How can we improve Gymnation?

[Riccardo]

Oh Hai guys!

Reasons for not returning earlier:

-site layout is terrible and confusing

-old guys no longer post because of rule changes etc

-Started a new job this year and have been busy as fark.

-no tom.

 

Will try and post more often, I've been meaning to, I miss the lols but the change over really nuked the site. I really dont think you can blame FB or any other reason its purely the way the rules regarding meme's, gear brand discussions, the switch over to this layout etc that did it. Those are the very things that brought epic lols also used to met heaps of cool people through nzbb. Just my honest opinion

[Gym rat]

I second that as well no Tom plus Tom was a bully 

[Realtalk]

I third that as well know Tom plus I don't know who Tom is.

[AZIDE]

Yeah the fb reason seems like bullshit as fb has been around for ages. Think Ive had a fb since 2008 and I only first saw this site in mid 2009 and it was going pretty good until end of last year I think? Maybe peaked during 2011??

[Realtalk]

Yeah the fb reason seems like bullshit as fb has been around for ages. Think Ive had a fb since 2008 and I only first saw this site in mid 2009

 

 

Everyone got athlete pages on FB now... Most of them the ppl who got ripped new arseholes on here because they don't know what they talking about or from regurgitating information they don't understand while weighing 70 kilograms. On FB they can edit anyone who challenges what they preech and just blow each other off all day long without interruption.

[Pseudonym]

Come on guys... unless you tell me specifically what it is about the new layout you find confusing, I can't change it! As I say, much of the website structure is exactly the same as NZBB...

The biggest difference is putting the training forums into an accordion slider - and we did that because, with all the new training forums (Crossfit, etc), the front page had got ridiculously long. However, if anyone has any other suggestions on how we could display all this info (preferably in the same space), please let me know.

Oh, and to those who want to see Tom back... He is, but you might say he's a changed man now. (Hopefully in every sense of the phrase!)

[thatwaslight]

blaming facebook is a total cop out, people come here mostly to speak on the condition of anonymity..not posting their real name to something everyone of thier freinds and family can see. the slider thing is horrible and irritating, there was nothing wrong with the old layout you could see all the old/new posts and everything at a glance all it needed was a new paint job not an engine swap.

[Leeroid]

Why don't u just make the front page longer? Would rather scroll down than fiddle with that slider thing

[HarryB]

All of those reasons... those ones... up there ^^^^^^^

 

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

hey this is for all you guys complaining about that new front page layout. i don't like it too (can't put my finger on what exactly i don't like about it maybe i just dont like change) but i haven't seen that front page for a few months now

just use this link right here : http://www.gymnation.co.nz/forum/updated'>http://www.gymnation.co.nz/forum/updated

gives you a long list of all the new threads so you can quickly catch up on what you might have missed since last visit (you have to be logged in for it to work properly).

 

 

Why don't u just make the front page longer? Would rather scroll down than fiddle with that slider thing

if you just want a long scrolling thing for forums you can use this link http://www.gymnation.co.nz/forum

 

just bookmark the link you want and get rid of your old bookmark for the site and your browsing experience shouldn't be too much different from before. it might not be super optimized but it is much more mobile friendly than the previous site

 

 

 

 

and i miss those sweet meme gifs too good point Riccardo

[AZIDE]

just use this link right here : http://www.gymnation.co.nz/forum/updated

 

this is the only thing i use. without it the site would be pretty much unusable.

 

blaming facebook is a total cop out, people come here mostly to speak on the condition of anonymity..not posting their real name to something everyone of thier freinds and family can see. the slider thing is horrible and irritating, there was nothing wrong with the old layout you could see all the old/new posts and everything at a glance all it needed was a new paint job not an engine swap.

^fully agree. the old layout was good because it was simple. you could see the threads in each subforum which had new posts without going into the subforum itself. and could just open threads of interest in a new tab from the main page.

with the new layout threads are too difficult to find without using the 'new since last visit' command which is only good for currently active threads and means that having different subforums is pretty much a waste of time.

[Kigorri]

He guys, as a pion with no real voice here, my feedback is mainly positive.

I joined a year ago when this was in it BB skin. Whiole I wasn't into body building, this was by far the most active forum with people contributing what waws in my opinion, good well rounded advice on a range of topics.

While I leart enough to really give myself a great kickstart (more reading through the treads), I felt like my mission, experience and goals didn't belong here, which was a pity because of the reasons already mentioned.

When I got the email notification of the changes I came back and really liked the changes, I saw it as a positive move forward and I could actually fit in a little better here.

The new forum is a little too busy, a little too much clicking to get where you want.... it's a different format from many forums I have used and maybe more than it needs to be, but that can be worked on... there is nothing that really should stop anyone from contributing, unless they wanted BB only and didn't want to share.... 

 

It would be good to get a more free flowing feel to the boards but in any case, I think it's a great foundation to grow good membership base with all sportspeople in theis country.

 

Cheers

 

 

[HarryB]

Being constructive it is a bit tougher to navigate and I did find the old format a whole lot easier BUT that was because I got used to it like I will get used to this one.

It also seems a whole lot more positive in terms of contributions and not as much just people being douchebags and picking on other people for their seemingly inane amusement.

As always there is lots of great information and a lot of good discussion it just takes me a bit longer to find it than it used to.

All in all a change is always good

[Gym rat]

I have notice that as well with good postive topics instead of rants and must make things a bit easer for the mods and less streessfull

[icecream]

Yeah the fb reason seems like bullshit as fb has been around for ages. Think Ive had a fb since 2008 and I only first saw this site in mid 2009 and it was going pretty good until end of last year I think? Maybe peaked during 2011??

Yeah probably bullshit, I dunno I just log on to see pics of guys with no tops on *crazy*

[Dinahlady]

 

 just to see if old friends were still mulling around here....there are not so i wont be hanging round either just a quick cameo apperance bra.

Maybe if you and the other oldies who are just lurking waiting for the old days to reappear started contributing regularly then it would gradually bring more ppl back and things would be like before?

plus more GIFs are needed. Or did they disable that completely, is that why you're mad? 

jks

[Wookie]

My observation with forums is that a big part of what generates traffic is popular/viral threads.

I agree, FB has taken alot of traffic from many fitness/strength forums, but good posters and popular topics will still generate ongoing traffic and posts.

I'm not proposing a solution, just an observation.

[Pseudonym]

Yep, I still maintain Facebook has had an impact on us - and I know a lot of other website admins who say the same. On the other hand, that leaves us free for more in-depth discussion, which Facebook’s not so great on.

As for the memes... Last time we discussed the topic of old members leaving, people said it was because they had got sick of the memes and topics being derailed by the "next generation" of members that had arrived. Now people are saying they're leaving because they can't post memes? We can't win!

(Besides, I don't think we've ever totally banned memes and GIFs, have we? All we ask is that you don't derail good topics with them.)

 

Anyway, I don’t want to keep debating the causes. It doesn’t send a good message to new members and any potential sponsors who may be looking at supporting new features on the site. (And to any potential sponsor who may be reading this – please note that that although the member interaction is currently lower than usual, overall visitor numbers haven’t declined so much. We’re still worth supporting!)

The important thing is what we're doing about this.

As I say, the number one priority is to get Gymnation Mobile up and running.

It also sounds like we need to look at redesigning the Training Forums slider on the front page. I added a line of instructions (“Hold mouse over forums to open”) when it became clear that this wasn’t as intuitive as I’d thought… But obviously that’s not enough, so I’ll have a think about rebuilding the slider entirely.

Ideally, we’d still fit the Training Forums into much the same space. It allows us to keep all the training forums at the top (which I think is important, given that’s what we’re here for), but still have General Chitchat a close second. It also means that the less popular training forums don’t take up much real estate on the page.

 

it just takes me a bit longer to find it than it used to.

a little too much clicking to get where you want

with the new layout threads are too difficult to find without using the 'new since last visit' command

See, this has me really puzzled. Apart from the mouseover technique on the Training Forums block, the structure of everything should be exactly the same as it was on NZBB – forum blocks on the front page show the latest topics, click the topic to read it, click the forum title to browse the forum. It’s just now the front page has pictures on it.

Can you give me a specific example of where you have trouble? Ie, what are you trying to find, and what path do you take to get there?

[maccaz]

one thing that really pisses me off is when i go to click on something on my phone (galaxy s3), sometimes the sliders expand just as i click, so end up clicking on the wrong thing.

 

I reckon ditch those auto expanding things altogether

[maccaz]

also yeah the banter, piss taking etc was half the reason i used to live on here

bring back the battles between tom and idw, android etc good times srs lol

 

[HumanPerformance]

As TWL and others have pointed out the slider configuration is the thing that most people are disliking. Like TWL I used to love the fact that a quick glance at the main page could give you a cvomplete overview of the topics and who had recently posted. I used to quickly check the main page and if I saw that DAZ69,Flex, Android,  Ricardo  ect had posted I would go in and have a look at it as it would always be informative and a chance to learn something new. But now with the slider its alot more time consuming and I end up clicking on things I didnt want to (although to be fair my mouse skills are crap!).

I think that maybe there are to many sub forums and topics so the whole experience seems watered down as you get forums that someone posts in and it sits there for months with no additional comments which kind of creates "dead areas".As it was before with less areas the turnover of posts was higher as people had less places to post in, and if a particular topic was uninteresting it died a quick death. With this fast turnover of topics it made the site appear a bit more vibrant and dynamic.

I do like the fact the pics now appear on the main page, as although the title of a particular post may not seem appealing the added factor that a certain pic may spike your interest gets you to start reading.

Overall I think pseudo has done an amazing job as he didnt really know what would appeal to people and what wouldnt.And its awesome he has had the balls to come on this forum and say.... "hey guys tell me me whats wrong and ill fix it"... Its a fine balancing act as well between keeping members happy and making it an advertising friendly enviroment. 

[knock knock]

Hey Psu, I think one of the big issues is, from the home page and a few other parts, people cant see the little orangey boxes that show there is a new post since they last looked. This is why there is more navigation. Adding this would be a big improvement.

[Kalidane]

Hey Psu, I think one of the big issues is, from the home page and a few other parts, people cant see the little orangey boxes that show there is a new post since they last looked. This is why there is more navigation. Adding this would be a big improvement.

 

Very much this.

 

Most common irritant for me.

[Leeroid]

On a different note, I haven't seen a lot of mod edits recently. Used to be heaps

 

 

[Mod edit:] Big Brother is always watching...

 

[Pseudonym]

I've just tweaked the topic title so it's slightly less off-putting to newbies and potential sponsors. :wink:

Hey Psu, I think one of the big issues is, from the home page and a few other parts, people cant see the little orangey boxes that show there is a new post since they last looked. This is why there is more navigation. Adding this would be a big improvement.

I know the tiny orange page icons that take you to the first unread post aren't working everywhere. And I agree - it's very annoying, and high on the list of bugs to fix. That's all you're talking about, right? You should still see the big orange "unread post" icons, I hope? Like these four...

I think we should make the topic icons actually link to the page, rather than adding more tiny icons. Sounds obvious now that I say it, but for some reason that's not something that NZBB's old software did - the topic icons were purely decorative. Anyway making them your links means that the orange topic icons can not only indicate an unread post, they can link to them as well. Less clutter, more intuitive, and best of all... easy to poke with fat fingers on phones.