Good point IB,

When i joined it was to allow me to share my work and learn from others. At no point did i imagine i would be able to tell admin how to run this site, make suggestions maybe, but no more than that. If i wanted to have things my own way i would set up my own community.

So I'm trying to tell the Admin them how to run 'their' site?
No. I'm not, I am smply doing what everyone who has voiced an opinion on this thread has done, say what I think and feel. I don't expect my views to be listened to above anyone else's I just feel I have a right (yes, a right) to express my opinion on this change.
The Introduce your Work threads seem to have been the motive behind this. So, as Ole very sensibly said, take them off the front page..that was the argument used when the RLG was deemed to be too big for it's boots, now it no longer appears on the main Forum page. So there is a precedent. Move them!
And let US get on with deciding what is important and interesting TO US in just the same way that we always have, by reading and responding.

Of course I don't expect us to be consulted each time a change is made. We don't need to be consulted, we already were. WE decided what was important by reading it and responding..now OUR views don't count any more, because Admin will decide FOR US - that is the crux of my argument. We have lost the ability to choose, because now someone else is imposing their choice on us. I don't care how 'good' or 'bad' their choices are, I just want to keep the luxury of choosing for myself, and want everyone else on WW to have the same option.

As for non-paying members, I'm afraid they have no rights, in that they are not paying to help keep this site running. I don't mind them at all , it's great to check WW out and decide if it's for you. But I'm sorry, until they pay, as far as I'm concerned, they don't have a voice.
And I don't think I'm better than anyone else, that's ridiculous. I DO think I'm the same, and thus if I have an opinion, I'll express it. I'm not asking anyone else to agree with me. If you have no views of how this site is run, then you are very lucky. I can't help having them, because I care and want to feel part of this community. I just wonder what sort of 'community' it is...
x
tc

Lost the ability to choose? What raving nonsense! Everything the way you liked is is all just a click away, and for those of you astute enough to use your favourites can reduce the number of actions required to reach that part of the forums by adding the "recent posts" link to your favourites.

Now please, cease all the hysterical "swallowing my rights" buffoonery and realise that NOTHING HAS CHANGED and that NOBODY IS STEALING YOUR RIGHT TO VIEW THINGS.

Forum with sticky threads, Forum with everything in it. See? It's all still there. Calm down before you pop a vein.

I'm not going to get into a slanging match with you IB, You have your views, I have mine..
I understand perfectly that all the threads are still there, that's not the point of my argument at all.
I really don't want to say any more on this. I have said how I feel and that's it for me.

tc

If your point does not revolve around loss of choice, then I really don't understand where you're coming from.

As I've said several times now, if you don't want to see this new page, you never have to, you can simply navigate around it.

Other than that, I see the new page as an excellent way of highlighting things slightly more important than what we all talked about in book-group over the weekend, such as important info regarding industry changes, and the whims of agents and publishers, competitions etc. Things we might need to see, rather than the majority of the forum content which is, certainly to me, a little less high up my list of priorities.

I've no doubt that if someone has something of real importance to share with us all, that they can simply request to have it made sticky on the main forum page. The current system allows such notices to slip into the miasma of insignificance all too quickly as the forum is swamped with posts about new works, problems with submitting a single piece of work, an error someone might have encountered uploading something, or a book someone might have just finished. Personally, through simple lack of patience, I don;t tend to search through the last three pages of forum threads looking to see if I've missed something important, and now, thanks to sterling efforts of the WW team, I'll never have to.

From what you've said, you're own point seems to revolve around some righteous indignation that you be made to click a link to make the world as it was, and a dummy-spitting, fist-shaking scream at not having as much a voice in the development of the WW site as you believed. The former is quite simply laughable, and I truly hope, as you say, that this is not correct. The latter can only be described as slightly naive, no offence. As a consumer, I buy things from a number of places on any given day, week, month or year. But I don't believe for a second that they should take note of any advice I might have for improving their goods or services, as ultimately, their resources for discovering the best investment into their companies are far greater than my own, and ultimately they are more than mature enough to be judged on their own decisions.

The WW team, who I thank again for a continuing development programme, will know soon enough if this idea works because they can measure how much it is being used by however many hundreds of people click which links and from where. Any decision to remove the new page will be made on solid data (I hope) rather than on a few voices of dissent.

I'm actually quite irritated now, and may go off now to rant about something on my diary.

<Added>

Rant complete. Much better now. Shall henceforth ignore this thread.

Oh God..egos tripping all over the place it seems..

surely squabbling is utterly pointless.. This is an INTERNET site for heaven's sake and one that I believe provides a very helpful service. I don't mind if it wants to bring in a few clicky changes. I, for one , can only be eternally grateful that we do not have a Chat Room...if the forums are anything to go by..

Keep writing..

Ellie..

I think this is all getting a bit silly and wayyyyyyy over the top, bearing in mind that you can view the forum page as it was if you still want to. Saying that, just because these changes don't particularly bother me, that doesn't mean that the admin people should not take this thread seriously.

Ease of use is the probably the most important asset of any web site, particularly one as complicated as this. That includes finding popular threads and recent activity as well easy navigation and speed - all a lot to ask from a website. I'm glad I'm not the one with the job, but whoever has that job will be following this thread, because people voting with their feet has a lot more impact than a few toys being thrown out of their prams.

Friends Reunited has changed for the worse. That was so simple when it started, now it's a pain in the arse to browse through. The result, people aren't bothering to update their subscriptions (me included).

user friendly - keep it in mind. There's another site out there just waiting to take over.

(I for one hope it doesn't)

Colin M. [/rant]

Good point, Colin.
Becca.

We could keep this thing going for as long as 'The Archers' if we wanted to. Shall we give it a try? But we have to have music. Oh God, don't you just hate it on Sunday morning when the whole horrible tune comes out etc....
Becca.

Wow. This thread has been a fascinating read. I, for one, didn't even notice the change. Probably says more about my attention span.

Anyway, I chime in on the like-the-changes side of things (now that I notice them). It's more professional and less chat-roomy.

Love,
Humble opinions anonymous.