"Much like getting a new car"

The other day I walked out to my drive and there sat a brand new car. Now, I was somewhat surprised, since, even though I was happy with my old car and it was totally paid for, someone thought I needed a new one. I looked and looked but no one put a gift card on the windshield, no one signed for it and no one asked me what features or what color I wanted; but, what the heck, a new car has got to be great, right?

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Wow, and how pretty! All Metro Blue (even though I really would've liked a dark grey or black), bright and shiny, and such fine detail. I can't wait to try it out.

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Keyless entry, a nice touch, leather seats, heads up display, simple controls and not very many of them (don't want to confuse us old people), you know.

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Ok, let's try this baby out, I'll bet it'll fly. Uh, let's try that keyless entry again, it forgot me. Alright, in the seat; oops, can't reach the pedals and the seat doesn't have any adjustments (ahh, found them under a hidden menu - gotta be careful, don't want car thieves to be too comfortable); turn on some lights now, well, don't have to do that either, they're automatic and just want to be themselves (guess those car folks know better than me when I want to be able to see). All set now, wait, have to keyless entry again; there we go, off and running; think I got this thing figured out. Let me talk to my friends and brag to them about my new car; there, sent them a note. Hmmm, funny, there's no place for them to respond; I'll never know what they think of my new car!

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Finally got this thing to park. Didn't realize it had been so long since I'd driven something so state of the art and technological; the pure genius behind the design is mind blowing, taking my old car and all of it's quirky, functional controls and simplifying them down to this beauty where, well, there are none. Now that takes talent; and to think it only took years to accomplish.

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I never have found out who thought it was such a good idea that I have a new car; guess it was those new social media kids down the street. They like to flit from one thing to another and as long as it's flashy and doesn't work too hard, they like it. Oh well, guess I'll let this car sit here until it gets old and someone brings me another one. Sure is a shame it doesn't work, it's so pretty.

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Oh yeah, since this is a "community help" forum. Will someone please keep an eye out for an old car. I'd like to buy one.... Mike

Edited February 10, 2017 by Not Here

Very nice analogy Mike, the new ride is a bit sluggish, I keep seeing that rotating round ball when I switch gears. I thought I would give the place a try, learn the in's and outs and spent some time here just milling about. At first I thought it had great potential, could have been the fancy colors that initially blinded me but now that the shine has worn off, I found myself just not too excited. Perhaps your right, age may have something to do with it, however I am one who is open to change, it keeps things fresh.

 

At first I was distracted by the shinny object but using it a bit now, it is just not too exciting to operate.

Didn't you listen to your mechanic MLM? He told you your old car - the one you liked so much, was an 75 year old antique and the parts were no longer being made to replace anything that might break. The one mechanic that could work on it was on "the back 9" of his career and was either going to keel over or just stop showing up one day. If you wanted trusty reliable transportation, the last thing you'd want is an unexperienced whippersnapper grease monkey jerry rigging parts into your antique beauty.

 

On top of that, new buyers were no longer interested in that vintage and given there was only 1 mechanic in the world that could work on it...and again no parts what were you to do? So while she seemed to work wonderfully for your purposes, she was actually a liability, therefore her value and desirability in a greater sense (maybe not to you) was in question.

 

Trust me, there were aspects of 1.0 that I loved too - but without making change and upgrading you just might show up one day and she'd need a new alternator or worse yet a new transmission and she'd sit in the driveway while you took the bus looking for a new car. Toot, toot! Hey, look at that - the horn works.

Edited February 11, 2017 by G-P

Glenn - Do you really, honestly consider this an upgrade as it stands now or are you saying it will be an upgrade in the future? Because as it stands now, for the majority of the community who has bothered to express themselves thus far, except for picture quality, it is clear step back. Whether this was the best you could do given the budget and resources that were available I don't know, but surely you must admit that at this point it is significantly slower, clunkier, harder to navigate through picture folders and that some features just plain don't work. Edited February 11, 2017 by Jack McRitchie

[uSER=278796]@Glenn[/uSER]: Ok, good news for me. Nothing like getting the head mechanics attention. Let me be clear, I don't mind the new version, prima fascie. The look is fine, the images do show up better and finding stuff is just a matter of using it (for the most part). What has me stirred up is that most all the issues posted, from missing galleries, to mangled names, etc. etc., are being addressed by you and your staff; with the exception of the one category of features that made PNet 1.0 unique. I'm talking about the ability to track new comments to my images and to track comments that I make on others' images. Those features are not hidden away in 2.0 (I know, I'm retired and I have gotten to know this version very well), they're missing. I don't know why they would've been left out during programming but I'm here to let you know it was a big, big mistake. Those features are of paramount importance to me and, without beating any drums, I'll let you know now that I won't be a subscriber without them. So, just cut to the chase and let us know if there's any possibility that comment tracking will be reintroduced. Your candor will be appreciated.... Mike

Glenn - Do you really, honestly consider this an upgrade as it stands now or are you saying it will be an upgrade in the future? Because as it stands now, for the majority of the community who has bothered to express themselves thus far, except for picture quality, it is clear step back. Whether this was the best you could do given the budget and resources that were available I don't know, but surely you must admit that at this point it is significantly slower, clunkier, harder to navigate through picture folders and that some features just plain don't work.

 

So I sense a bit of softening (but maybe i'm wrong, wouldn't be the first time) - better picture quality and I think you even said forums were an upgrade - yes? Hmmm for a site called photo.net an upgrade (I would say significant) in picture quality sounds like kind of a big deal.

We're working on some performance issues - if it was faster (which it will be) you'd need to get to know her a little more.

We didn't say it was perfect and we did expect people that didn't want change to be loud in opposition, we knew that was coming - but the analogy of no parts and 1 mechanic is pretty much spot on.

So I sense a bit of softening (but maybe i'm wrong, wouldn't be the first time) - better picture quality and I think you even said forums were an upgrade - yes? Hmmm for a site called photo.net an upgrade (I would say significant) in picture quality sounds like kind of a big deal.

We're working on some performance issues - if it was faster (which it will be) you'd need to get to know her a little more.

We didn't say it was perfect and we did expect people that didn't want change to be loud in opposition, we knew that was coming - but the analogy of no parts and 1 mechanic is pretty much spot on.

 

 

Glenn: My original post was, admittedly, a tongue in cheek compilation of issues from different forum threads; not all mine. The point was to get your attention and your reply above was timely and honest. I get all that and, gulp, agree. Now, please let us know about the comment tracking that is the, seriously, only issue that I find to be a game changer. See my 7:06 post above. Thanks... Mike

Sent you an email, Glenn, because I was having problems with logging in. Logged in with Google account but it only allowed me to view my portfolio but not post in forums. I clicked the sign in module while in forums main page and entered the correct password which was two characters off only because the first try wasn't working so I thought I'ld entered the wrong password. Now I just tried it again on forums main page and entered the original password sans two ending characters and now I'm here typing this reply. Doesn't appear to be a "Keep Me Signed In" option. Am I going to have to keep signing in every time I leave and return to this site? Other than that everything looks good and I'm happy with the layout of my profile page and gallery. But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE fix the forum reply paragraph break formatting. It's really tough reading long replies without losing my place in a page wide sea of type.

Just replying to test this "BB Code Editor" after clicking on its icon on the far right of reply section which turns the reply box field yellow.

 

Now to see if it honors paragraph breaks. Crossing fingers.

Well bust my buttons! It works!

OK, now back to "Rich Text Editor" to see if it honors paragraph breaks.

 

OOOOOH! Hopety hope, hope, hope!

 

It works and so does the "Edit" selector.

CRAP! I just did a refresh page to see if someone else replied and all of my replies lost their paragraph breaks.

Sent you an email, Glenn, because I was having problems with logging in. Logged in with Google account but it only allowed me to view my portfolio but not post in forums. I clicked the sign in module while in forums main page and entered the correct password which was two characters off only because the first try wasn't working so I thought I'ld entered the wrong password. Now I just tried it again on forums main page and entered the original password sans two ending characters and now I'm here typing this reply. Doesn't appear to be a "Keep Me Signed In" option. Am I going to have to keep signing in every time I leave and return to this site? Other than that everything looks good and I'm happy with the layout of my profile page and gallery. But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE fix the forum reply paragraph break formatting. It's really tough reading long replies without losing my place in a page wide sea of type.

 

Noted Tim - thank you for the feedback. For now, can you try a straight log in rather than trying through G+, honestly we find it is not used all that much - we will add to the list but would rather see you experience SSO (single sign on) without G+ (which google admitted they were going to phase out what? I know, how long, exactly when - no one knows but true, imagine that...how could google do that? Dangnabit Google! )

Glenn, I, too, would like to know if keeping track of comments made on my photos and follow-up comments to comments I make on others photos is going to return in some form. If not, it ruins the community experience for me. That's how I keep in touch with fellow photographers who do critiquing. Without it, there's no way to keep in touch, to respond to others, to get dialogues going, to be a decent human being and respond to critiques people have bothered to give. Please give us info. It's obviously the most important part of the site for several of us. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply, Glenn. That's news to me about Google sign in. I use it to sign into individual site hosted "Disqus" comment sections. It still works with them as I type this. Will there be a "Keep Me Signed In" option that works? I'll test it.

 

I hope the paragraph break format issue is resolved.

Well paragraph break worked right after posting the previous reply and when I refresh this page, it collapses.

Glenn: My original post was, admittedly, a tongue in cheek compilation of issues from different forum threads; not all mine. The point was to get your attention and your reply above was timely and honest. I get all that and, gulp, agree. Now, please let us know about the comment tracking that is the, seriously, only issue that I find to be a game changer. See my 7:06 post above. Thanks... Mike

 

Will do Mike - I think this is a reasonably quick fix which could come in two parts 1.) transactional email being sent to your email every time someone comments on your photo and 2.) Member Center sort by newest comments on photos.

Test worked. I stayed logged in. Things are getting back to normal, sort of.

Will do Mike - I think this is a reasonably quick fix which could come in two parts 1.) transactional email being sent to your email every time someone comments on your photo and 2.) Member Center sort by newest comments on photos.

 

Glenn: I can program the heck out of my DVR, but bow to your expertise on how to accomplish this. Suffice to say, the function of 1.0 in tracking comments worked very well. Thanks... Mike

I think this is a reasonably quick fix which could come in two parts 1.) transactional email being sent to your email every time someone comments on your photo and 2.) Member Center sort by newest comments on photos.

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Glenn, this is not a good solution. First of all, we'd also want to be notified not only when someone comments on one of our photos but when someone comments on a photo of someone else we've already commented on. That's what keeps conversations (and community) going.

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More importantly, it's not just about being notified. The lists in PN1.0 allowed us to search our complete commenting history and the history of all comments on our photos and all follow-up comments on other's photos. This was really important quite often for me as a research tool in reminding myself what photos certain people have looked at, which photos of others I've commented on in the past, etc. It allowed me a lot of flexibility and data in terms of keeping abreast of the other commenters on my photos, historically and not just in the present.

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It was a vital feature to me. An email notification system will be NOT AT ALL comparable to the system we used to have in place.

I am in complete agreement with my colleagues above. I know you don't think much of lists but these lists were very useful for the reasons Fred pointed out.

Will do Mike - I think this is a reasonably quick fix which could come in two parts 1.) transactional email being sent to your email every time someone comments on your photo and 2.) Member Center sort by newest comments on photos.

*****FINALLY**** An acknowledgement of the issue.<br>

'member sort by newest comments' gets my vote as preference. <br>

We haven't seen reality yet, but maybe there is hope.

 

This addresses one half of the issue. The other half is tracking my comments on others photos.<br>

Now if we all keep persisting, maybe we can get some movement. I think we are in for a long campaign, though, given the attitude of treating us like old farts incapable of understanding anything new.

Edited February 11, 2017 by Wayne Melia

Ok, I am committed - my fat ass has uploaded an image, I have made piece with the site. Navigation is easy to figure out, at least for me. Some nice features, like I ranted on this post giving every one hell, then had to go and eat dinner, logged off, came back and my bitch session was still there, freaky.

 

I have to tell you I am fatigued, so far there is a lot of waiting around, too bad I don't still smoke, it would make the time go quicker. I am sure it will get faster, as I get slower, older and...fatter.

 

The format looks like View Bug, what a nightmare site that is, I am still getting over the shell shock from that.

 

Good luck to everyone

Tony: It's not the navigation or the formatting that's odiferous to me. It's not being able to track comments. Glenn seems to be aware that this is a huge deal for many of us and has at least let it cross his mind. We'll wait impatiently for an update... Mike

There are a lot f sites where you can post / sell photos. Not many where you can chat with friends or even foes.