Harmony-Central Forum is a mess

[MrSandMan]

Harmony-Central.com is totally revamping their site and calling it Harmony-Central 2.0. Anyone read the Harmony-Central 2.0 (http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/beta_is_coming/) release?

What do you think, will it kill their forum? I don't like the looks of it from the screen shots that they posted. :eek:

Maybe people will migrate here to G-M? After all, we use the same software their old forum used(s).

[jackal]

I'm surprised more people haven't come here, because This forum provides Great articles and post that are informative rather then complete pages a non-sence to read through to find something useful.

you've done a great job here Mr.Sandman

ok enough lovey stuff, I have started reading it, but i don't lie the screen shots either. I think there revamping it, because there where to few admins and way to many posts, so they just stopped filtering the posts. IMO

[MrSandMan]

I thought it was worth making a poll about. So I created one on Gear-Vault. Harmony-Central 2.0 poll (http://www.gear-vault.com/harmony-central-2-0-feedback/).

I've always liked H-C. More so than Ultimate-Guitar. Wish H-C would have just made a skin change rather than a total site revamp.

[MrSandMan]

I just checked out their new forum and it's not very user friend. It's overwhelming and wayyy to web 2.0 (techie) looking - like maybe for a google or yahoo message forum. It's not very music looking. The 'Quote' feature is really weird.

Lots of forum posters are pissed off over there. I wonder how this turns out?

[Redline68]

Yeah, I just looked at it myself and gave up after a few minutes. Too hard to read.

I can probably get used to it, but didn't feel like making the effort right now.

[speakerjones]

Yeah, kind of why I'm here. Checking out some new boards. I'll go back once (if) they fix everything, but that's a pretty long list. I wonder how TGP will fare with the large migration of people they'll get.

Anyway, cool digs you have here. I like the look. Easy to use. Everything HC isn't right now.

[MrSandMan]

Glad you like it. You can also change the skin to a light one like H-C use to use by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and to the left you'll see a drop down menu. Just change that to "Default Style". It's currently "Greenfox" right now. I'm always open to suggestions how to improve the site.

Thanks

[Ranchero Muerto]

It's the biggest trainwreck ever.

[Coralkong]

I am here because of the debacle that is HC 2.0.

Hello everybody.

[SteveO]

I moved since the changes............so let me say HELLO

[SteveO]

It's the biggest trainwreck ever.

To say the least................

[MrSandMan]

I was going to ask how things are going over there... from the looks of things, not good? I find the new color scheme extremely annoying to read posts.

Did they get a quick reply yet? That's a must have feature.

[MrSandMan]

Changing forum software can kill a community. Gear-Monkey was recently changed to the same software HC use to use. Even changing to this software here it cost us some members. We were more active with the older software.

But this software is a must have for a serious and long term message forum. It is far superior to anything else out there. I think HarmonyCentral made a fatal mistake changing the forum.

[Coralkong]

Nothing is really working over there, to be honest.

It's just too much to take, really.

If you know the history.....HCEG forums rolled out the beta version about 3 months ago. It crashed their servers within 15 minutes. It was awful.

People bitched and moaned and threatened to leave.

So they pushed out the same software with the same bugs over the weekend.

It's a disaster.

[MrSandMan]

I spent some time posting over there today and it's very slow as far as user activity. Seems to be common for posts like "I'm really struggling" and "this is so confusing".

It does seem buggy. I think they'll eventually get the bugs worked out, but what bothers me the most is the design. It's just so annoying to read. The contrast is awful.

I've been a member on H-C since 2007 and have over 3,100 posts. It was my second favorite forum.... until now.

[Uncle Fester]

HC is now a mess indeed. A poorly planned and executed train wreck. Attempting to use "help desk" software, to base a forum on, is a disaster at it's best. The complete disregard for the members in going ahead with this, after they were advised this software is not up to the task, is shameful.

btw, thanks for inviting me here, Mr. Sandman

[Redline68]

I haven't been able to log on there since they made the switch. The site tells me it'll send an email, but it never does.

[SteveO]

Sand-Man, Like you I had been there since 2003 the 2nd time around as I originally was there since 2000 when LittleBrother was the Moderator of the AG section.


Regards,


SteveO

[MrSandMan]

Did you guys read the thread by Craig Anderton? “Yes, there are major problems. Here’s what we’re doing about it. (http://www.harmonycentral.com/message/26584402)” - That thread turned quite ugly.

Then there are threads like “An open letter to Craig Anderton about what’s left of HC (http://www.harmonycentral.com/thread/1527665)” that threatens mass user revolt. To me, it’s hard to imagine that HC will keep this new design up. At what point do they say "fine, this was a failure... we're going to upgrade to vBulletin 4.0". I think people will rejoice if they said that. That said, it might be too late for others to come back. I think this experiment left a sour taste in a lot of peoples' mouths.

[Uncle Fester]

Did you guys read the thread by Craig Anderton? “Yes, there are major problems. Here’s what we’re doing about it. (http://www.harmonycentral.com/message/26584402)” - That thread turned quite ugly.

Then there are threads like “An open letter to Craig Anderton about what’s left of HC (http://www.harmonycentral.com/thread/1527665)” that threatens mass user revolt. To me, it’s hard to imagine that HC will keep this new design up. At what point do they say "fine, this was a failure... we're going to upgrade to vBulletin 4.0". I think people will rejoice if they said that. That said, it might be too late for others to come back. I think this experiment left a sour taste in a lot of peoples' mouths.

How much negative stuff, does one have to hear, before one admits it was a dismal failure? Methinks there is a larger picture at work here, either wanting more ad space, or something other. Also notice all of the non-music related ads now.

Seems an awful lot has already been invested in this abortion, to admit defeat now, if in fact, HC sees this as defeat.

[Brian Krashpad]

First, welcome to new peeps from H-C.

I'll keep using it I guess, as I have a lot of friends over there, but it IS clunky as hell. I'll just use it much less than I used to.

[GrooveSkipInc]

I'm checking you guys out because of those shenanigans.

[TheLivingDead]

Yes it definitely blows... That's why I'm here. :D

Lookin' for a new place to sell gear.

[MrSandMan]

Cheers and welcome fellas. HC has really thinned out. The activity over there has dropped significantly. I really do hope they change back to vBulletin. All they had to do was update vBulletin and all would have been resolved. They were using outdated software and that's why the search and other things didn't work correctly.

Just curious.... If HC changes back to vBulletin, would you return?

[MrSandMan]

I read the open letter to Craig Anderton and I must say Craig seems like a real stand up guy. I honestly think he is fighting (musiciansfriend?) to go back to vBulletin. I replied in the thread to tell him to look at vBulletin 4.0. I honestly think vBulletin 4.0 will be the answer to all their problems and it will please the community.

The software they are using now looks custom built and I'm sure they are spending $10's of thousands of dollars to build it. Why not spend $250 bucks for vBulletin 4.0 and be done with it?

[cincy_cosmo]

I'm also another HC person looking for a new home. My eyes feel much better here. I'm not a creature of habit and I work with software so I know how change may be painful but for the good...I just didn't see much good in what HC did to us.

[Uncle Fester]

Cheers and welcome fellas. HC has really thinned out. The activity over there has dropped significantly. I really do hope they change back to vBulletin. All they had to do was update vBulletin and all would have been resolved. They were using outdated software and that's why the search and other things didn't work correctly.

Just curious.... If HC changes back to vBulletin, would you return?

Thanks. Being a luthier, I was a contributor there, primarily in AG but, also EG. The contributors is what made HC successful, and gave HC the rich content it had. A lesson apparently lost on mgmt there.

No, I am done with the place. My priorities have also changed. It's more quality of life stuff for me now. I do not miss the vitriol, and trolls they had there.

[TheLivingDead]

Cheers and welcome fellas. HC has really thinned out. The activity over there has dropped significantly. I really do hope they change back to vBulletin. All they had to do was update vBulletin and all would have been resolved. They were using outdated software and that's why the search and other things didn't work correctly.

Just curious.... If HC changes back to vBulletin, would you return?

Thanks for having us! I'm not going to stop going there completely, but I really do wish they'd change the vBulletin and other small things like bringing back the quick reply. They've already fixed some small things like now when you open a thread it actually puts you at the first post. But I'm, overall, just really disappointed with the entire change of the place. Unless they completely undo what they've done I doubt I'll be as involved with them as I was. Shame too... I was doing a lot of good business there. Ah well.

[speakerjones]

Thanks. Being a luthier, I was a contributor there, primarily in AG but, also EG. The contributors is what made HC successful, and gave HC the rich content it had. A lesson apparently lost on mgmt there.

No, I am done with the place. My priorities have also changed. It's more quality of life stuff for me now. I do not miss the vitriol, and trolls they had there.

Likewise. I've heard that they're considering rolling back to vbulletin, but I don't think I'll ever spend as much time as I did. It was starting to get overrun by idiots and trolls. Oh well!

[speakerjones]

First, welcome to new peeps from H-C.

I'll keep using it I guess, as I have a lot of friends over there, but it IS clunky as hell. I'll just use it much less than I used to.

Same here Brian. I'll check in from time to time, but I'm not going to contribute like I did. I'm kind of liking smaller forums like this, and Mark Wein's forum. Less BS drama on smooth platforms.

[MrSandMan]

Likewise. I've heard that they're considering rolling back to vbulletin, but I don't think I'll ever spend as much time as I did. It was starting to get overrun by idiots and trolls. Oh well!

Hey speakerjones, that's great news if they do go back to VB! Is there a link to the rumor? I'm trying to keep up on HarmonyCentral news and would like to see what people are saying.

[speakerjones]

At this point they haven't officially said what they're doing, but they're doing something. Here's the link to the announcment (it's at the top of the page).

http://www.harmonycentral.com/community/getting-started/new_site_feedback?view=discussions

Here's another comment Anderton made:

Re: The "We Listened" Message - THANK YOU HC!
What's being planned will be explained as soon as we can. There are still many details to be worked out and we don't want to give more details until they're nailed down. Unfortunately HC 1.0 remains a nightmare in terms of support. It's still problematic and if we have to return to it, then that brings up additional negative issues. But nothing is off the table, from a total rollback, to taking the entire site down, to removing all ads if that's what's causing pages to hang, to splitting off the forums, to many other options...unfortunately there are no perfect solutions. Each option has to be evaluated as to impact, feasibility, and ability to satisfy the community's needs.


What I can say is that every option is being evaluated primarily on the community feedback. Any other considerations (expense, timing, etc.) are secondary.


This is going to be a very difficult 24 hours, but we hope we'll have something at the end of that time period that we all can live with until we can find a permanent solution. Please don't speculate as to what we'll be doing, we're still in the data collection stage and that data will sort of make the decision for us.


You're right, I am doing everything I can to get this fixed but so is everybody else. What's not clear yet is what exact form that fix will take, but as I said, at this point nothing is off the table.

[Brian Krashpad]

Same here Brian. I'll check in from time to time, but I'm not going to contribute like I did. I'm kind of liking smaller forums like this, and Mark Wein's forum. Less BS drama on smooth platforms.

Win-win.

I'm a member at Wein's as well, but don't post very often.

[MrSandMan]

HC is making this harder than it has to be. They keep talking about how Harmony-Central 1.0 was duct taped, pieced together, band aid', and a complete mess internally... but they seem to avoid the real solution is vBulletin 3.8 or 4.0 (cheapest and fastest) resolution to make the community happy.

Harmony-Central was an outdated and nulled vBulletin version, of course it was all messed up. It's like FireFox or any other software, it needs to be updated when new versions become available.

Please HC just use vBulletin 3.8 or 4.0! It really does not have to be this difficult and drawn out to resolve the issue.

[speakerjones]

Seems that way. Probably some suits at GC/MF impressed by Jive's salespeople using a lot of cool buzzwords. Whatever. Even if you forget about the forums, the reviews are a resource that every musician who has a computer has used. The whole online musician community is pissed about that being unaccessable.

[TheSoad25]

:( :( :( :( :(

[smorgdonkey]

I just realize that it was a place that I enjoyed and that it isn't coming back. I don't think I need to spend that much time surfing anyway. I realize that it is time for a change and the self-destruction of HC helped me make that change.

[Sarssipius]

I really wonder how much they had to pay to get such a screwed layout!!:eek:

[Redline68]

I might try to sign in there one more time. I kinda gave up after 4 tries with the email link thing. Then again, I seem to be doing fine without it.

[MrSandMan]

I really wonder how much they had to pay to get such a screwed layout!!:eek:

That smiley image that you used [ :eek: ] is exactly how my eyes feel after spending a half-hour over there reading posts. I try to monitor random message forums to see what the buzz of the day/week is in the guitar world.

[stvnford]

I started here and love the forum layout and ease of use.

I didn't know about HC until it was brought up. Went over to take a peak and still can't get the burning sensation outta my eyes. What a mess.

They really need to do some configuration settings and tweaks BEFORE going 'live'.... they must be following the Microsoft Business plan.. :eek::confused:

[MrSandMan]

Looks like Harmonycentral took the peoples' advice and went back to their old platform. I chose GM forum software simply because it's the most user-friendly and popular forum platform in the world. Its time tested and proven.

We use to use SMF and after the change the inactivity on GM did go down, but that is partly my fault for not promoting the forum as hard as I should, plus for financial reasons, I had to cut back on giveaways... though I am trying to cook up another guitar giveaway!

[Brian Krashpad]

Looks like Harmonycentral took the peoples' advice and went back to their old platform. I chose GM forum software simply because it's the most user-friendly and popular forum platform in the world. Its time tested and proven.

We use to use SMF and after the change the inactivity on GM did go down, but that is partly my fault for not promoting the forum as hard as I should, plus for financial reasons, I had to cut back on giveaways... though I am trying to cook up another guitar giveaway!

Yeah, HC finally ditched the 2.o/beta crap. It was terrible. I'm sure they blew a TON of money on that, and even with the old forums back, they drove a lot of people away in the interim.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Also why I almost never mod my guitars.

;)

[MrSandMan]

Brian, just curious... how did you like the SMF software we use to have? It was a free software and worked good. However, my only complaint (as a webmaster) was it didn't seem to be 'search engine' happy. The current software (vBulletin) is much more 'search engine' compliant IMO.

For the next giveaway, part of my idea was giving away a telecaster knockoff (probably a Douglas or SX) for someone to 'relic'. Would you ever be willing to 'relic' a guitar, Brian? :D