K screen with a maximized browser. I'm writing this post in a box that is less than 1/3rd the width of my screen with no way to expand it. (The button that expands the full page doesn't help)
- Jumping to the first unread post in a thread requires targeting a tiny blue dot with the mouse or finger now vs the much larger down arrow.
- Definitely takes longer to catch up on threads.
- This is also not consistent around the form in different lists of threads. Sometimes to text of the link also goes to the first unread, other times it doesn't and only the blue dot does.
- Think that's enough for now. I'll assume the point has been made.
This change definitely has taken a lot of people by surprise. "Maintenance" usually doesn't mean "full redesign." In any case, while I applaud the effort to move things towards a more secure platform I think doing so now at the cost of lost functionality was a poor decision, even if these things are addressed at some point in the future.
I've donated $1,000 in total to TMC so far. Not that this should get me any special treatment or consideration, but I mention it to note that had the site been in its current form when I last donated........ I would not have. I vote with my wallet on many things, and I would certainly have voted against this particular change. Had this update brought in a new look with nearly all pre-existing functionality intact (and hopefully with some new functionality), I don't think I or anyone else would have had any concerns. But this certainly feels like an overall step backwards on the functionality front.
I hope at least some of the lost functionality is restored at some point in the future, but for now I think that you guys may have rushed into this a little too soon.
My apologies for the criticism, since I know what you
have accomplished here was no easy task. But, the community here is what makes TMC what it is, and this kind of caught most of us off guard. I just hope these changes don't alienate too much of the community that TMC is based on. I anticipate there will be much more criticism to come, probably most of it not very constructive.
Regrettably, my personal participation here is certainly going to be at a record low from now on since, IMO, overall usability and value has decreased substantially here as a result of the things I've noted above.
All the best,
Jason / wk
