'if it aint broke don't fix it'

I'm sure this will get locked or moved, but I don't care. I think all the new changes are unneccesary & ridiculous. I think VJ was a perfectly fine place before all the changes and after seeing all of them, you'd think it was the worst run mb on the planet.

But it wasn't.

I can't put my finger on the exact reason why I feel so strongly against all the change, but I do. Now we got threads movin all over the place, 'subforums' cos some don't want to wade thru 'clutter' of good news be it for scrolling reasons or for 'I can't deal with other people's happiness above my own' reasons, 'organizers', erm...and this forum in particular has seen lots more action with all the new and improved wonderfully micromanaged 'suggestions'.

That's it. It's micromanaged.

I'm sure there's going to be no one or very few who will publicly agree...and that's all well and good. I've been a member of this site for about a year and a bit...bout 7k or 8k posts...so I've put my licks in and have the right to voice this opinion. And that opinion is that seeing all these changes makes me sad....it's trying to re-invent the wheel. It's actually quite ironic because I feel that the red tape beaurocratic mentality that has spawned as of late is very similar to the mentality of the gov't & is partially one of the reasons things take as long as they do. I think it was a wonderful community beforehand...all going thru similar things, mucking through it together...now it's all 'how do we approach dealing with x,y,z' and 'oh lets put the congrats in subforum siberia'

I think the 'organizer' title is ridiculous....call it what it is...it's a moderator. Sure the abilities may be limited, but in fact, if you have the power to move a thread, or lock it, even temporarily...that is moderating a discussion...therefore these 'organizers' are moderators. I don't feel we need mods at all...but if we're going to have them, at least call it what it is instead of dressing it up as summat different.

Oh people will mention the whole 'we have to defend the integrity of the information that is given' or 'we have to make it easy for all the relevant information to be in one place' but at the end of the day, every 'old timer' here has managed just fine. Let alone the fact that no one here is responsible for anyone else...iAnd let's not forget the lil caveat that we're not an immigration helpdesk dispensing information deemed completely reliable and guaranteed, rather a community of laypersons going thru similar experiences and we're simply commiserating with each other and sharing hearsay and personal experience.

But to wrap this up....I doubt this thread will stay...I miss how VJ used to be. I don't know if I'll ever get used to the new & 'improved' format (now made with 50% real juice!) and I just wanted to say so. It's not meant to start a flame war or a multi-day pizzing contest...and it's not meant to offend anyone. It is simply the truth as I see it. So we can agree to disagree.

Have a great day everyone.

strangely i agree

If you haven't already seen it...click here... Source

Organizers cannot lock, moderate discussion in any capacity, merge or anything like that. the only option that is active is to move, just wanted to clarify that fact.

Lisa,

I agree. I can't be bothered to agree point by point so I'll just leave it at that. You are right.

I agree.... seems like a lot of wasted time to me.

I have to say that I have been surprised at the amount of thread moving that has been going on. I understand WHY it is being done and that people have only the best intentions when they do it...but alot of the threads that are moved I personally wouldn't have touched. Most of them are "grey area" threads that could do well in either the original forum or another. If in doubt leave them I say...

I'm also going to say that it has occurred to me that over the last week or so many of the organizers (not excluding myself from this) do seem to be requesting this and that and I can't help but think that the Captain may start thinking "oh cripes, what have I done?". We all know he works very hard behind the scenes with this board and I can't help thinking we are just increasing his stress and workload!

Just my opinion, which may be completely wrong of course!

Organizers can only move threads and not lock/edit/or anything else. Moving to me seems like an organization task so I used that title. As far as being too much moving I think that right now that is true. I am in the process of writing up some things to better define when/where things should be that I will publish to members and organizers alike. I may tweak the forum names based on some feedback to make it more clear as well.

So hopefully to address your comments, the moving has been a bit much and I take fault in that. I think rushing out new things on a forum have unintended effects and this was one of them. I will be much slower to roll out new features so that they can be implemented smoother and without the hassle.

usually 7 or 8 thousand posts would indicate that a large number of those posts are those that need to be set off to the side so as not to distract from the more valuable information. I would like to see more of the fodder moved to less obtrusive places. I also think that all Off Topic posts should not be included in post counts. I would also like to see a general ANNOUNCEMENTS forum for all the "I got my NOA/I got approved/I got married/I want to vent/I want to rant threads that also would not count toward post counts.

Thousands of posts don't make a helpful poster.

John,

That would require sophisticated coding. I don't like post counts either because people get offended that I post a lot.

Are there really that many posts as you describe? (7 or 8 thousand? wow...)

You guys like the new flags?

Yup!

I like it, but my flag doesn't move? LOL. Doesn't really matter, but I like it. Make me colorful. There's so many countries. Must've taken you alot of work.

I like my signature flag, waving in the cyber breeze!!!

Yes - saw the new flags a second ago Ewok.. just full of surprises.. lol..

I saw the flags, then couldn't work out why I didn't have one... then worked it out, and yay, I have a flag!

Oh man... quit messin' with the profiles, Capt! I can't change my profile because it's giving me an error message that my story is too long.... when you changed the profiles, the character count changed so any time I want to update my profile, it wants me to change my story length. I'm happy with my story just the way it is, thanks. I want to change from K1 to AOS but it won't let me unless I edit my story.

And now you took the country assignment off, so that's missing....

PLEASE extend the character count so those who want to share can do so....

I am doing that right now.




I just made the Story Mega long so you can fit tons in there. Did it help?

Also I now have Flags for the countries of the UK individually or feel free to select UK. Either way .

Then I'll be president of your fan club. Thanks, oh Furry One.

Try updating it . Let me know.

Loved them Captain! What a nice surprise!

I think that one nice thing other than making things more colorful is that it helps show people the flags of the world .

I tried changing the K1 to AOS and adding Germany as a country and received the same error:

You entered too much data for the field 'Our Story', please go back and check the input

I tried logging out and logging back in... same error when I tried to update the profile....

Yes, that's true. It's a nice new feature to see all the different flags, thanks for the treat!

It is nice! You read my mind when you added England instead of just UK. Not to sound ungrateful, mind you, but the St. George is a bit wonky looking with the cross crooked. Any way to make it wave like the UK one does, and straighten out the cross?

Oops sorry about the thread hijack I agree.

Poor Northern Ireland. No flag of its own.

*sticks out lip*

I will have to make one later .



Your story must be over 10,000 chars. I will make the limit even higher! Your sig is 11k+. I will make the limit 12k. Try now.

Well, in the interest of political harmony and devolution, it might be best to let sleeping dogs lie..

That worked.

So I like to write.... *sticks out lip to look like Rebecca*

Thanks Ewok!!
Jen

LOLOLOL!

Didn't your mother ever tell you your face is gonna freeze like that!

Only when I crossed my eyes. But she'll also tell you that I never listened to her anyway.

Yeah

The new flags are very cool! Capt umm Northern Ireland isnt listed as a country tho will that be made an option as well?

That's 2 votes for Northern Ireland. Anyone want to make it three?

Hey, what about the confederate flag for the southern states in the US?

I agree with LisaD that the forum was great already, but change trying to be better is good, and I like that VJ is still trying.

I didn't know we had flags but I'll go get myself one right now!

Yep. Just have to make a flag first .

Capt Ewok. The new Betsy Ross.

Cool!! Thanks

Hmmmm, Brazil's flag isn't showing.

hmmm i see Brazil, just not on your profile..

Hmmmm, now what did I do wrong? I'll check.

EDIT: DUH!

I looove the flags, thanks Captain !

Now..how do ya get one of them 'wavy' flags?

Any way to change my flag to a pirate flag? Just kidding Capn'.. The flags are a nice fresh addition!

I have edited the title since this topic is off topic.

COOL flags, Cap! ..and Ilove the forum before and I love the changes too. I think the furry one does a fantastic job. M.