I've got such mixed feelings here.
I am pretty much responsible for the current look and feel we have here. Back in November 1999 we had major issues with a forum provider and needed to make a fast move to another system. Myself and two programmers locked ourselves away for three weeks and came up with these forums. My main motivation was to make it work as closely as we could to CompuServe with a text-based interface little clutter. I think that worked out well. But it also locked us down. Shortly after that forum project the two programmers moved away and left Adobe. Over the years Web Crossing updated their software. But we were working with templates based on an older version (which was current when we launched) and we didn't have the folks who wrote the template code around anymore. But the forums worked. So we left them that way.
Since the start, though, we've had people looking to update the interface. Make it handle things like code snippets, embedded graphics, better text formatting, proper CSS, etc. But most of those attempts came to naught because of the spaghetti code.
For folks like myself and a number of the people replying here who have been using this system for almost 10 years it is going to be a big change. Painful in some places. But I hope it is also refreshing in some places.
Forum participation has fallen. People in and outside of Adobe are looking for updated features and a new look. I felt that the last two attempts to update the forums would fail. And they did. This time around I'm feeling much better. A completely different team of people worked on the new system than worked on the last attempt at updating forums.
Right now I'm willing to accept some shading around the messages in return for much better search, the ability to easily embed an image in a message (which is not available at all on the Macromedia Forums), a consistent overall look between all the forums, one sign-in ID for all of Adobe.com, etc.
Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to:
* Search - wildcard search, boolean operators, phrases in quotes, fuzzy terms (foam~ will find foam and roams), proximity ("new car"~5 will find matches where new and car are within five words of each other), and weighting (black cat^4 will weight cat higher in the results versus other words appearing near black in text).
* You can also search subject lines. You can search the entire site (currently not available in the Macromedia forums) or individual forums. You can select the individual forums no matter where you are, you don't have to go to that forum first. You can select time periods to search (yesterday, last 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, This year, last year). You can search for individuals.
* Private messages will be enabled (currently available in the Macromedia forums, but not in Adobe Forums).
* Just about everything in the system will be available via RSS. Some examples: You can get feeds for individual users you want to follow, for entire forums, for special announcements, for discussions, for threads, for unanswered threads.
* Threads can be viewed as Flat or as threaded with indentations for conversations. My preference is flat, like a live discussion. But many prefer the threaded mode. Either is available as a personal preference.
* There is a single link to find all the discussions that you started. And from your profile you can find all discussions you have participated in and are subscribed to. For forums you are subscribed to you can post messages from your email client. You can even start discussions via email.
* When posting messages you will be able to easily embed code samples and raw HTML, XML, SQL, and Java. You can quote the message (or parts of it) that you are replying to if it helps maintain continuity in a busy thread. A rich text editor will make it easier for users to format messages and include links and photos or videos.
* When reading messages you can click on Print Preview and see the discussion without all the other elements around it. You can add a reply from this view, too (threaded to the initial discussion topic).
* There is also a PDF view with even less formatting for printing, saving, or sending to someone else.
* There is the ability to email a discussion to someone. And the options there include linking to the discussion and/or including a PDF of the discussion topic (not the replies yet, but I have put in a feature request).
* The system will generate a list of similar discussions to the one you are reading (waiting to see how effective that really is).
As a forum "old timer" there are things I'm not quite as accepting of yet, but I'm getting closer. Avatars and points, for example. I'm starting to like avatars. Used well they do give a better sense of community. I would encourage people to use real photos of themselves. Custom avatars would have to be OKd before acceptance. So I hold out hope there.
Points... If I don't look at them as competition, I think I will find use for them. Points will not be assigned for simply doing things like posting questions or replies. So there shouldn't be an onrush of "me, too" pointless posts. Points have to be assigned to an answer by the person who started a discussion if they find the answer correct or helpful. Seeing how many points are awarded (not necessarily who has received them) will give some gauge as to how helpful people are finding the forum experience. Some users may take them as a challenge to get out there and provide good answers. That should be a good thing, too. Points are not shown in the basic interface, you have to hover over or click on someone's name to get their points total. So it isn't all that "in your face." Just a status icon (1 to 5 bars) will show under their names.
Adobe employees, Community Experts, Certified Experts, etc. will have icons to identify them in place of the status icon.
As part of the Points system, a person who asks a question can flag the question as answered. You can then look specifically for answered (or unanswered) questions in the system. The current Macromedia forums allow a message to be marked as the answer, and this marking should carry over into the new system when the old messages are imported. And yes, we've worked out bringing in messages older than 12 months.
There will soon be a tryout version of the forums. I encourage folks to take advantage of that and try them out. I remain hopeful!
John
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