Forum Feedback Request - Please provide your opinion and suggestions

doublespaces

Administrator
Oct 18, 2016
9,303
4,331
0
AZ
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2009 E93 335i
Hello,

As you know we have had two major maintenances in recent days beginning with a datacenter/server migration and then just the other day we upgraded the site software from the board itself all the way down to PHP 7.2. This presented a few challenges we had to overcome however we are now future proofed for quite some time. There will be another minor point release in the board software which will enable features like Push Notifications and re-enable Table BB code among other new items, however we don't expect that to be an impacting maintenance.

There is going to be a new home page coming which may entirely change your entry point into the forum depending on how you access the site. If you are currently typing in "spoolstreet.com" then you're currently presented with a white page which automatically forwards you to the BMW boards. We highly recommend that you change that behavior or become used to viewing our news portal and then making one more click to get to the BMW board.

If you want to arrive directly at the BMW Forums, please type in: "bmw.spooolstreet.com". We are making room for other BMW models and this change is necessary to avoid stuffing your platform into several layers of sub-forums as that doesn't meet our criteria for a seamless and easy to use website. Being required to make three or four clicks to find the threads you're interested in is not acceptable as this is poor website architecture and the reason Apps and Facebook are flourishing. Web design needs to be more intelligent and it has to be planned out from the beginning as we did. Our main competitors are years behind us in terms of Forum software, most or all of them using vBulletin 4 which was in development before the iPhone was released and that is reflected in the design language.

While we let the dust settle we would appreciate any feedback on the site design as well as things you liked about the old site better. That isn't a promise we will make every change however meeting in the middle is often possible, plus your old grumpy ass will probably forget all about it in a few weeks. Naturally it is different and some things have changed and we want to know what those things are. On the other hand, there are many, many improvements that come along with these changes so I have faith you will adapt to them in time.

TLDR:

If you have criticism, suggestions or a general comment about the site design and layout, please let us know!

Edit: And state which device you're using!
 
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iminhell1

Sergeant
Jun 17, 2018
419
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There's too much white for my eyes. The black was nice. I had lasik while back and I'm still dealing with light sensitivity, or I think that's what it is.
And this laptop screen is garbage, virtually no gamma adjustment, so no separation between post boxes, grey is almost invisible.
 

PaulKendall

Specialist
Nov 12, 2016
63
16
0
Omaha NE
Thanks for the feedback. Anything in particular you would like to change besides "going back" which is impossible.

Maybe something to kinda breakup the massive amount of white, maybe black lines vs grey on the main page? I know I can get used to the change, it looks very updated and new.
 

doublespaces

Administrator
Oct 18, 2016
9,303
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0
AZ
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2009 E93 335i
There's too much white for my eyes. The black was nice. I had lasik while back and I'm still dealing with light sensitivity, or I think that's what it is.
And this laptop screen is garbage, virtually no gamma adjustment, so no separation between post boxes, grey is almost invisible.
Maybe something to kinda breakup the massive amount of white, maybe black lines vs grey on the main page? I know I can get used to the change, it looks very updated and new.

There are tweaks that can be made to make it more like the old board, are you guys referring to the forum view or thread view? Desktop or mobile?

As an alternative, I may be able to give you guys the option to use a Dark theme, it would look like this:
1541883328589.png


Also, in terms of white space on the mobile forum view, here is an apples to apples comparison. Also, someone mentioned before the font was too big, but its actually smaller:

1541883689341.png
 

PaulKendall

Specialist
Nov 12, 2016
63
16
0
Omaha NE
I am on mobile, seeing side by side comparison, old vs new makes me think it was just the initial change giving me a little shock. I think it would be awesome to have a toggle/ choice for the dark vs light layout.
 
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Torgus

Brigadier General
Nov 6, 2016
2,671
2,194
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Boston
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ACF 6466 E92 + METH
dark theme option a must. Way too bright. Bring back the shit/dumb neg rep ;)

Make neg reps have an impact & limit # of neg reps in some sort, in theory positive too.

Let the community 'police' the forum for you via the pos/neg rep system. Make rep system have a purpose, it could keep people from being asshats and save you manual time undoing asshats and their friends neg rep marathons. such as low rep limited ability to post/comment/start threads/rep etc. One idea is if you have high rep you can rep people more pos or neg, low rep limits the amount of rep be it pos or neg in a certain time frame such as 24 hours. One idea is the dislike rep is -1 to your neg rep score/record while you bring back the shit/dumb rep and it is -3, but it costs you say 3x or 6x as much of your 'rep you have to give'. So it has more weight, but costs you more to use it. This would make sens as disliking a post vs. rating a post shit/dumb has a more negative connotation to it. It would add value. Same with like and love rep for instance. Just some ideas.
 

DamnDatsun

Private
Apr 20, 2018
26
10
0
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Black 2010 135i M Sport
Is there a way to go to the last page in a thread, without having to open said thread and scrolling to the bottom? Maybe I'm missing it.

Using my note8
 

dyezak

Major
May 4, 2017
1,768
1,518
0
Plano TX
Ride
335is
Took me a couple days to get used to it, but the benefit of the update is obvious. I think this is the right way forward for the community.