Why is an overhaul out of the question....
Discussion
Or is it?
I've been floating around this site for about 10 years i think with the exact same layout and usual issues arising.
Generally it's fine, although i'm not sure i'll ever forgive shutting down the Pie and Piston dedicated area. No it's not the same, yes i know there's a massive section now.
Anyway, we all know the forumsa re custom built and bespoke and written in ASP and throughout a lot of the issues reported a lot of this is maybe de-prioritised because of this and the effect any changes has on functionality as (to my knowledge) there are no non-production environments to fully test things.
It must get annoying for the support guys, haymarket, whoever it is to have to try and list and prioritise things that should just work and don't after a new ad campaign or stability fix is put in.
So, why can't these forums as we know it be gracefully retired and a brand spanking new area opened using some of the latest forum platforms that are available?
Is it scale / load related? This is a busy, busy site i'm sure.
Likened to, but my no means anywhere near as easy but i remember when the owner of bmwland tragically passed away and all of the information relating to the site went with him. After some deliberation and agreement from his family a new site was born and some very fitting links back to the old site and it's legacy preseved.
So.. Why can't we shot these forums down, keep them archived and reference them in the new forums?
I've been floating around this site for about 10 years i think with the exact same layout and usual issues arising.
Generally it's fine, although i'm not sure i'll ever forgive shutting down the Pie and Piston dedicated area. No it's not the same, yes i know there's a massive section now.
Anyway, we all know the forumsa re custom built and bespoke and written in ASP and throughout a lot of the issues reported a lot of this is maybe de-prioritised because of this and the effect any changes has on functionality as (to my knowledge) there are no non-production environments to fully test things.
It must get annoying for the support guys, haymarket, whoever it is to have to try and list and prioritise things that should just work and don't after a new ad campaign or stability fix is put in.
So, why can't these forums as we know it be gracefully retired and a brand spanking new area opened using some of the latest forum platforms that are available?
Is it scale / load related? This is a busy, busy site i'm sure.
Likened to, but my no means anywhere near as easy but i remember when the owner of bmwland tragically passed away and all of the information relating to the site went with him. After some deliberation and agreement from his family a new site was born and some very fitting links back to the old site and it's legacy preseved.
So.. Why can't we shot these forums down, keep them archived and reference them in the new forums?
Jack Mansfield said:
An overhaul may be something that happens at some point, but it also may not!
I'm uncertain because there are simply no plans for it at the moment, and speculating would be silly because of that.
Sorry for the vagueness
Ever thought of standing for parliament Jack I'm uncertain because there are simply no plans for it at the moment, and speculating would be silly because of that.
Sorry for the vagueness
Monkeylegend said:
Jack Mansfield said:
An overhaul may be something that happens at some point, but it also may not!
I'm uncertain because there are simply no plans for it at the moment, and speculating would be silly because of that.
Sorry for the vagueness
Ever thought of standing for parliament Jack I'm uncertain because there are simply no plans for it at the moment, and speculating would be silly because of that.
Sorry for the vagueness
Given that the priority for the site is obviously classifieds (given who has acquired it) - it would make a lot of sense to once and for all take care of the classifieds technology which frankly is laughable compared to Cargurus itself, Autotrader and others. Just tried it - images don’t load, pagination doesn’t work - no wonder there are so few listings.
miniman said:
Given that the priority for the site is obviously classifieds (given who has acquired it) - it would make a lot of sense to once and for all take care of the classifieds technology which frankly is laughable compared to Cargurus itself, Autotrader and others. Just tried it - images don’t load, pagination doesn’t work - no wonder there are so few listings.
Considering that a large section of the PH lectorate is non-uk diversifying by splitting LHD/RHD and filtering per country would increase traffic!Marketing/growth hacking required though for sure.
14 said:
The answer is money. Cargurus won’t want to spend a fair amount of money on a new platform as the forum doesn’t make any money. The form with it’s current platform will keep plodding along until it keeps breaking, and then at that point the forum will close.
This really - the time required to migrate the forums over to a new platform is massive. Think a couple (at the absolute minimum!) of developers spending at least a couple of months on it. And that's if everything goes perfectly. That's big money, especially when it means leaving other sites/dev work undone.For every one user that wants change, there'll be ten who'll moan about any changes.
It's the contributors and content that really matter, not the format.
I'd like a nice shiny new Panamera GTS with all its electronic goodness, but I'd miss manual transmission and complain about all the nanny-nets.
You just can't have your cake and eat it.
It's the contributors and content that really matter, not the format.
I'd like a nice shiny new Panamera GTS with all its electronic goodness, but I'd miss manual transmission and complain about all the nanny-nets.
You just can't have your cake and eat it.
eldar said:
Pothole said:
What issues? I find it works fine for me.
Agreed. The layout is clean and simple, I can live without the modern fripperies like avatars, sigs and flashy fonts and colours.LordGrover said:
For every one user that wants change, there'll be ten who'll moan about any changes.
It's the contributors and content that really matter, not the format.
I'd like a nice shiny new Panamera GTS with all its electronic goodness, but I'd miss manual transmission and complain about all the nanny-nets.
You just can't have your cake and eat it.
Yep, the forums really aren't bad for what we pay for them It's the contributors and content that really matter, not the format.
I'd like a nice shiny new Panamera GTS with all its electronic goodness, but I'd miss manual transmission and complain about all the nanny-nets.
You just can't have your cake and eat it.
I posted this in the Cargurus buys PH thread but it seems appropriate here as well after the Panamera post.
We are in an age of 4wd turbo hot hatches which are fast, comfortable, reliable and full of touch screen, bluetooth technology. Yet there are cries that despite these being the latest and the greatest they are a bit dull. They are too generic. They don't excite in the way an old school hot hatch does or they don't give the feedback and sense of occasion that comes with previous generation cars.
When a new car is launched and a PH news article written, replies usually contain posts saying they would rather have MK 1 version or the Ur version or the original as launched decades ago.
I find many modern forums a bit like the modern 2.0 turbo hot hatches; very capable and full of whizzy technology but all a bit the same and soulless.
To me PH is like a one off classic car. The original version. Yes it is not as fast as a modern car and yes it is a bit unreliable and requires a bit more maintenance but it has a unique character, a charm that is hard to define.
I would rather see a sympathetic restoration incorporating some subtle upgrades than just PXing it for something new.
We are in an age of 4wd turbo hot hatches which are fast, comfortable, reliable and full of touch screen, bluetooth technology. Yet there are cries that despite these being the latest and the greatest they are a bit dull. They are too generic. They don't excite in the way an old school hot hatch does or they don't give the feedback and sense of occasion that comes with previous generation cars.
When a new car is launched and a PH news article written, replies usually contain posts saying they would rather have MK 1 version or the Ur version or the original as launched decades ago.
I find many modern forums a bit like the modern 2.0 turbo hot hatches; very capable and full of whizzy technology but all a bit the same and soulless.
To me PH is like a one off classic car. The original version. Yes it is not as fast as a modern car and yes it is a bit unreliable and requires a bit more maintenance but it has a unique character, a charm that is hard to define.
I would rather see a sympathetic restoration incorporating some subtle upgrades than just PXing it for something new.
Scrump said:
I posted this in the Cargurus buys PH thread but it seems appropriate here as well after the Panamera post.
We are in an age of 4wd turbo hot hatches which are fast, comfortable, reliable and full of touch screen, bluetooth technology. Yet there are cries that despite these being the latest and the greatest they are a bit dull. They are too generic. They don't excite in the way an old school hot hatch does or they don't give the feedback and sense of occasion that comes with previous generation cars.
When a new car is launched and a PH news article written, replies usually contain posts saying they would rather have MK 1 version or the Ur version or the original as launched decades ago.
I find many modern forums a bit like the modern 2.0 turbo hot hatches; very capable and full of whizzy technology but all a bit the same and soulless.
To me PH is like a one off classic car. The original version. Yes it is not as fast as a modern car and yes it is a bit unreliable and requires a bit more maintenance but it has a unique character, a charm that is hard to define.
I would rather see a sympathetic restoration incorporating some subtle upgrades than just PXing it for something new.
In web technology possibilities and visual representation are totally different aspects usually.. For instance a lot of the second hand bartering websites look a LOT like they did ages ago but the underpinning tech has completely (or at least big part thereof) changed. We are in an age of 4wd turbo hot hatches which are fast, comfortable, reliable and full of touch screen, bluetooth technology. Yet there are cries that despite these being the latest and the greatest they are a bit dull. They are too generic. They don't excite in the way an old school hot hatch does or they don't give the feedback and sense of occasion that comes with previous generation cars.
When a new car is launched and a PH news article written, replies usually contain posts saying they would rather have MK 1 version or the Ur version or the original as launched decades ago.
I find many modern forums a bit like the modern 2.0 turbo hot hatches; very capable and full of whizzy technology but all a bit the same and soulless.
To me PH is like a one off classic car. The original version. Yes it is not as fast as a modern car and yes it is a bit unreliable and requires a bit more maintenance but it has a unique character, a charm that is hard to define.
I would rather see a sympathetic restoration incorporating some subtle upgrades than just PXing it for something new.
Mr Pointy said:
eldar said:
Pothole said:
What issues? I find it works fine for me.
Agreed. The layout is clean and simple, I can live without the modern fripperies like avatars, sigs and flashy fonts and colours.Any good, modern forum/Bb software can be configured to show no avatars, no signatures, no fonts and no flashy colours.
A good example of minimalism is the OCUK tech forums, https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/ which I’m a member of. They have signatures optional (you can choose to view them or not) as you can with avatars. I have both switched off for a cleaner look. Sure you can have fonts and colours but so many users hate it that anyone who does so will be quietened down or even ostracised!
The background and layout can be tweaked in thousands of ways so if you want to keep the white background you can. You could even colour individual backgrounds if you wanted to.
What advantages does it have over the old forum?
Well, a notification system that works. User mentions that give you notifications, a functioning PM system (turned off on OCUK) and a conversation system which Mods can use which can easily be activated if required.
The ability to quote a specific post or even multiple posts without buggering about with copying and pasting! All without being taken to another page! It even works on tablets and mobiles!
The ability to quick reply to a post without even having to leave the page. I know, it’s amazing!
The ‘last read’ system actually works! You click the icon on the left of the thread and it actually takes you to the post you read last instead of the one you got to yesterday or this morning. Amazing!
A functional and working search system. With the ability to set parameters like individual sections, posts by individual members etc. The PH search is utter dogs
t.Honestly I get that no one wants avatars or signatures or multicolour fonts (I don’t either) but newer software can all be configured to not have any of that. I don’t get the mistrust or fear tbh. This software is garbage really.
Edited by MissChief on Wednesday 9th October 20:27
Krikkit said:
14 said:
The answer is money. Cargurus won’t want to spend a fair amount of money on a new platform as the forum doesn’t make any money. The form with it’s current platform will keep plodding along until it keeps breaking, and then at that point the forum will close.
This really - the time required to migrate the forums over to a new platform is massive. Think a couple (at the absolute minimum!) of developers spending at least a couple of months on it. And that's if everything goes perfectly. That's big money, especially when it means leaving other sites/dev work undone.MissChief said:
I’m sure there are knowledgeable people on here that would do it for a very small amount, maybe even free in their spare time? Hell invite them into a shoot or something or give them tickets to Goodwood as payment or something!
I'm fairly sure most of the experts here wouldn't work for a commercial organisation for mates rates, and I really wouldn't blame them!But a lot of tthe problem with an overhaul would be keeping all the existing stuff - it is pleasantly surprising how often the old stuff is useful.
It -would- be better if it was easier to search for it, though
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