It's frustrating from our (Eons') perspective. A lot of people have complained about the new My Eons page but few people have been able to articulate why its "worse" or "awful" etc.
* Look at the original My Eons page and then look at the new My Eons page. You'll see that lots of relatively unused links and features were dropped. Based on feedback from the earlier beta, we had a good sense of what features were important to our members. Aside from one person's comment about the Brain Games status, nobody has complained about the features that were dropped. So, as far as we can tell, our calculations were correct.
* Nobody has yet complained about the change in PM display (displaying only unread PMs instead of always displaying the last 5 received). That was surprising. Based on previous feedback, we suspected this might be the biggest complaint.
* People are complaining a great deal about the friend activity, but this doesn't make a great deal of sense. It's not a new feature - it's been on the My Eons page in its current form for a year or so - and before that, in a slightly different form, for another year. Is it possible that these people never scrolled down to see the feature!?
* Besides, if someone doesn't like friend activity, wouldn't you think they'd be happy that the new My Eons page gives them an easy way to hide it (clicking on "groups only")?
* The activity display is more verbose by default. There is clearly too much information for some people. However, "Hide" makes it terse - exactly as it used to be. (The name of this button could be better but it is consistent with a similar existing feature on group home pages. Maybe we should call it "Verbose" and "Terse" -- or "Full Stories" and "Short Stories")
* I think there's probably too much recent activity shown, though nobody has specifically identified this as a problem. Previously, we displayed the last 15 friend items and 5 recent group messages (recent, but not necessarily the latest). Now, we display 25 of one or the other - or both, mixed. We don't display both, separately, at the same time ...is that the complaint?
* For group message activity, the display is different. Personally, this is the main thing that still bugs me. To make it easy to scan the items, we need to weed out some less-important information and put greater emphasis on the group and message title. This is easily done.
* I haven't read any complaints about the notification system improvements. And rightly so, because many members asked for these improvements (onsite notifications for gifts, comments ...ability to dismiss notifications without visiting the page, etc.).
* Nobody has complained about the ability to change your status quickly, without leaving the page. No surprise. It's easier.
* Nobody has complained about the fact that we combined "Friend Birthdays" with "Friends". ...Seems insignificant.
I can't think of anything else that has changed. So what, exactly, *are* people complaining about? If there is a rational reason behind a complaint, I'm always grateful to hear it - and I'll try to do something about it. But if a person is simply griping because we've upset their routine, I'm inclined to ignore it. Progress happens -- especially in the competitive and rapidly-evolving world of the internet. Everything is always in the process of being remodeled. Eons is no exception.
posted by SanDiegoGirl
TB, you may be asking about specific change details that I have not had time to consider. They may be good, probably Great, knowing you! IDK at this point because accessing what I really want to view is too much of a drill-down.
I have never liked the parade of featured members. It has always annoyed me, and now I have to view it a second time before I can TRY to get to the info I want to view.
I'm now forced to sift through activity of people I have never encountered on eons. I don't want suggestions from eons on who or what groups I should be interested in.
Yesterday my daughter asked why I'm not on eons much any more. If you want me to give the detailed explanation, let me know.
Ya know I think you're extremely talented & creative, TB. This isn't about you personally.
SDG
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posted by SanDiegoGirl
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posted by Mimi58
I always log out of Eons each day when I leave. My choice. I like doing it that way. So, anytime I return to Eons, I am required to log in again. When changes were first taking place, I was automatically taken to my "My Eons" page when I logged in. Now, however, when I log in, I am taken to the home page again. That must be happening to you, too, and is why you see the featured members and suggestions for groups twice.
Things are different if I'm signed in at Eons and open a new window in my browser. If I put in www.eons.com, when the page starts loading - the URL changes and it takes me to my "My Eons" page.
tallbob, I know there was a problem a bit ago with folks that wanted to stay signed in - not being kept signed in. I think this was fixed. However, do you think there may be more folks being taken to the home page instead of the "My Eons" page and that may be what's causing some confusion/displeasure in some instances?
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posted by SanDiegoGirl
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posted by tallbob
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posted by alaskamommabear
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posted by collieflower
Here goes again.
My blog subscriptions have been removed from the page. I now have to remember to click a link to see if any of them have been updated.
My subscribed messages have been removed from the page. I now have to click a link to see what has been responded to.
The change in the birthday notifications is purely cosmetic to me. It works either way, but eons spent money to pay you (or someone) to write code to rearrange those deck chairs.
I don't like the combined, long stream of activity. I used to scan the activity and if I saw a phrase or word that would jump out, I would investigate it. Now there is just too much to scan. I don't bother with it now. If you want to fix that, give me two separate streams on the same page, and limit it to about 10 items in each stream. Give me the option to click on a link if I want to go further back in time, which is the way it was before.
The only thing that I like better is the ten groups showing activity. The rest I don't like. For me it is awkward to use and that is annoying. It worked fine before and I didn't have to work at doing what I wanted to do: read and reply to messages and post new ones. Now I just avoid the page altogether and I am finding that there are other things to do besides spend so much time here. I suppose that is a good thing, but not what you were looking for.
While this isn't a big thing, I did sometimes use the yellow box next to my avatar to navigate to some of the things I wanted to do. That no longer is an option.
I do not expect you to change anything to accommodate my tastes. You have bigger fish to fry.
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posted by SherriAnne
I'm frustrated with the huge amount of space that the 'recent activity' takes. I can't seem to be able to clear it away from the page- only alternate between 'friends only , groups only, friends and groups'.
Moving the area on the page where my groups are listed is OK, but it was fine where it was before, and showing 10 is OK, but the previous option to view all of them was satisfactory.
I think the volume of space given to profile viewing and gift store credits is too large. I really liked having the 'Inbox, sent, send a message' right on the page. It was helpful. Taking the brain game stats off was fine.
I liked being able to navigate to my blog, photos, skins, messages etc from the page. It was easy, simple and fast. Not impossible the way it is now, but less handy. I liked seeing my blog subscriptions on my page. Now I just go to the general blogs and sift through- a bit time consuming, if none of my friends other than the blogger have posted a reply.
My biggest irritation comes with not being able to clear the recent activity section. It would be nice to be able to do that, just as you can clear the notifications regarding replies to messages and blogs you have posted.
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posted by WillitsGal
Just from past experience helping others out on the site, having to drill down to find something can be difficult for some. If a person is used to doing such things on other sites, it might not be such a hassle. If they aren't, frustration sets in. It's sort of like the saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees". Something might be right in front of you, but if there is so much to have to look at, it gets lost in the background.
I do recall reading someone complain that under the friend's activity, a lot of the information they were used to seeing was missing. I know this same info can be found under the Groups and Friends section, but again, it is very "busy" and might be difficult for some to navigate.
Change is necessary on the internet, but some people do not embrace change, even if it's for the greater good. It may just take a while for some people to bond with these latest changes. Also, a lot of the frustration comes from people that have been dealing with all of the technical bugs that seem to pop up after a recent upgrade. Those people want a site that runs smoothly and effortlessly and when they hear about another new "change", they are afraid of what is awaiting once this has happened.
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posted by Classylind
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posted by TestofF8th
I have my page set to groups only and hidden. Works great for me, so no real complaints on my end, and there are differences from the beta version we tried out a year ago.
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posted by SherriAnne
As to whether the new configuration is easier and quicker- I don't find it to be, but also know that change is inevitable and that's fine by me. I very, very rarely sign on to the home page at eons, instead having 'my eons' page bookmarked so I'm led right there when I wish to be on eons.
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posted by Debirae
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posted by tallbob
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posted by tallbob
@WillitsGal - thanks for putting this in perspective.
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posted by BeaglesGuy
It took me almost a full 1/2 hour to play around with the new look and get used to it. I only wish when other web sites are changed I could get used to them in only 1/2 hour. Taking everything into account, and purposely not going into dreary detail, compared to what is new/better/different, my complaints aren't even worth mentioning. And my long-time friends (Eons staff included) around here will tell you I have no problem when I need to bitch/moan/gripe about something I don't like.
No, I am not a company shill. Yes, I do have a technical background. If anything, I hope my experience leaves me with the ability to make a reasonable comparison of old vs. new and Eons vs. others.
Someone had to point out to me a long time ago that I don't pay a nickle to be on this site. I'm very thankful that the Eons staff asks the membership questions, puts up beta versions for us to play and test, and listens to our comments and suggestions.
I would also echo the comments from WillitsGal.
For this round, I have to say "good job Eons".
-Mike
PS: I reserve the right to bitch/moan/gripe in the future when I need to.
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