A sadness that so many OS stalwarts aren't here now isn't it?

Pollycat

MrsLurcherwalker said:

Perhaps new people will find mse and join as members and the threads will be revitalised? if old posters are finding the new format not useable for any of a number of reasons including a preference for the older still formats and chosing not to use it any more then new people joining will not have known anything else.  Life is all about change and change is difficult if it's not of your own personal choice. The forums will weather this I'm pretty sure because it's a very useful medium and contains many lovely people and it will be different from how it has been but it will be just as vibrant and amusing and useful.  Give it a bit of time.

This ^^^^ exactly.

Especially the bits in bold.

Having worked in IT from the early days (going back to 1983) I've seen lots of systems change - and sat at my desk saying 'this is rubbish compared to what we had before'.

I can appreciate the posters who have visual impairments not posting if it's just not working for them.

But there must be lots of people who haven't really given it a fair chance.

3 weeks (?) in, I'm finding it OK.

Not great.

Not as good as what we had before (and nowhere near that and I'm not hopeful that it will ever be).

But usable - for what I want to use it for.

I don't think the boards generally (I'm just a 'dip-in and dip-out' poster on the OS board) are as busy but I put that down to long term posters voting with their feet.

unrecordings

PipneyJane said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This place is much changed thanks to the new format.

I cannot believe how few posts there are compared to previously. Sometimes I feel like I'm having a conversation with myself!

I think it’s harder to keep up without the digest emails.  I used to devour them in the mornings, before starting work.  Instead, we have the option of being bombarded by individual emails, throughout the day, or nothing at all.  If you do get emails, from ?yesterday, they now only show the first couple of lines of the post, not the whole thing, which is even more annoying.

— Pip

I used to just dip in to threads and go back a few pages to catch up, but I'm more likely now to just parachute into threads and maybe get stuff out of context, or miss something important - which means I'm more likely (like I nearly did a moment ago, to just abandon my post (either out of CBA to express myself or by accidentally dropping out of the text box to look up a spelling

unrecordings

gt568 said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This place is much changed thanks to the new format.

I cannot believe how few posts there are compared to previously. Sometimes I feel like I'm having a conversation with myself!

I wonder how long the forum has left...5 years?

I doubt it'll survive the end of the year unless they make some radical changes. Depends on who's paying the bills and what they think they still need a forum for

Rosa_Damascena

unrecordings said:

gt568 said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This place is much changed thanks to the new format.

I cannot believe how few posts there are compared to previously. Sometimes I feel like I'm having a conversation with myself!

I wonder how long the forum has left...5 years?

I doubt it'll survive the end of the year unless they make some radical changes. Depends on who's paying the bills and what they think they still need a forum for

You mean a complete sell-out, or a MySupermarket 48hr-notice exit? 

Perhaps I should quit moaning 

gt568

I think it will last longer than the end of the year!

Pollycat

gt568 said:

I think it will last longer than the end of the year!

Me too.

Let's not overestimate our own importance.

This is an extract from the main site:

• Servers and keeping the site running

  With more than 16 million unique users a month, mammoth processing power and technology are required to keep the site up and running at speed.

  The MSE Forum alone is the seventh biggest social networking site in the UK, and takes huge resources. As well as technology, there are the rules and issues of policing such a large community to keep it a safe place for all.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/moneysavingexpert-finance/#where

Gers

Gosh, there’s already some folk talking down the forum, that’s shocking! 

It’s a free to use site offering more than financial / consumer information, it’s a hub for so many people who may otherwise be isolated. Just a dip in the MS Arms can give a window into that. It’s not a place I frequent though it has a massive following. I doubt that will fade. I doubt the site will fade. 

It’s a ‘neighbourhood’. New people move in as the older ones move on. The new people build conservatories, pave over the front gardens for parking, replace beautiful windows with ugly UPVC and generally change the appearance of the neighbourhood. 

How often do you hear of people going back to their childhood / university towns only to find it changed beyond recognition? This is the same!

https://changecycle.com/change-cycle/ - whilst this relate to a business environment the bare bones are relevant. Change is difficult as is standing still. 

Sayschezza

I think Jackie O used a very old desktop PC so perhaps the new site is awkward for her. I am mostly a lurker but I haven't had any problems with the new site. Older posts are on the drop down Go To Category. Bookmarked threads go straight to the next to read as do any other threads you have previously followed. New unopened threads tell you they are new to you with the number of posts to read. I am using an iPad mini and have always used it landscape. BTW I am the same age as Jackie O.

maman

Sayschezza said:

I think Jackie O used a very old desktop PC so perhaps the new site is awkward for her. I am mostly a lurker but I haven't had any problems with the new site. Older posts are on the drop down Go To Category. Bookmarked threads go straight to the next to read as do any other threads you have previously followed. New unopened threads tell you they are new to you with the number of posts to read. I am using an iPad mini and have always used it landscape. BTW I am the same age as Jackie O.

I think that's partly true but I also remember her buying a MacBook with a student discount from one of her grandchildren. As she was very elderly I think she probably CBA with learning how to use the new system. 

Farway

unrecordings said:

gt568 said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

This place is much changed thanks to the new format.

I cannot believe how few posts there are compared to previously. Sometimes I feel like I'm having a conversation with myself!

I wonder how long the forum has left...5 years?

I doubt it'll survive the end of the year unless they make some radical changes. Depends on who's paying the bills and what they think they still need a forum for

Agree, depends who is paying & if it's making money for them. I used to belong to a money forum, shares, savings, that sort of thing. But they decided we were not generating an income by buying through them, so forum, savings & shares tracking closed. My guess would be it's only buying through links on MSE  that keep it going, once the Golden Goose stops laying it gets it's neck wrung