I apologize for another thread on this topic. However, I continue to see people arguing back and forth all day on this topic, and I thought my input might provide insight from a different perspective; from the people liking the change, to the people accepting the change, and then the people resisting the change.
I manage the website content for a Fortune 100 company who have over 50,000 employees worldwide, translated websites into over 30 languages (meaning an unlimited number of different opinions), and used by a countless number of other public facing/customers. I’m not going to provide anyone here with answers or ah-ha moments. I’m just going to provide my overall perspective as first a die-hard Michigan fan, second a wolverine.com junky who has to check the website around 12:30am when I go to sleep and then again first thing when I wake up at 4am (even though there is never anything new between that time, but I always need to make sure), and third as someone who this “new format” is something that is basically my current job.
First - I was a thread view only (RIP thread view) person. I hated topic view and still hate topic view. I agree with many of the people who have made points about only reading certain threads where they see someone they trust make a post. Yes, others have come back saying you can now use a follow feature to see when these people post. It’s not the same to me…at least not yet. It very well could be, but I don't fully understand it yet, but after only 1 day (I say “only” bc people seem to already be giving up) I’m not there yet.
Second - Just from reading all the different posts on this topic today, I’ve learned a lot of different things. My first reaction to the change, as well as the recent ESPN website change, was why didn't they let people know what was coming? I just led the company I work for through almost this same thing, except it was even more simple (not the actual work amount because w/ all the translating, it was unreal) than this. Our website was the same for the last 13 years and was very outdated, as many have noted today how technology is now old news when just a year old. But for our new format, we literally only changed the look of the website. We didn't change anything related to the actual functionality; i.e. taking away thread view. Everything was in the same place, same function, just a different and more updated look (at least for now
..) and we started letting everyone know about 2-3 months beforehand. We sent out weekly updates to all dealers/customers, showing how it would change to make it more modern, but also mentioning it wouldn't change how they find information because no functionality was changing. However, we still receive daily feedback (change happened about 3 months ago) about how bad the new website is. They say they have been customers for 30+ years and never have seen something worse and can’t find anything. However, again, nothing with the function changed. If you open any page, the same thing happens, it just might be a bigger picture than it use to be. At the end of the day, it was a change that they didn't like and want to complain. It will forever continue because you can’t please everyone, so people here who are getting upset about people complaining (if that makes sense) need to understand it won’t stop for sometime.
So after that ramble, I go back to why didn't they send out information about changing the format? I even saw someone post a few days before about the change coming and thought, well nice, at least they are letting us know but it should be more. Then I saw Spath post about how basically every other portal/website of rivals has been fully on only topic view for 2+ years now. And after looking at the changes, it makes complete sense why they didn't come out with more information if the majority of sites were already using topic view only (and I fully understand this was a rivals thing, and not the responsibility of the mods). I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that the people hating the change and saying they will leave are the thread for lifers. Again, I was/am a thread for lifer too. For everyone else, this new format is simply a different feel and look, combined with new features. Yeah, it might take a day or two to get used to, but their normal functionally hasn't changed; except it’s now enhanced with the new features.
Third - Please sit back, explore, read, learn, and find enjoyment with the new changes. For the people hating it and wanting to leave - what do you expect from a different website? You will have to learn something new, learn who the new people are, etc. Why leave something that you know and have liked for so many years, evident by the number of years people have said they have been a member, instead of trying to adapt? That’s what I’ll be doing. I’m not going to die bc I lost thread view. Yes, I’m not excited about it, but I’m also excited for it because I believe in continuous improvement for customers. Unless the parent company contains only morons, they won’t make decisions that lose them money in the long term. I’m sorry if this offends anyone (and I know the mods wouldn't agree with this) but the parent company doesn't care if they lose 100 to even 300 people paying $10 a month. The change itself will draw revenue from different streams/avenues that it doesn't matter. And to the people freaking out on the ones complaining, please show them sympathy like the mods have asked for. Try to help and not criticize. Even though change might seem small to you, it can be very large to others.
Wrapping up - I’m 28 and consider myself very adaptable. It’s my job to change things. But even I need some time to get used to this because I was/am a thread view lifer. And when I say time, it’s not like I need a year, probably just a week or so. I’m just slightly shocked people have gone over the edge in only a day, and from both sides. If anyone had the pleasure or curse of joining Facebook when it started and gone through all the changes, they might be able to recall that anytime FB made a change, every single person posted about how they hated it and started FB petitions. Did FB ever change back to their old format? No. People hated the timeline/news feed when it was first created. But once people gave it time, it started the next generation for everything we have now in format, etc. And if people forgot, this site brings a lot more to the table than just the fort.
Go Blue!
I manage the website content for a Fortune 100 company who have over 50,000 employees worldwide, translated websites into over 30 languages (meaning an unlimited number of different opinions), and used by a countless number of other public facing/customers. I’m not going to provide anyone here with answers or ah-ha moments. I’m just going to provide my overall perspective as first a die-hard Michigan fan, second a wolverine.com junky who has to check the website around 12:30am when I go to sleep and then again first thing when I wake up at 4am (even though there is never anything new between that time, but I always need to make sure), and third as someone who this “new format” is something that is basically my current job.
First - I was a thread view only (RIP thread view) person. I hated topic view and still hate topic view. I agree with many of the people who have made points about only reading certain threads where they see someone they trust make a post. Yes, others have come back saying you can now use a follow feature to see when these people post. It’s not the same to me…at least not yet. It very well could be, but I don't fully understand it yet, but after only 1 day (I say “only” bc people seem to already be giving up) I’m not there yet.
Second - Just from reading all the different posts on this topic today, I’ve learned a lot of different things. My first reaction to the change, as well as the recent ESPN website change, was why didn't they let people know what was coming? I just led the company I work for through almost this same thing, except it was even more simple (not the actual work amount because w/ all the translating, it was unreal) than this. Our website was the same for the last 13 years and was very outdated, as many have noted today how technology is now old news when just a year old. But for our new format, we literally only changed the look of the website. We didn't change anything related to the actual functionality; i.e. taking away thread view. Everything was in the same place, same function, just a different and more updated look (at least for now
..) and we started letting everyone know about 2-3 months beforehand. We sent out weekly updates to all dealers/customers, showing how it would change to make it more modern, but also mentioning it wouldn't change how they find information because no functionality was changing. However, we still receive daily feedback (change happened about 3 months ago) about how bad the new website is. They say they have been customers for 30+ years and never have seen something worse and can’t find anything. However, again, nothing with the function changed. If you open any page, the same thing happens, it just might be a bigger picture than it use to be. At the end of the day, it was a change that they didn't like and want to complain. It will forever continue because you can’t please everyone, so people here who are getting upset about people complaining (if that makes sense) need to understand it won’t stop for sometime.So after that ramble, I go back to why didn't they send out information about changing the format? I even saw someone post a few days before about the change coming and thought, well nice, at least they are letting us know but it should be more. Then I saw Spath post about how basically every other portal/website of rivals has been fully on only topic view for 2+ years now. And after looking at the changes, it makes complete sense why they didn't come out with more information if the majority of sites were already using topic view only (and I fully understand this was a rivals thing, and not the responsibility of the mods). I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that the people hating the change and saying they will leave are the thread for lifers. Again, I was/am a thread for lifer too. For everyone else, this new format is simply a different feel and look, combined with new features. Yeah, it might take a day or two to get used to, but their normal functionally hasn't changed; except it’s now enhanced with the new features.
Third - Please sit back, explore, read, learn, and find enjoyment with the new changes. For the people hating it and wanting to leave - what do you expect from a different website? You will have to learn something new, learn who the new people are, etc. Why leave something that you know and have liked for so many years, evident by the number of years people have said they have been a member, instead of trying to adapt? That’s what I’ll be doing. I’m not going to die bc I lost thread view. Yes, I’m not excited about it, but I’m also excited for it because I believe in continuous improvement for customers. Unless the parent company contains only morons, they won’t make decisions that lose them money in the long term. I’m sorry if this offends anyone (and I know the mods wouldn't agree with this) but the parent company doesn't care if they lose 100 to even 300 people paying $10 a month. The change itself will draw revenue from different streams/avenues that it doesn't matter. And to the people freaking out on the ones complaining, please show them sympathy like the mods have asked for. Try to help and not criticize. Even though change might seem small to you, it can be very large to others.
Wrapping up - I’m 28 and consider myself very adaptable. It’s my job to change things. But even I need some time to get used to this because I was/am a thread view lifer. And when I say time, it’s not like I need a year, probably just a week or so. I’m just slightly shocked people have gone over the edge in only a day, and from both sides. If anyone had the pleasure or curse of joining Facebook when it started and gone through all the changes, they might be able to recall that anytime FB made a change, every single person posted about how they hated it and started FB petitions. Did FB ever change back to their old format? No. People hated the timeline/news feed when it was first created. But once people gave it time, it started the next generation for everything we have now in format, etc. And if people forgot, this site brings a lot more to the table than just the fort.
Go Blue!
