@dragonmom I think it’s going to take some getting used to, especially for those of us who aren’t particularly tech savvy. I’ve had to spend a fair bit of time clicking around on things, just to see what they are. I suspect a lot of people are doing the same—dipping their toes and wading in, bit by bit.
I agree that the change to a new platform was very needed. Personally, what I wish there was less text everywhere. There’s too much to read. I liked the featured articles, the AMA’s, and those seem to have disappeared. I do like that it keeps track of discussions.
@Bromfield2 I suspect they haven’t yet imported all those things over. They are addressing critical issues first. I don’t have any of my posts or messages either. It will happen.
Tip: If you’re in a subforum, the only Unread or New are those related to that subforum. I learned this when all the New I was seeing were many hours old and followed by posts from years earlier. You need to go back to All Categories or whatever.
This hunt and peck to figure things out is slaying us.
Also, I can’t figure out the philosophy behind the overall changes. Sometimes, I think it mostly streamlines admins’ work. Other times, ?? Eg, so many new AMAs where college kids are seen as authoritative, when their experience is slight and based only on their own view.
I don’t have a consistent back button, I go to the forums and then Latest. I read a thread, and then the back button either takes me back to Latest, or to the thread I read previously, or to the forums home. Sometimes I come back to the computer and I’m on a thread I never clicked on. Nothing I can’t manage but sort of annoying.
Ok, I liked it when Forum was on top as a tab because I could always click on it to get me to the top. Now when I in the Parent Cafe, I see Parents Forum, Parent Cafe. But when I am in the Parents Forum (top directory) I can’t easily see Parent Cafe or other sub directories. This is not good.
If we could do a poll I think that we would find that the majority of CC parents are tech saavy enough to figure out a message board after a week. You don’t have to be a computer scientist to figure out a message board! But here we are, a week later and the amount of conversation that is people resorting to endless scrolling, jumped threads, hen and peck style keyboarding to try and find something…this does not bode well for participation.
If you are using an IPad…click on the three lines in the upper right corner. “Forums” is right in there along with a few other categories you might (or might not) find useful.
I think it would be a mistake to assume people are having issues because they don’t know how to navigate a website.
@aupaircj made some excellent points. I hope someone is paying attention. I use an ad blocker on this site and it still lurches as it loads and reloads as I scroll down the page. It’s frustrating and annoying.
As @CC_Sorin said in his post announcing the new platform, “change was necessary to improve our community experience and increase participation on College Confidential. The new platform solves many issues people have experienced finding and following discussions they are interested in.”
In addition, the old platform had a host of issues from a moderator’s standpoint.
Well, someone - whoever is left here to determine it - can at some point decide if the mess and scrambling that is currently going on to try and put out faulty board fires, results in that “improved community experience and increased participation on CC”. This is the first time in years of many changes that I am truly doubting change will result in a better place - for me anyway.
I think part of the problem is just when I think I’ve got something figured out, it gets changed. How was I supposed to figure out that the Forums are now where those three bars are? I just know they aren’t where they were yesterday. Isn’t that what tells me to pin somebody on Zoom? (Just kiddding!) I admit I often forget that three bars can hide all sorts of goodies.
That’s horrible. And probably why my (new!) laptop fan starts up shortly after coming on here. It doesn’t do that with any other sites I’m on, even when I’m streaming tv shows.
I intensely dislike it. Don’t know who is running this company but this platform has gone from good to bad to worse. Each iteration is more difficult to use, less intuitive etc… I’m saddened by it because I really enjoyed so many of the forums but I don’t think I have the interest in dealing with this new platform.