What do we really think of this new site??

hillstrider · February 2017

I've had 6 notifications of promotion to level 3. Promotion from what? These notifications look like spam to me.

Muttley · February 2017

I hate to say this but I think RW have botched the forum upgrade. The old forum was dying, for a number of reasons. RW neglected it and maybe other sites poached some traffic. Not RW's fault but newcomers often encountered some arsey attitudes so didn't stick around. I don't know what changes there are under the bonnet but the new layout and annoyances like constant notifications seem to have accelerated the trend towards a handful of busy threads full of regulars in what is otherwise a desert. The number of responses and views for new threads tells the story.

What a pity. I've been here for decades and remember how it used to be.

I used to stay logged into the site but now I quickly sign in, check one or two threads and then quickly sign out to avoid the notifications hassle.

Magna Carter · February 2017

I agree... this upgrade smacks of a company running a bit of social engagement because someone somewhere has written into a strategic plan that its the right thing to do.... but no one has bothered to think why or how, or to resource it properly with the appropriate skills, or give it any supported sense of purpose or direction.... as a consequence, it is currently doing more harm than good, and existing customer, and potential new customers are leaving or disengaging in their droves. Its very sad, as they have a huge base of customers who are slap bang in the middle of one of the most attractive target audiences out there, and the opportunity must be substantial.

Look at the activity of some of their competitors... they are active and involved with their users online, engaging them in discussion and debate. I bet they are seeing positive bottom line effects as a consequence, plus they are creating an asset, not destroying it.

I have watched one other magazine publisher go down this same route (in a completely different subject area), and eventually they reached a tipping point where the users left and set their own social media and forum up... the original 'sanctioned' place is like a ghost town, and the publisher is losing titles fast.

Big_G · February 2017

Yeah, I've only been on here 8-years, but whereas I used to be logged in pretty much all the time and checking threads regularly, now I am basically responding to this thread and the Shades marathon thread. And that's it.

MC, as a matter of interest, which sites do you go on that are busier? I just had a quick look on Fetch and UK Run Chat but they seemed quiet too so was just wondering where else there may be.

Magna Carter · February 2017

not so much forum (I suspect its a medium that has had its day), but if you look at sites like Trail Running on media like Facebook, they have very active communities, with regular engagement by TR editorial staff as well.

E mmy · February 2017

I keep getting duplicate notifications for threads. Magna Carter: did you post 4 times and delete it or just the once?

Magna Carter · February 2017

just the once!

Muttley · February 2017

hillstrider said:

I've had 6 notifications of promotion to level 3. Promotion from what? These notifications look like spam to me.

Only 6? Pffft, lightweight. I've had 8!

Magna Carter · February 2017

I feel undervalued... I've only had two.

plus my merit badge for good behaviour and colouring within the lines.

Nessie · February 2017

Fetch is quite busy if you look in the blogs section as well as the forum. And it's got all the nice things like training logs and race portfolios etc., that were never very good on here (never really got going with runhub). They also have loads of races listed, because anyone can add them and link direct to the organisers web page, so the search is easy and after a few clicks you can enter.

Ok, it's not as busy as this place was in its heyday, but it's better than the current crock of ****!

hillstrider · February 2017

Nessie, I use fetch more now than RW. It is user friendly and as you say, you can add races yourself. It's also very user friendly for smart phones and tablets.

Muttley · February 2017

I looked at Fetch once but found the layout a bit busy and confusing. Time to have another go, maybe.

(10 notifications now!)

Nessie · February 2017

Come on over Mutts. You'll recognise a few faces there.

Stylish · February 2017

The last site was full of trolls, bullies and richard heads who put a nasty twist on anything that was said but those not in the click! RW did nothing about it.

Big_G · February 2017

Stylish, yeah there were the usual suspects who scared off new members I feel, which was a shame. It's almost like they'd forgotten what it was like to be a new runner etc....

Regarding this new site, I wonder if the fact that all those old posts at the top of the page are putting of new members now. They may look at it and see the posts from 2014, and think "hmmm, why bother?"

On another note, the formatting of my "Recent Discussion" page has gone awry, it seems. There's a "2017" thread at the top, then quite a lot of white space, before the next thread (which happens to be a spam thread). Anyone else got this? I've refreshed the page, but still getting the problem.

Big_G · February 2017

This is what I'm getting at the top of the "Recent Discussions" page.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6027274/uploads/editor/15/43wybgivfn7p.jpeg

Muttley · February 2017

Nessie said:

Come on over Mutts. You'll recognise a few faces there.

Have just done so ... oh, and now 12 notifications ... ffs.

M...eldy · February 2017

Moderators are awaiting training to get rid of the spam ...meantime RW are making some headway into the spam

Stump · February 2017

It's a new site? What's new? Meldy is still here.....

Stump · February 2017

Oh and I got promoted to level 3 as well so the bar for that is well low :P

M...eldy · February 2017

Hello tortoise

loulabell · February 2017

Not sure I'm liking the new look

anyone know how to upload pic for profile square as I'm really not liking my new look!

loulabell · February 2017

Oh and half my post just disappeared then ....

loulabell · February 2017

What's with the notification / post scoring ?? Do we really need all that tat ?

loulabell · February 2017

I agree with Muttley . I've been on here 8 years and used to log in daily to catch up & have a laugh , but at the risk of sounding like Victor Meldrew this is not as good as it was by a long chalk
! In an attempt to stay in trend with all the social media websites RW seems to have made a rush job of ' modernising ' what was a really good & easy nav website for new an d old alike .
We don't need the Like/dislike/lol buttons - we were perfectly capable of doing all that before . I also can't see that there is a ' latest posts ' thread / line ? Or maybe there is and I can't find it !!

Cinders · February 2017

Looks like RW have just left this site now.
Time to head over to Fetch?

T Rex · February 2017

Big_G - I've got that space too. I would say it's where a large photo is that has been blocked.

I never get notifications of any sort so that sounds like it's a good thing.

Not sure what level I've achieved. On my profile I seem to be an 'ancient member' and there's the caption 'not much happening here, yet'. How can I make things happen??

loulabell · February 2017

Cinders ... it used to be so fun !

Big_G · February 2017

T Rex, mine's gone back to normal now. Not sure what all that's about....

Loulabell, regarding your point about "latest posts". It's been replaced by "Recent discussions". What you'll notice is that there are a load of old posts which have been put on as stickies for some reason. You can remove all those stickies, and then "Recent discussions" basically shows the latest posts.

Muttley · February 2017

Cinders said:

Looks like RW have just left this site now.
Time to head over to Fetch?

Have already done so. Not sure about the layout of that site and there seems to be a lot there, but I'll probably get used to it. I think I'll continue with the 1000 miles in 2017 thread here but otherwise, that's about it for me.

(15 notifications now!)

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What do we really think of this new site??

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