Gerry has been getting a lot off his chest today and after thinking about it I have a lot to share as well [:)]
Yeah I have tried not to say this for a long time because I dont like to sound negative but this site is really needing some love and attention!
Some of my gripes now that you got me started:
Forum editor is lacking many features
Site is slow and frequently doesnt respond or throws errors
Sitemap is non-existant - there are little cache's of information tucked away in long forgotten areas of this website and nobody knows about them! Find a link to http://www.asp.net/DynamicData/ in four clicks or less! lol
The videos are organised in a wierd way - You cant get to http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/#howdoi from http://www.asp.net/learn/ can you? I cant see it and if you can then its not made easy
The design of the site is ok but it doesnt look as sexy as the site the silverlight guys (and gals) got, or the windowsclient.net
The main books section is massively out of date. It would help me if there was some kind of write up to say if all these .net 2.0 books are still relevant in this 3.5 world.
The are many side sections to the books in the specialist pages which cannot be browsed from the main book section
I have to manually make a link in Firefox, just pasting it wont convert it during the post.
Also I wish they employed somebody to really explain all these new technologies they are churning out, I have come up thin looking for tips and tricks for Dynamic Data, dont see other cutting edge stuff on the site (Data Access tutorials still use 2.0 tech
rather than LINQ or somesuch)
Forums need updating as well - we need custom features for doing our job better:
put a radio button in to select the language you are working in when you ask a question,
put in tools for us to easily track threads,
and see when our post gets marked as answers - its fire and forget for me, if I dont get it right in the first go then I never know because its too much hassle to go back - and I dont know when my question was right! I could learn instead of giving the
same dud advice time and again and never realising I am wrong!
Seeing as we are the professional web site makers here why not throw in one of those code converts so everything we post is available in c# and vb.
How about a javascript popup to say are you sure (just like blogger.com) when I click a navigate-away link in the middle of a post - instead of my heart stopping at the sudden though I just lost my big post
Points system is not integrated to mvc gallery
Comments would be nice because I have one on their and some people are hating on it and I would like to know why
Often times I see a headline just as it dissapears, it would be nice to be able to rewind that news ticker in the top right
Also I dont have much luck with the site search on this site, if I want to find a topic I posted on before I do a search like this in google: site:forums.asp.net +rtpHarry +terms i want
Edit profile doesnt show you your current avatar
Uploaded profile image is low quality
Gravatars broken?
Date format examples in profile still say 2003
Let me click the questions unmarked in my statistics to see where I went wrong
Give me statistics and graphs and everything - i love them! posts per day, top answerer graphs, most popular time to post, most questions answered in a day, favourite forum, all that!
Make more of a big deal about the inbox - sometimes posts sit in there for days before I find them, they dont come often enough for me to check all the time so i forget!
The homepage welcome box 1 2 3 thing - ajax is still listed when its included in 3.5
Date of birth calendar has no year select making it virtually useless
And the most embarrassing thing of all is that this is for the community of people that make the websites! Obviously they are not making much coin off our little arm of the .net world because microsoft are not showing any love for all of us - all the dedicated
people that spend most of the day on the forums helping people out!
And to the people that inherited management of this site: i dont say these things to put you down, I say them simply because I spend hours on here every day and im passionate about the success of the community! All the things I listed just make it harder for
people to find answers to their questions and learn for themselves.
And I also say them because I kept seeing feature suggestions from Gerry and I was thinking about it while I was cooking dinner!
one of the weaknesses of this site, alluded to by some of your points,
is the ability to discover useful features. More than once, I have asked
for a feature only to find out from a community member that that feature exists.
this brings us to another weakness of this site: broken things.
As I mention at http://forums.asp.net/p/1381316/2922935.aspx#2922935,
when I click the spell check icon, a process begins to take me to a download
page but the process never completes.
regards, gerry (lowry)
P.S.: you've mentioned quite a few interesting points. Thank you.
B-) Please help me by completing my school survey about computer programmers on my website. Thank you!!! Gerry Lowry +1 705-429-7550 wasaga beach, ontario, canada
Hello ... I'm glad I'm not the only one making suggestions ... you've certainly
made enough posts and been here long enough to have an excellent
perspective. Ultimately the c. 400 000 members are dependent on
the generosity of Microsoft to smooth out the rough edges.
OTOH, imo, it's in Microsoft's best interest to make each of it's forums
into excellent showcases of its technologies. No matter how good
Microsoft's technologies may be, if they are not used effectively,
it tarnishes those technologies.
I think it's extremely important to speak up for several reasons.
One is that sometimes the feature already exists (this I call the failed discovery process). Another is an aspect of the old saying
about the squeaky axle gets the grease, which indeed it should
because the squeaky axle needs the grease.
JayNeu, a.k.a. Jay Esguerra (Neudesic - Project Manager) has
openly asked for improvement suggestions at
http://forums.asp.net/t/1363054.aspx
so as a group it's likely a good time to let our opinions and ideas
be known to him. He can also be messaged privately via
JayNeu.
regards/gerry
B-) Please help me by completing my school survey about computer programmers on my website. Thank you!!! Gerry Lowry +1 705-429-7550 wasaga beach, ontario, canada
Yeah I have tried not to say this for a long time because I dont like to sound negative but this site is really needing some love and attention
It's not a negative thing at all to sit down and spend such time and effort to create such an extensive list of things that you think could stand to be improved on the site. This is a great piece of site feedback. I'd love to see some participation on
this by some of the other members who use the site regularly. Understanding which suggestions many members feel are some of the most important could help JayNeu to know what to prioritize.
What if (hypothetically) only 5 things could be done to the forum? What would those 5 things be?
What's most important to you in term of changes and what falls into the nice to have category?
Reorganise the data on this site - sitemap, structure, cross link knowledge thats tucked away (to keep this under 5 points I am also going to add tutorials on the latest technologies in to this point)
New site design - doesnt add any value to the sites function but it would make a big difference to the enjoyment I get out of using the forums
Auto link in firefox - I spend hours making hyperlinks in firefox - I bet I have already spent over a day of my life.
Inbox highlight - Its a hassle to check my inbox, make it really clear to me when I have a new message / reply waiting for my attention
Better thread tracking - Let me see when I got a question right for somebody (discern it from the threads I participated in but didnt hit the mark), let me see clearly when the thread author has replied on a thread (which means new facts for the problem have
probably come to light, rather than just opinion on the problem)
And to put them in order?
1 - Auto link
2 - Better thread tracking
3 - New site design
4 - Inbox highlight
5 - Reorganise the data
Pretty much everything else on my list is really just "nice to have"s.
Get the search on this site working as reliably as Google searching it
Change defaults on the lists to bring back just 1 week of threads
Add an option on lists such as "Not Read" to bring back either all (default), ticked or not ticked as answered.
Improve speed of response
Click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helped you.
This earns you a point and marks your thread as Resolved so we will all know you have been helped.
FAQ on the correct forum http://forums.asp.net/p/1337412/2699239.aspx#2699239
1. Improved and consistent navigation within the forum
2. More useful shortcuts such as unresolved threads
3. Fix the features that don't work (statistics, top answerers, links to tags that have spaces etc) before introducing ideas that break the site (those ghastly avatar things)
4. Improved and consistent navigation within the main site (rpt Harry is dead right about 4 clicks to get somewhere - the Ajax Control toolkit is another example)
5. Remove redundant information - why does a member's points total appear by their commuity rank AND below the number of posts they have made? Is that new?
6. A proper FAQ on how to use the forums
7. Better use of Stickies by the site Admins
8. Lock answered posts after a month or so
9. Automatic deletion of parroted answers
10. Prison sentences for people providing SQL Injection prone answers (LONG prison sentences!)
11. A bit of ackowledgement from those that run the site when people ask for things or make suggestions. Terri used to be good at this.
12. Fix the Submit an article form so that it doesn't tell you that an error has ocurred, and when you post here to point it out, or use the feedback form, you never, ever hear anything at all. And then wonder what the point in trying was in the first place.
And then wonder why you should care. No one else seems to.
13. Some kind of automated acknowledgement that your Report Abuse post was read by someone, or perhaps even acted upon. I've given up reporting duplicate posts or wrong forum ones. I have no idea of anyone ever even read my reports.
I've posted many other suggestions and comments over the last couple of years, but the site search can't find them.
I couldn't give two hoots what the site looks like. I'd much prefer for it to basically
work correctly.
Sometimes, I find being here more of a chore than anything else these days.
If you even so much as briefly entertain the idea of replacing this site overnight with a brand spanking new one -
DON'T!
It was a total mess last time. Took weeks and weeks to fix with partial rollbacks and allsorts. The whole forum was virtually unusable. Run a Beta side-by-side. It's what we do in the real world.
Am I coming across as a tad bitter tonight? Sorry - it's been a long day [:D]
5. Remove redundant information - why does a member's points total appear by their commuity rank AND below the number of posts they have made? Is that new?
I was looking at that this morning. My eye focused one one score, then another. Im almost 100% sure its new.
Mikesdotnetting
8. Lock answered posts after a month or so
Is there a reason for this? I dont agree because I know that I have personally come accross helpful threads that are really old, sometimes they have been locked on blogs and sometimes they have been open to comment. If it helped me out but it was maybe slightly
out of date, or I had a different problem that it solved I like to be able to throw my notes into the pile. It doesnt matter how long ago it was created. Perhaps a best of both worlds would be an option to filter these kinds of threads out rather than outright
prevent them from being used.
rtpHarry
All-Star
56620 Points
8958 Posts
Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 06, 2009 08:03 PM|LINK
Gerry has been getting a lot off his chest today and after thinking about it I have a lot to share as well [:)]
Yeah I have tried not to say this for a long time because I dont like to sound negative but this site is really needing some love and attention!
Some of my gripes now that you got me started:
LolAnd the most embarrassing thing of all is that this is for the community of people that make the websites! Obviously they are not making much coin off our little arm of the .net world because microsoft are not showing any love for all of us - all the dedicated people that spend most of the day on the forums helping people out!
And to the people that inherited management of this site: i dont say these things to put you down, I say them simply because I spend hours on here every day and im passionate about the success of the community! All the things I listed just make it harder for people to find answers to their questions and learn for themselves.
And I also say them because I kept seeing feature suggestions from Gerry and I was thinking about it while I was cooking dinner!
gerrylowry
All-Star
20513 Points
5712 Posts
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 06, 2009 11:32 PM|LINK
Hello, rtpHarry,
I assume you mean some other Gerry, eh?
one of the weaknesses of this site, alluded to by some of your points,
is the ability to discover useful features. More than once, I have asked
for a feature only to find out from a community member that that feature exists.
E.g.: spell checking. See http://forums.asp.net/p/1381316/2922935.aspx#2922935.
I asked for spell checking. It exists (as a tool bar icon).
Now I have a spell check icon.
this brings us to another weakness of this site: broken things.
As I mention at http://forums.asp.net/p/1381316/2922935.aspx#2922935,
when I click the spell check icon, a process begins to take me to a download
page but the process never completes.
regards, gerry (lowry)
P.S.: you've mentioned quite a few interesting points. Thank you.
rtpHarry
All-Star
56620 Points
8958 Posts
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 07, 2009 11:44 AM|LINK
haha yeah I was talking about you Gerry! the one and only :) youre all over the feedback forum!
gerrylowry
All-Star
20513 Points
5712 Posts
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 07, 2009 03:11 PM|LINK
Hello ... I'm glad I'm not the only one making suggestions ... you've certainly
made enough posts and been here long enough to have an excellent
perspective. Ultimately the c. 400 000 members are dependent on
the generosity of Microsoft to smooth out the rough edges.
OTOH, imo, it's in Microsoft's best interest to make each of it's forums
into excellent showcases of its technologies. No matter how good
Microsoft's technologies may be, if they are not used effectively,
it tarnishes those technologies.
I think it's extremely important to speak up for several reasons.
One is that sometimes the feature already exists (this I call the
failed discovery process). Another is an aspect of the old saying
about the squeaky axle gets the grease, which indeed it should
because the squeaky axle needs the grease.
JayNeu, a.k.a. Jay Esguerra (Neudesic - Project Manager) has
openly asked for improvement suggestions at http://forums.asp.net/t/1363054.aspx
so as a group it's likely a good time to let our opinions and ideas
be known to him. He can also be messaged privately via JayNeu.
regards/gerry
mbanavige
All-Star
134967 Points
15422 Posts
ASPInsiders
Moderator
MVP
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 07, 2009 11:47 PM|LINK
It's not a negative thing at all to sit down and spend such time and effort to create such an extensive list of things that you think could stand to be improved on the site. This is a great piece of site feedback. I'd love to see some participation on this by some of the other members who use the site regularly. Understanding which suggestions many members feel are some of the most important could help JayNeu to know what to prioritize.
What if (hypothetically) only 5 things could be done to the forum? What would those 5 things be?
What's most important to you in term of changes and what falls into the nice to have category?
great stuff rtpHarry
rtpHarry
All-Star
56620 Points
8958 Posts
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 09, 2009 09:55 PM|LINK
Ok off the top of my head, here is my top 5:
Reorganise the data on this site - sitemap, structure, cross link knowledge thats tucked away (to keep this under 5 points I am also going to add tutorials on the latest technologies in to this point)
New site design - doesnt add any value to the sites function but it would make a big difference to the enjoyment I get out of using the forums
Auto link in firefox - I spend hours making hyperlinks in firefox - I bet I have already spent over a day of my life.
Inbox highlight - Its a hassle to check my inbox, make it really clear to me when I have a new message / reply waiting for my attention
Better thread tracking - Let me see when I got a question right for somebody (discern it from the threads I participated in but didnt hit the mark), let me see clearly when the thread author has replied on a thread (which means new facts for the problem have probably come to light, rather than just opinion on the problem)
And to put them in order?
1 - Auto link
2 - Better thread tracking
3 - New site design
4 - Inbox highlight
5 - Reorganise the data
Pretty much everything else on my list is really just "nice to have"s.
TATWORTH
All-Star
72415 Points
14017 Posts
MVP
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 11, 2009 05:32 PM|LINK
My top choices are:
This earns you a point and marks your thread as Resolved so we will all know you have been helped.
FAQ on the correct forum http://forums.asp.net/p/1337412/2699239.aspx#2699239
Mikesdotnett...
All-Star
154901 Points
19864 Posts
Moderator
MVP
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 11, 2009 09:11 PM|LINK
1. Improved and consistent navigation within the forum
2. More useful shortcuts such as unresolved threads
3. Fix the features that don't work (statistics, top answerers, links to tags that have spaces etc) before introducing ideas that break the site (those ghastly avatar things)
4. Improved and consistent navigation within the main site (rpt Harry is dead right about 4 clicks to get somewhere - the Ajax Control toolkit is another example)
5. Remove redundant information - why does a member's points total appear by their commuity rank AND below the number of posts they have made? Is that new?
6. A proper FAQ on how to use the forums
7. Better use of Stickies by the site Admins
8. Lock answered posts after a month or so
9. Automatic deletion of parroted answers
10. Prison sentences for people providing SQL Injection prone answers (LONG prison sentences!)
11. A bit of ackowledgement from those that run the site when people ask for things or make suggestions. Terri used to be good at this.
12. Fix the Submit an article form so that it doesn't tell you that an error has ocurred, and when you post here to point it out, or use the feedback form, you never, ever hear anything at all. And then wonder what the point in trying was in the first place. And then wonder why you should care. No one else seems to.
13. Some kind of automated acknowledgement that your Report Abuse post was read by someone, or perhaps even acted upon. I've given up reporting duplicate posts or wrong forum ones. I have no idea of anyone ever even read my reports.
I've posted many other suggestions and comments over the last couple of years, but the site search can't find them.
I couldn't give two hoots what the site looks like. I'd much prefer for it to basically work correctly.
Sometimes, I find being here more of a chore than anything else these days.
Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix | My Site | Twitter
Mikesdotnett...
All-Star
154901 Points
19864 Posts
Moderator
MVP
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 11, 2009 09:18 PM|LINK
Oh, and to Jay and team:
If you even so much as briefly entertain the idea of replacing this site overnight with a brand spanking new one - DON'T!
It was a total mess last time. Took weeks and weeks to fix with partial rollbacks and allsorts. The whole forum was virtually unusable. Run a Beta side-by-side. It's what we do in the real world.
Am I coming across as a tad bitter tonight? Sorry - it's been a long day [:D]
Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix | My Site | Twitter
rtpHarry
All-Star
56620 Points
8958 Posts
Re: Gerry you started this! [:)]
Feb 11, 2009 09:28 PM|LINK
I was looking at that this morning. My eye focused one one score, then another. Im almost 100% sure its new.
Is there a reason for this? I dont agree because I know that I have personally come accross helpful threads that are really old, sometimes they have been locked on blogs and sometimes they have been open to comment. If it helped me out but it was maybe slightly out of date, or I had a different problem that it solved I like to be able to throw my notes into the pile. It doesnt matter how long ago it was created. Perhaps a best of both worlds would be an option to filter these kinds of threads out rather than outright prevent them from being used.