An unhappy forum 7 June 2020 at 1:25PM edited 7 June 2020 at 1:47PM in Site feedback 11 replies 381 views

Blulu

Hi there, I want to make the team fully aware of the level of unhappiness many of your loyal comping members are feeling, due to the changes made to the forum. Some have left mse, and/or given up comping altogether. Of those who have stayed. many are very unhappy with what used to be a fun and friendly hobby, but now feels more like a chore, probably to most of us.

It would really help us if you would find time to let us know if you are prepared to reinstate some of the things that have been changed or removed, when you can. Most important of all, would you please give us an idea of when you are likely to implement any of those changes? I do understand that things are difficult right now and that you probably have things that feel more important to work on. But please consider, during this time of national crises, how helpful it would be for us to be able to enjoy our old hobby as we used to. If we only had some info from you about this, it would mean a lot.

If you check out some of the recent threads posted in compers chat corner, it would show that others share my concerns over this matter. Some are even considering setting up a dedicated forum elsewhere. This would be such a shame as we have loved being part of a great mse community.

I wish you all well, and would be extremely grateful for your help and input - perhaps posting in compers chat corner about your future plans for the mse comping forum?

Blu XXX

waamo

I don't think it's just the comping board that's unhappy. Disquiet has been expressed on other boards too.

poggles

If anyone is thinking of setting up an alternative site, there's probably not a lot that MSE could do to stop them.

If that new site proves to an an improvement in some ways to MSE, then I'm sure a few MSEers will probably move over.

But have you seen just how many new users this site attracts every hour? I don't think MSE will be too worried about a bit of healthy competition, and if a new forum does take off to any significant extent, then perhaps MSE might put a little more time into including some of those features here.

I suspect those making all the noises about an alternative won't even attempt to create one, but if they do, they will soon realise just how impossible it is to please all the people all the time, especially when it starts costing them their own money.

The MSE forums may not be perfect. They have updated it to keep up with the times. Some people are always resistant to change. But the number of new users joining every hour indicates just how popular this new forum remains, warts 'n' all.

Hasbeen

Many of the "new users" are termed "1PW" one post wonders and who unfortunately are  never heard from again.

So it does not really matter about the number of new users joining every hour. It is about the ability of MSE to retain them and existing members.

The disquiet is coming from the more experienced posters who have been here many years and have been through some of the previous disastrous changes made.

There has been quite a few changes to the boards posters are used to, and unfortunately many glitches which are still appearing with the new improved set up.

When a site is improved great! When the improvements prove not to be improvements not so great!

I am a pretty new member, but do notice that certain names no longer come up in posts. People that for years gave great advice have suddenly not posted in a while.


It is MSE and new posters loss at the end off the day.  

waamo

From the available data traffic to the site has fallen dramatically since the changes so I'm not sure that argument holds up.

poggles

Hasbeen said:

...
I am a pretty new member, but do notice that certain names no longer come up in posts. People that for years gave great advice have suddenly not posted in a while.
...

Records indicate you've been a member here for over a decade, and that you have 2.5k posts.

That's a little longer, and significantly more posts than I have made.

Different strokes for different folks. Some people have other things in life to enjoy as well as the MSE forum, but that does not mean they have left.

Also, personal situations of people change, and sadly some members have probably  passed away since you and I joined. You canl't expect every member who joins to stick around ad infinitum. There have also always been many 1PW as you term them.

What I have noticed recently, is that numerous posters who joined as long ago as 2008 (and indeed I saw one recently from 2004) who didn't hang around long to make many posts back in the day, have now returned and started to post again since the new software has been introduced. Something must have attracted them back.

Hasbeen

poggles said:

Hasbeen said:

...
I am a pretty new member, but do notice that certain names no longer come up in posts. People that for years gave great advice have suddenly not posted in a while.
...

Records indicate you've been a member here for over a decade, and that you have 2.5k posts.

That's a little longer, and significantly more posts than I have made.

Sorry what I meant, there are posters who are original from when MSE started and have up to 60,000 and more posts.

My 2500 posts are really insignificant and pale into comparison with some.

So In my view I am pretty new and inexperienced compared with some. 

Blulu

Poggles, I don't see this as you do, but thanks anyway. I think we should probably agree to disagree. All I know is that for me, and for others here too, comping is not what it used to be. I very much hope that mse cares enough about those of us who feel this way to address it.

Best wishes

Blu XXX

One-Eye

What I am most unhappy about is that there have been several faults with the new forum with features that were working fine at the launch but have failed at some point later. Some of these have failed more than once. Many of the faults have taken weeks to be corrected.

This link goes back to a post from 14th/17th February:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76839741/#Comment_76839741
It lists features that don't work adequately or features from the old forum we would like returned. Almost none of them have been addressed. The new forum is 4 months old today and there has been no progress with, for example:

• Ability to easily post a functioning email address link, either automatically or by using a button, ie. without resorting to using HTML coding
• Loss of HTML coding previously inserted whenever you subsequently edit your post.

J_B

poggles said:

What I have noticed recently, is that numerous posters who joined as long ago as 2008 (and indeed I saw one recently from 2004) who didn't hang around long to make many posts back in the day, have now returned and started to post again since the new software has been introduced. Something must have attracted them back.

Not sure about statistics and folks coming back, but

A couple of points ....

I've never been on the comp section, don't even know what it's about sorry, so can't comment on that. 😟

Just occasionally, someone posts to say that they like the new forum, but most of the time, folks say they are not happy with it. The fact that they had to close the snagging thread after a week with over 1K posts sums it up.

The lack of feedback from the powers that be is disappointing! :-(

waamo

It's telling that the last update was back in March.