(S.O.F. Save Our Forum!) This has now been addressed by MSE (see link in OP)

mjm3346

Blulu said:

Soooo...as the MSE team will hopefully get to peek at this thread, I thought I would restate my major issues with the (now old) new look forum:

1) The main issue by far, in my humbles, is the naff search facility. It makes it so hard to search to see if a comp you want to post is already here. Apart from it being a pain to list comps now, it also increases the likelihood of posting dupes, meaning folk are more likely to enter a comp twice, meaning they will probably have invalidated their entries. AGREE it's a nonsense they have a new forum that doesn't have working search facility - the old forum one was not good but this is far worse (how can results not automatically be in date order?)

2) That hovering over a link no longer shows a snippet of the thread 'under' the link. This means it takes longer to work through the board. AGREE a real time waster if you still bother to enter from here

3) That you can't increase the number of listed threads as we used to be able to. It's hard to explain, but changing from one page of lists to another is a pain to do, as it could mean you miss the odd comp while doing it. That's why it's easier to comp when you can list more of them on one page.AGREE, the old default of 20 suited me and many people selected more than that

4) Not being able to see more than 10 names who have ticked "Compliment" on threads. This makes it harder to see if you have entered or not. This especially applies to regular competition threads, where you will probably have green ticked them, but the green tick doesn't help you to see where you are up to on the thread. AGREE they tied themselves in knots to remove the thanks option from competitions time (by far and away the most used part of the forum) - so a chance to enter and win say £10,000 shouldn't be thanked but a code to get 2p or how to keep slugs off your garden should! (although under this forum the "thanks" button is a useless as the "compliment" one for the number you can see)


5) Not being able to untick the green tick/red cross button, without ticking the other one. Sometimes, after ticking you can realise you'd rather leave this blank and come back to it later to enter or red cross it. AGREE - just work as it did - I used to red x everything when I had seen it and also tick those I entered when I did so which might have been at the time or from a folder to deal with later

6) Not being able to add new comments to threads in Game Over. I honestly don't see any good reason to prohibit this. Sometimes it's useful to comment on a Game Over thread, for a variety of reasons.AGREE, appears to be no reason for it and sometimes people put a closed date when they post something which stops the tick and cross working and prevents posting on it to point out the error 

7) Bookmarking a thread doesn't always work anymore. I no longer get emailed for new posts on the regulars board (Agree - I don't use this function but have seen comments about it elsewhere on the swagcodes thread, starting a new thread seemed to solve it but that shouldn't be necessary)

8) Not being able tick a box for MSE to send me chocolate. OK, I can't really justify this one, but while we're asking, I thought I might as well try it on.

Don't know if anyone else wants to add any more to the list? Feel free if you do.

9) Being forced to enter a closing date when posting a competition which was rejected as an idea on the old forum but what makes worse is the fact the date does not automatically show as the first part of the thread title so for the basic  forum user it is a total waste of time

10) Creating the advent section, mainly for spending any time doing this when there are so many unresolved issues but also for doing something that as far as I can recall (I am not going to try and search for previous comments on this) is not something the majority were after (having compared some posts that were close to like for like there were fewer entries with the separate section this than when they were "all in", so convenient for some but not for others)


Blu XXX

.........

Rahven

This is a rough outline of where I think we are and some of the history. 

Time since forum switch - 16 months-ish?
Many issues reported in the nine months following. Users such as OE repeatedly posted on this board and the Site Feedback board raising problems and asking questions.

Time since the documentation MSE requested re issues and user requests was sent to the forum team - 7 months

• Points/Issues raised: 42 (4 have been added since. The rest were handed over in Nov)
• Points/Issues given very high impact rating: 9 Hover over, Users can't see if they have comp-limented a post, ability to see who has comp-limented a post,  sort by date duplicates posts over several pages, spam restrictions make it hard to post multiple comps, search does not pick up last 24h of posts, search results default ordering is unclear, unable to order search results, search subcategories is stuck on
• Points/issues given high impact rating: 12 Can't see which threads you have posted on from forum view, form filler suppressed, sort forum alphabetically, unable to deselect skipped/entered, allow weblinks to be copied, links sometimes duplicate, unable to reply to threads in game over, more easily post a functioning email addrress, HTML coding list when users edit posts, searches with terms on multiple lines on search form don't work properly, search results don't display entered/skipped markers, ability to search by skipped/entered
• Points/Issues given medium impact rating: 11 Can't mark a comp as skipped and entered, can't sort/filter skipped/entered, posts not numbered, user online indicator, ability to change #threads/posts per page, ability to type a page number to skip to that page, visible list of board guides, additional post formatting options, making editing screen more user-friendly, reduce minimum characters in a post, search subcategories is auto selected 
• Points/Issues given low impact rating: 6 No expired thread facility, no PM preview, ability to delete/clear notifications, no daily digest emails, no friends list, huge emoticons in search
• Extra issues reported after this spreadsheet was submitted to MSE and thus not assigned an impact rating: 4 Make closing date field visible to forum users so doesn't have to be entered twice, change game-over forum description, comp-liments disappear from threads when moved into game over, forum displays different total of search results than actual results returned
• Points/Issues that MSE have said they will not be fixing/making changes to: 5 (posts not numbered, ability to keep a list of friends for PMs, allow functioning email/web links to be copied, add an easier ability to post functioning email links e.g. a button, without having to know any html, minimum characters in a post needs reducing)
• Workarounds delivered: 2 (Browser form filler function suppressed - save searches, and sort alphabetically by title - advents board created)
• Fixes/changes delivered: 2 (search does not pick up last 24 hours of posts, search results default ordering is unclear)
• Fixes/changes that have since broken again: 1 (search results default ordering is unclear)

Time since MSE user interviews - 3/3.5 months

Time flies. I hadn't realised how long it had been. We were warned that it would take some time to resolve things, but it feels like we have had almost no progress. That's not great, but I don't think it would be as big of an issue as it feels if there was some communication. Clear and open communication visible to all forum users. Something to let us know what's been happening, what's now being worked on, and a rough idea of when we might expect the next update. As it is, there's not really anything, the months are drifting by and those of us still clinging on here don't know if we're doing so in vain.

The (IMO) most important function of the forum, the search, keeps breaking over and over, regressing from a functional state to a non-functional state. With that being often unusuable to a lot of folks, it's making some users reluctant to post comps due to the extra effort and hassle involved. Which in turn means that the most basic need of this section of the forum (having comps posted) is being compromised. Looking back at my previous posts I see that we were told the team would be doing a big chunk of work on the search function at the start of this year and thought it would resolve most search issues. Has this happened? Is it in test? Is it in progress? Do we have a rough ETA? What's going on?

A lot of users on the comps forum are understandably really frustrated, and IMO that's not likely to get better as long as they are met with silence from MSE towers.

I believe that this is the most up-to-date list of what's wrong and the feedback we've had from MSE about them. If there are updates that need to be made I am happy to make them, for now (I don't know for how much longer I will be interested in carrying this on so making no long-term promises). However If anyone else wants to take over or create a new list they are very welcome to. Use what you wish (or don't) from the existing list and I'm also happy to hand over the spreadsheet that MSE were given back in November. 

Edited to add - Everyone I have interacted with at MSE has been pleasant, and given me the impression that they do care. I still think a good stakeholder engagement / comms plan is in order though.

Blulu

Rahven, thank you so much, again, for laying all that out so clearly. It must've taken you a fair amount of time and effort.

MSE, if you do get to see this thread, please, please help us work together on this. As Rahven says, at least keep us posted. If you are never going to make the changes we want, at least let us know, so that each of us can make informed choices about whether to put up with it as it is, or to move on.

Blu XXX

princessmoneysaver

Old time comper & I have to admit it's a pain to do at the moment but I am still here, who knows for how long though if nothing changes. 

Blulu

Please also see this thread for another, very welcome, take on the discussion: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6273017/controversial#latest

Blu XXX

Blulu

I have been thinking about the "Controversial" thread in CCC saying that those of us moaning about the forum issues are being negative. I am writing it here because we’re less likely to break into factions, if we can chat this through together, in my opinion. Others may decide differently, of course.

I’m sure it wasn’t meant in any negative way, but I think it is wrong and unfair to say that those of us complaining about the forum are being negative. We ‘complainers’ are doing so because we want things to change. That’s being proactive, not negative.

Some think the forum is fine as it is. No prob. I’m not trying to persuade you to stop sharing your views about the forum. But, that should work in reverse.

I am not a lone voice here. Lots of users are unhappy with way the forum is now. The petition has 22 pages of signatures. A number of users have voted with their feet (or perhaps fingers) over this stuff. And that's just the regular posters that we know of. We can't know how many left who didn't post much or at all.

Yes, perhaps some also left because they felt some of this, so called, negativity. But even if that were true, that would surely be another reason to try to get things sorted.

In the biz world, there is a saying: "A complaining customer is a customer who is giving you a second chance." That is what we are doing by complaining. We're giving MSE another chance. After all, we're still here! With no dig at all at those who have moved on.

Several of those unhappy with the way the forum is, post a lot of comps and give advice here. Someone who posted loads of comps, but left us, clearly didn’t like the way the forum had changed either. Again, with no dig at all at them for moving on. I won’t name this person, cos doing so would show a Lak of decorum. But those who give a lot to the forum surely have the right to complain if they feel MSE is making things difficult for them. I mean, we don’t want them to move on as well, do we?

The real issue I have with MSE relates to their lack of communication over this stuff. Some of us spent time and effort working with MSE on this. MSE said they would help. I'm not saying they've done nothing, but they haven't done much from the list we worked through with them. If they’re not going to make the changes they said they would, for any reason, or if they are still working on them, they should keep us posted.

Also, I don’t mean to be mean, but isn’t complaining about us complaining something like ‘the pot calling the kettle black’?

One final point, to those moaning about us moaning. To me, there is simple and obvious solution, my friends: don’t read it

Blu XXX

Ms_Dee

I was meaning you were moaning exactly. I was trying to point out what was good and that there are good things. I wanted some more positivity. I'm a naturally negative person and I'm trying to change that, but logging in to a site where I've made some good friends and had some good laughs, to see nothing but posts about leaving or what is wrong. I wanted to put some perspective of it actually being good and it is usable, you just might have to change the way you use the site for now.

Blulu

Ms_Dee said:

I was meaning you were moaning exactly. I was trying to point out what was good and that there are good things. I wanted some more positivity. I'm a naturally negative person and I'm trying to change that, but logging in to a site where I've made some good friends and had some good laughs, to see nothing but posts about leaving or what is wrong. I wanted to put some perspective of it actually being good and it is usable, you just might have to change the way you use the site for now.

S'funny, I've never experienced you as being negative, Petal. Quite the opposite, in fact. I defo agree with you that there are some brill things about MSE, and most of that is about the people and the camaraderie - now and then sprinkled with a win or two, hopefully The only thing I disagree with you about, in a friendly and positive way, is about me 'having to change the way I use the site for now'. I want to enjoy using the site now, while working on changing it to make it better. If none of us do that, "For now" is likely to last a very long time.

Blu XXX

mjm3346

Ms_Dee said:

I was meaning you were moaning exactly. I was trying to point out what was good and that there are good things. I wanted some more positivity. I'm a naturally negative person and I'm trying to change that, but logging in to a site where I've made some good friends and had some good laughs, to see nothing but posts about leaving or what is wrong. I wanted to put some perspective of it actually being good and it is usable, you just might have to change the way you use the site for now.

Cannot think of one positive change for competitions time with the new forum and the things that are missing are all negative changes (if it takes longer to do something with the new forum that is a negative change).
Competitions time had more visits than almost all the rest of the forum added together so it was very much to the advantage of mse to try and keep it (they only needed to do the the minimum necessary to keep the bulk of the users and that is what they appear to have done)
I consider there is better out there now and mainly use mse for non comping bits

Abbafan1972

The search function just does not work for me and the main thing that's missing is showing whether I've already entered a comp or not in the search results.  I have to click each one individually to see if I have entered or not.