The CGC Journals Migration 1 1

[Get Marwood & I]

Now the dust has settled I wanted to give my view on the recent CGC Journals Migration.

The headline news from me is that I think it has been a disaster. If you agree, please like this post to show your support. I'm not going to flag it to any of the admin team - they can find it, read and react as they see fit.

First up, there was nothing wrong with the old journals. When the new boards launched there was a lot of upset, but most understood that the change in software was a necessary step given that the old software was no longer supported. I'm not aware of any technical reason why the journals migration was necessary. Are you? The format of the old journals was simple and familiar and the access easy. One click brought you to the main page and from it you could see everything you needed at a glance:

Because they were in order of most recent reply, one glance at this page would likely bring you up to date on what you were looking for. I know it did for me.

When the boards changed software a lot of the complaints were due to the amount of unnecessary additional clicks that were needed. The old journals - one click got you to the main page to show you all you needed. With the new journals, four clicks are needed as follows:

Click 1 brings up the 3 options shown below. I accept that 'My Journal' is a help, if you have one, but the two options of 'Latest Entries' and 'By Author' add no value. They take you to two different looking presentations of the journals (which I think adds confusion):

Click 2 and we'll go for 'Latest Entries' as that seems most helpful (the 'By Author' isn't in alpha order so what's the point of it?):

Click 3, Latest Entries, brings us to the screen below which shows the latest 'entries' where 'entries' are journals, not replies. It's auto set to 'Start Date' so we have to select 'Last Reply' to bring that up: 

Click 4, and we finally get to see the last replies. That's four clicks to get to where one click would get you on the old journals.

Now we are in that screen, the layout is confusing. Not the simple list of journals in reply order, but boxes. You'll see from the image below that the most recent reply is under the journal '365 Days of Spawn' (a cool journal by the way, format notwithstanding) and the second is one under 'Thanks'. The three that follow all have sequential reply dates. And yet look to the right hand column titled 'Recent Journal Entries & Replies' and the order list is completely different.

Note also that the new layout omits to tell you:

• Who was the person who replied
• Number of views
• Number of pages

You have to go into them to find that out.

The '365 Days of Spawn' journal is by oldmilwaukee6er (If you're reading this, hope you don't mind me using you as an example here). If you look at his profile page it shows he has one journal:

And yet look at his 'activity' and you see he has another journal:

Why doesn't this show? Why wasn't it migrated?

If we look at the first page of the old journals, the last poster on all is Scott as he added a message to each stating the thread was now locked and to go to the new journal page:

Go to the second page of the old journals and Scott disappears:

Look at the top in the screen shot above and you'll see Hepcats journal. Look at his profile and it hasn't migrated either. If it had, it would show on his profile:

Many have criticised the format of the new journals. They say it is awkward, difficult to follow and not user friendly. I agree and have been saying so since news that there would be new journals was first posted.

So, if we assume (subject to clarification) that the journals migration was a cosmetic choice, and not a 'must have' migration due to legacy issues, what should we think about it? We were not consulted, we were not asked to road test it.

Judge the result as follows:

Before the migration:

• Simple, user friendly journals that all were happy with, dating back many years, all in one clear sequentially listed forum
• As many as you liked, standing alone

After the migration:

• Old journals locked (a travesty)
• Only some migrated to the new journals (see above, Hepcat etc)
• Only the first page of each journal migrated - basically each journal was vandalised
• Journals hard to find now - 'hidden' in a menu bar as opposed to a CGC Forum in their own right as they used to be
• No longer in one place:
  • Some locked in the old forum
  • Some in the new area
  • Some old ones reopened and moved all over the place
• Format not user-friendly 
• One journal 'umbrella' with journals as 'entries' within it - if the umbrella title doesn't fit with the entry titles, tough.
• Summary pages not accurate
• Four clicks instead of one

I could go on.

I have no doubt that the admin team want the best for the forum and it's members. No doubt at all. But this migration was a disaster and an unnecessary, foreseeable one. They should learn from it or at this rate they won't have any members left to alienate.

As ever, if anything I have said here is wrong, please dive in. But if you think this is more or less right, show your support accordingly. Otherwise, nothing changes and they'll next migrate the Water Cooler to China. Come to think of it.....

P.S. If it was my decision, I would cancel the new journals and set the old ones back up as they were. That would require some work, but my God would it send a positive message throughout the community. 'We got it wrong, and we're going to put it right'. I would be the first to applaud them to the rafters. 

P.P.S. There's a certain irony in the fact that the old journals will forever be locked as follows....

Edited September 22, 2018 by Get Marwood & I
Death to the Daleks!

[Get Marwood & I]

By the way, I tried to find a journal using the drop down menu in the search function:

Handily, they're not in any decipherable order. After 6 hours scrolling, I fell asleep.

[bababooey]

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, bababooey said:

Let the procession of disaster gifs commence! 

[newshane]

I agree Marwood. 

The least they can do is unlock the old forum. They don't have to kill the new format. Let people choose. What's wrong with that? I've yet to hear a good excuse from the admin. regarding why the old forums were locked. Seems like a rather heavy-handed way to force participation in the new forum. Seems like migrating them would be a bigger headache than leaving them open. 

I PM'd Dena about it, after being asked by a few people to migrate my old journals to a new forum. I'm embarrassed to admit that my tone was a little sharp, but I apologized almost immediately. I've made my thoughts known, but I don't think it matters. I was appreciative of the chance to share my adventures with the boards while it lasted. 

[Get Marwood & I]

12 minutes ago, newshane said:

I agree Marwood. 

The least they can do is unlock the old forum. They don't have to kill the new format. Let people choose. What's wrong with that? I've yet to hear a good excuse from the admin. regarding why the old forums were locked. Seems like a rather heavy-handed way to force participation in the new forum. Seems like migrating them would be a bigger headache than leaving them open. 

I PM'd Dena about it, after being asked by a few people to migrate my old journals to a new forum. I'm embarrassed to admit that my tone was a little sharp, but I apologized almost immediately. I've made my thoughts known, but I don't think it matters. I was appreciative of the chance to share my adventures with the boards while it lasted. 

Dena and Scott are good decent people from what I can see. As the face of the change, they will be used to and probably even expect a little flak. We can sometimes get annoyed when we feel strongly about things and respond in a less than civil way. You apologised, I'm sure it was accepted, as you seem good and decent too.  Remember, you put a lot of effort into a journal and then it was blocked with no forewarning. Scott apologised for that to his credit. This is not about targeting individuals. It's about telling the only people who can do anything about it (admin) how we feel. Communication is always key. A little honesty and empathy and all will be well, whether it can be changed or not. Sometimes silence just exacerbates the problem. And that is why I didn't flag them directly, because if they don't respond that causes an 'they're ignoring us air'. A bit like the Newton Ring thread - poor communication equals unhappy people I find.

I take your point about having both old and new journals available. I just think that leads to duplication. The board is too busy as it is and doesn't need any more duplication in my view. If the new journals are rarely visited, as seems to be the case, the newbie that creates one there may wonder why they get little response.

[Get Marwood & I]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

2 hours ago, bababooey said:

Let the procession of disaster gifs commence! 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

[Get Marwood & I]

[bababooey]

[Get Marwood & I]

[Wall-Crawler]

The new journals are a disaster. I did most of my communication with board members through my journal and had been a source of great insight from more seasoned sellers and for swapping ideas and stories...Now I just wonder what is the point of even posting. I also use to enjoy reading other members journals and now it is so dang unfriendly to use, like others, I am not bothering to "hunt" for them. The comic focused journals will now likely become a wasteland...Sad!

[newshane]

3 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Dena and Scott are good decent people from what I can see. As the face of the change, they will be used to and probably even expect a little flak. We can sometimes get annoyed when we feel strongly about things and respond in a less than civil way. You apologised, I'm sure it was accepted, as you seem good and decent too.  Remember, you put a lot of effort into a journal and then it was blocked with no forewarning. Scott apologised for that to his credit. This is not about targeting individuals. It's about telling the only people who can do anything about it (admin) how we feel. Communication is always key. A little honesty and empathy and all will be well, whether it can be changed or not. Sometimes silence just exacerbates the problem. And that is why I didn't flag them directly, because if they don't respond that causes an 'they're ignoring us air'. A bit like the Newton Ring thread - poor communication equals unhappy people I find.

I take your point about having both old and new journals available. I just think that leads to duplication. The board is too busy as it is and doesn't need any more duplication in my view. If the new journals are rarely visited, as seems to be the case, the newbie that creates one there may wonder why they get little response.

Well said. 

[Get Marwood & I]

4 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

And yet look at his 'activity' and you see he has another journal:



Seems oldmilwaukee6er has a 3rd journal:

Am I missing something here? This old journal has been blocked and migrated to the new journals but doesn't show on the OPs profile. Shouldn't all three journals be sitting under an umbrella heading like everyone else's in the new format?  And if you click on his name at the top of the journal you get an error page. It looks like a shambles.  What is going on? 

[oakman29]

I certainly thought I would get more comments on my outrageously cool Warren horror journals than I have been.

[Get Marwood & I]

2 hours ago, oakman29 said:

I certainly thought I would get more comments on my outrageously cool Warren horror journals than I have been.

I'll have a look later Oak. It's an unfortunate reality lately. People's efforts go largely unnoticed. People just don't join in. This thread had been viewed 100 or so times and only 5 people gave a toss enough to like or post. When the boards finally close it won't be down to lack of care by the owners. It will be down to the sheer apathy of the membership. 

[Get Marwood & I]

I can't believe the Star Wars gif didn't get one laugh. 

Everyone's too busy watching Superman's costume fighting ad nauseam....

[chrisco37]

13 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

The new journals are a disaster. I did most of my communication with board members through my journal and had been a source of great insight from more seasoned sellers and for swapping ideas and stories...Now I just wonder what is the point of even posting. I also use to enjoy reading other members journals and now it is so dang unfriendly to use, like others, I am not bothering to "hunt" for them. The comic focused journals will now likely become a wasteland...Sad!

Yours was one I’d read regularly.

[Get Marwood & I]

12 hours ago, oakman29 said:

I certainly thought I would get more comments on my outrageously cool Warren horror journals than I have been.

Just had a look Oak. They're cool. I noticed I couldn't like the journal itself,  or the initial entries you made in it. I could only like the comments. This is yet another drawback with the new format. If, like yourself, you make the opening post the journal/entry, readers can't like it. They can only make a comment, or like subsequent comments that you or others make. So you probably feel your efforts are less appreciated because many would've liked your opening 'post' if they could. 

It's hard to put into words because it's all so needlessly involved. The journal is actually just a heading sitting over the entries. The journals within it are the entries. The opening post in the entry can't be liked, or quoted. The subsequent posts are comments.  It's all totally contrary to what we are used to.

But look, what do I know.  The new journals are great. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise....

[RockMyAmadeus]

I like many features of the new journals.