That OLD FOSSIL Site you don't like made them millions, and it is the most successful financial chat site.
Yeah. So? And Windows 3.2 made hundreds of millions of dollars for Microsoft. That doesn't mean it wasn't an ugly and awkward GUI.
Why do I hate the old site?... I went on for way too long in the linked message (#reply-10900128) to explain that. I doubt I would have joined SI if I hadn't heard rumors that the site was undergoing a major make-over. I'm a recent arrival. I don't think I'd ever visited before October or November of last year. I was put off by the look of it when I first ran across it. The black non-member home page looks like something I'd expect to see on geocities. The message pages look better, but still have a slap-dash amateurish look. I figured it was just another of those back-room financial sites that someone set up in his spare time.
But then I took the time to read a few topics. I realized my mistake. I realized that the message system here is superbly designed. I realized that the people here really know what they're talking about. I realized that any five stock-talk messages on this board are likely to hold more genuine and useful information than could be found in any two-dozen messages on other stock boards.
Despite the design, I paid up and joined (and at least got rid of those banner ads on the message pages which look even worse in the old SI).
Would I have left SI if they hadn't redesigned it? Probably not. I joined despite the bad design of the site, so I could have lived with it, but I was getting frustrated with the slow progress of the redesign. Since April, when Bryan started the "What's New" thread (#subject-27464), the new design seemed to be promised "real soon now". It took far too long to get here.
Even good designs suffer with age. It's part of the nature of the process. As I said in the linked post, Brad and the SI founders created a superb bulletin system -- the best out there. It is the simple, but rich messaging system that has attracted enough people to make SI the most successful financial chat site. The homely and awkward face that was put over that system might even have seemed attractive long ago when it was introduced. It hasn't aged well. It could be considered attractive now only by those who have become inured to it.
That SI is so successful despite the homely face just shows how remarkable the underlying concept for the site is. It will surely be even more successful when the same concept is expressed in this new, attractive, clean, and more easily navigated persona -- especially since those who want the old dog will still have its ugly face available to keep them company, and make them feel at home. |
