Revamping this website

[Kate Taylor]

Nigel, i have been a Forum member for more than 8 years and a Mod for some of this time. I am currently trying to place a For Sale advertisment. I am also a PCV subscriber for several years and have just renewed.

First, this section of the site does not accept my Forum log-on and password.

So I use an alternative email address and try again.

I manage eventually to log in, complete the from with the exception of the caravan layout. None of the 52 offered shows a fixed side bed with corner (rather than full width) toilet/shower room.

I get through this and click on Web View before confirming.

This just says 'Form Error' with no guidance as to what it does not like.

I email Haymarket asking what to do - no reply.

I try again and this time the form does not accept the passord i generated when 're registering'. There is no facility to check - most sites have a 'forgotten password' facility - not that I had forgotten mine but I could at least have changed to another one.

Frankly, in my 14 years of using internet for most of my shopping, travel plans etc. PCV is just about the most frustrating website I have ever come across. I am particularly annoyed as I wish to place the advert to sell my caravan as quickly as possible rather than have to accept the dealers PE offer.

I would appreciate it if you can kick the techies where it matters and soon.

Ray Smith (Ray S)

 

[Parksy]

I know that there have been problems arising when trying to place adverts on the Buy / Sell part of this website Ray, and sympathise with your disappointment.
Haymarket are aware of the problems and will be addressing them soon. I've forwarded your comments and sent an email to you.

 

[NigelDonnelly]

Ray S

I have waited for a while to get something more definite to post. Am afriad it is still not concrete but it is getting there.

I appreciate that the site has significant issues - I also know they are long standing. I find this very frustrating, as I am sure you do too.

Just a couple of things.

First up, the For Sale section is shortly due for replacement. The current system is very old and a new one, powered by a third party provider called Ad Precision is set to be deployed shortly. Appreciate that is no good for you now, but we are getting there with this. Building this sort of stuff is frustrating, difficult and so on. Hopefully, using it won't be.

Apologies for the delays and problems

 

[RayS]

Nigel, thanks for reply - appreciate it. My immediate problem is solved as the van sold via another website. The dissifuclty is always wheter to complain or just put up with it, but I take the view that unless you know about the problems then they are unlikely to get fixed. suffering in silence does not often work.

Hopefully with a new 'van expected next month I shall not be needing the facility for a while, but it may be time to test the new site with a 'spring clean' sale of all the bits and pieces which have accumulated during the years. As an ex (part-time) journal editor myself I understand how the whole business has changed over a few years - on-line is now king.

Keep up the good work, Regards, Ray

 

[RayS]

Oh dear, so much for my touch typing, but I'm sure you will get the sense.

 

[dave8858]

This site does perform consistently poorly. I don't know how it is hosted or designed, but these problems are not short term they have been ongoing ever since I joined in 2010 if memory serves. PC Mag have promised fixes and said ' bear with us' unfortunately nothing much seems to have changed. I stopped using the site in early 2011 because it was frustrating due to poor performance. I've spent this evening on it and find it just as frustrating.
For the record I have 30Mb fibre broadband from Virginmedia which independant speed test websites all agree is over 20Mb download and 2mb upload consistently so I doubt the problem is my end.
It could be bad web design, insufficient bandwidth from the hosting provider or a multitude of other ills. I'd even be willing to investigate for PC if only to get it sorted!

Regards

Dave

 

[RayS]

makes you wonder a bit if Hezza brought the HMG 'expertise' of websites and IT home from work one day. Having seen the (at the time) largest Orcale database in Europe conceived and sucessfully executed well inside two years and well inside budget, I am still astounded (and damn annoyed) at the inability of our 'lords and masters' to get anything right - witness all the NHS stuff which still has not replaced 60 year old paper records.

 

[Kate Taylor]

Hello Ray and Dave, Our techies are currently working on a new website for us. Evolution is at work behind the scenes... I haven't seen it yet, but we're all looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the trouble to give us feedback - it is valuable. Kate

 

[Parksy]

Hello Ray and Dave, Our techies are currently working on a new website for us. Evolution is at work behind the scenes... I haven't seen it yet, but we're all looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the trouble to give us feedback - it is valuable. Kate

Hi Kate, thanks for the update.

Please tell me that the techies who are currently working behind the scenes to build a new website for us are not the same crew who created this current website...........

The reason why some of our loyal forumites appear to be unhappy with the present arrangement has to be due to the fact that the original guys never finished the job.
The techies at the time of the launch were apparently very busy trying to launch several Haymarket internet projects all at the same time, and despite promises and assurances that this website would be completed, tweaked and added to when time allowed this didn't happen.
What made matters worse from my point of view was that the techies asked me to keep them updated via email about any technical issues that cropped up from time to time, but when I did as I was asked all I got for my troubles was a flea in my ear and an order to no longer contact them via email direct.

The net result has been that I've been the one who has had to field numerous complaints both on the forum and in public on other caravan forums and via email in private about the lack of user friendliness and things like the lack of a private messaging facility or a caravan and accessory classified section enjoyed by other more user friendly caravan forums.
I've tried via emails to resolve the difficulties that forum members have experienced when the system has not allowed them to log in or they have had issues with the sometimes unstable user interface that we were left to deal with, although I must say Nigel helped enormously when he became aware of the various problems, but of course he's moved on now.
I hope that the techies whoever they may be will consider trialling a beta version of this new website before fully launching it, so that any issues such as the ongoing problem with versions of Internet Explorer which continues to cost this website and forum valuable members, who go elsewhere, can be completely resolved.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I posted a topic today but the EDIT option seems to not be available
Yet it appears here and on Stays Greasing !

 

[Parksy]

This website has suffered various degrees of instability since it was 'revamped'.

It might be best to pre-edit long comments using Notepad (Not Wordpad which is incompatible with this website)

 

[RayS]

I've tried to flag another comment as offensive but the poster has a point. It's now months since we were promised an improved site but I've yet to see any sign of it. I get he feeling that Haymarket are relying on customer loyalty i.e. we will put up with anything and to some extent they are right - after 8+ years I really would not want to loose touch with many friends on this site - all un-met but friends none the less - but that's really no excuse for not getting this site into the 2000's

 

[Parksy]

Hi Ray
Thanks for trying to flag up a previous comment which I've now deleted.
I've had no news with regard to any proposed new website after Kate Taylor from Practical Motorhome mentioned the possibility of there being one two months ago (see quote below).
I'm sure that the Practical Caravan powers that be appreciate the loyalty of forum regulars like yourself, and as far as I'm aware the forum will continue as it is for the time being, at least no one has told me any different.
Be careful what you wish for Ray, whoever built this current website / forum when the old PCv forum was ditched didn't pay much attention to what forum users had asked for, and as far as I'm aware no one from Haymarket has asked regular forum users what sort of things they would like to see if they provided a new website and forum now.
We lost a great many long term members after the last 'upgrade' because of user difficulty, software glitches, incompatibility with Internet Explorer and the problem with the word verification box, and I'd hate to lose even more of our regulars due to another botched upgrade, in fact if there is any possibility of the end result suffering similar issues to this current version I'd much rather that things were left well alone

Hello Ray and Dave, Our techies are currently working on a new website for us. Evolution is at work behind the scenes... I haven't seen it yet, but we're all looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the trouble to give us feedback - it is valuable. Kate

 

[Parksy]

Update:
Practical Caravan editor Rob Ganley has been kind enough to contact me via email today with some good news.
Haymarket have now appointed Lizzie Pope as digital editor, and with support from Kate Taylor who replied earlier in this thread she will be moving this website forward to the next stage in it's development, so I'm sure that forum members will join me in welcoming Lizzie and wishing her every success in her new job.
Rob told me that Haymarket with Lizzie's help will be improving various parts of the Practical Caravan website including this forum, and everyone concerned is particularly keen to get things right with regard to the forum.
With this in mind Rob has asked me to provide him with a list of important things that we would like the improved forum to have.
From previous comments a good comment edit facility, a private message service and email notifications are the first things that come to my mind but what would everyone else like the improved forum to have?
I'll post a link to this reply on the General message board but please add your suggestions to this thread here on this message board and I'll forward them to Rob.
All ideas gratefully received

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Parksy,

The link you provided does not work, so I have posted in the normal way in this section,

Just a few ramblings that might help......

I don't know a lot about forum engine designs, but from a users point of view there are a number of points that I think should be improved.

Starting with the main Forum menus page, titled "Forums"
We only have 13 topic areas and because of the choice of layout and font size, you have to scroll down to get to the last few topic areas.

Again because of the layout and font sizes, its annoying the last topic updated only shows about 11 characters of the headline. lets see more so we can read what the thread is about.
To give more space loose the counters for threads and posts on this page - put them on the top of the topics pages.

On the topic pages, you could get more on the page if the font was smaller.

Within the threads pages, navigation to previous, next or page number needs to be duplicated top and bottom of the page.

When adding comments to threads, the composing box needs to be bigger, and should offer an in built spell checker. it should be seeded with caravanning specific names, and spellings.

We need a much better search facility, that includes key words, and possibly by nicknames.

Perhaps it could include a means for members to track threads where they have contributed.

I'm not convinced having an member accessed message system is advisable, as because of the anonymity afforded by the forum, it can lead to unconstrained abuse and bullying. Better to have such messages moderated as they currently are. However perhaps a message request system could be included to alert moderators to the desire to pass a message.

 

[Parksy]

I'm not convinced having an member accessed message system is advisable, as because of the anonymity afforded by the forum, it can lead to unconstrained abuse and bullying. Better to have such messages moderated as they currently are. However perhaps a message request system could be included to alert moderators to the desire to pass a message.

Thanks for the input Prof, I'll add your suggestions to the list which I hope to forward after the weekend.
I take your point about the inherent snags in a private message function, but in rare cases where inappropriate comments, persecution, abuse or bullying was revealed moderators would act to put an end to the problem, and don't forget that the individual could choose who had access to their PM site and they could block those that they'd prefer not to receive messages from as is the case on other forums.
I repaired the link from the General message board, thanks.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Steve, good comments from the prof very well sculptured and to the point, however my top priority and if only one improvment was made it would be the ability to post photos/drawings/scrips direct from the hard drive to the post page, as many other forums do, trying to explain something in words when a drawing would do it instantly would be far better. and photos that did not have to go through Photobucket ect would be wonderful.

 

[Surfer]

It would be nice to have a notification to a thread to which are subscribed updating you that someone has posted on it. Secondly a "New posts" search would be beneficial as it woudl show all New Posts since you last logged in.

 

[Kate Taylor]

Hi Ray, The editorial team has shared your frustration with parts of this website's functionality. The developers are still working on our new website and finally we've seen an early beta site for one section of it, so we're giving them great long lists of things to fix. I've been sharing the keys to our many digital platforms with Nigel's replacement, our new top Digital Editor Lizzie Pope – it's great to have her on board! She's arrived at an exciting time and has gone off to meet the web developers today. Thanks for all your feedback on what we need to make this forum better. Keep your suggestions coming and if you agree with someone else, please say so. Many thanks.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Kate,
as a long standing member (almost 10years) I do hope the new team grasp the nettle and bring the site bang up to date with the functionality that represents the improvments in web design and user interfaces, that up to date have been sadly lacking,
the ability to instant message, direct post, and receive feed back that other forum users take for granted even to the inclusion of a chat box for members who are online could use for instant answers to emergency problems, and a generally have a good chin wag to fellow members who we probably will never meet in person,
the success of other forms of social media surely show the way forwards in this respect and forums should not be left behind stuck in a timewarp of pinning mesages to a board and wating for a reply (often for weeks) untill enough information is gathered to answer a particular question,
I draw your attention to the thread (the Woosie Club) which is probably the most used and long running part of the forum with 1701 posts up to date, it has spawned a new entity in it's own right, of social interaction between members and is probably the best aspect to come out of the forum since it began,
just think how good the forum would be if all members felt they were part of the (PC forum members club) and could interact the same as us "Woosie's do" now thats a site improvement I cannot wait for.

 

[otherclive]

I submitted a response under Ideas for Improving the Forum, but the link offerd just dumped me elsewhere. However here are my inputs:

Firstly let me say that I am surprsied that a seperate thread hasnt been set up so that whoever has the task can see all inputs easily. But this is where the link took me too, so be it.

• A decent search function is required
• A quick reply Thank You button
• Abilty to send a private message to another Forum member and notification when a message has been received.
• The Sale/wants section is too limited.
• Section on upcoming events so that organisers/attendees can post details
• More consistency when new posts are made. Sometimes a new post isnt highlighted when I look at the main forum headings

 

[Parksy]

I was in touch with our new admin Lizzie Pope earlier this week, I read your post Clive and included yours and everyone elses suggestions in my email.
Lizzie replied to thank us for our ideas and feedback and said that the ideas and feedback will be factored into the plans to revitalise the forums.

 

[otherclive]

Thanks Parksy. Quite a few of the inputs are quite similar. I like this Forum as its easy to navigate so the suggested improvements will make it very good.