Soarer Central: Archive through February 21, 2010

Soarer Central Test Post and Forum Issues This website, stuck in the past ? Archive through February 21, 2010

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Matt Jeffers
Tinkerer
QLD
V8

Posts: 7
Reg: 01-2010

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:03 pm, by: Matt Jeffers (Mattjay101)

Why is it ancient ?

Please remember that the following is constructive criticism from a forum user and experienced forum administrator within other community's.

Dont take this the wrong way but this site is seriously outdated to a point where its just ridiculous, iv never used a board with such primitive controls and user interface the forum set-up is just terrible i wouldn't have expected this in the year 2000, free forum templates and software are still 100X better than the interface and layout/look of this website.

The content is outstanding here but its totally ruined by the fact that the boards are just ludicrous in their set-up and interface, the private messaging system is shocking to say the least, the sections aren't even split into pages of threads in 50 or user selected blocks, just one massive block of threads in each section, just primitive.

Just as an example, something much like this http://www.boostcruising.com/ ( first link in my car forums bookmarks tab ) can be achieved so easily, and its much better to navigate much nicer to be apart of and has a fantastic structure to the website and the communication between the users both privately and publicly cannot even be compared. go and have a poke around threads and discussions there and see the difference in the forum layout, its just worlds apart.

In short, why is this active, large, informative and wonderful community here stuck in web design and interface from 10 years ago, it just makes no sense to be holding this board back like this, same goes for ALSC.

I think its time to get with the times administration team.

From a concerned user who thinks this community deserves better, reminder that this is constructive criticism and am not attacking the site or admins.

Discuss.

Adam Lonergan
Goo Roo
Victoria
UZZ32 #369 (V8)

Posts: 1092
Reg: 08-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:18 pm, by: Adam Lonergan (Alchemistal)

Matt, it think you'll find the *ancient* design of this forum is exactly why the content is what it is. It's simple and easy to learn, appeals to people of all demographics (old/young, computer savy/internet newbie, not too bandwidth hungry (not a problem for most these days I know), the search works, and the 'new post' button makes life easy for the regulars and the casual users. I personally would take this design over the 5-10 other forums I'm active in.

I especially like the file size limit on uploaded pictures... sorts the wheat from the chaff

.

To expand on this discussion especially the concept of more *modern* forums, IMO picture/banner signatures have to be one of the biggest wastes of time and energy on the internet. People have better things to do than read a quote from an insider joke from a long passed online conversation or look at an overly graphical picture of someone's car/pet cat/online handle/etc.

*rant over*

Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
UZZ30 UZZ31

Posts: 11343
Reg: 11-2004

Rating:
Votes: 2 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:25 pm, by: Peter Nitschke (Pen)

Simple.

I like it, and most people have learned how to use the features we have that aren't on other forums.

Please read existing threads that discuss this first.

If you still don't like it, or aren't able to work it out, then feel free to go elsewhere.

No offense, but as a 7 post and 10 day user, I doubt you have bothered to do your homework.

You aren't the first person that has difficulty dealing with something different to what you are used to, but most people adapt fairly well.

Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
UZZ30 UZZ31

Posts: 11344
Reg: 11-2004

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:33 pm, by: Peter Nitschke (Pen)

Matt Jeffers wrote on Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:03 pm:
Please remember that the following is constructive criticism from a forum user and experienced forum administrator within other community's.

seriously outdated
just ridiculous,
primitive
just terrible
i wouldn't have expected this in the year 2000
free forum templates and software are still 100X better
totally ruined
just ludicrous
shocking
primitive.

From a concerned user who thinks this community deserves better, reminder that this is constructive criticism and am not attacking the site or admins.

Yeah, right. Credibility = 0

Matt Jeffers
Tinkerer
QLD
V8

Posts: 9
Reg: 01-2010

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:38 pm, by: Matt Jeffers (Mattjay101)

^ that's the clam response i was expecting to be honest, 7 post 10 day regardless its an opinion from a forum user who has bothered to raise it because its obviously an issue, however i can already see from your closed and selfish response of " i like it " regardless of what the wider community may think, that nothings going to change, i wont offer my input on how to potentially better this community again.

And in regard to what features this forum has over other forums are you referring to the spell checker ? haha download mozilla firefox ;) and still doesn't make up for the hundreds of lacking other features.

But that's fine its your site do as you will, as i said content wise its great but it would be easier and better for the wider community if you updated, you don't have to change the core values of the site, simplicity and ease of use as stated by Adam Lonergan ( that was a constructive post )

Anyway i thought id offer my opinion, there's really no need to say things like this "If you still don't like it, or aren't able to work it out, then feel free to go elsewhere. " and get all up tight about someone offering advice on how in my opinion, and i am sure its a shared one, to better the already content and community proficient but feature and interface lacking website.

Cheers Matt.

Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
UZZ30 UZZ31

Posts: 11346
Reg: 11-2004

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 09:52 pm, by: Peter Nitschke (Pen)

Matt, please read it all again.

I didn't say your input had no value because you are a newbie.

For "constructive" criticism, all I see is a rant session.

You offered exactly nothing new or of value.

If this forum is so bad, how come it's so popular and has been able to accumulate such great information?

Michael Fabian
TryHard
Queensland
JZZ31 2JZ

Posts: 245
Reg: 07-2008

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 10:10 pm, by: Michael Fabian (Mf_sc300)

I like it, haha.

Matt Jeffers
Tinkerer
QLD
V8

Posts: 10
Reg: 01-2010

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 10:29 pm, by: Matt Jeffers (Mattjay101)

Im not saying its bad ( i love it ), and i certainly said nothing about it lacking in content or member base, but you could be better and more efficient and have a more current interface with ease but without actually changing anything major or even aesthetic. i urge you to just go have a poke around some other forums and have a look at specifically the board setup, its just small things for example the fact you have to scroll through 2000 threads to get to the bottom of a page to click start a thread,you could tidy everything up a huge amount by adding pages into this, thread blocks of 50, then click page two or three like you have in the thread setup, just apply the same thing in the board, its a massive waste of bandwidth for each section to load 2000+ threads on one page, there's a reason 99.9% of websites will divide it into pages.

I guess i just dont see why having features that make things quicker and easier and more efficient would be a bad thing, you would actually simplify everything. i dont see the sense in such outdated software, the only reason for opposing it would be fear of change or lack of understanding the modern systems.

Anyway that will do me, just a suggestion that it might be time to consider updating the mechanicals of the site to BETTER everyone nothing more.

Cheers.

Darren Driscoll
TryHard
WA
JZZ30 x2

Posts: 137
Reg: 05-2008

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 10:43 pm, by: Darren Driscoll (Dazzadee73)

I agree that the current format actually works really well - it is different from other forums and does take some getting used to, but it's easy to end up liking the format much more.

There are definately some areas that could use improvement, and as long as these points are raised directly and constructively I'm sure there's a reason for why things are the way the are. On that note, two things -

This forum is very public, and uses peoples full names. I'm sure I'm not the only person who is in a position work wise where it is a serious concern to have any personal details publicly listed - I have a silent number and my address and details aren't listed on the publicly accessible electoral roll. A google search on my name however will come up with many results from soarer central, including older posts which do have some personal details. Since realising this I've removed any descriptions of my car, suburb I live in etc, however the older posts are still there to anyone who looks.

The new post button - one of the best of its types on forums around, except that if you happen to be on a dodgy computer that decides that you have double clicked on it, you get a response of nothing. Most other forums will show the same 'new post' results if you hit the button twice in a minute.

My 2c

edit: Post above is more constuctive and raises good points also. Much better approach than the original comments made.

Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer
South Australia
UZZ30 UZZ31

Posts: 11347
Reg: 11-2004

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 12:07 am, by: Peter Nitschke (Pen)

Matt Jeffers wrote on Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 10:29 pm:
the only reason for opposing it would be fear of change or lack of understanding the modern systems.

The only reason that you can see.

Matthew Sharpe
Goo Roo
North Island
JZZ31

Posts: 5208
Reg: 10-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 06:12 am, by: Matthew Sharpe (Madmatt)

Boostcrusing makes my eyes bleed and my baby cry.

This site is great - clear and easy to read, no moronic avatars or signature tags - you don't need to load "2000+" threads, just click on the "new" button and you'll only get the active threads... looking for something specific? Use the search button, it works very well.

Adam Lonergan
Goo Roo
Victoria
UZZ32 #369 (V8)

Posts: 1093
Reg: 08-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 07:00 am, by: Adam Lonergan (Alchemistal)

With regard to scrolling down to find the 'start new thread' button, I suggest you use the END key on your keyboard (if you have one)... it's there for a reason although most people don't use it.

Having all the thread topics on one page gives you the option to use a browsers find function to highlight and/or find a word (or string of letters) without having to use the built in search feature. Saves time if you know you're in the right area already. I actually suspect as internet speeds become faster or as more people move from dialup to faster plans you will see a lot of internet 'pages' become longer.

Improving the 'new posts' function as Darren has described would be a nice feature.

Antonio Hunt
TryHard
NSW
TT

Posts: 311
Reg: 11-2006

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 08:18 am, by: Antonio Hunt (Carajo)

Also welcome to the forum new comer

Anthony Matthews
TryHard
Western Australia
Soarer GT Limited V8

Posts: 106
Reg: 04-2006

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 12:07 pm, by: Anthony Matthews (Gajet)

Sometimes a simple layout just works better. If I'm underneath, inside the dash or in the boot of my Soarer and need a bit of guidance, this site loads nice and easy on my phone...

It's really like having a technical reference guide in your pocket for every aspect of these cars...

The "new posts" button is the best thing since sliced bread and really, I don't want to have gaudy banners and poncy "avatars".

Oh, and while I'm soapboxing, I am so glad SMS speak is banned here...if I see one more LOL!!!!!

Ryan McDonough
DieHard
NSW
STOCK JZZ30 TT

Posts: 613
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 05:31 pm, by: Ryan McDonough (Ryan)

Guys I dont think that Matt is say to change the software that the board runs on at all. I dont think that it is him main point.
I believe it was more around improvements that could be done with the current great software. Again not changing it over to include things like stupid sigs and pics and all that crap.

I like the idea of Spiting topics into a max of 50 topics per page. Simply because this would reduce the load on the server, the amount of bandwidth used and also would reduce the load times of the site for all users.

Maybe move the start a new topic button to the top of the page, again so you do not have to wait for the whole page to load, just to start a new topic.

No wholesale changes required at all. But it would make it that bit nicer to use.

Aaron Casey
Goo Roo
nsw
'94 jzz30 gttl, 2 mini's one supercharged :-)

Posts: 1909
Reg: 08-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Friday, February 19, 2010 - 06:45 pm, by: Aaron Casey (Blownminiturbo)

i think that would be good (the 50 posts) as when i try come here on my phone can take forever to load large sections such as general soarer chat and off topic etc.
that and a few newer pics to rotate through as the header change it up a little.
other than that i love it.
oh and other than that some newer eye candy or maybe even chuck some random peoples profile pics of their cars

Ty Mackay
Goo Roo
WA
Soarer TT 1jz-gte

Posts: 1310
Reg: 01-2009

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Saturday, February 20, 2010 - 01:46 am, by: Ty Mackay (Duo89)

i have no issues at all.. i in fact love this website, on most websites that contain pop up advertising is a waste of space and time, all you do is close it...

with this website soon as i started i knew where to go, how to post and how to start a new thread, instead of other forums when i have to spend time figuring it out.

i love this website purely because its SIMPLE , and EASY to use..

NOTE! is this website not to talk to everyone and about everyones cars and issues they may have, this forum is not about discussing how good the website is.. its about car nuts talking about things they love, the look of it i belive is not relivant to what the website is about...

Ty Mackay
Goo Roo
WA
Soarer TT 1jz-gte

Posts: 1311
Reg: 01-2009

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Saturday, February 20, 2010 - 01:48 am, by: Ty Mackay (Duo89)

Aaron Casey wrote on Friday, February 19, 2010 - 06:45 pm:
other than that some newer eye candy or maybe even chuck some random peoples profile pics of their cars

this is the only thing i can agree on... eye candy needs changing, maybe like aaron said even to some DECKED out soarers