Which format do you want?

F1nut

First day totals......wow, 85% for vBulletin. I dare say by anyone's standards that is a landslide!

So the question is, Polk are you listening?

Gatecrasher

I think if they tweak it a little bit you'll grow to like this format F1nut.

It's technically superior. It just has a few cosmetic issue that need to be resolved to make it more enjoyable.

F1nut

Technically superior? In what way compared to the current version of vBulletin? Technically superior? How's that, it's missing more options/features than the old half broken forum was?

I think if they tweak it a little bit you'll grow to like this format F1nut.

That'll never happen.

tonyb

C'mon Jess, you know that answer. This is Polks forum, not our personal playground. They asked for our input, didn't ask which format we liked better. They already decided this was the wave of the future. Besides, I come here for the people, not social media links, widescreen options, or red ink. They may consider minor tweeks, but going back to the old forum I think is out of the question.

Toolfan66

tonyb wrote: »

C'mon Jess, you know that answer. This is Polks forum, not our personal playground. They asked for our input, didn't ask which format we liked better. They already decided this was the wave of the future. Besides, I come here for the people, not social media links, widescreen options, or red ink. They may consider minor tweeks, but going back to the old forum I think is out of the question.

I agree, I don't see them going back, but the loss of all the good info we had in the old forums is a biggest fail .

westmassguy

I just voted for vBulletin. Most of the other forums I belong to are tech sites, and they ALL use vBulletin. In fact, no other site I frequent uses anything but vBulletin. You can add all the social media options you want. This format is just plain cartoonish. I am adjusting, but it wasn't necessary, and a complete misstep by DEI

ALL212

Toolfan66 wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

C'mon Jess, you know that answer. This is Polks forum, not our personal playground. They asked for our input, didn't ask which format we liked better. They already decided this was the wave of the future. Besides, I come here for the people, not social media links, widescreen options, or red ink. They may consider minor tweeks, but going back to the old forum I think is out of the question.

I agree, I don't see them going back, but the loss of all the good info we had in the old forums is a biggest fail .

The old info, pictures, how to's - a huge loss and not just to the Polkies as there were well written threads on other equipment. Which format? I don't care. But there was no reason to kill off all that valuable information.

Leave this as is but please, put back the old stuff. It doesn't even have to be hosted by Polk. There are many hosting services, contract one and put the old stuff there and allow search. You don't even have to allow further posting.

rtart

Polk's forum, not mine....I'm (we) are guest(s) here, and Polk should be able to make changes as they see fit. They use the forum as a sales and marketing tool, and we benefit from their investment. I appreciate the fact that they spend the money to allow us to participate. That said, there is a LOT of 'wasted' space devoted to background graphics. However, it IS a sales tool.....

AsSiMiLaTeD

BlueFox wrote: »

Okay. The iPhone does look better. However, I rarely use the iPhone for this type of thing. That should be the last platform to get working.

On the iPad both Safari and Chrome display the ugly format. There is no option with either browser to change formats.

There's not an "iPad" version, it's the same desktop version but formatted differently and the content fills the whole screen instead of only the middle portion.

Basically, this new forum is designed around tablets and phones first. That's fine by me because I browse on my iPad way more than my Mac. This new forum, on the iPad, is the best way I've ever interacted with a Polk forum.

billbillw

I can live with either format, but it would be nice to have the same old links/photos work though. I find Polk Forum posts in Google searches all the time and now they point to dead links.

WilliamM2

I belong to quite a few forums, most use vBulletin. I'm guessing Polk went with Vanilla because it's free.

But there is much better free forum software out there:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php

https://www.phpbb.com/community/

BlueFox

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

Okay. The iPhone does look better. However, I rarely use the iPhone for this type of thing. That should be the last platform to get working.

On the iPad both Safari and Chrome display the ugly format. There is no option with either browser to change formats.

There's not an "iPad" version, it's the same desktop version but formatted differently and the content fills the whole screen instead of only the middle portion.

No, it does not. Granted, there is no space wasted on the left as on a PC, but is still an ugly disaster. The previous VB in 'Test' mode was infinitely superior than this version.

I pity any customers of interface designers who think this is a useful, or even acceptable, interface. The incompetence in this industry appears to increase every year.

One additional point is the iPad display appears to be a side-effect of the design, not an intentional act as is the iPhone display.

ZLTFUL

WilliamM2 wrote: »

I belong to quite a few forums, most use vBulletin. I'm guessing Polk went with Vanilla because it's free.

But there is much better free forum software out there:

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php

https://www.phpbb.com/community/

Probably one of the few times I will happily agree with you.
Even Ken's own post in the testing area mentions that Vanilla is different than most forum software.

Different doesn't always mean better and the current version of vBulletin is heads above the version Polk was using.

I do 90% of my forum browsing on PC. Work and home both. I guess that makes me old fashioned but my preference is for forums that work best on PC displays first and then put the mobile world second (not meaning they shouldn't have solid mobile compatibility but there are better ways to go about it.

Frankly, I don't see Polk doing much to fix the PC view of the site. The loss of all of the old reference thread content (you can pull the threads up in the new forum search but you don't get the images) is on the verge of being a deal breaker for me.

If the forum continues this way, I don't see myself using it much at all anymore.
I am all for change...I work in IT and want to be on the cutting edge of technology but change doesn't always mean better. Hopefully, the learning curve will sharpen a bit instead of the "we will fix the mobile side and ignore the complaints of the PC side" path it is currently on.

Toolfan66

Polk Audio, the bubblegum of the audiophile world!!!

WilliamM2

ZLTFUL wrote: »

I do 90% of my forum browsing on PC. Work and home both. I guess that makes me old fashioned but my preference is for forums that work best on PC displays first and then put the mobile world second (not meaning they shouldn't have solid mobile compatibility but there are better ways to go about it.

I agree, doubt I will ever replace dual 24" monitors with a tablet or phone. Looking at Vanilla's own user forum, it looks like Vanilla can be set to view properly on a PC (still looks horrible though):

http://vanillaforums.org/discussions

Seems Polk has no interest in fixing it though, it's already been over a week, and it's a simple view setting.

BlueFox

Just looked at it. Noticed they have one of my suggestions; Put the categories on the left side.

It does look better than the Polk implementation.

westmassguy

I find it hard to believe that DEI Holdings, and or Sound United decided to use Open Source, AKA FREE Software. This is baffling. It also explains a lot.

cnh

westmassguy wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that DEI Holdings, and or Sound United decided to use Open Source, AKA FREE Software. This is baffling. It also explains a lot.

That is EXACTLY what I expect of most Corporate Conglomerates these days! It's their modus operandi! The way big business conducts itself for itself and its shareholders, etc. And eventually, this will NO longer work and things WILL CRASH! They always do because there is NEVER a LONG TERM VISION of the FUTURE! You should PLAN for everything! Not simply the 'things of the moment', i.e., facebook, instagram, youtube, and so on?

I bet the guy they have doing the TECH here is some sub-sub contracted dude who does this along with a few dozen other jobs in order to actually pull down a REAL salary! Because that's the way WE do it NOW! And God save the Queen?

BTW! If Polk "really" wants to save a few pennies? We have any number of members here who would be perfectly willing to FIX most of the ABOVE for FREE because they "care"! How about that? lol

cnh

westmassguy

I'm thinking some 20 something Social Media Consultant that got paid a lot more than it would have cost for a new version of vBulliten, and a new Server.
A shame, and a slap in the face for Polkies that use this forum.

DollarDave

This bulletin board product is pathetic. I see zero merit in the changeover and a few tweaks are not going to change it. I'll check back every now and again, but it just sucks right now.

DollarDave

To those who take up about 10 inches of page space with their signatures and images of gear, how about giving us a break? You think we want to see that and scroll through it every time you post? Really?

WilliamM2

DaveMuell wrote: »

To those who take up about 10 inches of page space with their signatures and images of gear, how about giving us a break? You think we want to see that and scroll through it every time you post? Really?

One nice thing in the settings is that you can turn off signatures, and never see them again. Or you can just turn off images in signatures.

jeremymarcinko

I just completed a small amount of research on Vanilla. There website has a lot of information. Comparing the features offered here to the available packages, it appears this is the "Corporate" version of the software which is costing Polk $599 per month to operate. This package includes most available features (forum migration) but does not offer expedited support. The "Enterprise" version ($1200 per month) has some features not being seen here, but mainly offers expedited support. One more thing, Vanilla points out that the "Corporate" package is “For brands that view community as critical to their success.” Vbulletin actually appears to be cheaper.

steveinaz

Here's another forum I frequent, very readable and well sorted (vBulletin):
http://mp-pistol.com/smith-wesson-mp-forums.php

WilliamM2

steveinaz wrote: »

Here's another forum I frequent, very readable and well sorted (vBulletin):
http://mp-pistol.com/smith-wesson-mp-forums.php

That's because it's powered by vBulletin. Although it seems to be missing the widescreen format.

steveinaz

It's appearing widescreen on my system....hmmm

WilliamM2

Might have to log in, which I didn't, not being a member.

gimpod

Toolfan66 wrote: »

Emma Stone is hotter, and I'm still pissed they killed her off in Spiderman!!

I agree that Emma Stone is hotter, And thanks for the spoiler Larry as I haven't seen it yet.

Toolfan66 wrote: »

I voted vBulletin..

Me too.

Now as far as all the missing content (i.e. DarqueKnight's threads) there still here but at different address, you just have to search for them. Example

Old Vb address
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?132437-Upgrade-High-Frequency-Inductors-For-The-SDA-SRS-1.2TL

New Vanilla address\
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/1767428

Now the the missing pictures, if they where uploaded to Polk's database they are most likely not available for the same reason, there at different address if they got transferred at all.

Warning: Bit of a rant.

A similar thing happened when I was the "Content Manager/Code Monkey" for Planet Doom, Planet Quake and Planet Wolfenstein. When I got to Planet Doom the site director had turned it into a monster of a site with over 700 user contributed sup-sites all dealing with all things Doom then IGN bought all the Planet site's and decided to start moving them from the ftp based servers to php and databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL based servers.

This was not really a bad thing as it made coding much simpler and faster for new content, the problem was the the way they moved the sites, they just dumped the old site into the new one without any regards to how the old site was structured (i.e. they just dumped all the graphics into one place) plus the fact that the "Richard Heads" had basically cut the Site Director's and my access so we couldn't fix any of the old content just create new.

If we wanted to create a new section or even update the header graphic (Like when Doom 3 came out) we had to ask the "Richard Heads" at IGN to do it for us and give us access. Long story short IGN by there inaction ended up killing off the site by 2012. The Site Director and myself had all ready left the year before because we were sick of dealing with IGN's inaction.

End Warning

The powers that be should take notice if you continue to alienate and ignore the core group off members (the ones that have the knowledge and experience who willingly help out anyone that ask) they will end up leaving making Club Polk just another forum with nothing special to offer.

I understand your trying to attract a younger crowd and these days that means social media but isn't that's what facebook and twitter are for. I thought Club Polk was a place to exchange knowledge and technical skills about audio not a place to post how many times you've passed gas today and how bad it smelled, I know that kind post happens here from time to time but if those with at least a half a brain leave that's kind of forum you'll end up with.

Boy's and Girl's (capitalized Girl's as not to upset or offend any female member's) let's just hope they haven't dump old database yet.

Here's an idea put the old forum back up and see which one get's the most traffic.

Anyway JMO.

BlueFox

gimpod wrote: »

I agree that Emma Stone is hotter, And thanks for the spoiler Larry as I haven't seen it yet.

Thanks for quoting that. I missed that part of his post, but read yours. Now that spoiled it for me this weekend.

Hermitism

But Emma was never part of the "collective".