Absolutely hate the layout. Is there not going to be a top 3... or a page with all the new photos projects? Or is this just turned into every other woodworking forum? Because that is what is looks like now... no longer special.
Have poked, prodded, posted into old threads, posted into new gallery, and used the search features; wanting to try out new site format to weigh good and bad before posting my comments list:
Time to buckle up your seat belt:
1) 100% agree: LumberJocks is NO LONGER SPECIAL, Just another wood working forum.
2) Hate the layout is to strong for me. But will agree the Home Page STINKS
It does absolutely nothing to increase my desire to click inside the forums.
Repeatedly returned to LJ instead of other WW forums for QUICK 15 SECOND GLANCE of:
- Pictures of latest projects sorted by popularity
- Pictures of latest product reviews
- Summary of 3 newest blog posts listing Authors I have enjoyed reading in past.
- Five most popular threads.
Wham Bam Thank you Sam, those key items help me decide to keep reading, surf over to another website, or go do something else.
I do not come to LumberJocks to stare at poorly named threads and words posted in random forums, as they current home page "Recommended for You" section seems to assume. The programming for recommendations seems silly right now with very little new content. It shows me only threads I am following. And if I look close, the bold text shows me which ones have new posts, with rest being a total waste of home page space as I HAVE ALREADY READ THEM.
Only when I have time to dig into WW forums, do I looked at LJ sections that interest me, or sections where I have a lot of experience and attempt to help others by sharing. Then this site works like all rest, I.E. Slow monotonous reading, instead of previous quick and easy picture surfing.
3) The "NEW" page is obtuse, and PITA to use. I find the need to constantly change the filter settings, as once i read a post it is no longer new; and only way to find it again is change filter, or surf to the forum section (assuming I remember which one). The poplar page has same issues; I don't need to see 25 most popular threads, as there are never that many with new posts. Both of these could easily be combined into ONE page showing on top 5-10 of each one, ignoring the read/unread flag filter by using same bold text to show unread on home page.
4) Showcase search engine is BORKED. If you select workshops, and search for a members name; search returns every post in Showcase by that member - not the members workshop post(s). Same is true if select projects and search. Search returns all posts in the showcase regardless of section tag. This has to be driving folks with lots of original content
🥜❓
5) Blog posts in current format are not blogs, and are impractical. Might as well remove the term blog entirely from the forum until it is changed/fixed.
Transitioned blogs are simply categorized threads, just like every other post. Until there is a method to link each new author post (and comments) into a chain of pages like reading a book, LJ does not have a functioning blog method. If someone wants to make a blog now, they have to manually edit the old post with name of the new thread.
6) The software conversion of old posts with pictures to new format was flawed. It makes reading old posts with attached images a PITA, due lots of extra scrolling. Every time someone quoted an old post with pictures, the conversion copied links to the original pictures in quoted post. Know these are just linked references into post, but the extra download time, display time, and scrolling time is annoying.
7) When I visit my profile, and select reviews; I have none. But this is not true. On old site, had several product reviews. When I select Articles, I find my product reviews. Is this a naming problem or I am lost in new software?
8) The above is all negative, because problems are easier to see when you have been using the same old clunky forum software for over 8 years and it changes.
Good stuff? Sure:
The forums are faster (except for showcase). The picture editing capability is a welcome change. The change to allow comment posts to be edited forever, can help folks to correct mistakes, without posting corrections later that might not be seen. Addition of gallery adds a method for users to group images about a project into a collection; and then reuse them via linking into posts without adding another image to forum database storage. Gallery will take some time for users to learn how to use, but i can made complex project posting simpler. Dark Mode is nice; But without Dark mode, I would never log into site again as blank white pages went of out style in 90's.
Last but not least:
Cricket and Crew should be commended. They have worked hard to configure a new forum software package for LJ site. They have also written conversion scripts to reformat the old database into new format to maintain the old content that was the 😍 of LumberJocks content. For that alone they deserve thanks.
As Cricket has already posted, they want our feedback, and will attempt to make changes were possible. They now have my list!
My fundamental hope and desire is they spend lots of time to fix the home page to make LJ special again.
The rest of forum mostly works, it is/was the home page that brought the community together to a special place, and kept me coming back to the site.
Cheers and Warmest Regards from your (least?) favorite Klutz.
