Michelle,
Let me reiterate the concerns I have raised, all of which fall into the "content" department, which is only one segment of the "functionality" sector.
It is true I raised my concerns rather late in the game. But I did not even know there was a game until I was invited to participate in the Beta Test, which was in the latter half of June.
Someone on this thread -- I know it was not you, Michelle -- reproached us all, and I think quite unfairly, with not having responded to SI's call for input earlier. Well, the call was issued on a thread I didn't even know existed: "Silicon Investor -- What's Next?" Personally, I do not investigate every new thread that turns up on SI, and I had no idea that this particular one was of any great importance. I'll bet the same thing was true of a lot of SI subscribers.
In any event, when I went to the Beta site, my only interest was in seeing whether I could do the same things -- that is, get the same information-- on Beta as on Classic SI. To my surprise -- this, after all, was supposed to be an "improved" site -- I found that I could do and get less. What did I miss, specifically?
1) The "search this thread" function. That has been restored.
2) The "posts by this person" search function. That has NOT been restored.
3) The number of posts listed on the profile page reduced to 20, as against 100 on classic SI.
4) The disappearance of the Clubhouses.
That may not sound like much, but think about it. Suppose somebody tells me that Mr. BrilliantInvestor is indeed brilliant, and that I ought to check out his posts on various subjects. But when I go to his profile page, I find I can't do a subject search of his posts, because there is no "posts by this person" search function. And going through the back posts actually displayed on BrilliantInvestor's profile is not much help either, because there
are only 20 of them!
So what do I do? I may, perhaps, try to figure out what forums he frequents, and comb them for his posts. (In the process, of course, I may miss the forums in which he makes his most interesting posts.) Or, what is even more likely, I will drop the whole idea of looking up his posts, as not worth the time and trouble.
It's rather like going to a library and finding the books all locked up. That is very frustrating -- at least for someone like me. <g>
And very puzzling. Why on earth did the engineering team decide to lock the books up?? I still have no answer. Knowledge, information, is the name of the game we are playing. Or is it?
Now, the Clubhouses. I have a thread -- a poor one, but mine own, as they say. And we need our Clubhouse! It is gone, and all that Bryan has told me so far is that he is "studying" the matter. My response to that was, I'll admit, a bit snippy. I asked him whether he could, in the course of that study, determine why the Clubhouses were discarded in the first place.
Why was I snippy? First of all, because it's my nature, no doubt. <g> But, more importantly, because I got tired of the Beta site's being called "the IMPROVED site." As far as those features that most concern me are concerned, it has turned out to be a "disimproved" site, if I may be permitted a neologism.
There are a lot of other minor things I could bring up, but won't, because they do not affect content, and I would rather not get bogged down in trivia.
As for positive suggestions for real improvement (not just restoration of features that Classic SI had and has), the one I really would like to see most is AN EXPANSION OF THE SEARCH FUNCTION! 120 DAYS IS NOT ENOUGH! I have brought this up before. Just want to be sure it won't be overlooked. :-)
There is one more point I would like to mention. I have never used BrowseMaster, and I don't know whether you ever have. But the fact is that BrowseMaster users all seem to be saying that Classic SI, used with BrowseMaster, leaves New SI in the dust, even from the purely technical point of view. (Check out their thread.) You can, for example, view not just 10 posts at a time, but 100 posts!
Now Eric tells us that Craig Richards, the BrowseMaster man, is "tossing in the towel."
Message 10767375
This again raises some questions in my mind. Why was SI/Go2Net not eager to work with what evidently is such a superior product? However, I will leave it to the techies to think of answers to that one.
Finally, I'd like to thank you, Michelle, for your efforts to obtain constructive input. I trust you will get it. But do remember that the suggestions you collect will probably all have been made before. And in some cases -- I will not venture to say in how many -- they were ignored.
Joan
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