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Community Feedback: We Are Live!

13K views 182 replies 36 participants last post by  surrealone 
#1 ·
We are excited to announce that we are live on our new forum platform!

It’s been a long time coming. Let’s face it. Sometimes older forum technology lags behind other parts of the internet. Although seeing the same format for a long time is comforting, the member experience shouldn’t include dealing with outdated, unsafe, slow software.

The transition to a new platform will never be 100% smooth but the days of dealing with out of date forum software are over. We have teams dedicated to building a world-class community for you. The development has been steady with regular software releases since May 2019. Asking members for feedback and coming up with ideas for improvement is what we want.

Speed and Reliability Are Key
No one should have to wait for information. This site has been built to be much faster and more reliable, period.

New Homepage Experience
Your home page now features the most active forums, trending discussions, featured showcases, and top contributing members. This will keep you up to date on what’s happening in your community and, as we go through updates, will become a very personalized experience for our members.

Search
We have introduced new search algorithms, powered by an industry-leading AI platform, to help you find information faster. We plan to roll out new features to continue improving search, and to power many additional areas of the forum.

Due to the volume of content, our search platform may take some time to complete indexing over the first few days after migrating. During this process, you may see a limited number of posts until indexing has been completed. We appreciate your patience.

Finding Your Way Around
We have made the design clean and simple to use. Near the upper right-hand corner of the community, you will see navigation icons.

The first icon is for what’s new on the site.

Clicking on it, by default, will take you to new unread posts. On that page, you can click on additional tabs as well, such as Popular, if you prefer to view active topics.

Clicking the list icon next to “NEW” will bring you to the full forum listing.

Clicking your avatar will give you a drop-down menu for all things related to your account.

You can also navigate more by clicking the 3 vertical dots.

Dark Mode
We have introduced Dark Mode. One of our favorite features allows you to access the site with a power-saving, and easier on the eyes dark mode. You can access it in the drop-down menu under the 3 vertical dots.

Save Bookmarks
Now you can save your favorite discussion threads and posts! Bookmarks are a handy way to remember and easily find great content or stuff you want to read later.

We also wanted to make it easier for new users to understand the lingo of forums. We have cleaned up various language to more commonly recognized phrases including:
  • Following - Thread subscriptions, and Watched are now known as Following
  • Conversations - Private Messages or PMs are now conversations and can be accessed from the user avatar drop-down in the main navigation
  • Showcase - Showcase is designed for users to "showcase" items/projects through the use of uploaded images, text descriptions and custom content categories. It’s a way to visually and textually provide detailed information on the content you wish to share. The showcase would be similar to a catalog, whereas the gallery would be like a photo album. It can be accessed from the drop-down menu with the 3 dots.
Take a tour and look around! Check out the Help section for some quick FAQs about the new platform. [insert FAQ link]

Please keep all feedback, questions, concerns, requests for help, etc.regarding the new platform right here in this Feedback thread. This will help us make sure not to miss a request for help and also let us pass along your thoughts to our Product team. The Admins and I will be here to help along the way taking note of your comments.

- Community Support
 
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#2 ·
I will be here during your transition to the new platform, to help with any questions, help with navigation or how to do things, and to listen to your feedback so please don't hesitate to holler at me. I want to help. You can also check out our FAQs.

I do want to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Cricket. When I was born, my father told his friends I was the ugliest baby he had ever seen, and that I sounded just like a cricket (I was born with the hiccups.) so yes, I have been Cricket for 58 years now. I live just outside of San Antonio, Texas. I spend most of my free time out in nature and exploring the back roads. During late autumn when it starts to finally cool down, I disappear from the world for a bit for camping trips and hiking.

Please don't be afraid to explore and test out things to see how they work on the site.

Although you can certainly use the "insert image" icon to upload an image to your post, you can also just drag and drop it to the text editor or even copy/paste it into there!

You can easily share videos just by adding the URL directly into the text editor!



Gif links from sites like giphy.com will display automatically just by adding the gif URL directly in the text editor. Try it!



I am a huge fan of the dark mode for the community. What is your favorite feature?

We will be seeing weekly updates (approximately) to the site which are largely based on community feedback so we absolutely want to hear your feedback!

I have worked with our community support team for just over 5 years but I have worked with forums for closer to two decades. I won't always know the answers to your questions, but I can find someone who does, as needed. ;)

- Cricket
 
#3 ·
So far I'm not very impressed.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
How the heck do I remove "Recommended Reading"? I looked in my preferences and didn't see a way.

I'm an adult and really don't need anyone to recommend threads that I should read. I find that extremely intrusive and me being a contrarian will likely go out of my way not to read those threads even if I have previously posted there.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Ditto. May I ask why editing has been restricted to only 10 times in 7 days, or is it 7 times in 10 days? And how is one to determine the time frame to determine the number? Write them on a calendar? Oops. Now it allows me to edit this thread. What was the message I read before?

I tried to edit a post made three days ago to include better photos and received this message "You may not edit more than 10 different post(s) within 7 days ". But I can edit this post which I created less than an hour ago.
 
#7 ·
Ditto. May I ask why editing has been restricted to only 10 times in 7 days, or is it 7 times in 10 days? And how is one to determine the time frame to determine the number? Write them on a calendar? Oops. Now it allows me to edit this thread. What was the message I read before?
Editing has been restricted? That doesn't bode well for me, as I typo often and, thus, I edit heavily. If it's content I added, why, exactly, can't I edit it as often as I like as I'm it's originator, right???
 
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#10 ·
No P38, P5 or P88 in the header?

But a 1911 image is included???
I agree. It would also be nice if they were arranged in Chronological order of when they were introduced. PP was first and should be on the far left, then P38 next, and so on down the line to the right. Just my opinion.

Pudge
 
#12 ·
So I have tried about 5 times and agree it is faster in some cases. The Google ads are a pain but I am removing them as fast as possible. I see photographs are embedded in posts which is good. Still it clumsy to work with. The "Alerts" are not necessary, alert to me means action must be taken immediately, not you have a message. I also do a lot of editing, because spell check likes to make up words. Limiting edits will make some interesting reading. I am trying to adapt and learning as I go.

Duncan
 
#16 ·
How To Find Subscribed Threads

Click on your avatar near the upper right-hand corner of the site and select “following” from the drop-down menu.

This will bring you to a page where you can choose to view followed discussions, forums, your discussions, and participated discussions.

- Cricket
 
#20 ·
So not a fan of this format. Why are the topics not shown in chronological order by default? Maybe it’s newer software but has an archaic feel. This was a busy forum compared to others. I expect that to change with this format. Maybe this upgrade allows greater advertising and revenue?
 
#22 ·
I have the basics figured out, I think. I agree with Jaake, this will slow down membership discussion. Is there any way to move ads out of the listings, maybe only at the top, as in old format. I am also finding the pop-up ads on the right side very annoying. They eat up a lot of data on users end, even more than MSN News feed. Over 24 meg for a short check of topics. If ads are generating dollars for the forum can they at least be firearms related? I find the Google ads very distracting and not appropriate to this forum.

Duncan
 
#30 ·
I wanted to take a moment to assure you that we are listening to all the feedback

That being said, this site is supported by ads.

As you already know, that’s how we keep the lights on around here.

As it turns out, servers, bandwidth, security, and maintenance aren’t free. ;)

Although the forum will remain 100% free to our users, there is a premium membership option available for those who are interested.
91998


- Cricket
 
#25 · (Edited)
PM's are now 'conversations'. I used to be able to 'DELETE' PM's .... now the 'DELETE' option is not available.

When I go to conversations and tick/check a message that I intend to delete, my options are:
Leave conversation..................meaning please
Mark conversations read.........same question
Mark conversations unread.....same question
Star conversations..................same question
Unstar conversations..............same question

WHERE'S DELETE ????? 😂

Edit: Forget it, got er' figured out. To delete, click on 'Leave conversation'. :giggle:
 
#72 ·
Yes but you forgot to leave the part about alerting you when you have a new post in the conversations checked...you have a couple that I'm aware of...:)
 
#26 ·
Can you at least explain why "Life Styles and home" pops up between #24 and #25 in this post. Makes following conversation difficult to follow. As I said I seem to be able to navigate, but things like this really slow things up. I am trying to understand the new site, but it is not user friendly. We many lose membership if thing continue to be so clouded. When I select a topic of interest, I expect that only that topic is in my feed. I don't care about life styles and home when viewing Community Feedback.

Duncan
 
#27 ·
First, CONGRATS on going online. Been in the IT biz for many years and fully understand the challenges implementing new software, data migration and testing.

When I logged on the first time after go live, all my bookmarks took me to the wrong forums due to the change in the URL. A car forum I use also did this so I knew how to fix it. Fortunately, I only have a few bookmarks.

I also have to comment that the current styles are pretty harsh. Perhaps you can look at adding 1 or two that resemble the previous UI a bit better. That may help the transition for a number of members.
 
#28 ·
So, admin wanted feedback... Annoying ads are now embedded within a given thread, the side-bar adds are too large at 2/3 of th page width (on my iPad), and the new format doesn’t show what I have read previously and it doesn’t highlight when new posts appear for a given thread that I have read previously. While faster to load, thus “upgrade” is not for me, and in fact it actively discourages me from visiting the WF after 7+ years of active participation. (n) (And images of a CCP and a 1911 are featured in the site’s masthead? Really??)
 
#46 ·
While faster to load, thus “upgrade” is not for me, and in fact it actively discourages me from visiting the WF after 7+ years of active participation. (n) (And images of a CCP and a 1911 are featured in the site’s masthead? Really??)
I tend to find the layout less efficient, as well. The right-most third of the screen containing nothing materially useful to most of my reading and/or navigation is a big part of it. And why, exactly, is there a Colt Gold Cup image among the rest of the Walthers in the banner up top???


How do you go to the first unread post since you last viewed a thread?
This one is a problem for me, as well. Normally the last-updated post in a given forum/thread would be something I could find on the right-most third of the screen in the old format. Clicking it would take me to the post, however, with the new layout, this appears to be gone. Thus, I end up clicking around more ... and loading more things, not less. While page loads may, indeed, be faster, the less efficient navigation forces me to load more pages and, thus, the overall experience is slower and more aggravating. (It does, however, have the side effect of forcing more ad impressions, which may be the point of the slower, clunkier user experience. However, like GeoNole94, if it persists I'll likely read and post less, which is fewer, not more ad impressions on this user over the long haul.)

I'm also baffled by the "Show Full Signature" clickable that shows up for folks who have one- or two-line signatures, as it seems to be a waste of space … one that largely devalues concise signatures by rendering them hard to read.
 
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#29 ·
This is a feature I really like that some of you might too.

You can Showcase your gun(s) and once there are enough showcases, the homepage will start featuring them.

How to Create a Showcase?

From the navigation, near the upper right-hand corner, click the 3 vertical dots to open the drop-down menu and select “Showcase”.

From the Showcase page, click on “Add item” in the right-hand corner.

A popup will appear at the top. Click on “showcase”.

A form will open for you to fill in the blanks, such as title, tags, general information, etc.

Scroll down to “General Information” to content and images, in the same way that you would for writing a post. The first image added will be the cover photo.

Add any additional item details, and “Save”.

If you want to make any changes, including choosing a different cover photo from the images you added, you can do so by editing your showcase.

- Cricket
 
#32 ·
Cricket,

I realize the cost. It's the placement and content of the ads I, and other members are questioning. This is Walther Forum, not Google lifestyles and ads forum. Have we even approached firearms dealers or suppliers as to sponsorship. As I stated I'm 72 and on a fixed income. I'm not going to spend money on a premium membership without knowing if the items I have commented on disappear. I will continue to monitor this forum, but I'm over on posting for a while. We are in the midst of a national emergency and I don't need the added stress. I'm sure you and others have worked very hard to "upgrade" the forum, but I'm leaning towards dropping out. Its been fun.

Duncan
 
#34 · (Edited)
This is a feature I really like that some of you might too.

You can Showcase your gun(s) and once there are enough showcases, the homepage will start featuring them.

How to Create a Showcase?

From the navigation, near the upper right-hand corner, click the 3 vertical dots to open the drop-down menu and select “Showcase”.

From the Showcase page, click on “Add item” in the right-hand corner.

A popup will appear at the top. Click on “showcase”.

A form will open for you to fill in the blanks, such as title, tags, general information, etc.

Scroll down to “General Information” to content and images, in the same way that you would for writing a post. The first image added will be the cover photo.

Add any additional item details, and “Save”.

If you want to make any changes, including choosing a different cover photo from the images you added, you can do so by editing your showcase.

- Cricket
This is the Walther Forums why would we want anything but Walthers on the masthead and why would we want the masthead edited???
The masthead is a community logo. Folks don't want to see pictures of my Walthers up there (nice as some of them are) nor do they want to see your 1911. They want a representative sampling of the various models.

I could be wrong but I very much doubt it. Save your showcase for other purposes.
 
#33 ·
I understand the need for income to fund this forum. But a design giving 1/3 of the screen to advertising and 1/6 to a column showing the name of contributors to the thread is a bit much, diminishing the view of the images posted and distracting from concentrating on the thread. Sorry. That is my opinion.
 
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#36 ·
I don't come here to be bombarded with juvenile horseplop. I'm not interested in ongoing emphasis of top contributors, reaction scores, points and similar Facebook-style preening. Previously everything was simple, straightforward and --with one scroll-- easy to read; now everything is hidden under a triple-canopy cyberjungle preoccupied with "community". I'm opting out.

To those of you whose company I've enjoyed for some years, God bless you. See you somewhere else.

M
 
#40 ·
I don't come here to be bombarded with juvenile horseplop. I'm opting out.

To those of you whose company I've enjoyed for some years, God bless you. See you somewhere else.

M
We will miss your knowledge and skill. While you and I butted heads more than once I have enjoyed your posts. You will be missed Mike.
 
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