Comments on new website

Bill,

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,
Mike

This might be a glitch, Mike...
When I navigate to "My Account" and then navigate back to the main site (using the link in the center above marked "navigate back to...."), I find that I've been logged out! So I have to log in after visiting "My Account"

-Hugh

Thanks, Hugh.

I can't seem to create the same results ... anyone else having that issue?

Mike

I'm not having that issue (Chrome on Windows Enterprise Server)

John Hack

Thoughtful observations, Mike.

While I also dislike the photo (I've nicknamed him "the doofus" because his expression first read as confused, not contemplative!), I have to say that I like the way it's cut off at the top. That's very "now" when using graphics or photos - to crop it a little off-center.

That's a tiny point - but I really wanted to acknowledge the thoughfulness of your post. It helps me re-think some of my initial impressiona nd judgments.

-Hugh

One comment on the picture ... certainly, it wouldn't be clear to folks now, but the picture at the top is NOT, and never was, a permanent fixture. You'll see many pictures of managers (some actual listeners ;-) working through real issues rotating through the banner.

Real managers, doing real work. THAT is how we think of our brand.

Mike

Hi Mike & Mark,
I haven´t been to the site for a while and imagine the pleasant shock I got when i logged in today ... I almost thought I had lost my way. Whatever I may ever say, .... God this new look is really elegant - an aesthetic elegance that matches the depth of the content. Congrats and Happy New Year to Mike, Mark and Wendii ....

(Responding to Hugh's 30th Dec 2008 post)

The 'cropping a little off center' is probably an example of the 'Rule of thirds'.

The 'Rule of Thirds' comes from art and has been around for at least 500 years or so (I believe it was Holbein who first wrote about it, although it no doubt pre-dated him by some time). The idea is that a good way to improve your chances of a good picture (drawing painting or even photograph) is to imagine two pairs of lines, one pair running vertically and the other horizontally, across your picture one third and two thirds of the way from the top and left edges (to help visualise it think of the hash/pound symbol, #). Where possible locate points of interest (e.g. the eyes of someone in a portrait) on or near to one or two of these lines.

Quite often cameras (especially medium or large format) will have lines in the view finder that correspond to the rule of thirds to assist with framing. Two of my three digital cameras have them as an option you can turn on if you wish.

In the picture above the guy's right eye is approximately one third from the left edge and one third down from the top, his chin is about two thirds down from the top (or one third up from the bottom if you prefer) whilst the monitor's front edge is approximately one third from the right edge.

Another useful trick is to have a solid block of colour on the right of the picture, ideally dark or contrasting to the rest of the image. This tends to 'bounce' the eye back into the picture. I'm told this is because in western culture we tend to read text left to right and so also view pictures the same way, the solid block of colour causes the eyes to flick back the way they came.

Stephen (who, in case you haven't realised, is a bit of a photography freak)

I noticed that in the Blog section the 'Previous' and 'Next' links go in the opposite way to what I'd expect. 'Previous' takes you to a chronologically later entry (e.g. from the "3 way economic system" audio blog dated 10th Oct 2008 it takes you to the "5 ways of mastering Horstman's 3rd law of interviewing" dated 12th October 2008) whilst 'Next' takes you to a chronologically earlier entry (e.g from 10th Oct 2008 to 5th Oct). I'd expect 'Previous' to take you back in time and 'Next' to take you forward.

I also noticed that the older entries seem to have the ability to comment turned off. Is this a feature of the software used (so as times passes threads that are currently active will be 'frozen') or of the migration from the old software to the new (so currently frozen threads will remain frozen but all post migration threads will still be commentable)?

Stephen

I learn more here by accident that I do other places on purpose...

Concur completely -- and this is why Manager Tools is so useful and in "my favorites."
Personally, I love the new site. It's clean looking, professional and progressive -- and this is how I try to drive my career! Mike and Mark have taken a proactive step toward a new year with vision and capability to serve more w/a more contemporary feel that hits home with me. Kudos on the new site -- 5 stars!

Just a quick note to let you know that the links for the sample DISC profiles are broken. Also, I was trying to find the videos of the feedback techniques, but the old link is broken and I'm not seeing how to find them on the new site.

Thanks.

You'll see many pictures of managers (some actual listeners ;-) working through real issues rotating through the banner.

That would be amazing, many of us who have been here for a long time would find that to be fantastic!

Let's make sure those managers are using some nice flat panels instead of the CRT's ;). Thanks Mike!

Jorrian Gelink
http://www.jorrian.com

Just a quick note to let you know that the links for the sample DISC profiles are broken. Also, I was trying to find the videos of the feedback techniques, but the old link is broken and I'm not seeing how to find them on the new site.

Thanks ... I appreciate the heads-up. Both have been corrected.

For those wondering, the feedback video is here: Feedback Video Post.

Hi guys.

The site revamp must have taken a lot of effort and I think we can see where you are trying to head with the site.

One question - did you seek to engage with any community members prior to going live with the site? I'm sure there would have been a number of talented community members happy to give you feedback based on a demo site. You would then the option of deciding whether to incorporate that feedback, ignore it or acknowledge the issues prior to rolling it out.

Overall impression
The new design is more professional looking that the previous site.

Logo
The old logo was pretty bad, but I'm not sure how the new logo relates to anything, let alone management. It is really very generic looking. On the other hand, I don't have any ideas about what would be better.

Forums
The old forums weren't broken, so not sure about the change. The main thing that threw me is the reverse chronological listing of comments - I can't think of any other sites I go to that have this as the default.

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing how the site evolves over time.

Cheers,

Tomas

Old website's simplicity was great. The new website is definitely more professional (as opposed to the earlier blog-style), however, I also find this new design rather closed. I am afraid I cannot fully explain what I mean by closed. Perhaps changing the background from black to something lighter might help?

Also, on the main page, it may be a good idea to let the content go beyond one screen (could this be contributing to my "closed" feeling?). Many websites have content well below the main screen. We are used to scrolling down for more! Just as a random example, check the CBC website:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Thank you and best regards,

-Khalid,
Canada.

Mike: I don't see how to delete your own posts. I see how to edit them, but not how to take them out altogether.

Maybe it's right in front of me...

Thanks,
-Hugh

Hugh,

Select the "Edit" tab ... at the bottom of that tab, there is a delete button.

Mike

So it WAS right there in front of me...I'll go find it now.

(include embarrassed smiley thing here...)

-Hugh

Mike,

Just tried it and had to log back in as well.

I clicked on My Account, logged in to that page, checked the box to remember my password, then clicked the link above to return to the M-T website. When I returned I wasn't logged in anymore and had to re-enter my Username and pw.

New site looks AWESOME! I was just thinking about how much better a new website would present M-T ideas to the world...

Thanks for all you and Mark do!

Mike: I'm selecting "Edit" when it appears next to "Reply" at the bottom of an individual post. It opens the editing capability - I've scanned up and down that open window and I just don't see anything that says "delete."

I've tried it in IE and Google Chrome.

What am I doing wrong?

My two cents: I'm far more engaged by the new website.
Thanks for all the hard work that's gone into it. The forum is a fantastic engine of information.

Suggestion box idea: A short-cut link to "My posts", a list of posts that I have made in the forums, would make it easier to keep track of conversations I've started or joined. (Perhaps it already exists and I must explore a bit more to find it.)

Thanks again for all the excellent work! And please keep those podcasts coming. In the words of Tony Tiger: "They're grrreat!"

Mike: when I mistakenly left an HTML formatting tag "open" - I noticed that it affected the formatting of ALL the posts appearing beneath it in the thread...

Here's what happened:

I italicized the first paragraph in one of my posts, and didn't "close" it properly with a "slash" command. Not only did all of my post come out italicized, but so did the posts by other authors as I scrolled down through the thread....!

When I fixed my post, the other posts were also fixed.

I tried it again a second time, just to make sure I wasn't seeing things - and it happened again.

I'm working in Google Chrome, and don't know if this glitch is restricted to certain browsers and not others.

But it could REALLY screw up the threads....

-Hugh

Thanks for the "tip."

Hugh, it's a good thing you use your powers for good, not evil!

John

Yep. We can turn off the ability for folks to use html in their posts (although, to be clear, not ALL HTML is currently allowed), or live with the risks.

Simply one more of the joys of hosting and moderating forums. ;-)

Mike

Mike: I'm selecting "Edit" when it appears next to "Reply" at the bottom of an individual post. It opens the editing capability - I've scanned up and down that open window and I just don't see anything that says "delete."

I've tried it in IE and Google Chrome.

What am I doing wrong?

Nothing, Hugh. I apologize; I misunderstood your question (posting of "topics" vs. replies to those topics).

You're right, you can edit, but not delete them. I don't think that capability has ever existed on the forums ... and I'm pretty sure the ability to even edit them once posted is a new "feature" here (and one I'm not completely comfortable with ... going back and changing the history of a conversation seems particularly devious to me).

Of course, if you can edit, why shouldn't you be able to delete as well? A good question, but I'll need to have someone look into that.

Ideally, to me, editing/deleting of your posts *prior* to someone else responding seems appropriate. After the first response, the conversation has started - going back and changing history after appears to me to be inappropriate.

Mike

There should be a more obvious way to communicate to Mike and Mark about the site or problems, even if it is just directing users to a dedicated thread.

Also, the picture at the top hasn't changed since the migration. As a stand alone picture, it does not cut it. It should rotate among 5-10 pictures or so every time the page refreshes.

Yes, you could both edit and delete comments on the old forums (we would occassionally ask a spammer to delete a comment, and by God, he would!).

I agree with you about the risk of changing history - but I've edited my comments for typos.

I'm not really hung up on not being able to delete - you're probably right that the greater good is served - I just noticed that it was a change from the previous toolset.

And if you're telling me that the choice regarding HTML tags is that we can ONLY have them if that means they'll affect other peoples' posts too, then I think the choice is clear. I would not want to have the "power" to change other peoples' voices, even if only inadvertantly.
-Hugh

Hugh,

Thanks for the clarification. That helps.

There is an appropriate etiquette for editing one's post. For corrections: apply strikethrough to the original, and emphasize the new text. Mike, can you allow the tag?

For additional text, edit at the end of your post something like: "Update: also, blah blah..."

The key is to admit the edit, and make clear what was original and what was changed.

I support allowing edits. The previous forum had a subtle but clear identifier if a post had been edited after someone had replied.

Of course, there is this matter of an open tag affecting all other posts...

John Hack

I cannot find the Members' List. Is it still available and if so, where?
If not, will it be again in the future?

Is there any thought to moving the forum back onto a more forum oriented platform rather than a blog-like platform?

yosihezet,

Sorry, no.

Mike

So, you walk into your favorite grocery store, and they are under new management. The shelves are all rearranged and your stuff isn't where you expect it to be. You go get the manager.

"Why did you rearrange the grocery store? I can't find anything?"

"Well, we found that people were having to walk from one end to the other to get peanut butter, then jelly, then bread. We did a study and found that most people wanted all those things together instead of on separate aisles. So we rearranged. We know it is a short-term annoyance, but we think when you get used to it, you will like it better."

Six months later, they finally cave to the demands and rearrange the store back the way it was. Now you go in and you can't find anything again.

"Why did you rearrange the store? I can't find anything."

"Uhhh... you and others told us too. You said you hated the new arrangement, so we went back to the old arrangement."

"Bah! I hate this store. I'm going to the one across the street." (Even though I don't know where anything is in that store either).

Sometimes you just can't win.

I've run web sites since 1995. For a long time I had PHPBB installed on one of my web sites and had a community of over 10,000 souls who posted there regularly. This was my experience:

* The forum hounds often did not consume the other material on the site

* They were often very demanding of my time and energy moderating out spam and abusive posts

* PHPBB would corrupt and I would work all night to bring it back up from a back up, then everyone would complain about how long it took me and how two days of conversation were lost.

* They often wrote public postings criticizing my decisions or to complain about any little change

* They frequently requested new features even though it would cost me money and they were not paying to use the forums

It was all take, take, take, take, take. This was my solution: I shut down the forums. Another web site like mine stood up some forums using PHPBB and everyone went there. Yet the hits on my other pages did not drop. The only difference was that my "community" was no longer bothering me even though they still spend every day all day talking about the same stuff.

Let's wait and see how the changes flesh out over the next couple of months. As MT grows because of us spreading the word, some people, perhaps less savvy with PHPBB and turned off by the generic color schemes and irritations with user ID problems between teh site and the forums, will come here and not be as annoyed as some of the old timers.

In the meantime, I can read your posts, you can read mine, we can reply, we can edit, we can delete. I think we have everything we need.

-Rob