[Tyrael-RM]

I've been a long time LO member, well i'll just cut to the chase.

There is really too much 'noise' going on here on LO. I find the site's overall usability is cluttered with too much bells.

I see a facebook / open id integration before I login. Cool feature, but perhaps not needed... It doesnt even appear after I login,.

Theres a crap ton of ads around. I know monetization is great, but as a user it isn't.

First the ads side bar as an unregistered user is on the left.

Then once registered its on the right... the whole right hand side bar severly squishes the forum home page.

Theres all these 'cool' features on here, but it seems somewhat underutilized, such as links to the front page, articles only receiving 1 vote or so just shows how much participation there is.

Then there is a triple navigation bar.

Home-forum-showcase etc
Forum blogs - store reviews - chat
User CP - Blogs - etc.

Thats just too much IMO.

IMO, its just getting a bit cluttered and too much noise. The multi colored prefixes - also add in a large confusion.

Theres just a ton of things going on here on L-O - imo, needs to cut down?

 

[Blackhat]

I wont be doing much more changes to the forum as Im waiting for the version 4 of vbulletin to get past the beta.

The sidebar is a nice way to drag more attention to the frontpage articles. I agree that we could optimize the menu bars somehow, but that would not be done before we upgradet the forum.

 

[Triorchin]

Do you actually choose the adverts? cuz all I seem to get is Get ripped in however many weeks...

I don't particularly like looking at mens bare chests :\

 

[Blackhat]

I can choose to a certain degree, but ads are geotargeted so finding your ads for me can be difficult unless you provide me with more details about the ads. Then I can probably filter out offensive ones.

 

[Mr. Biscuits]

Theres a crap ton of ads around. I know monetization is great, but as a user it isn't.

Though your other points are valid, notably of the triple side br which was extremely confusing for me when I first signed up although I have grown to get used to it, I would find it odd you would bring up the ads. Now for me it didnèt take too much scanning, as it shouldn't for virtually anyone to notice this in your sig...

Is it just me or is there a small case here of the pot cqalling the kettle black? Other than that I think you have a decent point, especially about the triple navigation bar.

 

[Kelter Skelter]

Just filter out the "get ripped in 2 weeks!" ads.

For the love god, please.





I have problems with links not taking me the right places and such. This whole classified section has me utterly confused since it was introduced.

I also think the facebook/openID/etc. is a bit of a waste.

Finally, I agree that the menu bars being different depending on where I am on the site is a little ridiculous, there isn't any consistency.

 

[Subsocial]

Hey, I've been using LO on and off for quite a while now so I thought I'd throw my opinion in too.

I actually disagree with Tyrael-RM on most of this main points:
1. "Crap ton of ads" is a bit of exaggeration, I think. I count only 4 on the forum pages and only 2 in threads, one of each of which disappears after 500 posts. That's not bad at all compared to most sites out there. In fact, I don't even notice them anymore usually.
2. The bar on the right in no way "severely" squishes the forum home. Sure, it's a little smaller, but it doesn't impair navigation at all except maybe in making you turn the mouse wheel a little bit farther to get to your desired forum. No problems there, I say.
3. I like the multicolored prefixes... As a 40k only player when I go to a mixed 40k/WFB forum it helps me to immediately filter out the ones that are of no interest to me.

Now, I agree that the facebook-integration thing is something that I don't use and I probably won't, simply because it's perfectly convenient for me to log in normally. However, in no way does is bother me, especially since it disappears after I log in (which I do nearly automatically at this point), and it might be really helpful to someone else.

The one thing that I do agree with him on is the menu bars and their organization. I find the top two bars a bit confusing (the bottom is fine, crystal clear) and would probably utilize advanced forum features like those in the top two nav bars if they were combined into one nav bar that had drop-down categories like the About and Tools ones do now, but I understand that will have to wait. As it is now, I'm not bothered by it as the only buttons I need are Home and Forums and they do exactly what I want.

Just my two cents.

 

[Tyrael-RM]

1. There is no Hate to LO. I respect and love it.

I've been a member since 2004.
I was a moderator here too, in the past. There is no ill will, or anything like that.



I'm just noting out some things - as I, personally, use to use this site a lot, and it changes every time ;P. I am also an Informatics major, I study Information, all aspects of it, and also usability. But then, I might be looking at this stuff from a different perspective.



@subsocial -


1. Check the site out when you are not logged in. The ads are different - dependent on if you are logged in our not. It is not very easy to access the site via mobile. From a first hand experience, it may seem daunting. Hence my comments.


2. The triple nav bar - while does add a ton of features - it could potentially be seen as 'feature' overload. Or the term 'Noise'.

3. Yeah you are right, after thinking about it - it does act as a filter.

4. The facebook integration, disappearing on login... is a .. weird feature to have! Won't be utilized at all. Thus to the not-logged in user, it is rather pervasive, as it adds to the 'overload' of noise.


I'm just simply sharing my thoughts and ideas. Not an attack. LO is a great site. I come for the great painters - as always.

 

[Rork]

Largely I'd agree with Tyrael-RM. The best way is the simplest way, and I reckon there's scope to prune stuff we don't need or is under-utilised (I only just played with the different thread views...).

The site needs to be usable and relevant, and it's quite likely we could do more to achieve that. I've got a degree in Software Engineering, so I know where you're coming from.

We really should identify what the user needs and work from there (the tags, as people say, are quite useful). Other stuff could either be removed or be modified to better suit its purpose.

 

[Nori Legna]

I have a site suggestion. Get rid of the nine hundred thousand million ads that clog up my bandwidth trying to sell me bs I don't need or want, and maybe actually update something every once in a while. Hooray, LO gets some advertising cash. I don't see where the money goes. The site looks as bland as it did years ago and not a whole lot has been added or changed.

 

[Blackhat]

The site looks as bland as it did years ago and not a whole lot has been added or changed.

and this is coming from someone who registered less than a month ago... What about paying the monthly fees for the dedicated server we got ??

 

[Nori Legna]

I didn't know a couple last-gen servers in a shack somewhere in Utah cost half a billion dollars a month to operate. But, whatever you say.

 

[Blackhat]

I didn't know a couple last-gen servers in a shack somewhere in Utah cost half a billion dollars a month to operate. But, whatever you say.

:good:

 

[Kelter Skelter]

The ads to mess up the formatting though.