Need honest feedback about new web site

Well, to be 100% honest, I wasn't very thrilled to hear that the site was being completely rebuilt in the first place. I'm almost always disappointed when websites are updated, mainly because it is hard for me to adjust. In my opinion, the old site was near perfect the way it was, and it had a lot of features that this new version is missing. I will probably get used to it eventually, but for now it's not quite what I was hoping for. I'm really sorry, but this is my true feedback.

Brian are you frustrated with the response (or lack there of) to the changes or are you getting direct negative responses?  

I know I have seen general discontent with the change, but like you said other than the appearance the site will eventually work almost the same as previously.  Just a more modern appearance.

Do you track metrics for the web site or have access to them?  I believe the answers you are looking for may be there.

I have noticed the trending sort has a much different look than the active/unread listings do.  You might want to consider that in determining what it is the people who are not members are looking for from this web site.

I think the site is nice. Problem is most people don't like change. You have got everyone out of their comfort zone. I like it because I can tell immediately if there is a new post. I do not like that it doesn't tell me if there is a thumbs up. Some people use the thumbs up and some don't. I also find myself not looking anywhere else besides the unread section. Not sure how someone new to the site is going to look at it. It is so different looking from most forums, it may be confusing to them. I know you put a lot of work into this and you want it to succeed. I think drawing some new guys into the site would also help. Have you considered using reddit to spread the word? I know the old guys video game site I belong to used it and membership exploded. Just a thought. Keep working at it and tweaking it. Thanks for all you do.

Thanks for the honesty, guys. I don't get angry at feedback. My profession centers around listening to people and making adjustments, so all feedback is welcome - negative or positive. I mean, sure, I'd love it if everyone really enjoyed the new site but that's not the reality so now I have to figure out how to tweak things so it finds a balance between old and new. Or just go back to the old...or just keep pushing the new. There's options and I'm just conflicted between what I think Redline Derby can become versus just letting it be what it is.

I do use tracking data to make some decisions, and that data told me that there was a huge gap between the forum and other sections, and that people had a very hard time finding information once they got to the forum. The posts that asked the same question over and over again were the signal that something needed to change. Message boards are just horrible for organizing content.

The one thing I know has been hard to overcome is the fact that the site will be more than just the message board features. Right now that's all that's here but over time features/sections will get added that make the site more than "just a message board" but I know when you can see something it's hard to visualize. Of course, I could put all this effort into new things and they die on the vine anyway.

I feel it's a Catch-22 and I'm not sure which road to take. I can keep adding to the new site to try and get more people engaged and involved in different ways, but by doing so alienate some existing members. Or I can go back to the old way to keep people happy but thus give up the future. I guess where I screwed myself is banking on continued discussion from the community...that drives this site (new or old) so if people stop then the site stops.

Of course, if the risk is y'all just saying screw it and leaving then I guess I'd rather flip back to the old message board, but then I'd pretty much be out of the loop and nothing new would ever see the light of day. I really hated seeing "the message board" group and the "fantasy league" group in the old site. It limited what I could do beyond the just the fantasy league because there were then essentially two camps. The new site is an attempt to just be one camp but that's clearly not what people want.

Going back to the old message board is a possibility. It's still up and running, just hidden...and there would obviously be a gap of about a month if we switch back. If the community really just wants the old way back, I can bring it back but then I'll need someone to be the new super moderator for it because I can't manage the forum while trying to build other things on the side.

If anyone has any problems with the site besides "its different," please post or submit a bug.

So far I know the login time is too short and that notifications for thumbs up have been requested. 

I would also be interested in hearing more specific feedback. I want to make things better without going backwards, if at all possible but need to know more than "i dont like it" - why dont you like it? What has made the change difficult?

Brian, as I said before this is your site, and I appreciate you asking our input. 

I suggest you have an outsider, non-member or non-hot wheeler try all the tests you gave us. Login, avatar, post, find races, etc.  I personally thought the old site was more intuitive, and laid out better. Then again I'm a pretty simple guy. I can only find the stuff I'm looking for on the new site because I knew where it was...so I know where to go digging, or use the right search terms.

I want the site to grow and have more mail in racers and events. I'm worried new members won't sort their way in to find us mail in racers. 

I also want this to be fun and rewarding to you as much as it is to us. 

Since the switch how many new members have joined? Is there more traffic on the site? Is there more discussion on the message board since the switch or less?

Thanks for giving us a cool sandbox to play in. 

Its still too early to look at traffic stats or anything like that. Not to mention Google has to re-serach the site and that will take time to propagate. I dont really measure traffic anywya, its more engagement and conversions.

Although I am interested in learning more about thoughts on why the old site was better than this new site...and being objective about it. Because i look at the new site and while it has different colors, etc., all the links are in the same place. Categories are right on the front page...unread threads are marked, latest posts are sorted. I mean, I made it that way on purpose so it wouldn't be such a shift...guess that failed. 

And I dont know if there is less conversation going on or not - you tell me. The small group of guys that were posting before are still posting so going by that alone the switch hasnt made much impact ome way or the other. Although now thinking about it more, the posting has been less and less shop talk and more just mail-in banter, which is pretty limiting.

Redline Derby was built on the hobby of racing and the new site was leaning on that type of posts happening. But that type of conversation has dwindled in past months, even on the old site. So in some ways I just dont know. Maybe the potential for the site isnt what I thought it was. Maybe I simply over-estimated. 

Redline Derby was built on the hobby of racing and the new site was leaning on that type of posts happening. But that type of conversation has dwindled in past months, even on the old site. So in some ways I just dont know. Maybe the potential for the site isnt what I thought it was. Maybe I simply over-estimated. 

As to this specific aspect I think we need a place for scheduled races to appear on the home page and as stickies on the category page with an entry submission (and race) date listed.  Even knowing which ones are coming up and scheduled it is not easy to find them again and they do fall off the front and top of the category pages often.

As a newer member and recent new visitor to the site - to identify anything as an upcoming event I had to read each threads 1st post to see what was going on.  Previously it seemed they where supposed to be in another section, but that was not always the case either.  They are also mixed in with so many other numerous proposed events and ideals that dont get scheduled as well.  

Thanks, Milton...that actually helps a lot and as it happens, I've been working on getting events better featured for the past week or so. I'm adding some options to the form when you start a topic that lets you add dates, etc that will then be shown throughout site as a sort of calendar. Events are a big part of the what we talk about so I know that needs to be front and center. I also agree with your assessment that such events were hard to find on the old message board too...which is exactly the type of thing I'm trying to help relieve.

There's actually quite a bit of additions/features/changes in the "pipeline" as it were, which can all be seen over in the official task/bug tracking list over on Github (a different web site). I've posted that link before and encourage people to check out the list. There are currently 33 items on that list which includes bugs to be fixed, suggested features to add and entirely new functionality as well. 

Its still too early to look at traffic stats or anything like that. Not to mention Google has to re-serach the site and that will take time to propagate. I dont really measure traffic anywya, its more engagement and conversions

That is why I mentioned metrics specifically.  Do you have old "trending" type data so we know what it is people are looking for (previously at least).

I know I have seen you bringing forward old topics recently.

And by engagement and conversions (I am reading this as conversations) are you meaning follow up posts to recent threads or any thread?

I came here following a fantasy league search and I know you have been busy with the web site conversion, but it has been more than 6 months since the last league ran...was there more traffic due to that activity previously?

If you look at the race scoring sheets it doesnt seem that different from the current core posters in regards to mail in activities and posters.

The trends for the site pre-switch showed most of the visitors hitting the blog posts about customizing, track building, etc - basically the 4 articles that are now at the very top of the home page. That traffic was coming from search engines, plan and simple. People searching for "how to take apart a hot wheels car" got our site and then hopefully converted into exploring the site for more stuff.

Otherwise the most popular stop was the message board home page and the "latest" list of updated topics...both of which still exist on the new site, albeit looking a little different.

When the Fantasy League was actively going on, it rivaled the message boards in terms of activity. But after that the numbers drop off sharply for any given topic or forum so they're much less telling. If anything, now that the site is more tightly integrated, the statistics should be much more helpful to help guide future changes.

So the trick is making sure that the (new) people coming from Google get the information they're looking for but then turning them into repeat visitors. Ideally that means signing up but even if that means just coming back over the course of a couple days to browse the rest of the site, I'll take it. Message boards typically have a long burn before someone joins...they lurk forever until something strikes them as valuable and then they chime in. 

To increase the chances of that conversion happening is the driving force behind why I changed the web site. The gaps between blog, forum and fantasy league were just to wide. You could land at one place and not know about the other (not to mention separate logins). There wasn't any efficient or easy way to solve that problem using the old systems, thus it was rebuilt to account for all of that. It's like there were 3 houses on the same block with only a dirt path connecting them. Now we're all living in the same house and that, in theory, will lead to more opportunities for everyone to have fun and learn.