Why here, not there?

Yes, I agree with that need; and I seem to have read that there will be a considerable upgrade, not just a merge. Also, I remember that the latest attempt looked very much closer to the forums at the other side than to forums at this side. Finally, we have been repeatedly told that Adobe wants to unify the looks of all their sites; and several of them (none here) have recently experienced changes that have made them noticeably slower to load without adding anything specially valuable, just more cluttered looks.

Losing the speed and simplicity of these forums is what most of us are fearing, and the signs we are receiving are not encouraging.

Claudio, can you agree that it's appropriate to find a way to bring people that use the old Macromedia forums into a set of forums for all the Adobe products? People shouldn't have to divide themselves between 2 sets of forums when they bought software in a package that includes software from each side. That is what the changes are all about. Not upgrading this side... but adding the other. It's been tried to use this software and it failed. So they had to go in search of something that would do what has to be done, and make as many people as possible as happy as possible. Things will stay more the same for folks on this side of the wall then for those on the other, so, in general, you'll be happier with the result then they are likely to be. But it's going to take some working together from all sides to make it the best possible for all.

Jim, as experience has shown in these forums, nor all changes mean improvements. And more than a few people around here have strongly opposed some of the changes that were forced on us, and are going to be forced on us for the third time.

I have not looked at the sample forums linked elsewhere (something about "Jive" being the new software) but I probably should

That said... I only go to one cfusion forum, for Dreamweaver... and there are people over there who are saying they will "leave forever" when the new forums are put in place

I like the look here (I go to about a half dozen webx forums) and can tolerate the one cfusion forum I visit... but it is certainly the case that people on BOTH sides of the current forums are not happy

But, as was mentioned in one of the FAQs here, the current software on either side does not have the capacity to keep up with the message volume... so I guess change is just going to happen

There may be a few people who really do leave forever... and that's too bad... but the nature of the computer world is change, or we'd all still be using Windoze 3x

ya know, that's a good point...

> In response to community feedback through surveys,

I'm here helping at least several people a day in photoshop win forum for the last - i dunno - 5, 6, 8 - years and i've NEVER seen a survey.

who was asked, the actual users? or people who don't use the forum? or people who use the macromedia side but not this side.

you'd think if there was a "survey" to be had, i would have randomly hit on it in the literally THOUSANDS of logins since i've started helping here.

hmm...

From the new FAQs:

>Why are you changing the Adobe Forums?

>In response to community feedback through surveys, we are incorporating many user-requested features into Adobe Forums and also making changes to the underlying technology to improve the overall user experience.

Well, the surveys do not seem to include the wealth of feedback in the second thread given by Jacob in his opening message.

>What are the changes in the new Adobe Forums?

>Here are some of the changes:

> New look: Experience a fresh new look for Adobe Forums that is consistent with the rest of Adobe.com and easier to navigate.

This has been consistently opposed by regulars in that thread.

> Adobe ID login: Use the same login ID and password that you use to access other areas of Adobe.com.

Same thing. For many, it will mean losing long time used screen names.

I am afraid that the lessons from previous attempts haven't been learnt.

Also, I seem to remember a call for beta testers for a future new version, and that many of us volunteered. I wonder if anyone has been contacted for this; I haven't.

Fresh start?