Keys, Synths & Samplers

[wwwjd]

just guessing.  I stop in here every morning (even though it is still annoying to navigate and read) and it FEELS to me like post amount has dropped considerably since the change over.   Am I wrong?  I'm just guessing at the 75% and was thinking 80 or 90.  But seems like just tidbits anymore. 

Is it just me?

I still really don't care for the interface as it is still klunkier than every other forum site I use online, but I sliog through it.   And I don't contribute a lot since it feels like not a lot is going on.

...just sayin'...

[joemmi]

Indeed much quieter these days. In fact, March averaged 29.0 Posts per day so far compared to 62.5 in January 2013 (which was already much lower than previous averages of 200/day (very close to the "other" forum) which stayed pretty constantly at this value for a long time (Jan 2013: 216, Feb 2013: 178)...

just sayin'...

[wwwjd]

where'd you find the post per day numbers?   so, seems like it is  a little more than 75% drop of posts?   Wow, just wow.  All the time and probably money they spent... for this?  How was this a good idea?

[joemmi]

The redesign was in January right? so I'd say (which is inline with my subjective perception of reading the forum) it is in the range of 66% drop. But already the last redesign/new software etc. had changed activity over the last year already, all together its quite a big drop (only talking about the keyboard section here! Might be different for other sections) in the range of 85%.

The numbers are just monthly noting the post numbers on the main forum page, dividing it by the days per months..

[keybdwizrd]

It is undoubtedly much, much quieter here since the redesign.

Due to work and other things going on in my life, I can go days or weeks without visiting KSS, and nothing seems to have happened here in the interim.

On the other hand there is "that other forum" where the posting is so fast and furious that I can't keep up, even if I visit once a day or more.

[cybermooks]

I'd like to know what happened to thousands of my old posts from 2004 and earlier that were always here. There was a lot of valuable information there, including to my own memory. Anyone know what's going on or where the archive is?

[ElectricPuppy]

As far as I know, older stuff has been lost.  

And yes, traffic has obviously stalled.  There's multiple reasons for that, I think, with the new board changeover being just one of them.

[Metrosonus]

every board change or tehcnical issue has just created forum drama for one reason or another and with each issue, we lose more and more people. that plus the shift to being owned by MF is about 80% of the reason, at least IMO.  

[zoink]

The amount of time it took for them to upgrade this forum drove a lot of members away.  One thing I've learned in business is that people are creatures of habit.  Once they get used to *not* coming here, that's what they do. 

It takes years to build a community like the one this forum used to be, and pretty much all of it can be undone in weeks. 

I also think that the economy has more people working overtime or second jobs, and even selling off their gear, with less time for things like HC.  This is just an impression I get. 

Lately I don't post as much as I used to because I've been pretty busy handling life stuff -- family emergencies, business transition, etc.  But part of it is that right now there doesn't seem to be as much to talk about, or as many people here to talk with. 

This place used to be like a club, a fun place to hang out where you know the regulars and they know you.  Some of the core members are still here, but I sense that a lot of them have either left or don't check in as often as they used to. 

[AnotherScott]

The look and formatting are much better now than when the transition began. One remaining issue is I think there is too much blank space. Particularly is someone has a sig, it's not uncommon for most of a post's space to be empty. Also the header area for each message is now larger (repeating the subject on every post, followed by a date line) and no longer offset in a different color. The bottom line is that there is less useful content in a given area of the screen, and it is harder to scan and see just the meat. I wonder if changeing the background to the old sky blue might make people feel more at home, too.

[wwwjd]

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION  just the style of this board itself hurt the users.  The original board - as old and broken on the back end as it was - was simple and functional and TYPICAL of what is on the net and in heavy use.   Then they wasted a ton of time and probably money on a REALLY REALLY BADLY designed one, not really concernging themselves with what the user community desired - which is fine, THEY pay the bill and all that, but why even have a forum if it sucks so bad everyone bails?  Then they went back to the old one and it was better.  Now, another new one, that was better than the first attempt, yet still worse than the original...  how does worse than the original ever get green lighted?  I'm calling it worse because it is away from standard quick, full featured text based internet board and more filly "good looking" what ever it is now, with huge ads down the sides that pay for it?   Won't pay if no one is bothering to come here.   Foot shooting?

Meantime, gearheads is still going strong, just fine on their dated LOOKING yet completely functional forum.  If they are doing upgrades, we don't even notice and everything works great, simple, easy, better than here.  Which saddens me.

[wwwjd]

BTW using ADBLOCKER in Firefox removes all the noise from the sides, and I ride my browser at +5 size on THIS site to fix the wasted space thing.

[Purity_Control]

The post count is that low even with the place being full of strange sock puppets that seemed to pile in right after the changeover.

Not good.

[cybermooks]

ElectricPuppy could you please check further on that. It is a real blow to me and I need some information that was there. Thanks.

[carbon111]

The hideous new interface and general inactivity are mainly why I don't post anymore.

FWIW, I do peek in every day or two...

[Citizen Klaus]

I've been trying to do less posting/gear-lusting and more playing.

.....

Hasn't worked as well as I'd hoped, though -- instead, I moved over to lurking at Muff's and I'm now GASsing hard for a Sub Phatty.  

[AnotherScott]

I think another issue is that seeing new messages requires clicking on the dimmed number in the New column, which is not obvious (it doesn't even look clickable).

[Gribs]

I just don't have much to say these days.

[wwwjd]

---

AnotherScott wrote:
I think another issue is that seeing new messages requires clicking on the dimmed number in the New column, which is not obvious (it doesn't even look clickable).

---

yeah...  I still don't even understand that.   What The Fuss???  If that were a preferred method of operation, ALL the other much larger boards would do it like that.  It's dumb and backwards.... we want info fast, not relearn things that were never broken = driving people away.

[AnotherScott]

Yeah, the little things add up to the overall experience. If you see a thread you want to read, your want to click it, and see what's been posted since you last read it. Even once you realize you CAN get there by clicking the number in the "New" column (and as I said, that's not obvious), it's still an "extra step". That is, what you want to do is click the topic of interest. Instead, what happens is you visually locate the topic of interest and then click somewhere else. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it's another way the experience isn't quite what it should be. Honestly, I don't even remember how that worked here before, but I know it works "right" in other forums. Still, as I said, this new rev has come a long way. It's really not bad, though a few tweaks could make it better.