[jude]

Of course, this doesn't explain the massive ramp-up of advertising. I guess Jude's kids are going to college or something.

We didn't have time to develop multiple templates, so you're looking at the one we did develop, and it's the one that's more consistent with the logged-out experience (which, as with the Huddler platform, does show more ads than the logged-in experience).

Quoting from my thread-originating post (with emphasis):

...First, we fix the bugs, we make the place more livable, we complete the transition of some of the key functionalities from the Huddler platform that we weren't able to finish to our (and your) satisfaction ahead of the transition date. One thing (among many) we're working on now is differentiating logged-in and logged-out user experiences, as we did on the Huddler platform. It won't be long, and, as before, logged-in users will have fewer ad units shown, among other things...

 

[HiFiGuy528]

I'm a creature of habits, but I'm not too old to learn new tricks. It'll take time for the Head-Fi team to sort things out and for my brain to break-in the new design.

 

[jude]

But you said that you had a few months to make sure that the new site was designed well in a post in a different thread @jude

Yes, we did have a few months, but we also knew we'd need every bit of that (which we did), and we still didn't finish. I don't think most people realize just how many moving parts the entirety of Head-Fi had under the Huddler platform, and how many more moving parts have to be built to get what was there onto (and into) something else. Again, it was a closed, custom-built platform with a lot of one-off bits-and-pieces.

 

[jude]

Thanks for the reassurances and for the form. Can't help from wondering though, if it was that amicable, how come Huddler/Wikia did not give you guys extra time to do things a little more comfortably? Or a little more advance notice, or both?

When something like this happens, there are a lot of considerations on the sides of both businesses to consider. The decisions that were made were not theirs alone--we had decisions to make, too, regarding issues of resources (human and otherwise), the timing for everyone, etc.

A lot of these considerations are business-related, between both parties, and not really something that I'd discuss here.

We have a lot of friends over at Huddler/Wikia--from their development and support staff to their highest levels of management--and I know they feel the same way--and though our businesses are parting, we'll always remain friends.

 

[zachawry]

We didn't have time to develop multiple templates, so you're looking at the one we did develop, and it's the one that's more consistent with the logged-out experience (which, as with the Huddler platform, does show more ads than the logged-in experience).

Quoting from my thread-originating post (with emphasis):

Sorry I missed that. I've been extremely critical of the new intrusive ads, because, well, they're annoying.

But, I'd love for headfi to make you zillions of dollars. I would love the option for users to pay, say, $5 a month ($30/year) for "Premier Membership" or something that would mean they are shown no ads. And, they could get a little star by their avatar as a supporting member or something. People love that kind of schlock.

Other forums do this, and I think it's a great idea. I would be first in line.

 

[sup27606]

I notice many of the bugs have already been ironed out. So our daily business at the forums are slowly getting back to normal. One thing I miss though is the ability to search within a particular forum. The search now is universal, so any keyword search would bring results from the entire site. If I am looking for something for sale, I would like to limit my search within the classifieds only (for example).

 

[Double-A]

Yes, we did have a few months, but we also knew we'd need every bit of that (which we did), and we still didn't finish. I don't think most people realize just how many moving parts the entirety of Head-Fi had under the Huddler platform, and how many more moving parts have to be built to get what was there onto (and into) something else. Again, it was a closed, custom-built platform with a lot of one-off bits-and-pieces.

Just so I'm sure I understand, what you are saying is that you found out that Huddler would be phased out a few months ago and you've been using all of that time ever since to try to move the website over to XenForo efficiently? Because I thought what you were saying was that you were just informed recently about Huddler going offline in a few months from now and I could not figure out why on earth you would rush to move the website to XenForo when you had months to do so smoothly. If that is what you are saying, that would make much more sense. If this is the case, I still think you should've warned users that functionality of the website would be impaired for a while after the release of the new website.

 

[jeremy205100]

Again, as I said to @Slaphead, I truly understand where you're coming from. Since your feelings echo his, please do read my response to him by clicking here.

As I also said to him, @jeremy205100, we are sincerely glad that despite your feelings you've chosen to stick around.

I appreciate the response. I'm not trying to be overly critical. I have no doubt that eventually (hopefully soon) things we be in a working manner. It's just that it would have been easier to deal with these annoyances and differences if we knew in advance that they would be happening and that improvements would be made as quickly as possible. But I digress.

 

[Tommy C]

Thanks for clarifying. Unlike others I don't mind the fact there wasn't any announcement, you did what you had to do and I'm not going to be too judgmental about it. With that being said, as an IT person l am sorry but I'm not feeling the new platform and I'm not sold on the new features.
It's more cumbersome to follow new messages and new posts from the subscribed threads. The colors are too bright. reading long posts causes eye fatigue. The design of the threads is very dated too. It reminds me how forums used to look back then around 2000.
There are also multiple issues with the mobile site which I am sure you are already aware of, it's pretty significant to me to the point l avoid using the mobile version altogether.
Please don't take it as a criticism towards you guys. It's more of a constructive feedback and changes can also be a good thing but some work needs to be done. It's more the platform that l don't like.
I will stick around because l enjoy the content vert much but l really dislike the new platform and here hoping the changes will make it better, feature and performance wise.

 

[darkarn]

Aside: Hmm I can't seem to find any announcements of Huddler being shut down, only one in 2014 where Huddler is being bought over by Wikia

Is this shutdown internal or just not announced to the public?

 

[fixated]

Switching platforms is always a big pain, speaking from a developer's perspective at that. Understandable that some features will not be readily available simply because the current platform was not custom built to for head-fi's use. (Customizing pre-built platforms is a big pain in the a** ).

 

[audioIQ]

Alright, I don't mind most of the new additions/revamps. but the ABSOLUTE WORST thing about the new design which makes it unbearable is the new ridiculous search algorithm. For example If I wanted to search for the main discussion page of anything I would simply just type its name in the search, and it would suggest the main relevant page, Now its just extremely irrelevant threads with zero replies, and for sale ads. For Example, I searching "ibasso DX200" Or "Chord Mojo" used to suggest the main dx200 or mojo thread easily. now its just impossible to find those main thread pages. Here is an example of what my search for "chord mojo" Brought up :

 

[jude]

Alright, I don't mind most of the new additions/revamps. but the ABSOLUTE WORST thing about the new design which makes it unbearable is the new ridiculous search algorithm. For example If I wanted to search for the main discussion page of anything I would simply just type its name in the search, and it would suggest the main relevant page, Now its just extremely irrelevant threads with zero replies, and for sale ads. For Example, I searching "ibasso DX200" Or "Chord Mojo" used to suggest the main dx200 or mojo thread easily. now its just impossible to find those main thread pages. Here is an example of what my search for "chord mojo" Brought up :

I do understand your frustration with how search is at the moment.

I'm not sure if this will help until we can get search more sorted, but here's the advanced search page:

https://www.head-fi.org/f/search/35295/?searchform=1​

If it helps, bookmark it. We hope to have search (including search-in-thread) better sorted for you very soon...hopefully enough to eventually delete that bookmark.

 

[Instrumental]

Hell of a coincidence, but today is the first day I've been back to the site in a long while. I like the new layout. The previous one seemed very dated. Wish the Buying Guide was easier to navigate. I can still get to the pages, but in a bit of a round about way since the directory gives me 404s.

 

[jude]

Hell of a coincidence, but today is the first day I've been back to the site in a long while. I like the new layout. The previous one seemed very dated. Wish the Buying Guide was easier to navigate. I can still get to the pages, but in a bit of a round about way since the directory gives me 404s.

The Buying Guide is overdue for an update, and we have a lot of products to add to it. However, it will take a backseat for a while, at least until we get more critical updates/fixes up.

The Buying Guide was also presented in the Wiki area of the Huddler platform. We'll do something different for it on the next update.

For now, sorry for the 404's.