..but seems to me ..a good portion of your customers(as in the people this forum is here for)sure arnt very happy with things... ...
There are certainly some members who are very unhappy with every change that has been made. Trust me, I keep tabs on every negative comment made by a member, and even more so when the same people complain about the same thing over and over again.
Here is the reality of the situation.
We have some 34,000 members, of which about 10,500 are highly active right now.
Of those 10,500 we have less than 100 (less than 0.3% of membership ) who have expressed their serious dissatisfaction with the changes made to SnoWest. Problem is, they tend to be loud and obnoxious, and all those that DO like the changes are intimidated by them and choose not to post for fear of getting pounded on, so they all post privately to me by PM only.
So I am stuck trying to strike a balance between the detractors and supporters and the desires of the company that owns the site. When I look at the hard numbers I see the following when I compare the months of September vs. August.
New Members:
UP (+43%)
Active Members:
UP (+31%)
New Threads:
UP (+5%)
Total Posts:
UP (+66%!)
Average Posts per user:
UP (+68%)
So for all the things that have been implemented that are supposedly driving people away from the site, the hard cold numbers simply do not support the charges.
SnoWest is going GREAT right now, and is growing by leaps and bounds.
NOW, with all that said, it doesn't mean that I am either NOT LISTENING to the complaints, nor am I just IGNORING them.
In every case where I am able to resolve the issue, I do so. I am not here trying to offend members and convince them to leave. But change is always hard, and for some its just plain unbearable.
The #1 issue that is complained about more than any other is the Sub-Forums in the Sled Section. That is clearly "THE" hot-potato on my plate. Those that like it, Love it, while those that dislike it, passionately Hate it.
Problem for me is that the new sub-forums WORK really well! They ARE allowing more and more of our members to come into the forum and find exactly what they are looking for without having to wade through pages and pages of posts that are of no interest to them.
Meanwhile, in response to all those that do not want to go into each of the sub-forums we instituted a BROWSE ALL feature that lets you see EVERYTHING exactly as it was before. That should have solved the entire problem right there. Both groups get what they want. But, those that hate the new layout, persist in complaining about it, rather than using the new tool that allows them to look at it in the old format. So I find myself fighting the same battle with the same people, over and over and over again. Some of them are like a dog with a bone who will never let go of it.
SnoWest is not going back-wards.
Please try to accept that fact.
The forums are evolving right now.
Offer me CONSTRUCTIVE comments on what we can do going forward to enhance and make these forums a better place, and I give you my word that I WILL LISTEN to what you have to say. But persist in demanding that we roll everything back to the way it was and your comments are not going to obtain you much satisfaction.
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