Anyone else pretty much stopped coming to SF after the change over? - Page 11  

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one thing i don't understand, people are saying to change browser or upgrade my computer because the site is running slow... it wasn't before and i have a brand new imac.

ok i changed my browser to chrome and it runs super fast but why should i have to change anything?? i have given up browsing on my blackberry because it is impossible.

I am finding it kind of daunting to look for new threads to post in. I think the subscriptions aspect is good, but I feel like I can't jump around the different forums with as much ease as I used to. I've found myself getting "lazy" to look around. Also I find that the search function is inferior and takes me forever to find what I am looking for. Could just be me.

I used to feel this way too - but that drop down forum nav on the top of the screen is super handy. Have you tried using it?

It's been a couple of weeks and I'm still trying too hard to get back to what used to be "fun":

The forums used to be "stumble-able" - by that I mean it was somehow easier, even intuitive, to just find interesting threads. And I don't just mean the last 24 hours (or 24 mins, if you're an F5 abuser), I mean even old stuff. I used to be able to search for the latest esoteric term/brand/voxFoo'ism and -viola!- there was a wealth of stuff to read. The results I get now just aren't helpful or interesting.

B&S used to have this great bazaar, hawker feel to it. Freewheeling offers, cuts, seller sabotage (bump!), and yes even obnoxious thread poop. But, I learned and/or was as intrgiured as much on B&S as I did in the "real" forums. Great example - with the new format, how the hell will we ever embrace Sissy Spacerock again?

I totally understand the mods frustrations - that a forum was never intended as a market place. But instead of embracing a marketplace as the answer, I think they missed the opportunity that a forum as a marketplace is something special in and of itself. I never found another B&S corner of the internet anywhere near as cool, informative, fun, and with great deals as SF B&S. Mods should be looking at how to take the best of that to the next level, rather than throwing it all overboard for ebay lite.

Just my observations now that I've had a chance for it all to sink in. I'm still not feeling it, and I hope I reconnect at some point, but I'm fading from regular contact and finding less and less reason to come back. I feel for the ops and wish them the best, but at this point it just doesn't feel like it's building upon what was good but rather starting over from scratch. Somewhere along the way, some of the sparkle that was SF (well, ignoring the golden days - I'm a young pup 'round here) seems to have been lost.

Not feeling the new format either. Since I don't run the site or put money into it directly, I don't feel like it's my place to complain. I will say I prefer the old format better, and would visit more often, or at least enjoy it more when I do.

I have tried it, but I find myself just clicking right on "forum" to bring you to the screen that looks most like the old format.

That's an interesting comment. We are addressing that right now by decreasing the .white space in thread views, etc... in order to increase thread density. We are also organizing the main forums, editing the wordy descriptions, etc... to do the same thing. However, the dropdown menus, (and there are a bunch in there for redundancy) makes the site actually more easily navigated. I hope that you will stick around to get comfortable with the system.

However, the search function is actually fair superior. Use the "advanced search", and you'll find a plethora of options. The default listing is by "relevance", but I use the "posts" and "date, descending" options to the most use out of it. You'll notice that, unlike the old system, you can actually search for 2 character strings, instead of being limited to a minimum of 3, something I always found frustrating.

I dont really think there is a huge difference with the new site. I dont get why everyone is complaining so much. Sure there are a few links that have moved around but if you use it for a week or two you wont even notice anymore. The same thing happened when Facebook changed their layout a while back and everyone freaked out as if it was ruining their lives. Now those same people would just freak out if it got switched back.

Thanks for the response. I will always be around to poking around at new things. It is probably just me, honestly. I think there was always a certain comfort in seeing the user that last posted in each thread right on top of each other. I personally like seeing where the new action is happening in an organized way.

We are rolling out a new version of the classifieds that will allow you guys the freewheeling feel of the old format, while making the system much more accessible to newcomers.

It's not that the old format did not have its charm, but the forum is actually pretty daunting to newcomers, and fewer and fewer people are familiar with forum formats, especially for B&S, so even though it felt dynamic, our base of potential new users was diminishing, and the barrier to new users staying long enough to become a part of the community was at the same time increasing.

We clearly threw out the baby with the bathwater in B&S 2.0, but with the help of powersellers, we hope hat B&S 2.1, which should launch later this week, will recapture your attention, while keeping the general format much more accessible to any new users. I love you guys, but if we don't have new members, in 85 years, spoopoker, Doc Holliday, and I would be sitting around saying "Kids, just want everything in 3-D, what's the sense in that?" and be working in VB 10.0, which would be the equivalent of punchcards in 2096.

The drop down menus are fine, but there is way too much white space after the words, such that I often mouse-over different options on my way to select MC or SWD. It is a small detail, but it is an unnecessary frustration that comes from the design.

I have realized something. If you hover over Forums and then click "Hot" you can click between hot topics, new threads, threads you posted in. This is pretty good and solves some of my pain.

I never noticed that before I read your post - definitely makes things easier!

Many of the new features/tools are a welcomed upgrade. Personally, I'm not affected by the prevalence of sponsor labels though their presence on the margins of threads just seems a bit much. If these advertisements were reserved to the main pages of various forums, then it wouldn't be so visually disorienting.

90% of Page one on the B&S is 'Brooks Brothers'. No disrespect to any of the Sellers, though WTF?.
It appears as though the' Golden Days of Luxe Product' are behind us now...