Is the new site up to scratch?

Following on from the Jedward poll thread .................................

I wasn't having a dig at Paul (Brummie), just pointing out that the way people access the forums hasn't really changed from the 'old' site. Whether it's 'New Posts' or the old version 'Latest Posts' we still get a list of what is being discussed today. The new site only ever gives access to approximately 35 threads? With only 25 threads on the first page many people wont bother to look at page two whereas on the old site there were at least 50 threads on page one. You could also go to pages 2, 3, 4 and on up to the very oldest of threads. Nothing was lost! Okay, so the likes of the 'Roach Challenge' and 'Three's Up' keep reappearing on the list, but that is because one is a very good thread with excellent information that we all enjoy and the other is football

I have to agree with him in fact. There just aren't as many good in depth threads dealing with purely fishing related queries and advice. I spend at the very least an hour a day on this site, it's a great site. Obviously I'm a lurker! If I have some advice and I can get in early enough that nobody else has already covered what little knowledge I have, then I add to the thread. But mainly I lurk and watch

I do think that it's much harder these days to find relevant information though. The search facilities are very poor.

I was recently considering buying a new reel. Easy enough, head over to the Tackle section and find a list of reviews. Not quite that easy. Try it! The old format brought up a comprehensive list of reviews going back years giving the merits or otherwise of reels that had long since been removed from the shelves. Now you go to the Tackle link, click on any of the subheadings, even type in 'reels' in the search facilty but you don't get a comparative list. You have to troll through page after page of some quite unrelated reviews. Ten items per page is crazy!

This, I think, is why less meaningful threads are appearing on the forums. New visitors can't find the wealth of information that used to be found in the depths of FM and so perhaps dont hang around long enough to get involved. Hence the cr*p polls, boring, inane threads.

So .............. is the new site up to scatch?

We are where we are with this site. The owners being a much smaller business than Magica can only afford what they can afford I guess. It's not the best on the net for facilities the bells and whistles some have, but most of the community that was here before are still around and post now and again.

Without this site at all, for all its failings, there would be no FM.

I didn't take offence Grumpy, i was just repling to Grahams question, i'm sure he asked so he got feedback and i gave my opinion.

At the end of the day FM can only be what we make it and to be honest we are not giving the new site the same support.

I do look in and think what the .... is that all about at times.

I like the new Forum lay out.

I do find it hard to start NEW threads though, as i find that i either already know enough about a certain type of Fishing that i do, or things that i may want to know get a "This has been covered in a previous Thread" and then someone kindly posts you a link to it.

I too have tried the Search Engine to try to find a certain Topic, and i too have found page after page of anyhting with that one word in, and not necesserily just in the Title, but, there is another more advanced search at the very bottom of the page after your first initial search, that does help to narrow it down some.

I have read recently in some postings that they don't use the Forum as much as they used to because there aren't as many Serious Interesting Threads posted that they want to comment on " Well Start You're Own Serious Interesting Thread " is my reply to that. I can not see how people can complain about it not being Interesting enough for them to post when they're not contributing to it themselves.

I look at it as a Community, a coming together of individuals who love their Hobby and like to discuss their knowledge with others when it's relevant, however, as a community, sometimes they just like to spout B*ll*x and waffle nonsense to each other and have a bit of a laugh, which is truly a good thing, and a great way of making new acquaintances and friends.

It would be good if the posting times was sorted out to read the correct times of postings. I think the sites a great set up by the way.

It's not just FM

Some very good points being made, both interesting and helpful.

The thing is, all fishing websites in the UK are not as popular as they were; the novelty of being able to instantly publish your view on things has worn off and the initial surge to discuss various topics on forums has faded. Some sites are holding their own and others fading away. Thankfully FM is still increasing its traffic, but not as fast as it once was and we're not yet back up to being as popular as we once were. We will though, but it takes time and we took a big blow in that time between the announcement of the site being for sale and the new site going live. The difference in the software that drives the new site and the old, unique, software that had been written by Magicalia Techs made it an extremely difficult task to move the data without either losing or corrupting it. Even now, there are many articles with missing text and images and this can put off new visitors who don't know our recent history and long time visitors who haven't got the patience or the inclination to stick around.

There are many more 'bells and whistles' on this new forum than the old one, but until you learn how to use them all those bells and whistles can be more of a hindrance than a help.

Take for instance the search engine. The 'ordinary' one isn't much use at all, but switch to 'advanced', and learn how to use it properly, and it's not bad at all.

Tackle Reviews: There are 671 FM reviews here. And 3,450 User Reviews here. Unfortunately all the images were lost in the transfer, but all it needs is time to put that right.

Stealph wrote: "I have read recently in some postings that they don't use the Forum as much as they used to because there aren't as many Serious Interesting Threads posted that they want to comment on "Well Start You're Own Serious Interesting Thread."

Which is something I've said many times, but I do appreciate that this gets harder to do on a forum that is 10 years old and has probably already covered the topic at least a dozen times before. Yet, articles in magazines are repeated over and over again - same topic, different words, but the same thing at the root of it. So do the same on FM; it may be an old topic but there are new members who could have another, unique view, and long time members who have changed or modified their views. Blimey, if we can debate the closed season at least three times every year we can discuss the same tackle and methods, etc, a few times surely!

Paul wrote: "At the end of the day FM can only be what we make it and to be honest we are not giving the new site the same support."

And something else I've said more than once; FM is more about its members and the interaction between them than it is to do with search engines and software. Not that they aren't important, but I don't think for one minute they can be held responsible for any lack of participation on the site.

As for nonsense, or non-fishing polls, I've thought about this some more and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be allowed on Bait Box. They're not for me, but I don't have a problem ignoring them, and that option is open to all of us.

Finally, the number of 'New Posts' displayed may be something I can do something about. I'm just waiting to hear.

---------- Post added at 10:56 ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 ----------

tigger said:

It would be good if the posting times was sorted out to read the correct times of postings. I think the sites a great set up by the way.

Click to expand...

You need to correct your time display in your User CP.

You need to correct your time display in your User CP.

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fixed it now. Thanks!

I would like, if possible, to be able to change my name - not because I want to post under a psuedonym - I just want a little internet privacy.

Paul H. would be fine.

Woody has already informed me he's unable to change anything like this though.

In general I like the new site, it has a few mildly irritating quirks - like having to click on reply before you can type a response on the forum and that it makes my Mobile phone browser crash but overall I like it.

Graham Marsden said:

Blimey, if we can debate the closed season at least three times every year

Click to expand...

Crikey Graham, it's not time for that one yet!

One member I do miss because he was irritating and sometimes (too often perhaps) offended some members was Baz. I know the reasons he was barred and frankly don't blame Graham one bit for it, but he did raise some quite interesting and problematical scenarios for us to comment on and comment we did. Just a shame that often they got out of hand and more often by the instigator himself, but I do miss Baz for all of that.

Whither Deanos? I know he was getting v.heavily committed at work towards the end of "The Olden Times"

Perhaps what would help is, if someone has a "Link" to a question that has been asked before, but not recently "say in the last month" then rather than post it on the Thread, send the member that asked it a PM with it in, that way instead of perhaps killing the Thread off, the other members who want to contribute more can do so, none the wiser, and the Person who posted the Thread can read the link in Private.

Have to admit I haven't really got into the new site. I got lost somewhere in the transition I think. Seems all good though, just wondering where all my pictures went though. Some where from an old computer so they may be lost in time?!

Hope they're not lost in transition Christian..you were producing some good articles and photos. Trust you are well...assume you are now at an ancient seat of learning...hopefully studying the works of Bunyan....of course!! Getting much fishing done?

i prefer the new forum software, the only sad thing is that the old links are gone, I've lost count of the amount of google hits to this site that have 404 on me since the site changed. shame the switchover couldn't have accounted for that. I've tried web.archive.org but it isn't very good at forums.

Is Christian training to be a chiropodist then?

---------- Post added at 20:24 ---------- Previous post was at 20:20 ----------

One thing that I have noticed is that the blogs are little used. There is some good stuff there (even in mine!) but visits are few and far between. I like them because they give more room to express yourself than a forum post without the length of a full blown article.

I suspect people don't know what they are and maybe even don't know where they are as they have to be accessed via the forums.

I had just got used to transferring images links etc on the old site ,now I havent got a clue.

I do think the new site needs 'joining up' a bit.

There should certainly be a link between member's profiles and their input into the site.

If a member has written one interesting article, I want to be able to access the rest of their onsite-content easily. The search engine may be good in advanced mode, but it's still a frustrating way of accessing member-specific content. Wouldn't it be easier if I could click on the profile of for example Mr. Marsbar, Wol, Wolfman, Kev Perkins, Mr. Miyagi, the Dog et al and find a simple listing and link for the material they have contributed?

Also it seems we have lost a lot of members in the transition, is it not possible to send a round-robin email to spell out the changes and explain the unfortunate but inevitable loss of members records in order to encourage them back?

Can you search Blogs on subject Referance or do you just have to search a Members Blog to see what it is they have written ?

I know that if i searched Blogs for say Barbel or Pole Fishing etc and it gave me a search facility for them Blog Topics, i would use them more.

slime monster said:

I had just got used to transferring images links etc on the old site ,now I havent got a clue.

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Keeps you on your toes m8

---------- Post added at 20:41 ---------- Previous post was at 20:35 ----------

****y (Angling Trust said:

If a member has written one interesting article, I want to be able to access the rest of their site-content easily. The search engine may be good in advanced mode, but wouldn't it be easier if I could click on the profile of for example Mr. Marsbar, Wol,, Kev Perkins, Mr. Miyagi, the Dog et al and find a simple listing for the material they have contributed?

Click to expand...

If you click on their Screen Name and then scroll down to "View Public Profile" then click on "Statistics" you can chose to view anything they have contributed to on the Forum, whether that be Posts, Threads Started and even their Blogs.

It's quick and it's simple and you don't have to do a Search or Advanced Search.

You can search blogs via the tag cloud. just click on a tag in the cloud to see all the blogs that have been tagged with that word.

I cant notice a blind bit of difference. This site seems every bit as good to me.