What's everyone think?

I think you and your team did a  great job Rich. I do agree with some of the suggestions of more topics being available on the screen without having to make the extra step to open them all.

 

I am noticeing alot of cool features already!

 

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

Please, please, please change the font. The font is literally 3 times bigger than any other site and it hard to read. 

Superb job!  Thank-you for all of your hard work and effort. Now let's get on track, run some trains and have a blast.

I like the easier to read type and the color scheme but I'm not digging the fact that the posts' do not stretch across the whole screen.  All of the post's seem bunched up along the left half of the screen while the right side is blank, except for a few boxes near the top right side.  Other than that the forum seems easier to navigate and I like the video on the home page.

 

Paul

I'm liking this.  Works great on my phone too!

 

I get the substance of everyone's comments, but it's easiest to say we are all simply dealing with change,  I have faith that the forum is in the very capable hands of the moderator and OGR publishers.  I do NOT envy all the comments they have to digest in the coming days.

 

Rich - if you're considering cruises, I'd tend to the 14 day packages as compared to the 5 day ones.  Have fun with this.

 

 

I love the new design and how much easier it is to use on my iPhone! I also downloaded the app! Huge, and much needed upgrade!!

Logged in, updated, making my first post on the new site - yep, everything seems good to me.

Just testing.

I getting there slowly but surely. Now I have to figure out how to put my picture on.

The only problem I seem to be having is that when I go from topic to topic it seems to take a lot longer then before. Not sure what could be causing that. Over all tho I like the ne forum but it will take a while to get used to the new look.

 

Jerry

Put me in the camp of those urging patience as the kinks get worked out. I've had a few spotty issues with connecting to the forum and trying to post a reply, but overall things look great.  I use Firefox and have no issues with other sites so I'm just writing it off to growing pains.

 

Again, this stuff takes time and I'm sure there will be tweaks and adjustments to make this place better than ever,

 

And a big THANK YOU to Rich Melvin and his crew for all their hard work planning and implementing the change-over. Well done, gentlemen!  

 

Just taking it for a test drive.  Nice and definitely a lot easier. 

Looks fantastic to me.  Still getting used to the changes, but I really do like the new site.  Thanks, Rich. Y'all did a great job!!  I know that you worked your collective ***es off concerning this change, but I appreciate all of y'all!

Steve Painter

I like it and look forward to its technological advances for this great forum, thank you Rich and crew!!! Happy Railroading!!!!!!-Don Klose

Thought of something else.

 

Overall, the speed seems comparable to the old forum, but several times I have seen the "connecting" icon with the rotating green circle on the tab when I click on a topic. Sometimes it resolves, and sometimes it goes to a page with:

 

"An internal server error occurred. Please try again later."

 

It appears the new forum occasionally bogs down compared to the old forum.

 

I'm on Firefox 9.01, so pretty recent browser. It isn't the browser or the internet connection because when I switch to another tab while waiting for the OGR "connection" tab to do something, the other tabs and internet sites work properly.

 

Update:

I just tried to make this post and got the "please wait" icon with the turning gears. After a few minutes I gave up and went and had dinner. After coming back, still had the "please wait" icon, so I cancelled it. Over 20 minutes, and it didn't complete the post. See if it works this time. If the forum keeps bogging down like this, I think you're going to lose people who get tired of waiting for it to work.

 

Edit: I scrolled up the page, and it looks like it made the post (actually 30 minutes ago), but I still had the "please wait" icon on my screen.

Well Jim, I think we need a bit of levity here today, so much negativity going on.

I think the new forum is fine, anything new takes a bit of getting used to, but there are some very big improvements and I'm happy.

I realy do not like not being able to tell who the originator of a post is on the first page. Sometimes when I am searching the "For Sale" page if I see a certain person has something for sale I will look just because of who it is. Can't put my finger on why but the forum seems to not be as "friendlt" or "family coverstion" feeling. Maybe it is the greay colors. Not sure. Just does not feel as "welcoming" as it did before......

Looking good so far.  Nice job everyone! Now...let's see if I can post a photo from my computer.  Oh yes......very easy!  I expect we will see many more photos and videos now that we can bypass the need to upload our photos to a separate hosting site.

 

 

What are "community points"?

Still on a "learning curve".

 

Proceeding with caution.

Works well on my PC.  Maybe a little slower than the old site.  Does not work well on my Android phone.  The old site worked fine.

So far so good. Not bad, just different.

It's great so far.

 

wishes:

-quick reply box

-easier way to switch from forum to forum (3 rail to subway to for sale)

-can we control how many posts are on 1 page? 

I like the way it looks on my iPhone...but I don't like the way it looks and works on my laptop. The old format was better in a lot of ways. I really don't like not being able to see who originated a thread without opening it. I agree it's similar to Facebook . Capt'n Andy Member of TCA & TTOS "Chessie sez 'Smokem' if you gottem' ."

Like the new forum so far, and like I was able to post an avatar (picture of myself...) Neat!

 

Rich,

I personally think that you and your teem did an excellent job in creating this new forum.   Apparently, not everyone understands the kind of hard work and great effort it takes by many people to make something like this happen.  I know that change is difficult for some so there is bound to be some likes and dislikes and there is nothing wrong with constructive criticism, but some of the comments listed above, are far from constructive, completely unwarranted and mean spirited.  It’s too bad that it takes just a few to ruin things for everyone else.

 

The only thing I would  like to see are the posts go all the way across the screen like on the old forum, but I think that’s one of the items on the update list . (white space)

 

Thanks Rich and company for a great effort! 

 

 

Definately don't like the new display layout.

 

And not having my work browser support this version of IE stinks as well - but that's not a knock on the forum.

 

--Greg

 

Found it thank you. Was also wondering why the right half of the page is blank and not used for making the posts bigger? My wife said the format is probably to be read with IPADs and I phones. 

 

Actually the G4 (about 8 years old never had one problem) works reasonably well on most sights and was lightning fast on the old forum. The old forum even could be read with WEBTV.  I have software that disables flash unless I manually load it. That speeds it up quite a bit on those type of sites. Right now things are tough and I can not afford a new computer. I actually benefited and learned a lot about computers using an older one because sometimes you have to work around and solve issues. Actually my first car was a then 20 year old 49 Ford, Owning it made me become a good mechanic and learn about cars.  Be interesting to survey the members as to how modern or old their computers are.

 

Apple users if you put your pointer in the upper right corner of your post by left of the cog a symbol will appear to edit your post. Just click on it.

 

Thanks again for providing a forum that all can enjoy.

 

Dale H

Haven't read all of these posts yet so this may be being discussed already:  The blank avatars are very distracting and cluttered. No image would be much better!

 

I am absolutely, positively, amazed that you were able to retain over 1TB of past information and bring it into this new format!!  Having been involved in forums (ownership, moderation, etc) for a number of years... I KNOW firsthand what catastrophies CAN take place during such a move!!!

 

As for the visuals/etc:

 

It's new.  It's different.  Rich will get many of the quirks sorted over time.  Some of the "different" part I'll adapt to.

 

Bottom line:  This is a service brought to us on OGR's dollar.  Not one of us "users" have a red-cent in it.  It's TOTALLY FREE to us... but I assure you it is NOT free for OGR.

 

A big THANK YOU to the guys (n' gals?) working hard behind the scene to iron out the wrinkles and provide us with a forum.

 

Andre

 

 

I agree totally with Andre. Job well done and thanks to everyone at ORG for giving me this forum. Great job.

Wyatt

It's different.  A lot more white space that I really don't see as an advantage, and I'm not sure I care about the "recent posts" on the right either, but it may prove to be a neat feature over time.

 

Also, the forum link on the main page still points to infopop.cc which then has a link to the new forum. 

 

Like anything else, I suppose I will get use to it soon and will exploit the new features without looking back.

 

 

It's ok so far,will take some time to get used too but thats expected.

Great! The picture upload ease is a great plus. I am having a DCS related computer issue and was able to upload a screenshot in the time it took me to create the screenshot and click a few buttons. So far, the other stuff is just change, but for the most part, it isn't bad change.

I'm getting used to it already....and liking it!

 

Peter

I am still feeling my way around but it seems pretty good. Somethings I miss like the views number. I always found that interesting for some reason. A high view number even without a high reply number was an interesting way to judge interest in a topic. Sometimes people have nothing to say even on an interesting topic but I could tell interest by the views number. Maybe it is there somewhere and I am too hamfisted to find it.

Like the graphacs layout used on old forum.  It was more compact, easier to view. The picture and memory enhancement are a plus.  The v bulletin software package is one I would have strongly suggested.  I'll get use to it. Enjoy the neighborhood regardless.

Is there a way to change the order in which the posts are viewed? For instance in this forum, I have to click on the last page to see the most recent post. It's much easier for me personally to see the newest post show up first. etc. I'm sure it's in front of me how to change the order, but I can't seem to find it.

 

Thanks much,

 

Kenny

That's the way it always worked, isn't it?