Well, My move from 6.5 to 7 is complete! I opened the doords to my members this morning! Still have a lot of little housecleaning tasks, but nothing major (I hope).

So far 90% of my users love it, but there are some malcontents who hastilly said "I Hate the new forum!" You can't please everyone I guess.

Basil

Congrats. Some people have a natural aversion to change. Hopefully after they settle in a bit, they'll change their view

Very good, Basil!

And Rick's right - I went thru the same thing, and those grumps now love it.

It amazes me how some people can be so quick to criticize after only 30 seconds of exposure! I'm sure they will love it too. ANd for the few who don't, screw em! LOL

When I had my initial public beta some of my old time members were like WHAT THE %@^$#@^% IS THAT!!!! hahahaha

Well what is the url

That was the general census everywhere when my beta url got leaked to the public when I was toying with styling lol

I am getting very depressed right about now. My members are in revolt! I hope this gets better or I may have to revert back to 6.5

Basil

Anything specific they are complaining about? Most anything that was available in 6.5 is there in 7 and then some. Some people just like to complain, some people just don't like change, some people just might not know how everything works in the new version.

If you can pass along any of the major gripes, then maybe we can offer some advice to soothe the natives

..

soothe natives, soothe..

Yeah, I heard that a few times ...But whenever someone figured out something new, they were like, "hey, cool!"

But really, if you wanna tell us what they think, I'm sure we can provide some reassurance.

Sorry to hear that Basil.

I've had no complaints on typical usage, only a couple for technical.

Search: can not search less than 5 characters
RSS: Not working correctly
Post Indicators: Not working correctly (fixed in 7.1)

Are you having actual technical difficulties with UBBT 7.02 or just user discontentment overall?

.

always technical issues

I've gone back to 6.5.

I'm sorry to hear that. After I explained all of the improvements that had been made in the code from 6.3 (where we started) on up to 7.0, my users decided to show a little more patience. The end result is really just having the layout of the board being a little different, but I really like it and I haven't heard any complaints. Everything is well thought out and where you would think things should be. We even had a party when the full post tracking returned in version 7.1. That was the one issue that had my users wondering about other forum solutions. I'm glad we stuck it out with Threads.

I'm sorry too, in fact I'm downright depressed. I spent months setting up the new board thinking they would all love it, but instead all I got was grief. So if they prefer the old version then that's what they get.

Wow. And I thought my users were rough and cranky.

My community is made up of mostly older folks who don't take change easily, but I really thought they would love the new forum (I did). Boy was I wrong!

Sorry to hear that, too. To avoid a lot of initial negative reaction like that I first imitated the look of my old board as much as I could - then "made them a part of it" by accepting their input and making some changes that they wanted before I switched over permanently. My "beta" was actually up a couple weeks so they'd get used to it, and learn how to use it, side-by-side with the old live board. But in the end, being the one paying for it, I always have last say.

So the key that would help would be to 1) show personal excitement, and ease them into the idea, and 2) make them feel apart of some (minor) decision making.

where is your site ? Maybe we can help with something

Our forum is full of mostly kids/young adults (users under 25 or so; I classify adult like the insurance company does as 25+); they're used to changes due to my mass abuse of modifications over the years lol...

I too got a lot of flack from my membership when I switched. Mostly from a vocal minority who quickly adapted when they realized we weren't going back.

As has been mentioned, take some steps to integrate the new software into your community. Get the style as close as possible to the old style. If your old community didn't have side bars, make sure the users have the ability to turn them off in the new software. I also set up a test board before hand and invited my mods and some distinquished members (read: Post whores) to log in and provide comment on what features to use and which to turn off once we converted.

I still get the complaints about the few technical issues (search, PMs etc). The complaints about the "cramped feeling" have all gone away. Those who don't like the side bars have them turned off.

My community is a mix of young and old (teenagers all the way up to 70+). The older folks (I'm right there in the middle at 43) were probably harder to convince that the change was a good thing... but they did come around. This after having our community stagnant in UBB.classic Version 6.x for many years as we awaited the "next generation". So the membership was extremely comfortable with the old software.

I guess my only remaining advice Basil, is to say that it is your community. The stewardship of a community isn't an easy duty. You won't please 100% of your membership, even on a good day. I've been called every name in the book over the last 7 years. It's all part of the job. If the vast majority of the community sees that you're making changes for the good of the community, they'll come around. Unfortunatly, reverting back to the old software has taken the control of the community out of your hands and placed it into the membership's collective hands. Take back the reins. Take the steps to reduce the shock of the transition... then buck up and press forward. They will come around in the end and see just how much of an improvement the new software is over the old.

If you need any advice going forward.. we're all here to help you. After all.. we're all in the same boat so to speak.

Good luck!

Yeh, the "post whores" are the ones that'll carry the most weight most of the time for such changes...

Basil - I tried signing up to your forums - but got denied due to an IP lookup failure????

When I emailed you, I got a rather sad automatic message back indicating that you had got fed up with trying to import and that you were a bit fed-up with your forums as a result of folks not accepting all your hard work and dedication.

Well - this post is just to say - don't give up!! If you need help or suggestions we are here to assist. That is one of the reason why we are mods (not just for the green writing!)

People do not like change - that is a fact - however the best option is just to ignore those people - they will come round in the end.

I am about to move over to 7.x and know that like you, I will get people who are used to their colours, their way of clicking on certain links etc... But give it a few days and they will fall into line.

Just tell them that you need to upgrade due to security issues - tell them that you can't keep battling against hackers 24/7. The simple truth is that 6.x is now EOL - we have to move on - in the same way as we need to say goodbye to older versions of windows because M$ will not keep providing patches for ever...

Oh and of course folks who write mods for Threads will only write and support them for the latest version, which offers many new and exciting options in the weeks/months to come!

7.1 will have post tracking, which may be important to some - it also has a mood indicator, and other nifty bits which will please some. The back end also allows Rick to start adding new features and expand Threads to appeal to many more users, and to give you even more options.

Maybe you can wait until 7.1 comes out as a public beta and upgrade to that - either way don't let the b....... grind you down...

Oh, that was you!!?? Well, here's the deal with why you were not approved (it's not personal). In the past I have had MANY spammers sign up for the single purpose of posting their SPAM to my forums, so I decided to start personally approving all new members. I generally look for a couple of things. First, do they have a British Car, or are they looking for one? If not, then the red flag goes up already. Then, I do an IP trace to see if they are really located where they say they are. You'd be surprised how many I've had register who put down "Texas" or something similar, but when I trace their IP it ends up in China (a country which, by the way, my APF firewall blocks for brute force attempts almost on a daily basis). Ok, so when I saw your registration, you said UK, but when I traced your IP (standard procedure for me these days), it came back as Australia? It has been my experience that many spammers from Southeast Asian countries use AU-hosted servers, so I was suspicious and that's what happened (it may have been the gmail you were using, or are you really in AU?). But you don't need to register on my forum to help out (at the moment I'm trying to just stay away from it for awhile anyway), I'll use this forum as a sounding board.

You know, and I know, that T7 is a good great forum solution. I think my BIG mistake was introducing it so abruptly to my members with the mistaken assumption that they would be as enthusiastic about it as I was/am. Boy was I wrong! I will take some time to think things through, then I will decide how best to proceed. I do know that no matter what I do, or how I do it, there are going to be some folks who will not like it and let me know that, so I know I’ll just have to accept that fact. The thing that really makes this all so ridiculous is that I KNOW that if they would just have given it half a chance they would have found the pluses far out weight the negatives. I also think that 7.1 will cure a LOT of what they did not like. Maybe not everything, but a lot. So, I’ll keep you informed here as I proceed, but for the moment I’m just “letting go” for awhile so I can decompress.

Regards,
Basil

no problems - and yes I am in Australia - sitting on my laptop in Byron Bay - been here 2 days and havn't seen the beach yet, which is just 350 meters away been working on my forums all the time