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Pastimes : SI Beta Site Launch - 7/01/99 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BryanB who wrote (316)	7/7/1999 7:16:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2340

Bryan, thank you for your directions on finding PeopleSearch. However, I have been unable to test them out, because I have been unable to sign onto the Beta site this evening. When I try, I now get the following cryptic message: Invalid password: [hint=] I am not the first person to report this peculiar bug, so I presume somebody is working on it. Now, a couple of further comments. It is quite true, as you say, that when you click on a Personal Profile, you get a list of recent posts by that user. But, as I said in my original post, you get a list of only TWENTY posts. On "Classic SI," you get a list of ONE HUNDRED posts (or is it even more?). My first question was: why are there FEWER posts on the Beta Site's Profile Page than there are on the Classic SI Profile Page? And my point was: if anything, there should be MORE. (That is, if the Beta Site is supposed to be an improvement over the old site.) In other words, what I would like to see, in an ideal world (I can dream, can't I?), is a search function that would let me see ANY NUMBER OF that poster's posts. Yes, quite simply, "the ability to go back further in history." (I am not talking about a "dual search" for both person & subject -- too complicated, anyway, I think.) Still confused about what I mean? :-) jbe

To: BryanB who wrote (316)	7/7/1999 8:30:00 PM
From: John Biddle	Respond to of 2340

I'd like to see PeopleMarks work exactly like SubjectMarks. Both are bookmarked the same way, but on threads, all messages are available, search is available and forward and backward navigation is available. I'd like to do all of those things relative to a person as well as relative to a subject.

To: BryanB who wrote (316)	7/8/1999 4:18:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2340

Bryan, I did find "People Search" following your directions. But the difficulty I had finding it in the first place brings up a problem, which I have already touched on in a post to Bill Ulrich: beta.siliconinvestor.com I sometimes think that the very title of this site -- "Silicon Investor" -- may have (mis)led you to believe that most posters here are Silicon Valley employees, or at least extremely computer-savvy folks. But in my observation, there are a lot of people out there like me. I drive a car, for example, but don't ask me what's under the hood! Same with computers. You have to show me, lead me by the hand; don't expect me to figure it out for myself. <g> As it is, if I were coming to SI for the first time via the Beta site, I would probably never realize that there was a "People Search" function at all. (By the way, on the Customize page, there is no reference to a Stock Search; only to People Search and Net Search.) Perhaps you might consider having a FAQ page explaining in detail, in as non-technical a fashion as possible -- some of us still go glassy-eyed when confronted with technical language -- what all the functions are, where they are, how to do what may seem to you to be ridiculously easy operations, etc. A few more questions and comments. 1) Why did you eliminate the "this thread only" and the "this poster only" search functions in the first place? Was it an accident? Or was it done deliberately, in order to restore the "messages with links" search function (which also had its uses). Is there something wrong with having four search functions? 2) It seems to me that a lot of posters on this thread really prefer the Classic SI format. I tend to agree with the criticism that the Beta format is dull and unoriginal. I don't think it is a question of fear of change; it is rather a rejection of change for change's sake. Remember, even Coca Cola had to go back to "Classic Coke"! Have you tallied up the pros and cons you have received on this issue (format)? 3) I agree that ANY July launching date (let alone July 14th in particular) would be premature. How could you possibly incorporate all the good suggestions -- and rationalize rejecting the "bad" ones -- and eliminate all the bugs in such a short period of time? 4) Informational question. Should we forward all the comments we make here to: "http://beta.siliconinvestor.com/misc/feedback.gsp Or is posting here sufficient to ensure that our views will be seen & heard? jbe