I for one, have stopped coming here to answer questions because it's hard to get solutions done when the Admin tech support is not available to help.  I personally HATE this new forum.  It's hard to use, hard to read and has way too many ads on it. Yes, I understand you have to get your money from somewhere, but the older forums were MUCH easier to scan and operate.    ML and Peter have done a fabulous job helping those in need while you were gone, but you can't expect the 3 of us (mostly the 2 of them lately) to continue this without any support from you.  It would be nice to have some admin functions of our own. 

And like I said, change the forum back.  This one is too jumbled.

~Pita Diva

The new Forum has been a great addition to Ringsurf. We have had countless of testimonials sent to us. Please take time with it and I think you will get to enjoy it.

We had analyzed Ringsurf and all the similar sites for the past few years. The concept of rings is a great concept. There are many challenges to allow things to run smoothly. This is why you see so many ring systems not working well. We came up with a strategy that will not only take care of our current ring owners and members but will also take care of our new ones.

This has been a long haul for us to figure how to accomplish the above. We will not have to change peoples codes on their websites or have a separate system for new people. It is going to be streamlined and easy to manage. We feel that this is going to take tings to the next level.

The scheduled dated to go live is March 12, 2008.

Please be patient until then. The Ringsurf team has been hard at work planning the new version and know it will solve the problems of our legacy system and finally take Rings to the next level.

My problems with this forum - I feel like I'm posting in the Great Pumpkin!

Actually - I find this OK to a point - what's the most annoying for me is all the animated text moving in & out and the ads skew things so much that it's hard to see where ads end & comments begin.  You've got all that wasted space at the top where the animated text is- if you MUST have ads cluttering everything up - why not stick them there or at the bottom and let the forum be the forum with out the clutter. 

I still more prefer the more familiar discussion board format.  I don't see many of the people who are asking questions coming back to see if they've been answered - or at least commenting that they've been helped.  So I don't know if what we're telling people has helped or if we're barking up the wrong tree.  It's possible they aren't able to find their original post - and I've seen quite a few similar posts - some from "guest" and then from "nics".

Plus - unlike the more conventional forums - and I think this has a LOT to do with it - there's no way to know if your questions have been answered unless you go hunting for your question.  Conventional forums show if messages have a response of some sort - this is just one big list of questions.  Nothing that shows anything has a response or might be a hot topic, etc.

Sections might help as well - HTML code problems, graphic problems, login problems,  rings on blogs problems (I don't deal with blogs, so I'm NO help there), etc

 

I don't mind the "extraneous" Forum adverts at the left hand side! (No adverts for others as far as I can see?) Any chance they may change to the right hand side?

The actual Q and A sessions ought to in White background instead of nearly Black!
The Yellow on Black is not fair, and the Red on black seems be a comment, instead of important.

I haven't got a 1024 wide display, but an 800 wide!
I've got used to panning my display to see your windows,
But you seem to have an idea that everybody has at least 1280x800 on a professional monitors! Welcome to another world... we sit in a corner trying to see the windows on a 16" monitor. If it's capable of greater than 800 wide, the symbols, and text, are too small to see!
Or at least I fit my web-site's remembering that fact!!!

- Sections might help as well
- HTML code problems, graphic problems, login problems, 
- rings on blogs problems 

I am convinced that sections would be a good idea!
You've got enough posting now,
    but the visitors being able to ask questions in the right section is another matter!

If we could have a way of tracking the answers, it would be easier to read.  As stated, there is no way of seeing if an answer has been given to your comment/question unless you are taking the time to scan through various posts to find yours again.  Plus, it's virtually impossible to tell what kind of help is needed by just reading "I need help" as the subject line.  Whereas, if categories within the Ringsurf Support forum were listed, it could be given a better opportunity to be served.

I don't mind the yellow on black, but I agree that the wasted space on the side and the top is annoying.  The banner at the top takes up entirely too much room.  A lot of machines don't allow flash, and sometimes flash reloads slow a machine down (not mine, but I've seen it done).  Maybe make it a standard if you are going to keep it at the top?

 

Also, as a side note, if the captcha code is entered wrong, you should be immediately dropped back to your post, not waiting to see if it posted or not.  Something in bold red and a redirect right back to your post would be helpful.

 

I do not know if the FAQ is worth saving! If it is, could you you move it to "protected status" preventing it from being moved down?

This sux - we can't post anything - you haven't noticed there have been NO questions asked since March 27?  No responses from Peter or myself - because NOTHING POSTS and no one's answering emails - ROB!  The NEW ring code & set up is HORRIBLE.  Now it just looks like webring - nothing to make rings stand apart from each other and nothing special.

Dear Ringsurf Admin,

First of all, you might want to learn how to spell and take a grammar class. Your post shows only ignorance and shows no professionalism.

Second... Ringsurf now sucks. It didn't before you took over. Now it does. So I'm dropping out of the rings I belong to. I'm moving on to a better place. A place that does not suck.

Sincerely,
MrsAych