# Looking for New Blazer Board



## bintim70 (Dec 31, 2002)

If you know of any other decent boards, let me know. I will be checking a few out tonight.:thumbdown: I can't handle this slow P.O.S.


----------



## BlayZa (Dec 31, 2002)

ditto


----------



## Admin (May 26, 2006)

All we ask is that you have patience while we tweak the servers. :cheers:


----------



## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

mack10 said:


> All we ask is that you have patience while we tweak the servers. :cheers:


tweak the servers so the site is like it was 2 days ago. quit giving us gimmicky "toys" to play with that no one cares about, and improve the quality of posters.

thats one of the biggest drawbacks of the site is how they were gung-ho on increasing the # of posters/members with no regard to the quality of the site. THATS why people are leaving the board, because it's taken a crap in quality.


----------



## HOWIE (Dec 30, 2002)

Hap said:


> tweak the servers so the site is like it was 2 days ago. quit giving us gimmicky "toys" to play with that no one cares about, and improve the quality of posters.
> 
> thats one of the biggest drawbacks of the site is how they were gung-ho on increasing the # of posters/members with no regard to the quality of the site. THATS why people are leaving the board, because it's taken a crap in quality.


So this is what dial up is like? Looks like I need to take a vacation for awhile while they work out the kinks on this. It is taking way to long for pages to load and I have to agree with Hap here, there are way to many toys when all a lot us want is to share ideas and discuss rumors.

I have to admit a lot of this stuff is complete overkill. I'd dial it down a notch or two.


----------



## graybeard (May 10, 2003)

Hap said:


> tweak the servers so the site is like it was 2 days ago. quit giving us gimmicky "toys" to play with that no one cares about, and improve the quality of posters.
> 
> thats one of the biggest drawbacks of the site is how they were gung-ho on increasing the # of posters/members with no regard to the quality of the site. THATS why people are leaving the board, because it's taken a crap in quality.


 What Hap said !!!


----------



## mook (Dec 31, 2002)

man, even the layout sucks. 

black text on beige is NOT easier to read than black on white. there's a reason why 95% of all printed text follows the format of black on white--it's easier to read. 
just because you can make it look different doesn't mean you should. 

meanwhile, the only reason anybody comes to this site (the posts) still requires scrolling down before you actually get to interesting content. 

put all that other crap (the banners, the search features, the scoreboard, the photos, etc) at the bottom of the page. just put the freshest posts (which is all most of us care about) at the top. 

trying to force feed us crap we don't care about is just flat out annoying. 

christ, if you guys were running Amazon, it'd be bankrupt, because none of the users would bother scrolling around to find the stuff for sale.


----------



## BiggaAdams (Nov 10, 2006)

Yeah, anyone else know of any good basketball boards? This one has taken a turn for the worse.


----------



## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Bring everything back to the way it was and you'll get a lot of happy campers.


----------



## Stepping Razor (Apr 24, 2004)

This is just god awful. Switch it back or this board is finished.

Stepping Razor


----------



## AK-47 (Jul 7, 2005)

You guys need to give something a try first. Of course you are not used to it, but give it a few days. It's like any part of your life, you are afraid of change. You get down to a routine in your day and when someone messes with it you get all upset, but over time it goes away and you get used to it. Just give the new layout a try, then if you still don't like it, then you can rant away.


----------



## Tince (Jul 11, 2004)

I have to agree that my first reaction to the change isn't a positive one, but like AK47 said, I'm going to give it a chance.

Nobody likes change, but as long as there is quality information, I can deal with the new format.


----------



## MikeDC (Jul 16, 2002)

mook said:


> man, even the layout sucks.
> 
> black text on beige is NOT easier to read than black on white. there's a reason why 95% of all printed text follows the format of black on white--it's easier to read.
> just because you can make it look different doesn't mean you should.
> ...


I agree with you on a number of fronts. In particular there is a lot of dead space at the top that could be going to showing off what makes this site go - good posts.

We'll get there. As mack noted, we're working on it. Speed is the first issue and we're already back to decent from what I can tell.

Regarding the rest, we'll work on that too. Keep in mind that the old design was, let's face it, not the most user friendly setup on the net. Put differently, it stank. We got by with it because everyone was used to it, but it was a major roadblock for new users to navigate and to get around in general.

Obviously the new layout will be tweaked to improve things. Part of the reason it's the new layout is that it's going to be easier to do that. It was hard to before.

So please, bear with us. The goal here is, of course, to make the experience better for you guys.


----------



## TheBlueDoggy (Oct 5, 2004)

Honestly I'm don't understand what everyone is griping about. I used to do web design (and still dabble in it on occasion) professionally and the aesthetics here are much improved over the old theme in general. The lack of harsh contrast with the bright red and white is scientifically proven to be easier on more people's eyes, as it is on mine. The hardwood floor background could go, but that's a 1 minute change when they get to it. 

The fonts and buttons are larger, and clearer. The overall navigation is almost identical, I'm not sure where people are getting this difficult navigation stuff from. Yeah, there's a full page of crap up top that was added, I agree, that's too much when you have a full page of banner and ads on 1280 x 1024 resolution screen, before getting to any content. Sounds like they are going to fix that too, and oh my god you have to scroll down for 1 second oh dear your lives are ruined.

For me, the instant the new site was up, there was no performance difference between yesterday and today. In fact, at the moment I'm writing this, this is the best speed I've ever gotten from this clunky site.

I can understand people don't come here for flashiness, they come here for ease of use and to talk ball, and you all get used to one thing and any change in your daily routine throws your life out of whack, but the changes really are minor, and you'd have just about any pro web designer scratching their heads wondering wtf you're talking about when you say it looks worse.

Even with the bad changes, really, some of you guys are just throwing the silliest tantrums screaming about going home and then *****ing at the guys who are telling you they're trying to fix it based off your input. My God, Portland has some whiny fans.

everyone take a :chill:


----------



## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

I might be in the minority here, but I kinda like it.


----------



## Nate Dogg (Oct 20, 2006)

The basketball floor in the background is a bit much but for me, but however I like the light tan/beige background in our chat messages with the black text. White background forums can only go so far. Post times (for each person), seem easier to read for me as well as the edit button, quote button and quick reply are much clearer now at the end of each post. The new change didn't affect my web page draw/load. Sometimes change is good as I am not gripping about it and like the change.


----------



## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Nate Dogg said:


> The basketball floor in the background is a bit much but for me, but however I like the light tan/beige background in our chat messages with the black text. White background forums can only go so far. Post times (for each person), seem easier to read for me as well as the edit button, quote button and quick reply are much clearer now at the end of each post. The new change didn't affect my web page draw/load. Sometimes change is good as I am not gripping about it and like the change.


Yeah, thats good and all, but your still a Beavers fan. :starwars:


----------



## bintim70 (Dec 31, 2002)

But not one post about an alternate site.:sad:


----------



## chris_in_pdx (Jul 11, 2004)

bintim70 said:


> But not one post about an alternate site.:sad:


Usenet:

rec.sport.basketball.pro
alt.sports.basketball.nba.port-blazers

WWW:

http://boards.espn.go.com/boards/mb/mb?sport=nba&id=por
http://www.oregonlive.com/forums/blazers/?initial=true

Good luck!


----------



## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

Hell I was just glad it was free. Go ***** somewhere else.


----------



## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

I understand that with any change the board cannot satisfy all posters. I strongly encourage folks to look at what we have here over the next few weeks before considering leaving. Any transition is tough in terms of downtime and initial bugs but this site has (unlike other boards) concentrated on building a quality community for posting.

A minimize button will be added for the sportsticker.

The speed has already noticeably improved and with the improved quick reply, edit, etc speed times once the transition is complete will be much faster

The new layout will also allow us to fix rep and uCash and create some new bonuses for contests and quality poster


----------



## mook (Dec 31, 2002)

MikeDC said:


> I agree with you on a number of fronts. In particular there is a lot of dead space at the top that could be going to showing off what makes this site go - good posts.
> 
> We'll get there. As mack noted, we're working on it. Speed is the first issue and we're already back to decent from what I can tell.
> 
> ...


Thanks for replying, Mike. I've deployed a number of websites and databases I've designed in the past, and I realize it's tough to please everyone (or even most people). 

However, I often find that developers spend far too much time talking to each other, and far too little time getting input from their customers. Did you do any beta testing with people like me before implementing it? Even just taking screen shots designed in dreamweaver or freehand or photoshop or something, just to give people the idea? A lot of your problems could've been avoided by mocking it up and showing to guys like me or Minstrel (whom I believe has a lot of experience in user interface design). I know I've tried to give input in the past to DaBullz, and he wasn't exactly receptive. Downright condescending is how I'd describe it. 

Anyway, the single biggest upgrade you could do IMO is to enable a post ranking system. Allow people to put stars next to great posts. 

Then at the top in place of your banner it would be populated by links to the 5 highest ranked posts of the previous day on the entire basketballforum.com. This would encourage great, quality posts, and also encourage people to look at different boards. It'd certainly be far more useful than scoreboards or photos, and it'd create a great first impression for new users. 

I may not wander into the Clippers' board much, but if I knew there was one of the top 5 best posts on the board from yesterday there, I might go take a look. 

Quality writing and the best writers would be headlining the entire website. It'd be trubluefan's dream of beat writers come true.


----------



## 2k (Dec 30, 2005)

Well its ten times faster then yesterday so whats the beef?


----------



## Blazer Ringbearer (Jan 28, 2003)

mook said:


> Thanks for replying, Mike. I've deployed a number of websites and databases I've designed in the past, and I realize it's tough to please everyone (or even most people).
> 
> However, I often find that developers spend far too much time talking to each other, and far too little time getting input from their customers. Did you do any beta testing with people like me before implementing it? Even just taking screen shots designed in dreamweaver or freehand or photoshop or something, just to give people the idea? A lot of your problems could've been avoided by mocking it up and showing to guys like me or Minstrel (whom I believe has a lot of experience in user interface design). I know I've tried to give input in the past to DaBullz, and he wasn't exactly receptive. Downright condescending is how I'd describe it.
> 
> ...


Great idea! I tried to rep you but I have to spread some more around. If that's not communism, I don't know what is... it would have been better if I could have just put a star beside it.

And to echo you and others, just put the extra features on the bottom or on the home page. Adding a minimizing function will just make everything more complicated and will be a pain if you have to do it regularly.

The top of the board on the forum pages should be sacred ground, since you are opening the forum and thread views again and again. 

Sure, we're big whiners for complaining about scrolling, but we're the customers - some of us paying customers - so we can't be all wrong.


----------



## Blazer Ringbearer (Jan 28, 2003)

Duplicate post.

But since we're talking about improvements, is there a way that we can be allowed to delete our own posts if we double?

That way we can avoid this kind of embarrassment!


----------



## RedHot&Rolling (Jun 26, 2004)

It took until 8:15am Friday for me to be able to get on the site. The look deserves tweeking. Horrible colors. Hardwood floors aren't yellow!!

Hopefully it'll get better. Does RealGM still have message boards??

As far as the whole change thing goes, I'd have appreciated more discussion about the changes (like Mook)for the customers (me). 

Good day.


----------



## mook (Dec 31, 2002)

Blazer Ringbearer said:


> Great idea! I tried to rep you but I have to spread some more around. If that's not communism, I don't know what is... it would have been better if I could have just put a star beside it.


Thanks! I think it'd do a lot to also raise the overall quality of posts on this board. Basketball fans are by nature highly competitive. The top 5 posts would set the elite standard that many of us would try to surpass because it's the kind of instant recognition competitors crave. 

Anybody here post reviews on Amazon? Isn't it kind of cool when other users rate your review as the best one on a certain product? This system would appeal to that same sense of recognition, and it'd optimize what this board does best (posting) instead of focusing on stuff that dozens of other boards do just as well or far better (track scores, show pictures, etc).


----------



## Admin (May 26, 2006)

mook said:


> Anyway, the single biggest upgrade you could do IMO is to enable a post ranking system. Allow people to put stars next to great posts.



Click on rate thread at the top


----------



## ¹²³ (Jan 8, 2003)

mack10 said:


> Click on rate thread at the top


Nice, and as I recall this feature is around for quite some time now.


----------



## sa1177 (Feb 18, 2005)

I just paid $10 for more Adds and this navigation. 

I suggest removing the ads for supporting members like alot of other sites do.


----------



## It's_GO_Time (Oct 13, 2005)

Speed seems back to normal . . . that is a good thing.

Waiting for that minimizing the top banner feature. :biggrin:


----------



## It's_GO_Time (Oct 13, 2005)

sa1177 said:


> I just paid $10 for more Adds and this navigation.
> 
> I suggest removing the ads for supporting members like alot of other sites do.


Now that is great marketing scheme . . . I know I would pay for that.


----------



## supermati (Mar 28, 2005)

Please implement the option to see who's currently viewing the thread.


----------



## Samuel (Jan 1, 2003)

I've been using the diaries section at blazersedge.com

I'm an A's fan at athleticsnation.com and really enjoy the setup of that site.


----------



## Foulzilla (Jan 11, 2005)

I have zero experience with forum design, so am not sure how complicated this is, but could you just add another option in the user cp that allows people to choose their own theme? Many other boards I frequent have this available, and it would at least make people who dislike the new look happy as the former look could be one of the options. Other then the massive amount of space wasted at the top (which it sounds like you already have a plan for), that's my only complaint. Performance today seems fine (though yesterday was bad, that's no surprise shortly after major changes, so no big deal).


----------



## blakeback (Jun 29, 2006)

holy crap, what a bunch of whiners :boohoo: 

and I thought the doom & gloom post-blazers-loss whiners were bad


----------



## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

blakejack said:


> holy crap, what a bunch of whiners :boohoo:
> 
> and I thought the doom & gloom post-blazers-loss whiners were bad


No doubt! I like everything about the new design, including the hardwood floor background.


----------



## mook (Dec 31, 2002)

mack10 said:


> Click on rate thread at the top


That's fine, but some of the best posts are often buried in a big thread. This site should reward brilliant posts, be they the start of a thread or buried on page 12 of a thread. 

Besides, your response shows me you don't really get the point. PUBLICIZE THE BEST POSTS. 

I'll say it again, in case you are skimming. 

PUBLICIZE THE BEST POSTS. 

Have an automated system that puts links to the 5 highest-ranked posts from the previous day in the banner area. This will create far greater value to everyone than showing box scores. 

In fact, it'd even create value for your advertisers. Everybody would look at the banner to see who made the best posts from the previous day, and if an advertiser has an advertisement right next to this section, he'll get a lot of visibility. 

Once again, in case you don't get anything else I'm writing: 

PUBLICIZE THE BEST POSTS. 

Every day people write really fantastic stuff on this website, creating a great deal of value for the owners. You guys are idiots if you don't do everything you can to maximize that value.

Screwing around with box scores and game recaps is a waste of time. There are far bigger companies than yours who can do it better. Your greatest asset on this website is great writers, and you aren't using that asset to your best advantage.


----------



## BlazerFanFoLife (Jul 17, 2003)

i really dont like the basketball scores and headlines. i go to other sites to check box scores and to look up none blazers news. when i come to bbb i am looking for active conversation about the blazers. having to scroll half way down the page to get to the first active thread is not very say user friendly. the hardwood background is giving me a headache and killing my eyes.


----------



## It's_GO_Time (Oct 13, 2005)

BlazerFanFoLife said:


> i really dont like the basketball scores and headlines. i go to other sites to check box scores and to look up none blazers news. when i come to bbb i am looking for active conversation about the blazers. having to scroll half way down the page to get to the first active thread is not very say user friendly.



The changes haven't bothered me as much as others . . . but the point you are talking about is annoying. I think they are looking into fixing that.


----------



## Wyrmm (Dec 31, 2002)

The change that bothers me the most? Trying to sell this as an improvement for the user as oppossed to an improvement for corporate budgets.


----------



## Blazer Freak (Jul 11, 2004)

I'll get used to it, but I'd still like to see the bar with the quick links to the forums at teh top of the page..


----------



## PapaG (Oct 4, 2004)

Hey!

I found a great new board for the Blazer fans.

Enjoy!!!

:biggrin:


----------



## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

papag said:


> Hey!
> 
> I found a great new board for the Blazer fans.
> 
> ...


If going through this downgrade wasn't bad enough, now you want us to suffer another one? No thanks.


----------



## Schilly (Dec 30, 2002)

papag said:


> Hey!
> 
> I found a great new board for the Blazer fans.
> 
> ...


You were wrong on 2 counts....It's neither great, nor new.


----------



## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

I was at ESPN before I came here. ESPN sucked!


----------



## PapaG (Oct 4, 2004)

Schilly said:


> You were wrong on 2 counts....It's neither great, nor new.


True, but it is a board, so I did get that right.

Right?

:yay:


----------



## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

papag said:


> True, but it is a board, so I did get that right.
> 
> Right?
> 
> :yay:


being a good sport about razzing of espn boards is a good thing.


----------



## PapaG (Oct 4, 2004)

Hap said:


> being a good sport about razzing of espn boards is a good thing.


Since every decent poster there has moved here, I've set up camp at BBB.net (or BBBforum?) for the season. If only I had the time I used to...

Related question - are the Board Bashes any less awkward than they used to be? I mean, I had fun and all, but the ice seemed difficult to break and I lacked a sledge hammer.

:cheers:


----------



## furball (Jul 25, 2004)

Unbelievable. Some of you are worse than Star Wars fans arguing over new versus old Star Wars. The new look is great, it will attract more advertisers and I support the Adminstrators for their efforts. Go to the moronic O-live forums if you like. I agree with the ESPN board cracks. They could put pictures of Jessica Alba all over it and it would still suck.


----------



## MARIS61 (Apr 28, 2003)

mook said:


> the only reason anybody comes to this site (the posts) still requires scrolling down before you actually get to interesting content.
> 
> put all that other crap (the banners, the search features, the scoreboard, the photos, etc) at the bottom of the page. just put the freshest posts (which is all most of us care about) at the top.
> 
> ...


This is the lamest thing about this board.


----------



## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

furball said:


> Unbelievable. Some of you are worse than Star Wars fans arguing over new versus old Star Wars. The new look is great, it will attract more advertisers and I support the Adminstrators for their efforts. Go to the moronic O-live forums if you like. I agree with the ESPN board cracks. They could put pictures of Jessica Alba all over it and it would still suck.


Oh come on now. The old Star Wars was clearly superior. :biggrin:


----------



## MARIS61 (Apr 28, 2003)

mook said:


> That's fine, but some of the best posts are often buried in a big thread. This site should reward brilliant posts, be they the start of a thread or buried on page 12 of a thread.


I agree 100%.

Email me for where to send my rewards.:biggrin:


----------



## bintim70 (Dec 31, 2002)

hasoos said:


> Hell I was just glad it was free. Go ***** somewhere else.



I am.............last post.:lol:


----------



## Todd (Oct 8, 2003)

dudleysghost said:


> Oh come on now. The old Star Wars was clearly superior. :biggrin:



Yes it was!!


----------

