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2013-05-23 4:20 PM
in reply to: Left Brain

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Alpharetta, Georgia
Bronze member
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957

What we get is a lot more ideas AND ESPECIALLY I get to 'really learn' how users use a particular item.  Take the Friends page. I have learned a great deal on how exactly that page is used by members, what they love about it.  I didn't have that information before.  

I'm surprised to read this, as the "community" aspect (friends, inspires, accessing other blogs) is one of the biggest draws to BT - as evidenced by all of the comments in the "site bugs" area and here. It's interesting and a bit perplexing that Ron and the team didn't know this or see how big of a deal it was to the users before the switch.

I doubt that.  The biggest draw to BT is that it's a resource for people who are new to triathlon....."community" may happen for a minority of the people who register on this site, but I think to call it "one of the biggest draws" is a pretty big leap.  In fact, I would bet that all of the people who feel some kind of "community" here could leave and the number of new members would barely drop off at all.

If everyone who felt a sense of "community" left, there would be no community.

My point is that there are probably far less people who feel that way than you think there are.....and they certainly don't have a huge bearing on whether the site is successful.  

I doubt that.

Just curious....based on what?  

Sorry I've been working all day.
My response could be idential to TJ and Whizz's. I've been around since 2005 and have forged many lifelong friendships through BT. Mostly through inspires, messages and meeting folks face to face. More than one of them I'd call "great" friends - and they rarely post on the forums-  the forums are a fairly poor way of evaluating user engagement IMO. If you look at the people who are "most inspired" or "most active" in the training blogs, they are rarely your heavy forum posters. That says a lot.

If you take away the ease and ability to engage via inspire/message/training blog, you take away a huge part of BT - even if you don't use it personally. I'm just not sure how you can argue with that, but not surprisingly you've found a way.



2013-05-23 4:27 PM
in reply to: lisac957

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Pro
15655
5000500050005001002525
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957

What we get is a lot more ideas AND ESPECIALLY I get to 'really learn' how users use a particular item.  Take the Friends page. I have learned a great deal on how exactly that page is used by members, what they love about it.  I didn't have that information before.  

I'm surprised to read this, as the "community" aspect (friends, inspires, accessing other blogs) is one of the biggest draws to BT - as evidenced by all of the comments in the "site bugs" area and here. It's interesting and a bit perplexing that Ron and the team didn't know this or see how big of a deal it was to the users before the switch.

I doubt that.  The biggest draw to BT is that it's a resource for people who are new to triathlon....."community" may happen for a minority of the people who register on this site, but I think to call it "one of the biggest draws" is a pretty big leap.  In fact, I would bet that all of the people who feel some kind of "community" here could leave and the number of new members would barely drop off at all.

If everyone who felt a sense of "community" left, there would be no community.

My point is that there are probably far less people who feel that way than you think there are.....and they certainly don't have a huge bearing on whether the site is successful.  

I doubt that.

Just curious....based on what?  

Sorry I've been working all day.
My response could be idential to TJ and Whizz's. I've been around since 2005 and have forged many lifelong friendships through BT. Mostly through inspires, messages and meeting folks face to face. More than one of them I'd call "great" friends - and they rarely post on the forums-  the forums are a fairly poor way of evaluating user engagement IMO. If you look at the people who are "most inspired" or "most active" in the training blogs, they are rarely your heavy forum posters. That says a lot.

If you take away the ease and ability to engage via inspire/message/training blog, you take away a huge part of BT - even if you don't use it personally. I'm just not sure how you can argue with that, but not surprisingly you've found a way.

Obviously you haven't read my responses because I made it pretty clear how I come to my position.....not surprising you haven't read any of it. Laughing 

I'll say it again.....the comparitively very few people you personally keep in contact with is not the reason a board like this is successful....and it's not a "huge part" of any of the traffic.  A board like this relies on constant new membership to be profitable/successful. 

2013-05-23 4:38 PM
in reply to: Left Brain

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Sensei
Sin City
Subject: RE: This New Site

I would assume the profitability comes from advertising and memberships.  The find out for sure, it would be interesting to see who is paying for memberships - the new members or the long standing members.

As for advertising dollars, are they marketing the transient population or the long term members?  Both?  What causes them to want to advertise?  Repeat users or the trollers?

What actually makes a website profitable and successful is the advertising dollar and what makes them want to pay to be on the site - not if there is a sense of community or if it's all transient.

2013-05-23 6:04 PM
in reply to: Left Brain

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Alpharetta, Georgia
Bronze member
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957
Originally posted by Left Brain
Originally posted by lisac957

What we get is a lot more ideas AND ESPECIALLY I get to 'really learn' how users use a particular item.  Take the Friends page. I have learned a great deal on how exactly that page is used by members, what they love about it.  I didn't have that information before.  

I'm surprised to read this, as the "community" aspect (friends, inspires, accessing other blogs) is one of the biggest draws to BT - as evidenced by all of the comments in the "site bugs" area and here. It's interesting and a bit perplexing that Ron and the team didn't know this or see how big of a deal it was to the users before the switch.

I doubt that.  The biggest draw to BT is that it's a resource for people who are new to triathlon....."community" may happen for a minority of the people who register on this site, but I think to call it "one of the biggest draws" is a pretty big leap.  In fact, I would bet that all of the people who feel some kind of "community" here could leave and the number of new members would barely drop off at all.

If everyone who felt a sense of "community" left, there would be no community.

My point is that there are probably far less people who feel that way than you think there are.....and they certainly don't have a huge bearing on whether the site is successful.  

I doubt that.

Just curious....based on what?  

Sorry I've been working all day.
My response could be idential to TJ and Whizz's. I've been around since 2005 and have forged many lifelong friendships through BT. Mostly through inspires, messages and meeting folks face to face. More than one of them I'd call "great" friends - and they rarely post on the forums-  the forums are a fairly poor way of evaluating user engagement IMO. If you look at the people who are "most inspired" or "most active" in the training blogs, they are rarely your heavy forum posters. That says a lot.

If you take away the ease and ability to engage via inspire/message/training blog, you take away a huge part of BT - even if you don't use it personally. I'm just not sure how you can argue with that, but not surprisingly you've found a way.

Obviously you haven't read my responses because I made it pretty clear how I come to my position.....not surprising you haven't read any of it. Laughing 

I'll say it again.....the comparitively very few people you personally keep in contact with is not the reason a board like this is successful....and it's not a "huge part" of any of the traffic.  A board like this relies on constant new membership to be profitable/successful. 

I certainly have read your posts - it's just that I don't agree with all of it.

I'll say it again, too. I believe a "huge part" of the traffic and success of this web site is from the community/inspire/message/logging functions. I believe if this was purely a message forum without the other community stuff, a "huge part" of the members would not stick around. Including me.

2013-05-23 7:52 PM
in reply to: lisac957

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Elite
4435
2000200010010010010025
Subject: RE: This New Site

Okay chiming in. The main reason for joining was to find a good resource for helping with training.

The added fall out from that has been the mentoring groups.

Then from there - some friendships.  Like minded people - there are some where I've met them, some where I have trained or raced with them, and there are some that I consider real friends in a virtual world and I truly hope I meet these people one day.

But they are not the reason for the Board's success.  The training resources are fundamental.  The other stuff is great but if I was getting no training benefits from it I'm sure I would move away.  I would keep the friendships as there are other ways to communicate outside of BT.

So I think we all get different things out of BT but what brought us all here was to learn more about triathlon.

2013-05-23 8:13 PM
in reply to: jobaxas

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Alpharetta, Georgia
Bronze member
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by jobaxas

So I think we all get different things out of BT but what brought us all here was to learn more about triathlon.

Totally agree!



2013-05-23 8:27 PM
in reply to: TriAya

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Elite
7783
50002000500100100252525
PEI, Canada
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by TriAya

I knew the site had to roll over and why--though I, too, have been frustrated by being unable to reach out as easily as I used to, and to me this was the heart of BT.

However, it helped to read this, from Ron's blog (I think it's also in a State of BT post that's either stickied in Tri Talk or the Bugs forum):

FORCED EVOLUTION

Another day in the trenches.  We're getting better.  Programmers and I only went to bed around 12/1 last night.

Was Axteraa right in thinking I was nuts in going live?  I still would disagree, even given the last, brutal 72 hours.

*snip*

For the record, I still think he was nuts.

I'm all for the new design (ok, mostly) and have no problem with change but there was so much that was reported by the beta testers that could have been fixed ahead of time had they waited a little longer that I think it was a mistake.

2013-05-24 8:24 AM
in reply to: 0

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Champion
11989
500050001000500100100100100252525
Philly 'burbs
Subject: RE: This New Site
First, the ubiquitous "I didn't read the whole thread" comment...

I don't like the redesign. Hate it in fact.

To those who are coming down on those of us who don't like the new site and are complaining I say to you, "DEAL WITH IT!" We can whine and moan all we like. Don't like what we have to say? DON'T CLICK ON THIS THREAD. Don't like people bashing your beloved free web site? Tough! Go find something more important to be bothered about. First world problems indeed.

Pot, meet kettle. Jeez....

Edited by mrbbrad 2013-05-24 8:26 AM
2013-05-24 9:28 AM
in reply to: mrbbrad

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Master
1584
1000500252525
Fulton, MD
Subject: RE: This New Site
My "complaints', if you want to call them that, are with the training log. Before, I could click on "edit log" and input my workout(s), weight, comments, and "health data" (hours slept, etc.). Now, each is in a separate section, so I have to click add bike, add run, add health, add body metrics. It just takes 2-3x as long. The main training log page used to display my planned workouts, now I have to dig around find them. It's annoying on a computer, and terrible on a phone / ipad.

For those who say "well, it's a free site", not for me. I pay for the membership to import my planned training and other useful features. if those features become less useful, I'll be much less likely to pay.

The "friends" thing is also a pain. And like others have said, I like to think I've made several "IRL" friends from this site. A week ago several of us met for a 5k and breakfast afterwards. About two weeks from now, another BTer is hopefully dog-sitting for me. So checking in on my friends is important, and should be easy.

I don't find much change to the forums at all, so have no real complaints there.
2013-05-24 9:49 AM
in reply to: 0

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Extreme Veteran
1001
1000
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Subject: RE: This New Site
2500 years ago the Greek Philosopher Heraclitus said "the only thing that is constant is change". If I quit using computers and websites when I didn't like changes that occurred I would have quit when Windows '95 was released.

Just like any software "upgrade" there will be some bugs that need to be ironed out but we will get used to using the new site after a few weeks.

Edited by rick4657 2013-05-24 9:49 AM
2013-05-24 12:45 PM
in reply to: rick4657

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Sensei
Sin City
Subject: RE: This New Site

For all those that are bashing the bashers of the the people bashing the original bashers of the beshed web site?

Get a life - there are bigger bashers to bash...  #realworldproblembashing....



2013-05-24 12:48 PM
in reply to: Kido

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Austin, Texas or Jupiter, Florida
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by Kido

For all those that are bashing the bashers of the the people bashing the original bashers of the beshed web site?

Get a life - there are bigger bashers to bash...  #realworldproblembashing....




Can I bash you for using hashtags outside of twitter?

Just kidding Jim... But no Sarc font makes it hard to see that I'm kidding...

All of this should be in SARC font...
2013-05-24 12:50 PM
in reply to: GomesBolt

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Sensei
Sin City
Subject: RE: This New Site
stupid sarc bug
2013-05-24 12:52 PM
in reply to: Kido

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Austin, Texas or Jupiter, Florida
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by Kido

stupid sarc bug


I laugh.
2013-05-26 2:01 PM
in reply to: velocomp

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Champion
7347
5000200010010010025
SRQ, FL
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by velocomp

I am really disappointed to see people react so negatively to someone expressing unhappiness with the new design.  I can say that of the areas that I use on the site, I am happy with the logs.  The forums are no longer very user friendly, and the friends section is not intuitive at all.  I have been using BT for 8+ years now, and spend time here almost every day.  I have already seen my time on BT drop as it's easier to find things I want to read on other sites.  

Some of you may say, "Oh well, see ya.", but I hope you realize that if you keep doing that you'll be here all alone.

Ron,

I applaud your effort to keep BT fresh and full of new functionality, and I hope that the interfaces you are using for your forums and other pages provide enough flexibility that you will be able to address the concerns that people provide.

I would be really interested to see a poll of how people feel about the new site.  And I hope that things become more usable going forward.  

I will go to the site support page once I compile my list of concerns/issues.

^ This.. to those who say people need to deal with change.. not all change is good.

I too have found the forums to be more difficult to use and it has reduced my time here.

I realize there are still bugs to work out but I have posted several threads in the bugs forums and have not received any feedback.  That makes me reluctant to continue to post the bugs I find.

I'm all for change.  As long as the change is for the better.  Right now I'm on the fence.  Hopefully it gets fixed as time passes.

2013-05-27 1:40 PM
in reply to: 0

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Expert
1951
10005001001001001002525
Subject: RE: This New Site
Originally posted by Kido
Originally posted by Left Brain

Dude....I was one of 3 origional owners of the board. 

As far as "very reasonable speculation vs. speculation".............do we have to sit at the poker table all night again? Laughing

You didn't mention that.

You probably have a very informed opinion then.

I'd venture a very uneducated guess most people never get actively involved with the site or it's members...  I was an admin on another active forum. I know from those login statistics that about 90% of the people who visit a forum, come only for information and never generate a post. 10% posted.. and about 5% become involved on a regular basis. The numbers here on BT might be a bit higher because of the training/race log features. 



Edited by KateTri1 2013-05-27 1:41 PM


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