Forum changes - the third sneak peek

MSE_Laura_F

Ready for another preview of the new Forum homepage? The last two posts have given you an idea of what it’ll look like, but you’ll be happy to know that the new incarnation isn’t just a pretty face. As a taster, here are three new functionalities you’ll be able to play around with (though there are many more in store):

• New top-level category boards such as the ‘Reduce Debt & Boost Income’ board

• The ability to save draft posts and come back to them later

• A regularly changing ‘Community Spotlight’, highlighting one of the most popular boards or threads

But when will you be able to use these features? Just a few more sleeps: launch day is Wednesday 16th June.

For those who’ve asked about the search function, it should be sorted by the end of July, as per this message from MSE Ben:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78396029#Comment_78396029 

Best,

MSE Laura F

Sea_Shell

Will we get any other feedback buttons other than a simple "thanks"?

kuratowski

MSE_Laura_F said:

• New top-level category boards such as the ‘Reduce Debt & Boost Income’ board

Are the boards and sub-boards being reorganised then?  We do have a couple that are almost moribund and could do with being merged into their parent (i.e. ISAs and Tax-free Savings, Pensions Auto-Enrolment).

One-Eye

MSE_Laura_F said:

new functionalities you’ll be able to play around with (though there are many more in store)

• The ability to save draft posts and come back to them later

We have been using drafts since February 2020
There is a "Save Draft" button when creating a thread, and you access them through https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/drafts

... this currently only works for new threads, not for replies, but you can copy and paste a draft as a reply.

MSE_Laura_F

One-Eye said:

MSE_Laura_F said:

new functionalities you’ll be able to play around with (though there are many more in store)

• The ability to save draft posts and come back to them later

We have been using drafts since February 2020
There is a "Save Draft" button when creating a thread, and you access them through https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/drafts

... this currently only works for new threads, not for replies, but you can copy and paste a draft as a reply.

Hello One-Eye,

Thanks for this. Apologies - you're absolutely right that the ability to save drafts already exists. What will change is that you'll have the ability to access your drafts easily via its own folder, without having to bookmark the URL or type it in manually. 

Drafts will still only apply to threads and not replies.

Best,

MSE Laura F

cloud_dog

I think the site has lost 'focus' on the pension/investment/savings side of things based on the categorisation headings applied.

I think it would be useful for people visiting the site to add back in a section relevant to investments/pensions/savings.  Obviously this would simply duplicate existing sub-forums but it would provide a much more focussed top level grouping for people to access.

For example for people looking for posts on pensions would they logically think to look in the 'Work and Benefits' section?  Probably not.

Rosa_Damascena

Where would one find "In my home?". A most crucial board for conscientious property owners.

dunstonh

I thought the board had removed the pensions section.  Only to find it in the work and benefits section.     It seems illogical to have it in a different section to investments seeing that pensions are a tax wrapper (like ISAs) and investment in funds and other investments (like ISAs) and many people use multiple tax wrappers, like ISA, GIA and pension to achieve their retirement planning or just plain tax efficiency.

I suspect the savings and investments section will see an uptick in pension posts as people wont find the pensions section where it is.

oldagetraveller1

This has obviously been designed for viewing on a mobile phone's screen, in portrait!

There's even less of the forum on the screen of a laptop.

About two thirds of the screen is taken up by a greyish blank nothing.

Everything has been re-ordered and I keep getting taken to some weird page where it is necessary to click on all boards, or something similar.

Awful.

Oh, and I agree entirely with dunstonh's "Stop buying from brands that support cancel culture: Grolsch, Ikea, Kopparberg, Nivea, Octopus Energy."

I left Octopus last year for exactly this reason!

dunstonh

There also appears to be no link to take you back to the forum home page.   The link that was forum home (and still says forum home) takes you back one step before that.  Requiring you to click again to view all boards.

SoozyJ22

oldagetraveller1 said:

This has obviously been designed for viewing on a mobile phone's screen, in portrait!

There's even less of the forum on the screen of a laptop.

About two thirds of the screen is taken up by a greyish blank nothing.

Everything has been re-ordered and I keep getting taken to some weird page where it is necessary to click on all boards, or something similar.

Awful.

Agreed - I view the forum on my laptop and it looks terrible. Far too much blank space and the text I actually want to read is skewed to the right of the screen which is not where my eyes go by default. Increasing the font size has helped shift it a little but it still looks bad. 

Ignore the comments below - I'd not noticed the All Boards link which does what Forum Home used to. 

I agree on the 'Forum Home' too - I always use that to switch between different board and now I have to click on another button to get to the list that I want since I have no idea what top level category they've been grouped under and even if I did it would introduce another unnecessary click to get there.