I just logged on after a whirlwind time getting our daughter married & celebrated! I see the forum format has been changed. I'm not a computer geek & any changes are hard to adjust to. Anyone else find this hard?! Sorry for being crabby & just so I keep things slightly " plant-like", my Christmas cactus is just starting to bloom!
It is giving me problems. I too am not great at using the computer and any changes work my nerve. If I don't get a handle on it before my subscription runs out I won't be renewing. It seems the site has steadily gotten slower since Dave moved on and I have used it less and less. I did still make lots of use of the plant files but with the recent changes to it I can't make heads or tails of it and it is nearly useless to me anymore.
Unfortunately, I just recently renewed, so I am invested in the changes. If I were about to renew, I would think it over more carefully. That being said, there are threads on Daves Garden Forum that Terry is running which address many questions. Fingers crossed!
And congratulations to your daughter!
I also recently renewed, and I am no happy with the new format, but what can we do?
Thanks Carrie! Well, besides crabbing to one another (!), if we send our unhappy comments to the administration, they'll have our feedback. If nothing changes, we don't renew. And that's a shame because I learn so much from my TX garden buddies 😟 We could always form a group at a different site?
Somehow I have a feeling things are not going to change. Very sad.
Why change what was working ? Not impressed. Sorry Terry.
I didn't see the Texas forum on the list of regional gardening forums, did I miss it?
Yes, it is showing for me now, I was beginning to worry, but i guess it is allright.
Wow I just found this thread I don't like it bc it doesn't show that there are updates to the forums. I think it's a glitch but DG seems to introduce new formats before they are ready which only adds to the frustration.
This forum format seems to be used by alot of other sites but I don't use (belong to) any other forums. I am directed to them when I click on a link from a Google search.
I just saw that my subscription is up in July. I'm not renewing. Maybe we can start a private group on FB & invite peeps we know to join. As an example, when another site totally discontinued their forums, one of our group did this & we have a small, private FB group to support one another in our attempts to live a healthy life (emphasis on weight loss!). Just a thought...
All you have to do to see all your information, is click on your user name...its always been that was. I have a FB account but I don't use it very often....I just want DG back!
I agree with you Lisa, I want DG the way it used to be.
I don't like the change at all. May not renew my subscription when it's time.
I am afraid many people feel the same as you Tropical-nut, and that is a shame, this used to be a good and friendly place.
I'm not ready to give up yet. I'm hoping that things will settle down. I can't find another site like DG.
It has improved. When they started the changes clicking new for new posts to a thread didn't get you there, now it does. Home is working again and I can follow my forums for updates. Change is difficult but actually there are fewer lines and boxes and I think the print is bigger and that is not all bad for my old eyes.
I'm not thrilled about it at all. Home page forum list hasn't updated since the beginning of December . A lot of people are not happy about it. This wasn't tested fully before implementing it obviously. It's a mess.
maybe we are the beta testers. But I am in a couple of private and public facebook groups and actually have liked the dg page on facebook, and given a choice this is easier to navigate. my turmeric forum is huge, and search functions do not work well on facebook unless you are searching by user, if you remember it was about cancer but not who the user was? no forum list or post list just a blast of trash and 15 minutes to half an hour scrolling to find something and if I am on my tablet i am really in trouble.. If there is a new private dg group on facebook the odds on me joining are not good. I've been thinning the others out.
I totally agree it that this was not tested near enough, before it was implemented. But the forums aren't updating but you can still click on them to see the threads.
It's approximately working, and a lot easier to find stuff on than facebook
I have always loved DG and all the good people I have met on this forum.
I hope we can still continue to share and keep in touch.
I have to say that I do find this format easier to read, my eyes don't get tired nearly as fast as before. I'm planning on sticking around hopefully things will smooth out.
The thing I like about this is that you can jump forward in the pages and you don't have to scroll, scroll, scroll through really long threads. I do with the font could be adjusted like previously, but I guess I'll just have to enlarge it on my browser.
Fewer lines and boxes uncluttered it
I just read the Voting Booth feature (& voted!) & evidently I'm not the only one missing the old DG!
It was the way the changes were made that bothers me. I like the old DG but can accept some changes if they are announced ahead of time, made gradually and with a little courtesy and respect.
Agree!
They did warn us the techs werent DG users and had no way of knowing how to use this site before they changed it. I do keep getting the impulse to 'like' things others are saying on here with this format.. i suspect fixing the homepage is one of the major 'broken' issues that will take longer to repair. I havent viewed the forums on anything but cellphone, so far, so still have a few adjustments to make. Some of the old problems we fretted over aare gone now- like losing posts.
I just don't know why they had to change it, it seemed fine to me.
According to the DG Updates forum, "they" decided to make the site more visually appealing to boost membership. "They" have messed up the plant files so you can't really search it anymore, too.
Oh well, let us hope things get better soon.
From what I can tell they are trying to make the site more mobile friendly but they also said that they shortened the pages to make it easier and faster for people on dial up. Seems like an oxymoron to me.
Who still has dial up?? LOL
the difference between dialup and slow mobile service really isn't that big. I used to have sprint, then I used to have t mobile. Some days...... and some neighborhoods, it was like dialup. I'll go back when they get more towers.
You guys being in the cities have a lot of advantages you take for granted- like instant access except in high traffic times. I get places I don't have a signal on phone nor internet at all. Even slowly. To me, DG has gone thru several changes like the internet has...the Plant Files is a work in progress since even Daves' time. They thot they had it tested, chuckl, but the people changing the programming don't use the site, so that is also a work in progress, may take awhile to get the huge amount of folks on the site settled in before Black Friday turns the sites into outdated areas again.
OMG. I have not been on DG in ages and now I'm totally confused. Last time I was on it there had been some changes. I crabbed a little but since it was right at my renewal time, I decided to renew. Now I see the newest changes and it's like 'whoa! what happened here?!' I clicked on Texas Gardening and the first thing that popped up was a post I made last fall about an open house at Dale Clark's Butterfly Farm. Why would that be at the top?
So, Kitt, there was a warning? As I said, I haven't been on DG. And if changes were made by techs who aren't DG users, no wonder we're not happy. As a former tech (career#2), I can pretty much assure you that things will not be put back the way they were. Going backwards is heresy.
What to do, what to do. I logged on in order to ask a question but who knows where it will appear. I'd ask now but have got to get out while the sun's still out.
Oops. My mistake. I looked at the aforementioned post about Dale's Butterflies and saw that it actually had been updated., and for good reason. Sorry, y'all.
I know I'm a bad typist, but I dislike HAVING to preview before posting.
This message was edited Jan 5, 2016 7:21 AM
the butterfly thread was at the top because there was a tornado near Dale's place and we were wondering if he was ok. Most things are back to normal now. I don't like the preview function but I am adapting to it. I am fairly adaptable. (in forums anyway)
