<p>I am definitely one that does not like change. Having said that, I know I have to try to adapt. I have tried. And tried. There are things missing that I liked about the old system. I really haven’t found much about the new system that is an improvement for me. I don’t care for the forums layout, I don’t care for the PM layout. I find it harder to read. I know I have spent less time here. I visit a couple of areas and then leave. I go immediately to another board that feels “comfortable”. I have adapted to change on other boards before so I know I can do it. I’m not sure what is so improved except that posters can now add a picture. Change is not always better.</p>
<p>I’ve tried to adapt too, kitty. But this is just a substandard product, and I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to put up with the aggravation. Or more importantly, not sure how much longer I’m going to stick around a place where the ownership/management cares so little about their customers. I’ll miss this group of parents too, LF.</p>
<p>I was thinking back to another website I frequent which underwent a major update a few years back. Predictably, a near-unanimous howl of outrage went up from the members – people don’t like change, it’s true. The management of the site tried the same thing CC did at first; for a day or two, they tried to convince us how much we were going to love the upgrade. But when they saw that wasn’t working, they set to work on improvements, which were done in less than two weeks. So that’s one big difference – they actually wanted to improve the site for their members. </p>
<p>And of course, the other big difference was communication. They made it their mission to reply quickly to every single member, even if it meant saying the same thing over and over. They deployed every admin, mod, executive, right up to the founder of the website. In fact, the founder quickly developed a routine – she was on the message board twice a day, every day, telling us what was being fixed, what was scheduled to be fixed, what wasn’t going to be fixed and why, and approximate timelines. Twice a day, CC. Every day. And she didn’t just give reports. She actually responded in more or less real-time to our questions and objections. She was specific, CC. She didn’t say “Oh, we’re looking at everything!” – the breezy brush-off which you’ve now been giving us for 6 weeks (and which is beginning to sound a lot like my mother’s “We’ll see” when I was a kid. That was code for “The answer is No but I don’t want to deal with the fallout of telling you that.”)</p>
<p>This is getting pretty frigging annoying.
Its only because of you all, that I put up with it!</p>
<p>This is getting pretty bad when I’m dreaming about CC! Last night, I dreamed that someone set up another forum for all of us and we all gravitated to it and continued there. I wish I was tech savvy enough to do it myself. I’ve clearly stayed here on CC far too long (more than ten years!) but I enjoy this community of parents here in the Cafe, as well as assisting the theatre kids and parents in those forums. </p>
<p>So, who out there could set something up for us elsewhere? TPTB here very obviously don’t care whether we’re here or not, nor do they value the time we have put in through the years assisting others. Bah.</p>
<p>^^^i didn’t dream it, but I thought this yesterday!! 
</p>
<p>We must all be thinking the same thing.</p>
<p>Well…CC became what it is because of the shortcomings of another site! </p>
<p>If I’m told I don’t have permission to see my own notifications one more time…</p>
<p>It’s also an issue that there is no one pinned master thread dealing with this. No one place to go for the dialogue we need. Some people on one thread are now asking questions another thread already got through. We brought up this need in the first days. It’s kind of a no-brainer, with this many educated and savvy folks.</p>
<p>^^ I’ve also been suggesting one single thread for a while now. One place, where all questions and concerns could be posted, where every mod and every admin and every tech person could reply. We’d all have the same information at the same time in the same place. As you say, this is a no-brainer. The fact that they’re not doing it , and the fact that the admins have simply fallen silent, makes me wonder what’s really going on at CC. Something bigger that a website change IMO. </p>
<p>I was also thinking about a new forum since this one seems to have abandoned us.</p>
<p>^ That would imply that TPTB even care enough to respond to our concerns. </p>
<p>Given the fact that it seems like the mods are as frustrated as the rest of us, I don’t think TPTB care or are being responsive in any way, shape, or form. </p>
<p>It’s time for the revolution.</p>
<p>It is upon us.</p>
<p>Google maps changed their format. But guess what they did…they give us the option to click on the “?” at bottom of the screen and select “revert to old format”. Love it!</p>
<p>Is all the hassle and expense that CC management is undergoing really worth the benefit of being connected to Facebook? They asked us to be patient - almost to the point of making us feel guilty for expressing our thoughts/issues/concerns with the new format. Well now this kind of feels like “screw the faithful and follow the money…” The message is starting to sink in.</p>
<p>Romani, I agree about the mods; I think they’re every bit as out-of-the-loop as the rest of us. Which makes this whole thing even stranger. What possible reason could there be for that? </p>
<p>I think a lot of the difficulty is that CC has gone with a third-party vendor to host the site (I don’t know if that’s worded correctly, but you know what I mean). I think even the administrators are frustrated! </p>
<p>Maybe, ML. But why wouldn’t they say so? If I read something like that, I wouldn’t like it but i could understand it. What is so infuriating about the present state of affairs is that we feel like they’re not even listening. They need to tell us the truth, whatever it is. We’re not children. We can handle it.</p>
<p>Thank you for the thoughtful comment, ML. I find it astounding that there wasn’t something IN the contract with this vendor about fixing ISSUES…quickly. This timing out thing is newish, and has now been going on for days with no fix. The admins who used to post to us (where are they?) said that fixing the application was a priority. I don’t call linking to the URL from the app a FIX (same problems…). </p>
<p>In the early 1990’s a bunch of us left another popular (at the time) college site mostly because of issues with lack of moderation. Many of us came here. There was a good sense of community on this site. I’m beginning to agree with others. Maybe it’s time to move on to a more user friendly site.</p>
<p>I am at the point where I don’t believe anything the admins are saying to us any longer. </p>
<p>You all see the Time article about fixing the gov healthcare site? That’s how I imagine it- scrambling. Fix one, two more issues crop up. I understand (what may be) the magnitude. But not the lack of updates. We’re not asking for much. Thanks ML. </p>
<p>I can actually imagine, from our common recent complaints, what the issue is. I worked with networks. And, the fixes are not always obvious- or you can “fix” it and see that not stick. But some TLC would help us be nice patient users.</p>
<p>1990’s?
You maybe mean 2000’s?</p>
<p>Hmmm…EK, YPU might be right. Early 2000’s. But still. That OTHER forum was very popular and well read. Until it went to the dark side. </p>