Old site was better
I just came back here a week ago and really miss the old site
It red flagged "new posts" in a thread so you could just read the new stuff only
It didn't kick you to the end of a thread when you made a post
There were more threads listed on the front page
MGo points changed (is this my imagination or are all the points frozen like that Twillight Zone episode with the guy and the stopwatch?)
I am sure these complaints have been made before here but maybe if concerns are repeated and enough people join in then changes are more likely to be made
BTW- Was there automatic spell check on the old site? I can't remember, but it is a common feature on many message boards and one I miss here
September 5th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
No shit!
September 5th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
GET BEEEEEEEEENNTTTTT!!!!!!
September 5th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
Did you see the moon landing?
"No, where did it land?"
September 5th, 2018 at 9:27 AM ^
Sounds like we are going to have to start some MGoTherapy sessions for everybody on the board.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^
"What people REALLY want is more white space to scroll through!"
Business Requirement #1.1 right there.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
The old site was way better, at least on the board side. I like the new look for the front page, but the functionality of the board leaves a lot to be desired.
The number of OP's and posts in general also seems to be way down from last year.
My assumption was that a lot of the site traffic and page views were driven by heavy users that spent at least an hour a day, sometimes several, on the board side of the site. Maybe I was wrong. If I'm right, site traffic overall must be down enough to be noticeable.
That said, I still love this place and I'll continue to spend way too much time here.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
Board itself as well as quality discussion has fallen off a cliff. Not much reason to post anymore and reading other people’s posts less as it’s either trolls or the “trust the coaches” BS line. Place is becoming a waste of time. Over ten years of not playing up to expectations doesn’t help either.
September 5th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Agree with almost everything you said. I still don't think it's a waste of time, but it is harder to sift through the garbage posts. I spend a shit load of time on this site and get the vast majority of my Michigan "news" here, but I definitely post less and it is much harder to have an ongoing discussion.
September 5th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
People have complained about the drop off in quality for the board for years now; it was always a mixture of good stuff and shit. Like, even when Michigan won 10+ games for two years it was this way.
There are only so many ways to discuss a football game.
This place is just as good and bad during basketball season despite Michigan enjoying really an unprecedented run of success. Welcome to the internet if you can't ignore dumb posts on message boards.
September 5th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
You're just factually wrong here. I started a new account and have never been banned. been posting here since 2010 And reading since 09. The discourse here has dropped off a goddamn cliff since the harbaugh hire. There have never ever been this amount of straight up trolls and just terrible hot takes straight out of mlive. If you think this place is anywhere like it once was you might want to start taking some ginko biloba and refresh that memory because what used to be the best sports message board on the net is now a shell of its former shelf.
September 5th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Ok, get rid of coaches and set us back another three years. Who are you hiring?
September 5th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
Who is this reply to? If it's to me I'm all for harbaugh it's just an unfortunate side effect of his hire that the quality of the message board went down. Honestly if I were brian I would cut the message board loose.
September 5th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
I've all but abandoned the board since the change. This is one of the few times I've been back. I also miss the app. Basically the changes have made this site go from something I was on constantly throughout the day to one that I check about once a day.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:32 AM ^
That's funny OP. While you were gone we all got together and decided this new site is the single most awesome website in the history of websites. Multiple (and I mean MULTIPLE) threads have been posted on which features the board likes best and when I tell you this new site is loved by the masses, it's L.O.V.E.D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prepare for some backlash on this post. I'm pretty sure you're the only poster who sees things this way.
ps: I'm sure if you've spent any time here recently you've noticed a huge surge in the "I heart HUEL" user names. I mean it's like the day we hired Harbaugh all over again.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
JFC, read the sticky thread for bugs. Its the first thread in the list on the MGoBoard. This was all covered in there, ad nauseam. They couldn't have made it any easier for you to see / read. Even bug fixes won't fix stupid users.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
Even bug fixes won't fix stupid 3.0 so I guess we're all screwed.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:55 AM ^
Why fix it instead of getting it right the first time? Shouldn't one of the main requirements be maintaining the same functionality we had on the old site?
September 5th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
Three major mistakes happened during the MGoBlog 3.0 development
- MGoBlog team didn't know how users use their site
It's very clear that the MGoBlog team didn't know how users use their site and what features were considered high priority for usability to the user base. They went with the bare bones functionality (new thread, commenting) of a message board and didn't take into consideration anything else. Therefore, you "lost" functionality that was important to us because MGoBlog didn't realize it was important to us.
- Didn't spend enough time / money on the design
There wasn't nearly enough time spent on the design. Way too much white space, the comment threading design is absolutely horrible. I actually spent 30 minutes writing my own CSS to clean up the threads in the comments section because it was so bad.
I think a lot of users would bitch less if the comments looked like this:
- Didn't communicate the main objective well enough
The main objective was to get Drupal updated so they could make updates in the future. This wasn't communicated well enough. Everyone expected a redesign, new whiz bang functionality right up front but clearly that wasn't the main goal. It was 1.) Update Drupal, 2.) Migrate a DECADE of content (no easy feat). This left users frustrated because they expected one thing and got another.
They will get it fixed eventually, it will just take time.
September 5th, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
dude, you need a hobby.
September 5th, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
This was my hobby as a teenager and now its been a very lucrative career for me the last 15 years. Thanks for the advice.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
lol. make a chrome enhancement plugin! I could probably do that too.. something like Reddit Enhancement Suite
September 5th, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^
Agreed on all 3 points. I'd be curious to see your custom CSS. I did something similar — you can check it out here: https://github.com/pkfrank/mgocomments
September 5th, 2018 at 1:54 PM ^
I use the stylebot extension in Chrome. Here is the CSS.
September 5th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Spoken like a true jackass. Cannot tell you how tired I am of your CONSTANT negativity. Give it a break.
Or better yet...
Stop drinking AND GO TO BED!
September 5th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
Well, sometimes you can't maintain the same functionality while adding in changes people are also looking for. For example, upgrading to a different version of the Drupal framework likely necessitated some changes to the underlying data storage and site functionality that were likely too hard to maintain or weren't feasible for the initial rollout. Maybe it's just because I've worked in web development for some time now, but when products undergo overhauls user functionality changes with it. Plus, what some people loved about the old site drove others crazy, so "maintaining the same functionality" and "making it better" can often contradict each other.
September 5th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
Hatter,
I work in IT and there's an analogy I'd like to throw your way:
Say you were on a farm and your apple cart started to break down. You could keep fixing the apple cart, but eventually it will break so badly that you cannot fix it. So, you know that you proactively need to figure out how to dump your apples from one apple cart to another, more modern apple cart.
You could try moving the apples in a couple different ways.
- One, you could just dump the apples recklessly, and tell people to screw themselves if they complain. Because you don't appear to care about your produce everyone stops consuming your apples, and nobody lets you work with apple carts again.
- Two, you could practice dumping a small number of apples in the hopes of establishing an estimated "best way" to make the transfer. It's best to do this when most people aren't using the apple carts.
- Three, you could become so focused on not dropping a single apple during the transfer, that you never actually transfer the apples because you are afraid. There's no way you are willing to guess which apples are most important. The apple cart eventually breaks, and you lose all your apples. As a consequence nobody lets you work with apple carts again.
- Four, you could become so discouraged by the other options and how no matter what people will complain. In a fit of rage and despair you shove an apple up your butt, start drinking, rub apple butter all over your nipples, and adopt 22 cats in hopes that they start licking (otherwise known as engineer burnout)
In my shop I TRY to roll with option #2 and ignore the unfair complaints. I don't have any cats yet, but there is a can of apple butter in the pantry.
September 5th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
Now that's some funny shit there ! +1000 if I could .
September 5th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
Why you wouldn’t choose option 4 is beyond me
September 5th, 2018 at 2:00 PM ^
Yes, but there's one important thing he forgot to mention: You have to remember to first remove the stem.
Trust me on this.
September 5th, 2018 at 12:06 PM ^
I was with you until you presented #4 as a bad option.
Sounds fun!
September 5th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
It would seem that many posters here think that Brian chose your option 1 (if they had to pick one of the four). I know diddly squat about IT, but from reading some posters with knowledge of such things, they almost all advised going away from Drupal to something different. I'm sure that would have created its own problems, but it makes me wonder what the site would look like using a different platform.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
not here to pile on, but am I the only one who can't see the banner at the top of the page? It's there...like I can click on the space to reload the home page, but there is no picture/banner.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
Are you on the mobile version?
September 5th, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^
No, desktop computer
September 5th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
Users are unable to view the banner on mobile devices. It has to be seen using a computer.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:52 AM ^
I can see the banner on android but not on iphone.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
You need to literally and figuratively evolve. This site is easy to use, even a monkey should be able to do it.
/s
September 5th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
and there's been a lot of monkeying around with this site, too.
[embed picture of cute, funny monkey....but, 3.0]
[embed your smile/laughter at imaginary picture]
[profit]
September 5th, 2018 at 8:37 PM ^
I was SO excited to see the new site I spilled my Kahlua and Tomato Juice (shaken, not stirred) all over my keyboard opening the MGOBLOG link and way back when I could see it wrecked the new site for everybody else in the MGB CLUB as well.
I instantly felt like they must feel on those other blogs from schools that employ or recruit criminals, perverts or jerks.
I IMMEDIATELY banned myself for many months and I only visit these days to see if it got fixed (I used to be on it 5-6 times a day)...
.I'm sorry I wrecked this site for so many and had no idea not one person at one of the greatest intellectual institutions in the history of the galaxy could not (at least) restore it to that old fashioned format that attracted so many, so often to those amazing days of yesteryear when camaraderie, humor and great insightful breaking news lived here.
I won't do it again IF somebody.....A N Y B O D Y.....can fix this in our lifetime
I promise-- I will down vote myself for not being PC...........if that feature is ever restored....................
Hail To The Memories!
September 5th, 2018 at 9:30 PM ^
confessions of a kahlua and tomato juice drinker. should've known. its always the kahula and tomato juice guys messing things up.
September 5th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
In fact, one well-trained monkey was used as the primary beta tester of MGoBlog 3.0.
September 5th, 2018 at 8:41 PM ^
that's not my minkey
September 5th, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
Frankly, I've come to like the redesign of the site. I think the board is much easier to read and its easier to find threads. Yes, we've lost a lot of board functionality, but I'm assuming they're working on building that out so I'm willing to give Brian the time he needs to get there.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
I don't like it more YET that's for sure. Unfortunately, I doubt anything will really be fixed until after basketball season. Brian openly talks about not wanting to really do anything to cover the football team and presumably left the podcast early because he just didn't care to do it. I mean, he can do what he wants, but that doesn't make me at all optimistic about fixing the site.
"It didn't kick you to the end of a thread when you made a post"
This is probably the most annoying one for me. A lot of times I just decide "Nah I'm done with this thread" instead of clicking back through to the board on my phone and then finding the post again and then scrolling back to where I was. Isn't happening now on my desktop but it always does on my phone.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:38 AM ^
Only improvement I want to see on the site:
More threads about our offense averaging 200 rush yards per game. Once we see that, the board will look a lot better.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
So was my old girlfriend, but someone made changes I had nothing to do with and now I just have to deal with your mom.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:42 AM ^
I’m starting to truly see how awful this fan base can be. Honestly, who would want to coach this team or play for this team dealing with this bullshit every time they lose to a ranked opponent on the road by 1 score? Hell, this place erupts when we don’t beat Air Force by enough. I love Michigan Athletics, but the less time I spend reading about it online, I find the better off I am.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
Yeah, this loss has kind of opened my eyes to what kind of impact a fan base may actually be able to have on a program and the players. Lot of hostility. It is becoming increasingly hard to distinguish between a Michigan "fan" and a Michigan "hater." I listened to Mike Valenti for about 1/2 hour yesterday and his entire hateful disposition toward our coaches and his take on the ND game sounded surprisingly like most Michigan fans that I know right now. A little disturbing. I am not sure the players are getting a whole lot of motivation to "win one for the Michigan family" right now.