The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #146184   Message #3386545
Posted By: Geoff the Duck
05-Aug-12 - 03:23 PM
Thread Name: New Forum - folkforums.co.uk / folkforums.com
Subject: RE: New Forum - folkforums.co.uk
I can never understand why people seem to think that other forums are user friendly.
They all seem to have an identical format that starts with different sections to click on, then threads within the sections, then a post which every following post quotes in its entirety followed by not much of a reply, then some sort of "I always have this pointless comment quoted under every posting". On top of that, much of the screen is taken up by little smiley faces and Avatar cartoons and which serve absolutely no purpose other than to massage the ego of the poster.
By the time I have waded through all the needless clutter, I have usually lost interest, and from the postings it seems that everyone else also has.
Give me the bleak simplicity of Mudcat any day.
You can look at a list of today's active threads or extend it to everything since the first day of the forum. I can filter for key words I expect to find in a thread title, or I can search the forum.
As a member, I can save a personal list of interesting threads, so I can return to them - check information or get round to reading when I am not busy. If I can't find something, all I have to do is ask in a new thread and I will be told exactly where to go ;@).
Th lack of clutter on threads means I can read or scan very quickly through, to decide if the content is something I am interested in, and if not, I can move onto the next one without wasting time.
I have personally never found anything more user friendly on the web (as for the animals living here - that's another matter... ;@).. ).

Not putting down the effort you have made, Greg, your forum looks fine, just like many others, but don't confuse Flashy with easy to use. If up to date and modern was that good, why do we sing unaccompanied traditional songs not techno rave?

Quack!
Geoff the Duck.