What would we like to have?

[cee-dee]

OK, lots have people (including me) have had a good moan about this new layout but how about listing what we would like to have on the Discussion Boards and perhaps Katie can tell us, point by point just why it's not possible?

Here goes:-

1/ The topic listing to be clear and concise with the topic last posted on at the top, NOT the last topic created.

2/ The topic listing to show the author, the number of replies and the number of views along with the ID of the last poster and with the date of topic posting and the time and date of the last poster.

3/ All posts to be numbered with the number also acting as a link.

4/ All the White space to be drastically reduced.

5/ Once the last post on a topic has been read, the topic then not showing in bold once you return to the main page.

6/ If a long running topic runs to several pages, the topic listing to show the number of pages.

7/ At the top of the page show the number of pages on the board.

8/ Below the last post, a link to return to the top of the board, not to the top of the topic.

9/ Retain the GUI (even though only a few use it)!

10/ The search to work as it used to.

11/ Show the number of posts made by a poster.

12/ Notifications and Messages to be at the top of the board where they're clearly seen.

Remember, I said Discussion Boards? OK will that lot do for now? Add some more?

[pixiesen2012]

I know you said just discussion boards, but I would like all the above on the question boards as well!

[cee-dee]

I said Discussion boards in case posters on the question boards wanted something different.

By the way..... 4 years ago there was an ebay "Invite only" discussion about the Australian Community Spirit board. Wouldn't it have been good PR to have done something similar before imposing the current layout on us without notice?

[pixiesen2012]

they invited some of us to a webiner about it last week, but I couldn't attend because I was working,  but the changes had already been made, they just wanted to show us

[cee-dee]

There's been not much reaction to my "list" of what I think are the necessities of a discussion board and management are also silent on the subject. I wonder if that's because it's under consideration or because they're all hiding under a table hoping we'll all go away?😁 😎

[pixiesen2012]

no one comes to the community updates board, so no one will have seen your post,

re post on one of the boards that people actually use

[cee-dee]

Well you saw it, so you could have told everyone else to show up here?😘

[cee-dee]

Goodness me, some things in my list have arrived? Faints.

Posts are numbered, the number acts as a link and we can now get back to the front page of a forum in one click. 

[cee-dee]

They're fiddling as we "speak"? After "message # of ##" there was "Posted in Community Updates" and the bold was clickable to take you back to the forum front page but it's gone now?

[pixiesen2012]

I've found a away to get it to show the time,

go here:-https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/user/myprofilepage/tab/user-preferences:display

and set it to show relative time

[cee-dee]

It's already showing the time?

I've altered nothing from the "old" boards and #10 was 23-02-2021 6:58 PM.

[rebel-sheep]

Is there a way of going to the latest posts without having to scroll through the whole lot each time?

The thing I find most annoying is the tiny message box. If you try to read or edit what youve put it jumps about, keeps auto saving, then throws you back up to the beginning. Finding it v.stressful.

[cee-dee]

As far as I can see, there's no way to do that which is one of the things I've had a moan about (several times in different places).  A properly thought out message board should really show the last post made as the top of each thread, not the original post. The old boards did that. Is it so hard to do I ask?

As far as the message box goes, you can make it bigger. You can drag the bottom line of the box down to expand it. Go to the bottom right hand corner, hold the left button down and drag. I'm using a laptop with a mouse, I don't know about a smart phone.

[cee-dee]

Over the years, there's been many times when developers have "fixed" things that weren't broke because they forgot the KISS principle = Keep It Simple Stupid. They've introduced all sorts of unasked for, unwanted amd unhelpful gimmicks and I've illustrated what I feel a developer is like by similar to the following.

A developer is heading home and feels the need for the bathroom so approaching his house he jumps on a wall, walks along it then grabs a tree branch before swinging up from branch to branch before grabbing the phone line and swings hand-over-hand to the house guttering then moves hand-over-hand until he's over the open upstairs landing window and swings in to his house.

Me? I just walk down the street, in through the front door and up the stairs. Simple eh?

[cee-dee]

It seems that no matter how many people have posted (in a variety of places as well as this forum) no notice is being taken of what we say. I'll risk illustrating the situation by the following.

My father was in the RAF (58 Squadron). At the passing out parade when the lads were all marching, the Flight Sergeant was calling out "Left-right-left-right-left-right" but as he called out "left" all the lads led with their right, as he called out "right" all the lads went "left". As the parade passed close to gathered families, one lad called out "Look Mam, they're all out of step except me"!

It seems that with this new layout, we, who think it's not a sensible layout are all wrong, we're all out of step and the developers who wrote this new layout are right?

[bunny--boiler]

Very good points indeed CD, let's hope things change. The way the boards are now is a complete crock of shiitake mushrooms. I still can't post pics on another ID 😡

[katie@ebay]

Hi all,

I hope you are well. We have been working behind the scenes to implement some of the changes requested on the boards. We have also been introducing the changes across our European platforms.

I thought it may be best to reply here to the original post so we can discuss further:

1/ The topic listing to be clearand concisewith the topic last posted on at the top,NOTthe last topic created. - This is something we are reviewing as an option and I will be sure to advocate for the most recent post on topic more so than the topic themselves.

2/ The topic listing to show the author, the number of replies and the number of views along with the ID of the last poster and with the date of topic posting and the time and date of the last poster. - Aspects of this are currently in place. You will be able to see the original poster, the last replier and the date/time of the original post and the last reply. The number of views is along the right.

3/ All posts to be numbered with the number also acting as a link. - The posts are now numbered but we are continuing to explore if these numbers could be static. I will raise the point of the link. 

4/ All the White space to be drastically reduced. - We are looking into options for this. I can't go into detail but please be reassured that I am reviewing options

5/ Once the last post on a topic has been read, the topic then not showing in bold once you return to the main page. - The topic title should appear in bold if the topic has not been read. If read it will be unbolded.

6/ If a long running topic runs to several pages, the topic listing to show the number of pages. - I have raised this and they are reviewing if this is possible.

7/ At the top of the page show the number of pages on the board. - This is something we hope to implement but is not confirmed

8/ Below the last post, a link to return to the top of the board, not to the top of the topic. - This may not be an option that is possible as they would be on different web pages, I will raise with the team.

9/ Retain the GUI (even though only a few use it)! - Could you share some further details on what is currently in use by a few?

10/ The search to work as it used to. - We are reviewing the search functionality with the company Khoros that powers the community

11/ Show the number of posts made by a poster. - Number of posts will be located in the profile page

12/ Notifications and Messages to be at the top of the board where they're clearly seen. - The notification bell and the inbox icon will remain on the top right but we are looking into advancing their capabilities. 

We did also see some issues with images yesterday, this is now resolved but please reach out to me if you have any questions on this.

Many thanks,

Katie 

[katie@ebay]

Hi all,

I hope you are well!

We continue to make changes to better improve the experience on the community. We added some links to eBay help pages and My eBay last week, they will appear on the top of the page beside your avatar and in the menu that appears when you select your avatar.

Last night a few changes were brought to the site so I wanted to share them:

• The subject line in replies/solutions were added to the threads.
• The order of posts in the Activity flow  will now be based on the last post reply date instead of the date of the original post.
• We added the unread indicator (bold) in Activity / Forum flow when there's a new reply in a thread which was previously read. 
• We switched the position of the Post/Reply and Cancel buttons to help prevent confusion.

We will be continuing to advance the community and appreciate all the feedback you send on.

Many thanks,

Katie 

[cee-dee]

Hi Katie, thank you, some things have changed for the better.

The bold when there's  new reply on a thread which is "unbolded" after a reply? There's notta lotta diference between the two. There's a much greater difference here:- "Bold", "Unbolded." Anyway, that's a start?

1/ is good, much less of the OP would be better too, even just the thread title?

2/ is getting there, get rid of "posted in........." and add the time instead?

3/ done

4 A long way to go here.

5/ done but unbloded could be lighter?

6/ Not done

7/ Not done

8/ Not done and this really needs doing.

9/ GUI is OK but what's the HTML icon for?

10/ Not done

11/ Not done, the number of posts should be under a posters ID on the post.

12/ It's in a daft place! people have the board open at the top of the list of posts, not at the top of the board page.

[katie@ebay]

Hi there, 

Thank you for your reply.

While I cannot promise that all of these changes will be made I am working to provide the communities feedback to our teams and am working on some of these requests.

I will continue to update here as some changes are made.

Thanks, 

Katie