[leeperry]

hehe, browsing a vbulettin forum feels like the so-called "good ole days" now

 

[bdr529]

check out http://head-fi.org/. the old front page still shows up without www sub-domain if you are feeling like some nostalgia. think I just cried a little. 

 

[Pepsi]

Quote:

check out http://head-fi.org/. the old front page still shows up without www sub-domain if you are feeling like some nostalgia. think I just cried a little.

Man do i miss that look. I felt right..until i clicked on the main forums link.

 

[Rossinator]

Quote:

check out http://head-fi.org/. the old front page still shows up without www sub-domain if you are feeling like some nostalgia. think I just cried a little. 

Hold on...I need my sunglasses...

 

[revolink24]

Jude, why not just use vBulletin 4? I came back today and this new design made me excited for about 10 seconds, in other words, until I started using it.

 

[jude]

 
Quote:

Jude, why not just use vBulletin 4? I came back today and this new design made me excited for about 10 seconds, in other words, until I started using it.

Actually, I did consider it for a while, and we even had an installation of it for testing up (I have a paid-up license for it).  To accomplish the integration between the reviews area and the forums wasn't really possible.  I also had a test installation of a review add-on for vBulletin, but, again, it didn't do what I was looking for, which was tighter integration.
 
One thing I like about this platform is that the tagging applies to all sections, contextually.  That is, the idea is to take relevant content and present it where it's contextually relevant.  With the improved use of tagging, this is much more well-executed in this platform than any "similar threads" type feature I've seen in any other forum platform.  That will be something more realized over time.
 
All is not roses with vBulletin 4 (I've been monitoring the opinions of it by other admins since it was beta), but it is a very nice forum platform, no doubt.  Some forums are switching away from it to other forum software.  We couldn't have stayed on vBulletin 3.x forever, and if a switch was going to be made, now was the best time (in my opinion).
 
As for all the talk about how bright this forum is:  I'll still consider the opinions on that matter, of course.  Within the first day, we cut back on the use of pure white (FFFFFF) in the outer areas.  vBulletin 4's default template makes far more use of white, from what I can tell.  I may make adjustments in response to the feedback, but that's not something I want to jump around changing with every suggestion.  I want to see the collective feedback over time, and then make adjustments based on that.

 

[Prog Rock Man]

I thought I would wait a bit before I decided, but I now very much prefer the new look and I find it all easier to use 

 

[JamesL]

Am I the only one who's getting epic lag using the new forum?
 
In 2 minutes, I loaded 400 vbulletin tabs... it took 1 second before I could scroll and read through the 1st tab.
In 2 minutes, I loaded 20 head-fi tabs.. it took 2 minutes before I could scroll and read through ANY of the tabs.
 
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/reihn/epiclag.jpg

 

[joomongj]

Hm not much lag here though I kinda miss the old one for its features.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Hm not much lag here though I kinda miss the old one for its features.

Agreed.  The older site always took forever to load pages over the past year.  It never used to be that way but in the past year it got extremely slow for me.  Often it would take 1 - 2 minutes for a reply to post and refresh.  This site is definitely faster for me.  But I do miss the old site too.

 

[tamahome77]

I like the look of the old website better but can deal with this new design.  One thing I don' t like is the bright back ground.  Can we turn it to a darker shade or something?

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

 
As for all the talk about how bright this forum is:  I'll still consider the opinions on that matter, of course.  Within the first day, we cut back on the use of pure white (FFFFFF) in the outer areas.  vBulletin 4's default template makes far more use of white, from what I can tell.  I may make adjustments in response to the feedback, but that's not something I want to jump around changing with every suggestion.  I want to see the collective feedback over time, and then make adjustments based on that.

 
Quote:

I like the look of the old website better but can deal with this new design.  One thing I don' t like is the bright back ground.  Can we turn it to a darker shade or something?

 
 So I guess you were "adding to the collective feedback", yes?

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

i can understand why jude would want to hand over so much to huddler but what i fail to see the reasoning for is why such a fundamental change in the nature of how the site is run and controlled could not have been broached here before hand.  if jude has simply said hey folks this is what im thinking about doing, what do you think?  all this could have been avoided.

I'm not a huge fan of the new platform (much of it stinks), but I think most of us would agree Jude has every right to do whatever he wants with Head-Fi.  The Internet rewards foresight, and he had it.  My understanding is that he put together an alternate forum when HeadWize was going through issues, then gave it direction that HeadWize probably never had.  My impression is that the vision of a few people did much to propel headphones as a hobby toward the mainstream.  Without people like Tyll and Jude, there's a distinct possibility I would have passed headphones over completely. 
 
As far as I know, there's no committee sitting around deciding what to do with Head-Fi, sharing the burden of its successes and failures.  The community is a critical component of a forum, yes, but so are the guys and gals behind the scenes.  Head-Fi might be a completely different place under the leadership of another forum owner.  As I've said, I hope Huddler incorporates many of the changes suggested here in the last couple weeks, and I wouldn't be displeased if they focused primarily on improving the forum.  However, I don't think Jude really owed it to anybody to ask for consensus on managing the future of Head-Fi.  He seems to be genuinely interested in taking the recent requests and complaints of its members seriously, and if there's one forum that could have a major influence on the future of Huddler, it's Head-Fi.

 

[SoulSyde]

I love the new site!!!!!!!
 
All I have to say is....
 

 

[MD1032]

I think it looks a little cleaner but the magnification is just obscene. I cannot "zoom out" enough to be able to read more than about 12 threads at once... and I have a 5:4 monitor, not a 16:9. I really wish it were easier to read...right now, the old format has a clear advantage in that area. Text was bolder, clearer, and more condensed. Why is the reply box Arial while the rest of the forum is Verdana or something like that? Verdana helps with readability in some cases but otherwise most people like myself prefer Arial.