"What have you done to my beloved forum?!" - Page 6  

Precisely. The few people that I know in real life who know I post here often made fun of how much time I spent on here. I've still lurked since the changeover, but it's been considerably less than almost any other time since I joined almost three years ago. Activity in SW&D seems to be down; the interface is an eyesore that I'm not finding any easier to absorb as the days pass, and as you said, there's a real fragmented feel to the forum right now. There's so much to visually process now, which is strange, since I also think there's too much white space.

A less problematic, but still irritating issue brought on by the change is that the forum is no longer SF's main page. A simple bookmark could take me directly to the forums. But I've still developed this habit over the years of clicking the "Styleforum" logo in the upper left corner when I wanted to return to the main page. Doing that now takes me to the main page...except the main page no longer houses the forums. I'm sure in time I'll be able to break this habit, but it's still makes for a cumbersome browsing experience that I have to go through another page to get to the reason I'm here: the forums.

I'm willing to bet that not having the forums on the main page will lead to a decrease in new registrations and posting. At least, that's how it's been with every community I've ever worked on. Making the forum the main page makes it easier to jump into discussions/forums.

Would be neat to be proven wrong.

Damn, used to go on headfi a lot a few years ago, sad to see they sold out to huddler too. At this point I really hate huddler and everything it stands for, which is basically milking as much $$ as possible from well established communities while simultaneously killing them. Like everyone has said, the forums feel dead, and resuscitation doesn't seem likely. Browsing huddler forums is a chore and the stats will speak for themselves.

LOL, cool it there, Jane Jacobs.
Edited by jrd617 - 7/19/11 at 9:27pm

i'm sure its not just me...

 

when i quote someone else's post i have to delete about 5 lines so i dont take up too much space. damn annoying

Well, all I can say is that j and I are more engaged with the community that most owners of large forums, and that I have the training and expertise to analyze social dynamics beyond that of most people. J and I will be monitoring both quantity and quality of activity on the site, and we are strong advocates of anything that helps the Styleforum continue to grow in a positive way.

Again, the question is:
Is there an exit strategy?

Otherwise all the monitoring is not terribly relevant.

Of course not. If they had the choice I am certain they would go back to the old system. They are obviously not happy with this.
From what I have read signing up with Huddler is a lifetime deal.

So you like what huddler does then? Think their platform contributes positively to the livelihood of communities and addresses the real needs of the end user? Instead of just being a platform that crams as much ads and revenue generating tactics as possible, while overloading the forum with useless bells and whistles to make it seem like an improvement was made?

I'm all for the SF owners to generate revenue, but huddler just seems like a trap to me, especially if there's no exit strategy and you're contractually bound to them for years. Edit: forever

Yes, of course. Really, that's all I am going to say about that.

 

i'd like to hope that's why you're here.

 

it would suck if one day you woke up and there were only 1 and a half new posts a week.

Phased withdrawal from the old B&S to be completed in 30 days.

Well, this is very good to hear.
Are we getting closer to or farther away from the exit door?

Come on man. It's too soon to jump ship. At least give them a couple months to sort things out. It hasn't even been a week yet.

deveandepot1:

Alan Sheppard, when asked if he, like Joe Kittinger, would have jumped out of a balloon at 100,000 feet with a load of instruments strapped to his rear: Hell No.

Maybe we should stay and explore the new joint for a while?