At Saltwaterfish.com we value the bulletin board that has been part of the site since soon after we started in 1999. While we, of course, want to sell Marine Life and Aquarium Supplies , we also want to see the hobby grow and always try to be a resource for great information.
Our recent upgrade to vBulletin 4.0 was part of an initiative this year to greatly improve not only the bulletin board, but also to make the bulletin board the centerpiece of an expanded Educational Resource Area. Our vision included enhanced discussion, more articles, blogs, contests, featured articles, product reviews , and a greatly improved experience for the membership on the board.
vBulletin 4.0 promised a significant leap forward in capabilities, and we jumped at the opportunity to be the first in our category to take advantage of the new features. Now, after living with 4.0 for several months, and after reading ongoing negative reviews of 4.0, I have concluded that this was a mistake. We wanted to give you a better experience… and I apologize that we have done exactly the opposite.
While many of the new features are nice, they are more than offset by the shortcomings. Slower load times, errors in search, login errors, posting errors, lag time issues, picture upload and display issues….the list goes on. And while our IT people have developed work around solutions to make some of the areas work correctly, the product we have given you is not what we were promised nor what we envisioned for the site. I apologize for the issues you have had to endure over the past few months. We know you have choices and we appreciate your loyalty and helpful criticism.
Today I am announcing the beginning of a process to rectify the situation. But I want to say first off that I want this to be a collaborative process. I want to make this the positive experience that 4.0 was intended to give us.
We are proposing a partnership with a company that will: develop, upgrade, and implement a Saltwaterfish.com bulletin board that will not only retain all the archival posts, blogs, pictures, accounts, smileys, etc. from the existing site, but also organize it in a way that will allow for greater flexibility and ease of use. This company specializes in transitioning boards from VBulletin onto their platform. The board will also have access to a dedicated creative, development, and IT team to give the board a much more professional and functional user experience. No, it is not cheap…
What will be new? Integrated Wiki’s, editorial content and articles, upgraded design, a centralized product database, product reviews by members, faster interface, a dedicated Picture Gallery and improved picture display and handling, easier search features, recommendations on alternative content based on which threads you are looking at, and faster…with no lag.
The system is intuitive and built with people transitioning from vBulletin in mind. There also are tutorials and help areas that greatly surpass vBulletin. If you can use vBulletin, you will be able to use this system.
The list of upgrades is impressive. Everything that exists in our current vBulletin site will be retained. I am excited to finally be able to give you the board that fulfills our collective vision. I also know I upset people with the upgrade to vBulletin 4.0.
What I am proposing is to have a team from the board beta test with us as we develop the new area. It will take weeks to months to get this right and we’re committed to giving you the experience you deserve. But above all, I want your thoughts before we begin this.
Below are some mock-ups of how some areas of the new site might look. I’ve attached mock-ups of the picture gallery and a sample thread.
Thanks for all the insight and feedback that got us to this point. Your constructive feedback on the above course of action would be appreciated.
Scott
Our recent upgrade to vBulletin 4.0 was part of an initiative this year to greatly improve not only the bulletin board, but also to make the bulletin board the centerpiece of an expanded Educational Resource Area. Our vision included enhanced discussion, more articles, blogs, contests, featured articles, product reviews , and a greatly improved experience for the membership on the board.
vBulletin 4.0 promised a significant leap forward in capabilities, and we jumped at the opportunity to be the first in our category to take advantage of the new features. Now, after living with 4.0 for several months, and after reading ongoing negative reviews of 4.0, I have concluded that this was a mistake. We wanted to give you a better experience… and I apologize that we have done exactly the opposite.
While many of the new features are nice, they are more than offset by the shortcomings. Slower load times, errors in search, login errors, posting errors, lag time issues, picture upload and display issues….the list goes on. And while our IT people have developed work around solutions to make some of the areas work correctly, the product we have given you is not what we were promised nor what we envisioned for the site. I apologize for the issues you have had to endure over the past few months. We know you have choices and we appreciate your loyalty and helpful criticism.
Today I am announcing the beginning of a process to rectify the situation. But I want to say first off that I want this to be a collaborative process. I want to make this the positive experience that 4.0 was intended to give us.
We are proposing a partnership with a company that will: develop, upgrade, and implement a Saltwaterfish.com bulletin board that will not only retain all the archival posts, blogs, pictures, accounts, smileys, etc. from the existing site, but also organize it in a way that will allow for greater flexibility and ease of use. This company specializes in transitioning boards from VBulletin onto their platform. The board will also have access to a dedicated creative, development, and IT team to give the board a much more professional and functional user experience. No, it is not cheap…
What will be new? Integrated Wiki’s, editorial content and articles, upgraded design, a centralized product database, product reviews by members, faster interface, a dedicated Picture Gallery and improved picture display and handling, easier search features, recommendations on alternative content based on which threads you are looking at, and faster…with no lag.
The system is intuitive and built with people transitioning from vBulletin in mind. There also are tutorials and help areas that greatly surpass vBulletin. If you can use vBulletin, you will be able to use this system.
The list of upgrades is impressive. Everything that exists in our current vBulletin site will be retained. I am excited to finally be able to give you the board that fulfills our collective vision. I also know I upset people with the upgrade to vBulletin 4.0.
What I am proposing is to have a team from the board beta test with us as we develop the new area. It will take weeks to months to get this right and we’re committed to giving you the experience you deserve. But above all, I want your thoughts before we begin this.
Below are some mock-ups of how some areas of the new site might look. I’ve attached mock-ups of the picture gallery and a sample thread.
Thanks for all the insight and feedback that got us to this point. Your constructive feedback on the above course of action would be appreciated.
Scott
