I don't like the new layout

[lenvine]

I am a member of Glescachinas, who's website was created by Proboards (glesgachinasproboards.com)

Recently when I logged onto Glesgachinas, I didn't recognize the site. Everything was changed.

I couldn't find the postings I was used to responding to.

Then I saw a message from Glesgachinas Admin, saying Proboards had redesigned the site and we can't do anything about it.

All the members, myself included, are up in arms over this unmitigated rehashing of our beloved site, especially as it was done without our knowledge or approval.

Have you never heard of the expression "If it aint broke, don't fix it" ?

On the behalf of our members, I am requesting that you change Glesgachinas back to the way it was.

Thank you.

Len Vine

Please reply to me at  [e-mail]

[Maiden]

Dear Len Vine,

Your 'admin' chose to upgrade to V5. (only someone with access to the main 'admin' account of a forum can do this) At this time no one has been forced to upgrade, admins are being allowed to upgrade early if they choose too, and during the process you have to confirm at least once that you're aware what you're doing.

Your admin is free to chance the forum layout and design however they like, and there is lots of help and support available here for them. They were also adviced to make a test copy of their forum to see how the upgrade would affect the forum look and to learn how to use the new features (and if they wanted return the site to looking just how it used to look) before they upgraded.

Now you've converted you can't go back to V4 but there is a lot that your admin can do about the look of their forum.

[Patrick [ASE]]

At the moment we are in a transition period, which means the admin can decide when to change to V5, and that is what he has decided to do,

As with any upgrade, there will be some tweaks to be done, but be assured the admin will get all the help he needs here to get the forum looking the same if not better than before.

[McGani]

Like Maiden said, your Admin CHOSE to convert early. I don't know what they've told you, but it's obvious they weren't very forthcoming with the details. Nobody's required to switch right now, and your Admin could have made the switch easier for you and the other members had they split off into a test forum before messing with the real forum.

Obviously they chose not to, so if you're going to be upset at all, you should be asking your Admin why they didn't take these measures and give their members plenty of notice in advance rather than converting on you out of the blue.

That was not PB's decision to convert early and suddenly. In fact, I find it distasteful for the Admin to tell everyone it was ProBoards who forced the changes upon you out of nowhere, as that isn't true. If that is, in fact, what they actually said--I realize you could be embellishing.

As someone who has created a forum from scratch V5, and switched a V4 forum TO V5, I will tell you with confidence that your Admin has the ability to make the forum look 99% like how it used to, or perhaps even better, now that the switch has been made. It's perfectly possible.

Also, your approval as a member (or Admin, for that matter) isn't necessary before ProBoards makes changes like this, so to be offended about it is fruitless. Either support your forum by being patient through the conversion process, or don't. But PB does not have the time to go around to every single member of every single forum and ask for their permission to upgrade their outdated software. Sorry.

If you don't like the changes, be constructive--tell ProBoards why. Suggest changes. It's still in Beta, and things are still changing all the time. If you don't like it, be helpful. That's your best chance of getting things the way you want them.

In time, I hope you see how much smoother and user friendly the new ProBoards is, and embrace change instead of having an angry-mob mentality about it.

[DeltaDart]

I feel bad for you and the membership being the recipient of your Admins poor choice of words "...proboards redesigned the site and we can't do anything about it.", because that's just not true.

Yes, the site architecture was redesigned.

Yes, administering the site for the Admins is different now (much easier)

Yes, there are more [read different] features in v5

Yes, initially upon upgrade the site will look different until the Admin tweaks the new settings and updates old codes with plug-ins

NO, it's not true the Admins can't do anything about it!  They have control over the look and feel of the site and can replicate its look like before... IF THEY TAKE THE TIME AND LEARN HOW TO USE V5.

[lenvine]

Sorry if I sounded negative about Glesgachinas upgrade to V5, but I'm just collectively expressing the frustration of it's members, who feel the same as I do, that they prefered the old layout.
The general feeing I got was that our Admin was offered a trial of V5, and if they didn't like it they could revert back to the old layout.
But it seems they are sticking with V5, and trying to fine tune it to make it easier for us members.
Nobody likes change, if what they've got works fine, and I guess we're all creatures of habit.
But just imagine logging onto a website you've been familiar with, and all of a sudden, everything's different, and you knw nothing about it.
I'm sure most of you would feel the same way.

Thanks for letting me have my 2 cents worth.

[McGani]

But just imagine logging onto a website you've been familiar with, and all of a sudden, everything's different, and you knw nothing about it.
I'm sure most of you would feel the same way.

Facebook does this to its users all the time. Basically every website worth its salt will adapt to changes in web standards and usability, and of course design.

It's something that is constantly changing and is never going to stop changing.

[Sophia]

Feb 5, 2013 13:25:41 GMT -8 lenvine said:

But just imagine logging onto a website you've been familiar with, and all of a sudden, everything's different, and you knw nothing about it.
I'm sure most of you would feel the same way.

Thanks for letting me have my 2 cents worth.

Appreciate your feelings, but really this is not Proboards' fault... they have been "warning" and preparing all board owners for a year or so, and have given them the choice to convert as late as coming December. You might be better off to voice your opinion to your admin and hope they'll go about any changes different next time

Feb 5, 2013 13:25:41 GMT -8 lenvine said:

The general feeing I got was that our Admin was offered a trial of V5, and if they didn't like it they could revert back to the old layout.

Don't know where you got this "general feeling", but that information was wrong. Admins were (still are) given the choice to create a separate test forum, which will be deleted in time.
Once they are satisfied how things work on their test site, and hopefully after asking input and perhaps even volunteers to test with them and get the feel of it, THEN they can choose to upgrade their "live" forum between now and the end of the year.

As said by several in this thread, you really need to talk to your admin about this sudden upgrade... either you misunderstood what they were trying to tell you, or they sold you a lot of baloney 

[lenvine]

This was our Admin's reply to various complaints about the new layout, and requests to go back to the old way:

"Hello Chinas, Please bear with us, we are doing our best to get the old boards that we know and love back. Proboards encouraged us to try their new upgraded version and said that we could revert back if we didn't like it. Well we don't like it but are still waiting for Proboards admin to get back to us. I have the feeling that they are inundated with requests the same as ours"

[McGani]

Feb 5, 2013 18:36:24 GMT -8 lenvine said:

This was our Admin's reply to various complaints about the new layout, and requests to go back to the old way:

"Hello Chinas, Please bear with us, we are doing our best to get the old boards that we know and love back. Proboards encouraged us to try their new upgraded version and said that we could revert back if we didn't like it. Well we don't like it but are still waiting for Proboards admin to get back to us. I have the feeling that they are inundated with requests the same as ours"

Sorry, just, I've been waiting all my life for that .Gif to be relevant in a conversation.

Anyway, yeah, there were absolutely no promises of being able to revert back once you upgraded.

The offer to upgrade popped up in the Admin Panel (for admins who don't frequent PBS), but it was in no way pushed upon anyone at this stage. They should've split off into a test forum. When you upgrade, it even offers to do this automatically so you don't have to touch your Live forum at all while you're adjusting.

Your admin chose not to do this. And they chose not to tell anyone.

They probably didn't know anything about the upgrade, just saw that it was an upgrade, and went for it without checking to see what would be changed. In that case--They pulled a big "WHOOPSIE!" and are trying to place the blame on PB instead of themselves.

Which is silly--it's just a forum, and it's THEIR forum, and even if it was an accident, they shouldn't have to feel guilty about it. They should just be honest about it!

[DeltaDart]

lenvine sorry, but as indicated above, what your admin is telling you all is a flat out lie. We are in a Beta test now. The next v5 version that some of us are beta testing doesn't even go live until Apr, HOWEVER all the admins had the opportunity to upgrade early if the wanted. And the ONLY way to upgrade was for the admin to click on a link AND confirm his/her intentions i.e. it wasn't an errant click. And it was stated from the start that once upgraded you could NOT go back to the old v4. So, as stated above, they are trying to blame ProBoards for their own screwup instead of manning up to it.

[Martyn Dale]

For reference, the text on the top of the admin area reads as follows:

This forum is eligible to upgrade to ProBoards v5. Click here to get started! If you would like to test v5 before upgrading this forum, visit ProBoards BetaZone.

Where the BetaZone mention is a link to it.




The main v5 page, which is linked to from the "click here to get started" text, reads as follows:

Important -- MUST READ!

Before you upgrade please take note of the following:

1. ProBoards v5 is still in beta. If you find any bugs, please let us know!
   
   
2. Before upgrading your forum we strongly encourage you to test your forum by using ProBoards BetaZone.
   BetaZone allows you to make a test copy of your forum before upgrading
   your real forum to v5. This will allow you to test out all our new
   features before upgrading.
   
   
3. Not all Header & Footer codes from ProBoards v4 work with ProBoards v5. As this is a major software update, many old codes are not compatible with our new system. But don't worry!
   ProBoards v5 makes it easier than ever to customize your forum. Many
   old codes have already been upgraded to v5! You can download codes in
   our Plugin Database, or if you need help converting a code you can visit our Request a Plugin board. If you need ANY help with your new v5 forum, our Support Team is available 7 days a week at the ProBoards Support Forum.
   
   
4. Since many v4 codes are not compatible with v5, we automatically
   disable Header & Footer codes when the forum is upgraded. You can
   still access your old Headers & Footers in the admin panel to
   re-enable them.

The submit button has the following text on it:

I read the important notes about -- Upgrade my forum!

[Maiden]

Your admin has just lied to you. (I guess it's possible they got confused but I'm really not sure how...)

It was made painfully clear as Martyn has posted exactly what the upgrade process was (so much so that even I felt nervous hitting the submit button despite having done a number of betazone test conversions and having my new themes and plugins all ready to go on a test forum)

As the 'admin' you accept responsibility for your forum. I didn't want my members to experience the sudden change so I let my members play on the test forums and comment on some of the new things I was implementing and the layout changes I was making. It sounds like your 'admin' needs to step up a little.

V5 is great, and there is no reason why your upgraded forum cannot be great if your admin is now prepared to put a bit of time in listening to you as the members and editing the forum appropriately. If they don't know how to do something, people are here on support to help.

[speedstox12]

You don't have these sort of problems with Yahoo! forums. When changes are implemented they just go through smoothly - everything is looked after by them.

[Maiden]

Have Yahoo completely changed their forum software while you've been with them? (I'm pretty certain Yahoo didn't even do forum's when I first started RPing years ago, which was why we did PbeM)

This isn't like a patch or an update, this is a total upgrade to a new forum software.(See DeltaDart's next post for a better explanation for what it actually is) A much better forum software.