The New Writerscafe Layout Is Terrible Forum So what don't you like?

Originally posted by Melissa: "And I dont like how they dont reply to email either..."

I agree. I've e-mailed them twice via that contact form, and they haven't responded. Maybe they've gotten so many e-mails that they're overwhelmed.

Incidentally, when I tried to quote Melissa's post, this stupid new software won't let me edit her post to just the part I wanted to respond to. It put the whole frigging quote in as an image. Yet another awkward incovenience.

On another note, does anyone here remember when Absolute Write went dark for about a month (happened a couple of years ago, I think), and one of the members set up an AW Refugee forum? How about we set up a WC Refugee forum using one of the free BB packages out there? I know zilch about doing that, but someone here must know something... I'll look into it this weekend if there's any interest. At least we could talk to each other more easily.

ETA: OK, two minutes with Google got me to www.freeforums.org, which offers free hosting, no ads, and uses the phpbb software. I'll play with it more later (I have to work now).

I do like some of the edit functions and the ability to see what my friends are doing out there as far as reposting etc. So far that has worked one time. Now I don't get anything but the "Welcome to the new...." blahblahblah It was kind of cool to see the whole list of activities, but like I said, it only worked one day.

I can't stand the download time to my mailbox, and forget about loading up my comments. It never made it so I can't even get to it to delete them. I miss my background and the spider tree.

I want to pick my own subscriptions and see who's subscribing to me. I want to check out someone's website and see who they are before I request or add them as friends.

I hate the boring sense of soothing conformity to the list of works and I can't tell if they're horror, comedy, sci fi or what. No genre keys for any of my stories. Or did I miss something somewhere??

If I restate any already said, please forgive me.

Dislike:

-The notices. I would say this is kind of cool actually, but I don't like that it told me when one of my friends added two friends. That's just creepy. I don't want to spy on people.

-Pop-ups should die.

-The background pastels and flowers. Ugh. Kill me with a blunt spoon.

-The text editor that doesn't keep up with how fast I type. What's the point in being able to type over 80 words a minute if I can only do 4 with this thing??

-I haven't yet checked out anyone's profile not on my list, and if I can't access that, that does suck.

-Ratings should be 1-5. 1-99 is just stupid.

-Load time. It took me leaving the computer for over an hour to see my comments.

There's a lot of stuff I haven't done yet. I haven't added a story yet, so we'll just have to wait and see how THAT goes!

Like:

-The reading requests. I didn't realize there were 59 stories backed up in my queue.

And.... umm.....that's all I like.

They took out the links to publishers and literary magazines and agents....

Those were on of the main draws of the site for me....

I can't believe that they would take those links out. Maybe I'm just blind and not seeing them....

When I first arrived here just a few days ago, I was impressed!  I thought the illustration for the venue, ( the trees ) was quite striking, and all the features were simply overwhelming.  Now, merely days later, everything has changed, and the boat is definetly rocking!  Since I am relatively new, I know my voice will fall upon deaf ears, but from what I've been reading, the majority of the people ARE speaking...WHY fix something that isn't broken???   Bring back the trees!!  Work on the glitches, the slow downloads, the maintenance problems that TOO often turn TOO many away!  You once had me in awe, but now, I'm just shaking my head and wondering... what the hell happened!!

Kelly Scheppers

 

It is super slow!!

 

But i do like the addition of the screen play and stage play writing options now if i can only get the page to load so that i can post some!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!

 

and it suck that there are no smilies!!!!

 

[insert angry smiley here]

Now, I know that the founders of this site have been working hard on the new layout, but I'm going to be brutally honest here: I absolutely hate the new layout. First of all, what's with the girly blue flower??? It makes it seem like it's a children's website-instead of a website for writers. And Why did they take away the old layout? I loved the old layout. It did seem plainer, but it seemed more professional and authentic. Now it seems like a writers version of myspace/facebook!

However, don't get me wrong, I liked the new features, like the notices of other writers, the read requests being in a separate section, and the organization of everything in general. but I just don't like the new layout. Ever since they updated this website, I don't like this website as much as I did before they changed it.

Everything! I hate how you cant view someones full page without being their friend first ( just like myspace ). Also you cannot find anything on here, and on your page you see anything that your friends just did, and that is annoying. Just everything on this new layout, I hate!. Srry but it's true.

Eveything is bad about this. It needs to be changed back.

After reading all these complaints I find myself in agreement on a few -- stupid privacy of profiles, no subscriptions, dumb rating system.

But a lot of this stuff (slowness, features not working) is just glitches -- and other things might just be oversights (problems with resetting signatures.)

I hate the blue too -- and loved the tree.  But that's not a big deal -- access to writing and valued opinions, ability to get the impressions of other writers of our work -- is there potential for that to be enhanced?

The book feature is great.

The notes for reviewers can be very helpful.

The general forum was a huge headache for moderators, and your groups and friends can perform most of its valuable functions.

I'm sure Charles would like to hear reasoned suggestions for features we'd like to have back, be informed about problems caused by glitches, etc. Try the contact link.

I came here back in March, when Urbis did enhancements that totally screwed me up -- the changes here have mostly been an improvement -- at least as far as getting my writing out there in a comprehensible form -- I get to keep my actual formatting when I upload, I get to provide notes to reviewers -- reviewing should be enhanced too, for the same reasons.

 

For my figurative money, this is what I'd like to have back:

Public profiles

Subscriptions

The tree