The only thing that needed fixing was posting pictures.
Why is it that IT people cannot leave well enough alone.
I do not like this format and will visit less.I know that in
time I will get used to it,but I still won`t like it.
What do you think?
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I AGREE ITS HARD TO NAVIGATE BUT I WILL GET USED TO THAT IN TIME. CHANGE IS GOOD I THINK. NEVER KNEW HOW TO POST pictures, now maby ill give it a try.
Bill
I tend to agree with you. Although I'm sure once I get more familiar with it the old forum will fade away, I found this so far to be less intuitive for navigating.
The additional features will probably help more folks but I think the layout still has a lot to be desired. All things being equal though as I said the more we use it the less we may notice. This layout at least for me is very "busy".
But it's not my playground. With any change it takes some getting used to. Let's see if some of the suggestions can get implemented and hopefully the look and feel can get back a bit to how it was. OGR has gone through a great deal of work to try to make a better forum so maybe in the end that's what we'll get.
I appreciate all the hard work that's been done and whats ahead. IMO though the forum has a lot less feel to it and more "stuff" in the way of on screen content.
So let's see where it goes. Tweaking is good.
Well, as far as forums go, the old one was even a little bit off from the "standard". But this new one is just something from a whole different planet. I've been a member of many forums for at least 10 or more years now, and this is by far the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I can see how the web designers are trying to emulate facebook. Only problem is this is not a social network or blog site. It's a place to talk about a very specific subject matter.
Here are my favorite forums and you'll notice they are all a very standard layout and operate much the same way:
honda-tech.com
tl.acurazine.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=93
tamiyaclub.com/forum/
I can tell they are working on making it a bit more conventional and there still a bit to be done. Until then, this forum is going to be painful for those of us that frequent many sites on the internet and not just this one.
I get the feeling of being cramped, like in a closet or something. Everything is hidden. I hope they can fix the entries so the name of the thread starter is shown.
Works for me! A day or two and it will seem normal.
Gentlemen,
I do like the new forum except I would like to have the thread pictures bigger,
shrinking eveything up kind of limits what you can see.
PCRR/Dave
Too many threads started about "how do you like the new forum". Gee just look and add on to the one already posted instead of starting another one.
TEX
Steve
I get the feeling of being cramped, like in a closet or something. Everything is hidden. I hope they can fix the entries so the name of the thread starter is shown.
------
I could not agree more! And I stated this on the earlier thread. The good news is it appears the folks at OGR are already listening to the feedback and making attempts to adjust the layout as much as they have the means to do it. Some things are understandably beyond an administrator's ability to tweak and may require involvement of the Hoopla folks.
Change is ALWAYS a double-edge sword, and one always needs to evaluate trade-offs. Unfortunately, lots of changes that are occurring nowadays are too dramatic and done simply for the sake of change. The fact that someone commented that this new forum layout is patterned after Facebook may have hit the nail on the head.
Frankly, I could care less about Facebook (and the new crop of employee millionaires that will follow from its recently announced IPO). If I wanted to use Facebook, I'd go to Facebook -- not the OGR forum. I LIKED the old forum's design layout -- without the need to tell the whole world I liked it with a "like button". 
It worked for me (and my brain), and I had over 10 years of history with it. The ONLY benefit I as a user see in this new forum is the ease of uploading photos and videos (i.e., without requiring a separate site to host the image files). And I have a real difficult time believing that adding that function required such a dramatically different layout design. In fact, I KNOW that's not the case, as there are other forums in existence that provide that functionality with the "look and feel" of the former OGR forum.
Look... I understand we're all different, and we all have different likes and dislikes... and you can't please everyone. That's just not possible. If there's ANYTHING I've learned over the years on various forums... I can GUARANTEE that as soon as someone posts that they dislike something, absolutely with 100% certainty the very next post or two will be someone else indicating how much they LOVE that same thing. People are funny that way, and you just can't take any of this stuff too seriously.
I will say this however... there's definitely a new breed of folks out there with all kinds of different design ideas in their heads. Some of their designs will take root. Others will fall by the wayside. That's just the way change works.
Our local newspaper just launched a MAJOR design layout change a few months ago... and the overall consensus of readers is it's AWFUL. End of discussion. The design wonderkids completely eliminated the newspaper's masthead and leading headline(s) from each of the sections. So now readers don't even know which section is which -- nor do they even know what the lead stories are anymore. Heck, I couldn't even find the name of the newspaper the first day we received the new version!!! 
I mean... really... WHO in their right minds dreams up these unwieldy designs??? 
The only thing worse is the powers-at-be will never admit they screwed up and revert back to the newspaper's former design... at least not until a new breed of editors/publishers comes onto the scene.
Sorry for the rant here -- I've attempted to rant without hurting anyone's feelings in particular. I just wanted to remind folks here that our little corner of the world isn't immune to all the ridiculous change that's going in everyday life. We forumites just got our fill of it in the past day or two, and the medicine probably won't go down that easily for many of us "old-timers", which ironically represents a good percentage of this hobby. 
But we'll get through it. Some of us may choose to not visit here as often -- just like I don't read our local newspaper as much anymore (thankfully, it wasn't the only source of local info!!!), but we'll eventually get through it... although the glowing endorsements may be far and few between.
David
No kidding! Oops!
Pete
In a word, I just don't like it, I saw nothing needing updating. This means I will try to read here less, because of confusion of using.
Sorry for my ineptness.
Rod
Text appears and disappears as I move my mouse. Lost my patience and am going home for the day. Try again tomorrow
I dont care for it myself. I would of rather left the original, and added the photo option to download photos from your documents.
it's only the first day...got to give it a chance...but i miss the old forum...not happy with the facebook look,...just my opinion...
I'd like to get rid of the huge white space to the right of the compressed forum text! Why not let the text expand to the size of the browser window like it used to here and does in all other forums?
I went through the nine pages of answers and replys. I signed out and in. But I still cant figure out how to distinguish from topics I have read and want to return to.
There is an icon on the right of the page to mark all topics as read, but nothing to show unread. It looks like its stuck on 'read'. I might not even be able to find an answer to this post.
There's a NEW >> on the right side.
The top post is new, the bottom one has been marked read.
I went through the nine pages of answers and replys. I signed out and in. But I still cant figure out how to distinguish from topics I have read and want to return to.
There is an icon on the right of the page to mark all topics as read, but nothing to show unread. It looks like its stuck on 'read'. I might not even be able to find an answer to this post.
this is a question i have also. I don't want to be opening threads I have already read and i would like to go back to ones that i have read the day before, which my browser always kept high lighted so i knew which ones they were and I also would like to know the starter of the thread like the old form had
the other thing is you could find out the posts a certain member made by clicking on his name and then click on posts he made in the other forum. you can not do that now even when you made the post, you better remember just where is was on you may never find it again
The only thing that needed fixing was posting pictures.
Why is it that IT people cannot leave well enough alone.
I do not like this format and will visit less.I know that in
time I will get used to it,but I still won`t like it.
What do you think?
I'm with you Bill. My first impressions: I don't think the photo posting and the thread survival features are worth the clumsy user interface, the reduced number of posts / page, the extra clicking and scrolling, and general learning curve. I think the older format was much cleaner, IMO.
George
So far, not so much.
Mort
In a word, I just don't like it, I saw nothing needing updating. This means I will try to read here less, because of confusion of using.
Sorry for my ineptness.
Rod
I'm guessing that cost was a key factor in the decision to switch but I could be wrong.
I do miss the link that used to be at the bottom of the page to get you back to the FORUMS selection. Now you have to scroll back up to the top of the page. Posting pictures is remarkedly easier...
Marty
This is a known problem. You need to update your browser and get the latest Java updates.
Still tweaking...
So Far not so much. I'm not exactly sure what advantage it was to go to a new format? I suppose I'll try to get use to it or not use it as often.
Well, I like the fact that the white space it gone, that's great! 
Rich,
Thanks for working to get the white-space problem fixed so quickly! I noticed the fix while responding on another thread. That fix alone will go a LONG way to helping folks get acclimated to the new forum!
David
Feels a little better now. Personally now I would like to see the threads centered on the page and the Recent Posts window and Sponsor window jammed to the right.
Keep tweaking. It's starting to "feel" better.
I see that the white space issue was able to get resolved - thanks for doing that.
As far as liking it or not. Being able to post pictures so easily is worth it to me. I am one who hates change so it will take a while for me to acclimate to the new look. But I am sure I will. I do appreciate OGR spending the time and money to try and make the forum better. As with everything, some will like it and some will not.
Thanks,
Ed
So Far not so much. I'm not exactly sure what advantage it was to go to a new format? I suppose I'll try to get use to it or not use it as often.
Advantages? How about these for starters:
Patience, Grasshopper.
Hey Rich,
Thanks for doing a great job to make the forum pleasant for all of us. I am grateful for your efforts.
What's up with the avatar pictures? Is it possible to display the names of the members signed in at the top, like what we had before? Please try to remove those "empty heads" avatar pictures to the right. Put a nice picture of the 765 instead if possible or how about the video for next OGR run preview there. One great thing about coming to the forum is to see all the signed in members at the same time and that prompts one to look out for the post of the signed in members. Besides, I need to see that Hot Water and Farmer Bill are signed in before I post anything
Also what happened to the viewing of the most recent posts of a forumite?
One more thing, I liked your avatar picture better when you were wearing the yellow gloves at the helm of the 765, that's your signature look. Why did you put on the tie and the white shirt?
Thanks for the great job in transitioning us to a new forum!
Prairie
Hey wadddaya know, looking less cramped already!
Ahh..looking much better without all that excess white space!
It's a major change and will take some getting used to. I think in a few weeks it will feel real comfortable and I won't even remember the old forum format.
The white shirt is my Pilot shot. I'll go back to Eliot's 765 shot. 
With regard to the Premium Memberships, I can't say a whole lot about them yet. They are coming, but I want to be sure we've got this new forum up and running well first. I also have a LOT of behind-the-scenes work to before we will be ready to launch the Premium side of the site.
I too am not so quick to give up the ghost, but I find the new forum "busy" and less appealing. I have another personal reason for not liking it, but it's neither here nor there to how everyone else views this new format. I think I could be spending a lot less time here, and over time, perhaps lose interest to come back at all.
But it's early.
To be honest I like it! When i was on the other forum i could not post pictures to save my life but this is so easy, even I can do it.. Easy to navigate also. It will take some time to find out all you can do but it will be well worth it also. BTW what is the Premium member all about? Will it be a paid option? What will be the advantages? Nice job Rich and the whole OGR team.
Ahh..looking much better without all that excess white space!
I totally agree...
SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT ALONE! WILL BE SPENDING LITTLE OR NO TIME ON FORUM ANY LONGER UNTIL SOMETHING ELSE IS DONE!!!!!!
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