Please read: Forum announcement

amsquared

It is still going to the intermediate page from the last post here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6271260/e-23-07-win-make-me-a-winner-1-free-entry-online-starts-01-06#latest if I click any of the planetradio links it takes me to the intermediate page. So it is not fixed for all external links.

It could be that the links in the latest post on that page were copied from yesterday's links I have tried again using links from the original 1st post and it works as it should. 

There may be other posts where the links have been copied while the intermediate page existed.

amsquared

Comping Rich has edited the links in today's post and it works properly again.

Zanderman

Where's the referral section gone?   

Gers

And where's the Old Style board gone? I posted this morning but not can't see it on the new 'improved' and very difficult to read index.  My eyes are too old (style) for small writing!

Gers

Gers said:

And where's the Old Style board gone? I posted this morning but not can't see it on the new 'improved' and very difficult to read index.  My eyes are too old (style) for small writing!

Found it under 'Hobbies and Leisure' and not under Money Saving which is most odd as 'money saving' is in it's title.

Sometimes I despair at the logic of those who are doing the improving.  Much as I really appreciate this site and those who work for it they make it very difficult to use.

MSE_Ben_H

Hi @Gers

This was not our logic. We tested this with several random samples of Forum members and visitors. We did two levels of testing - one where we put all the names of the boards on cards and asked people to sort them into categories and name the categories.

Then, once we had an idea of what would fit into each category, we did several rounds of testing whereby we asked participants to find certain boards and analysed how successful they were, where they first clicked and how difficult they said they found it to see what improvements could be made.

We were surprised by quite a few things this study brought up. We assume people feel that Old Style MoneySaving is more of a way of life than transactional like Gaming, Music, Health, Fitness and the other things that are in the MoneySaving category. But, of course, we will continue to monitor this and listen to feedback and make changes if we need to.

Thanks,
Ben

Zanderman

MSE_Ben_H said:

Hi @Gers

This was not our logic. We tested this with several random samples of Forum members and visitors. We did two levels of testing - one where we put all the names of the boards on cards and asked people to sort them into categories and name the categories.

Then, once we had an idea of what would fit into each category, we did several rounds of testing whereby we asked participants to find certain boards and analysed how successful they were, where they first clicked and how difficult they said they found it to see what improvements could be made.

We were surprised by quite a few things this study brought up. We assume people feel that Old Style MoneySaving is more of a way of life than transactional like Gaming, Music, Health, Fitness and the other things that are in the MoneySaving category. But, of course, we will continue to monitor this and listen to feedback and make changes if we need to.

Thanks,
Ben

Where did referrals end up?

It's a tricky board I'd admit, with some misuse now and then, but it's popular and remunerative for many, so I hope you haven't binned it.

Bacman

They do seem to have binned referrals. WHY?

I had a link to that forum section as it was handy to save money when signing up for services, however that link now is dead. MSE is about "money saving" which is why there should be a referral section for sign-up codes, as there was; it helps members and those who post them potentially too; community help.

The rules where before that referral codes had to be in that forum section only; if that section has been removed now, any reason we shouldn't use our signatures for codes or add sign-up codes directly in forum threads as appropriate (not to spam it but where suitable)? In the circumstances it would be a bit off to be banned on the site when the reason for it was due to the removal of the referral facility!

Browntoa

The existing forum rules already state no referrals in your signature or in the main part of the forum. 

That's always been the case , regardless of the removal of the referral section

dunstonh

Whilst I understand the need to refresh forums periodically, I do feel the money sections have been split up in a peculiar way.

Savings and investment is under Banking & Borrowing despite investments having nothing to do with banking or borrowing.  
The ISA & Tax-free savings section is irrelevant and should be removed as its low traffic and results in overlap with the main section. More ISA discussions appear in the main board.
Pensions, which is an investment tax wrapper, is now in a completely different section to investments under Work, Benefits and Pensions.   Despite people who are not working or on benefits being able to use pensions and the most common subject being the commencement of retirement income by people not working or on benefits.   Retirement planning can also use ISAs, GIAs, bonds and pensions but now it is completely removed from the investments section.
Auto-enrolment - dump this board.  It's a ghost board and people are told to repost in the main pensions section.  It also seems to get more posts about cars than pensions!
Mortgages and endowments is under mortgages and homes.  I can somewhat understand that despite there being a Banking and borrowing section.  However, endowments are an investment product.   A lot of the questions asked by people about endowments require investment knowledge to answer.  That is pretty much just me and one other answering in that section.   You should rename it mortgages (only) and let endowments be handled in the investment section.  There are not many mortgage endowments left now as the last mainstream provider pulled out in 2004.  You just have the final stragglers approaching their maturity.  It's mostly single premium endowments or whole of life left nowadays and they have nothing to do with mortgages.
Insurance & Life Assurance has fallen all the way down the table to Life & Family.   Indeed, I forgot all about it this morning when I went looking for my usual sections.  Insurance is a catchall for many areas (car, travel, business etc). Its out of place wherever you put it.  You are now likely to see insurance posts appearing in non-insurance sections.

Effectively, the financial products sections have all been split up and fragmented in an attempt to shoehorn them into other sections.   Couldn't you just keep financial products in their own money and financial products section?