general forum feedback

[lars86 42]

I was hoping to see them at the RAPID conference in Long Beach. There were definitely a few UM2's in use though.

[Anders Olsson 136]

I had a visit from Ultimaker too last Thursday and we had a rather constructive discussion.

We will see what this results in, but I can tell you that the forum certainly looked much better on the previews they showed me.

[IRobertI 520]

I can only add to that as well. Talking to Ultimaker and having seen (and given feedback on) the changes and plans they have for improvements, it's looking much better. I had a little list of things that I was going to bring up but I was quickly shut down as I think all of it was already being worked on

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Same here. Had the conversation today (together with Swordriff & Dim3nsioneer) and it's looking good. We are taken seriously. I trust things will be ok soon if we just hang in here for a while.

[korneel 176]

Although I am sure to voice my concerns when I don't like things.. I am also one to pipe up when things are looking up..

While I do not belong to the group that was approached, I do want to applaud the team for reaching out to the community.

I think this would have been better before this overhaul took place, but at least it's being done.. I have no idea where this is heading but if people like Anders are happy I feel it will be the right direction

good job!

[nallath 1,123]

We've also had a lot of talks about this. Keep calm and continue posting

[Anders Olsson 136]

Well, Ultimaker has quite a challenge in front of them if the goal is to bring the forum back to the popularity it used to have. We are seeing about 30 posts per day on the new forum (including this thread, which only exists because of the new forum) while the old forum had about 170 posts per day.

I think the main challenge, apart from sorting out the bugs, is that many people had a bad start with the new forum and such feeling tends to stick with the design/look of the website.

Selling a product that had a bad start is always difficult if it looks the same, even if it really has been improved.

So one of my suggestions to Ultimaker was to make the upgraded forum look quite different, preferably more like a forum, to make it obvious that things has changed and to create a feeling that this is really something new.

I don't know to what extent this will happen, but as I said, what I saw at least looked much better.

If I was Ultimaker at this stage, I probably would have copied the old forum design and functionality more or less completely. That would be the safest bet as there were very few complaints about the old forum (apart from picture upload and search function).

I personally still haven't managed to get a grip on how this whitespace blog-like layout of the new forum was intended to work. It is difficult to read, difficult to navigate, lacks lots of essential information and functionality that users expect from a forum and it is not inspiring at all to use for me at least.

Those things (and post-eating bugs, slow server response and such) has killed my "feeling" for this forum and I have a difficult time enjoying it or motivating myself to use some of my rather rare spare time to contribute to it, sadly..

So, I try to stay optimistic, but I see a huge challenge for the Ultiamker team while the clock is ticking.

I will be very busy coming month, so in any case you probably wont see much of me here before midsummer.

But if Ultimaker comes up with something that is fast, functional and looks and works like a forum, I will most likely be back.

That bug that makes the browser scroll up each time you press a key when you have written this much text in the reply box is still there by way..

[Blizz 53]

So are there any brainwashing techniques involved?

It's that they've asked to speak to me as well tonight and I wonder if I should take magic goggles or something

If not and you guys are all convinced of what they're planning, I have to say I'm very curious

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi Blizz, no not at all. Nothing like that!

Just don't eat or drink anything in the 4 hours before the meeting and we should all be good......

[jonnybischof 60]

PLEEEEAASE do away with the square and oddly colored smileys. They's fugly :(

I want my classic smileys back ;(

[Labern 774]

The smileys don't always work :(

I have seen some that didn't work on the original post but did work in a quote when someone quoted the post.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

@Blizz

If not and you guys are all convinced of what they're planning, I have to say I'm very curious

Convinced is a bit strong... I'd say more something like hopeful that things will get better again someday ...

[Blizz 53]

Just don't eat or drink anything in the 4 hours before the meeting and we should all be good......

Hmm, so either there's food bribery involved or some kind of surgery?

Anyway... All joking aside, I will see you guys in a couple of hours.

[SandervG 1,521]

We all care about the forum and the community deeply and I think we are at a defining crossroad right now, I think being curious would not be out of place.

Whether being convinced, hopeful or optimistic, after our meet up we all were on the same page. Next step is implementing.

[peetersm 124]

We are seeing about 30 posts per day on the new forum (including this thread, which only exists because of the new forum) while the old forum had about 170 posts per day.

Well I've been gone for about 2 weeks. Since this site is killing my hope and joy about UM.

as of today looks like......

-20 days since last post of any change.

-5 days since "conversations" have taken place , and yet another round of promises of "quick changes you're all going to like"

- 3 new notifications of things that were not new, I already looked at and cleared before I

can not put into words the sadness these last few months have brought. See you in a few more weeks. ;-(

[cloakfiend 995]

Yeah I got those notifications that pointed to nothing new too as well, thought all that was over with????

[kolia 31]

Any idea when the email notifications will be back? That's the main reason why I don't come here so often now, I just forget and have no reminder that things happen.

[SandervG 1,521]

They are on our list, but making some pages more alive / information density is higher up that list. And before we install email-notifications we want to improve the regular notifications, so you won't get 4 emails for a single reply (1 for a reply, 1 for a quote, 1 for a tag and 1 for a like for example).

But it will come, in a reasonable amount of time. How long exactly, I can not yet say..

[swordriff 119]

Any idea when the email notifications will be back? That's the main reason why I don't come here so often now, I just forget and have no reminder that things happen.

Totally agree! Email notifications must come back!

Dear DEAR D E A R Ultimaker team!

Edited May 29, 2015 by Guest

[SandervG 1,521]

Are we in your opinion right in first improving the regular notification system before email, or is the lack of email so disturbing you prefer receiving emails now, even multiple, over waiting so you only receive the necessary?

[gixxer 1]

Yes get the emails working again PLEASE. I haven't been back to this forum in a while for the same reason as Swordriff.

I bet you've seen a huge decline in activity since the change to the new forum!

[swordriff 119]

Good Question Sander!

You are concerned we will get too many notifications.

Agree, but here is the deal: The activity is now so low, so

there will be time for you to "consolidate" the email notifications..

Best I think, is to ONLY notify when there is PM and new Reply.

Forget the likes and quotes. We will see when we click email link.

You never have to email about likes etc...

You must include the pm text in the email notification, and when click link bring me direct to input screen.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Guest

[SandervG 1,521]

Good point, thanks.

Let me find out what the possibilities are!

[kolia 31]

Good Question Sander!

You are concerned we will get too many notifications.

Agree, but here is the deal: The activity is now so low, so

there will be time for you to "consolidate" the email notifications..

Best I think, is to ONLY notify when there is PM and new Reply.

Forget the likes and quotes. We will see when we click email link.

You never have to email about likes etc...

You must include the pm text in the email notification, and when click link bring me direct to input screen.

It's perfectly summarized, that's all needed.

[jonnybischof 60]

Seriously, fix the problems when writing long posts!

Current FF on Win7pro 64bit.

As soon as a reply has a certain amount of lines, it scrolls up everytime you hit a key, away from the reply box. This means you have to write blid, or use an external editor to write posts.

I have to cut & paste my texts into notepad in order to be able to write anything. When I want to insert a picture or link, I need to cut & paste into the form, add the link, then cut & paste back into notepad. This sucks big time!

There is no way I'll be here long if these issues aren't fixed.

/edit:

Also, as soon as a reply becomes too long, I have to click the "post comment" button twice in order to save the post. This is a bit unsettling because there is no way to delete accidental double posts...

Edited June 1, 2015 by Guest