Does anyone else not like the new format?
 

I am very disappointed with the new format. I find it more confusing with options that are, in my opinion, superfluous (sorting by percentage). I also miss choosing the country I would like to see postings for. I'm not a creature of habit, but I also say, don't fix it if it ain't broke. Thoughts?

I like being able to jump directly to the most recent postings...instead of scrolling and scrolling and scrolling...

I'm sorry, Kathy - - but it was SOOOOO broken, and it is now SOOOOOO fixed.<BR>

Boy am I ever on the side of the new facilities. Like life in general there are one or two losses but they're offset by a passel of gains, some still coming to light as the day wears on. (Just discovered jump to latest 5 minutes ago!)<BR><BR>Also like life there are problems here and there, and some things to be improved. And I wish Fodors were a bit more proactive in helping adjustment to the new look.<BR><BR>All in all, though, it's SUCH and improvement!

There are a lot of improvements, and it's easy to use and not too distracting. <BR><BR>I THOUGHT I liked it until a few minutes ago. Every few weeks I do a search for Basilicata. Just now I was pleasantly surprised to find that someone had left a message for me about two weeks ago with "Basilicata" in it. But the two first threads I ever posted here (in Oct. 200, I think) have vanished. They both definitely had the word "Basilicata" and one or both also had "Lucania" and I think one of them mentioned "Calabria". Neither one showed up under a search of any of those three words. Both threads had some postings under them and one had maybe around ten, so if Fodors was deleting threads with zero replies, these two would not be targeted for deletion on that ground. <BR><BR>So, where do old threads go to hide under the new system?

A little too early to say, IMO. I haven't tried the search function yet, and that will be a big decider for me - I never once completed a search on the old format - just got the eternal hanging hourglass.

I do not like it - the old way Forum was not broke - why fix it. Rex, don't you have a life? You are always on this Forum

HELP!<BR><BR>I can't find my all-time favorite thread. The heading includes the words "minorized languages" but I couldn't find it under either word. If you find it, please "top" it or explain where it can be found. Thanks.

Why does the sort function give us the option to sort by "most active" but then poduce zero threads when that option is chosen?

I agree with Kathy. It's too busy now and much sloppier. FYI, the old way showed the most recent reply as well. I agree that threads are lost. It was better when you could search within a country or area. IMO it was a better search function. Now it's much broader and more difficult to focus in on what you want. I too had a difficult time finding recent postings and was frustrated when I couldn't find MY posting to which there were multiple answers. Grrrr.

Conclusion: I do not like it because threads have floated off to neverneverland. The MOST important thing for me is a reliable search function. The search function is now even worse than it was. The various new features are good ones, but they are merely "frills" and cannot make up for lost threads.

Here's what drives me absolutely crazy - also on the old format: I do a search, say on "Paris" and turn up a few dozen threads. I click on one, post a reply and then get bounced out of my search results back to the primary list of threads. I have lost my place and have to research! This is such a PAIN!

The mail-this-thread function also doesn't work.

i think this new format is 10x better than before. i'm not having any trouble doing searches, tho i must admit i'm not trying to find particular posts (more just doing country/city searches). but i like this. maybe people just don't like change (tho i certainly "hear" the thoughtful concerns above).<BR><BR>ooo

Carol,<BR><BR>I do not believe that the search function is worse. It was unpredictable and maddening before, and it still is.<BR><BR>I had a number of suspicions that the database had been culled, but I no longer believe that this is true.<BR><BR>I think that I will be posting a new message, starting a thread on "Fodor's Europe forum archaeology" - - I can tell you a few things. There are over 43000 (yes, forty three thousand) threads on this forum. It goes back to July of 1996. <BR><BR>I found "my" first one, at about 26000 back. I cannot locate it by searching, no matter what content I use to find it.<BR><BR>And it is not necessary to go back 50 at a time to get "way back there". <BR><BR>The minorized languages thread has to be there somewhere. Do you know when you last saw it - - I think since Christmas, don't you? It can not be retrieved by Occitan, Gaelic, Welsh, Provencal, Ladino or Romansch, I can tell you that much.<BR><BR>But I will find it. And I will figure out tools to use that don't make it TOO time consuming to do so.<BR><BR>Hang in there.<BR><BR>This really is an improvement.<BR>

Carol,<BR><BR>I told you I would find it.<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/messages.cfm?fid=2&amp;tid=1017067&amp;numresponse s=67<BR><BR>But please don't top it!<BR>

Eleven minutes.<BR><BR>I'll get faster.<BR>

xxx --<BR><BR>i just emailed myself posts, using both netscape and ie -- both came in less than 20 seconds. i do think this site operates a little slower in netscape than ie, but the email function works in either. i'm wondering if maybe people have old browsers (ie or netscape) and maybe this new version is geared toward people who have updated their browsers (always a good idea, folks!)....<BR><BR>ooo

bravo to rex...but what did you do?

Fodors, <BR>Would it have been asking too much to follow up on that campaign I led -- you know, the one to filter-out and block all users within a 50-mile radius of Westerville, Ohio? I'm so disappointed.

Thanks, Rex. (But since it's so hard to find, why shouldn't I "top" it? That's a rhetorical Q.)<BR><BR>So HOW did you find it? (A real Q) I'm not a bad researcher, I've read the thread many times, I remember many of the words (Friulan, Ladino, Romansch, Basque, etc.) that appear in the various posts. It should not have been hard to find. If I didn't KNOW that it existed, I would have to reasonably conclude that there's no such thread on minorized languages, right?<BR><BR>Can you also find my old, old threads on Basilicata (Lucania)? Thanks again.

I found Carol's thread on "minorized languages"...<BR><BR>Or did you mean, how did I do it?<BR><BR>Well...<BR><BR>first, I jumped a tall building in a single bound...<BR><BR>

Do you like the way it fills in the name of the poster?? I have tried to print screens with more than one page, and can only get page 1. Saved to my documents and only got Fodors Heading??????Thankyou Joyce

Yes, HOW?<BR><BR>While it's nice to have it again, but I (we) need to know HOW to find something next time. The fact that I even need to ASK is sign of a big problem. If it's a word-search system, the procedure should be easy and obvious, especially when I know the content of so many of the posts.

Carol,<BR><BR>I will write to you. It is not a big secret, but I would like to keep this smug feeling for overnight at least. This has been an incredible day.<BR><BR>My first post this morning - - <BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/messages.cfm?fid=2&amp;tid=1285413&amp;numresponse s=15<BR><BR>was at 7:16 a.m., then I took our youngest daughter to take her SAT's, stopped and did about an hour of paperwork at my desk, and ran by a bakery to bring my wife some goodies for breakfast. I'm off for the day (three day weekend in fact, after working 19 straight days). <BR><BR>Around 11 o'clock I took a look at this forum, and the change hadn't happened yet. Ed was taunting me that my prediction of "before noon" was wrong. I saw the change happen when I refreshed at 11:11 a.m. and immediately posted the first message of the new format (I think) back to Ed.<BR><BR>I was glued here for a while. About 3, my wife coaxed me to go out for a walk, and we were gone for an hour.<BR><BR>Except for time to fix supper (I cooked, but didn't help with the dishes) - - I will admit, I have been here, off and on almost all evening.<BR><BR>And I think I will go to bed soon, and see what tomorrow brings. I'm sure I will find it fascinating - - but maybe not as much as today.<BR><BR>==============================<BR><B R>Until further notice, I am attaching the following to every message on which I list a "clickable URL" (whether to an old post or to a web address off the Fodors site).<BR><BR>You can go directly to this old message thread by clicking the link listed above.<BR><BR>No more need to top messages!<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

While I generally consider myself a member of the flat earth society, I think the new format is pretty okay. I do think, however, that the former sort by country was especially helpful when dealing with large countries like France. For that reason, I think it works well to have all the Caribbean together, but not so well for Europe.<BR>

If threads are lost, hidden, or not searchable by an easy word search or a precise topic search, it seems there is more reason than ever to "top" threads if and when we can ever find them. Without a decent search function, the site is good only for idle browsing of whatever's new. cmt

Sort by country? There was a sort by country?<BR>

I don't think there ever was a *sort* by country. There was a topic select box that included all the countries of Europe or the Caribbean or whatever. But if I read the search tips correctly (see below), typing in "France" is the equivalent of selecting "France" on that old topic list. Here's the part from the search tips:<BR><BR>Text &amp; Topic Search versus text only. You can achieve the same results as the old search engine by entering the phrase into the text box only.

Why take out the country format. It was fast. It was efficient!

I'm sorry but this really stinks!!!!!! I have been trying to do a search,put in a particular country and it comes up I must be more specific! Maybe I don't want to be. I have learned more helpful information but viewing under a country I will be traveling to. I do not have a specific subject, I just scroll down until I found a particul subject that might pertain to me! I have learned a lot of valuable information from reading other's posting.

I haven't been able to post a message!! If this gets posted it will be my first.

Well I like hugely. But as you will see I had a chance to get my gripes sorted earlier.<BR><BR>I topped cmt's favourite thread by searching "languages". And there it was, top of the list.<BR><BR>The "email this response" thing works fine for me. I don't understand the options in the search responses except the date one, so I just ignore them and use what like.<BR><BR>I've had this format onthe computer on and off since the beginning of December, and I can tell you when they take it away, as they did a couple of days ago, presumably so they could load it. I was bereft. The old way wasn't broke, but it was so slow. Having to type in your name every time; no "jump to"; no change forum;and the search is a. much faster and b. much more accurate. I've not gone looking for anything which turned out not to be there, which is a joy.<BR><BR>I only want two things now<BR><BR>a spillchucker, and<BR>this box a fractionhigher on the screen so I don't have to scroll down the left bar to post my responses. Pretty please Danny, Chris et al?

And something you may not have spotted yet. <BR><BR>It lets you post really long responses

...Thoughts............<BR>This is a free service. The new 'look' seems to work well. Even if it was only ok, who are we to complain???<BR><BR>Let's stop thinking so much about this and just post travel thoughts....<BR>

This sems fine so far -- it does seem pretty quick to me.

I like the new format. It is an improvement on the previous. I have had no problem with the search function, but I do think they should bring back the drop box with the countries. There are some features that are a bit superfluous that I would trade for the countries drop box, the most active sort, for example.

&lt;&lt;I have been trying to do a search,put in a particular country and it comes up I must be more specific!&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>I guess you are telling the truth (why would you make this up?) but can you specify how you got this message? Initially a few others (and I was able to duplicate the experience) got *no* responses, attempting to search scotland. Then, that went away.<BR><BR>I just now tried France, and it worked fine. Unusually fast, I though - - even for a resort on date. At a quick glance, the list didn't look useful (neither by score, nor by date) - - but then I wouldn't have expected to.<BR><BR>I expect that that the "critique" of new format versus getting any old features "back again" versus new wish lists for things to come will die down quickly.<BR><BR>Back to travel questions and answers.<BR>

i think some of you might be making the same mistake i did---i filled in the search box and then hit "Search Tips" directly below it (i tend to see the first word only) instead of the little logo. that's a bit confusing.<BR><BR>i've not gotten the 'be specific' message unless i hit the wrong thing

Am I the only one who thinks the type is smaller - and a killer to read! For me, this is a big negative. But, as a veteran and totally addicted Fodorite, I'm sure I'll get used to it....