Okay - it's time for the Big Question!

We have been going for almost a year now, and the time has come to sit back and take stock of what has happened and where we have gone in the last 10 months, and where we would like to go from here.  I am having a meeting to discuss ways of improving the site with the brilliant Van at Firebrand, who not only designed the main site as his paid job - but loves it so much he has become a valuable part of the moderating team in his free time!! Addictive, BeoWorld.. never.. LOL !!

So - i would like to ask you all how you would improve BeoWorld?  What would you change, what would you tweak, what would you like to get rid of? Is there a way of doing something we already do, but better.. or is there something we are lacking that you have seen work brilliantly on another site? Tell us!

There are some basic guidelines though, and i would like to point them out.

* The Forums on BeoWorld are a very highly rated 'off the shelf' package that we have personalised with our BeoWorld logos and colour scheme - nothing else.  We did not have enough money to have a Forum custom-written - this would have cost tens of thousands of pounds to do properly.

As mentioned - we are constrained by the fact that we did not build the forums ourselves, and for information - the company that wrote them is called 'Telligent'. The Forums are called 'Community Server' - and if anyone out there is of a technical nature and wants to read what can be done with them - we would be very grateful to hear your views!!

* The main site was custom written for us, and we can basically do as we like with it - so no constraints there. Be creative!

What we already know...

We will be looking at the Photo Gallery as our first priority, and this will be made available for members to upload their own images to without having to send them to a moderator to upload for them. Server space costs money unfortunately, and we are considering having this open to Silver and Gold level members initially who actually pay for the server space they will be taking up.  We also have the issue of 'spam images' - and as anyone knows, a spammer could register as Bronze anonymously and post what they like on there.  We like to keep moderation to a minimum, so think it best to restrict to levels where people have to give their real details honestly when registering. Sound fair?

We are aware of the lack of clarity in the Prize Draw rules for people wishing to enter the Prize Draw for nothing, without becoming members. Although it clearly states you do not need to be a member to enter, people are getting a little confused, so we will clarify a little better on the 'Rules and Regulations' page.

What we don't know...

What annoys you, what would you do differently, what is there but needs refining, what you have seen on your internet-travels that you thought "Genius!!" about and would like to see on your favourite site!

Tell us... we are here for YOU after all, and making BeoWorld even better is our priority.

Lee

 

 

 

 

 

Apart from the photo section which I miss from the old forum, I would like to have easier access to the forum, from a navigation point of view: very basic concern, but it upsets me to go through 4 different pages when being on the main page before I can find the forum (or I am missing something, in this case the "forum" access path should be highlighted.

Like for product search, it may be easier to have a list of forums available on the main page, and be able to click on the right one without having to click "forum", "discussion forums", then "general forum", before reaching it.

Maybe also a B&O forum could have the B&O themes/colours/fonts (black,red, white), but question may be to know if the official site won't suffer from this similarity..

Apart from this, I like the site as it is, only wish the news section was updated more frequently (but this involves B&O Struer as well!).

For the navigation , why not just save the main forum page as a favourite/Bookmark? This takes you to the page in a logged in state. I have it saved as my home page.

Lee, thank you for asking!

 

Content issue: 

I am really missing from the OLD forum, the weekly updated new product launch dates. A list with new or updated B&O products  presumably coming at date X (+3 months).

Regards to you all, Robert

The forum main page is to scattered and hard to survey. I suggest:

Rename the first group from General Forum to BeoWorld in English and let it contain General Forum, BeoWorld North America, e-bay - the right way and BeoWorld Polls. The forum of polls could contain the actual poll and not just the archive. These are the forums that I think most of the BeoWorlders find interesting and read.

In the box for BeoWorld Skandinavia remove the Swedish and Norwegian text and the word Danish:. Swedes and Norwegians do understand the Danish text. This particularly text is very simple and there´s no words that´s hard to understand. The box is now much bigger then the other languages boxes, and if you don´t understand the information in Danish there´s no need to enter the Scandinavian Forum.

I often find myself browsing for a product and then have to repeat the procedure to find the manuals.

Why not add a link to the relevant manual page from the product page?

/Peter

I agree about the manuals on a product's page and the photo gallery, for silver and gold members.

It would also be great to have the link to the forum from the main page take you directly to the forum, without opening it in a new window.

And finally for the forum, I'm not sure if it's possible here, but I saw this on another forum I used to visit - when you click on a topic you've already read and there are new messages, it takes you directly to the first new message you haven't read. It automatically scrolls down, so you don't have to search and figure out which ones you've read or not.

I have only the general forum bookmarked, because it is here I read / write most posts, but I would really like a small area e.g. under tags in the right column showing me that latest five topics in e.g. the mac forum or other forums. This would be a great way of keeping an eye on other forums, which I normally dont watch so much, but am still interested in.
 

I dont like the standard overview page ... too big, too much scrolling and too little real information.
 

What I am really missing is a button to mark all forums read, not only the one I am currently browsing!

gorissek:

 

when you click on a topic you've already read and there are new messages, it takes you directly to the first new message you haven't read. It automatically scrolls down, so you don't have to search and figure out which ones you've read or not.

I agree with gorissek and have done since day one.
Please don't change  the font and colours to that used on the official site. I find them really difficult to read.

this would be my number 1 request, go to the first unread post without browsing through the whole tread to find out where I stoped last time. This is quite common within other forums wgich frequently visit (e.g. avsforum)

This would be a much better user expirience! I hope this can be implemented with the current software.

Karsten 

kawo:

this would be my number 1 request, go to the first unread post without browsing through the whole tread to find out where I stoped last time. This is quite common within other forums wgich frequently visit (e.g. avsforum)

Why don´t you use Posts you have not read in the upper right corner?

I still don't like the photo section, but that and some options for that was posted months ago and nothing changed.... Is there gonna change something now or is it just to inform ?

The problem with the photo section and this particular forum software is the access. At present, to post pictures requires you to have access to the control panel and this allows access to the workings of the site. Thus a few mistaken button pushes, and the site can crash. We are working on this - there is a meeting at the end of the week! There is also of course, the matter of spam posting and undesirable images being put on. This site is slightly more at risk than before due to its popularity and is now a target for spammers. this is also the reason that some will have noticed that their posts need moderating - the automatic spam filters have to be set quite high.

I am sure a solution will be found!
 

Peter:

The problem with the photo section and this particular forum software is the access. At present, to post pictures requires you to have access to the control panel and this allows access to the workings of the site. Thus a few mistaken button pushes, and the site can crash. We are working on this - there is a meeting at the end of the week! There is also of course, the matter of spam posting and undesirable images being put on. This site is slightly more at risk than before due to its popularity and is now a target for spammers. this is also the reason that some will have noticed that their posts need moderating - the automatic spam filters have to be set quite high.

I am sure a solution will be found!
 

On that note - and sorry for hijacking the thread slightly- has anyone else had the site address hijacked from time to time to ***.Webfile.***.

Is this happening at the server end or is it just me/my browser? I'm very careful with pop-up blockers, adware filters etc but it does happen on occasions. Has anyone else had it??

Puncher:

Peter:

The problem with the photo section and this particular forum software is the access. At present, to post pictures requires you to have access to the control panel and this allows access to the workings of the site. Thus a few mistaken button pushes, and the site can crash. We are working on this - there is a meeting at the end of the week! There is also of course, the matter of spam posting and undesirable images being put on. This site is slightly more at risk than before due to its popularity and is now a target for spammers. this is also the reason that some will have noticed that their posts need moderating - the automatic spam filters have to be set quite high.

I am sure a solution will be found!
 

On that note - and sorry for hijacking the thread slightly- has anyone else had the site address hijacked from time to time to ***.Webfile.***.

Is this happening at the server end or is it just me/my browser? I'm very careful with pop-up blockers, adware filters etc but it does happen on occasions. Has anyone else had it??

No - I use Firefox on a Mac though. 

Ed, I think the point Peter makes, is that if an undesirable person had access to the control panel, to download photographs, he could potentialy cause mayhem.

eduard:

As you know I had this job (adding photo's, working on the photo section) from start, and I have been pushing all the buttons I have found, starting from day one...... and look, the site is not crashed...so there can not be a crash if you press the wrong button.

And you got to it ..... through the moderators panel? I can't imagine that you tried to crash the site but unrestricted access to this area can cause damage to the site.  We are, as stated above, working with the web designers to get around the problem.

Puncher:

Peter:

The problem with the photo section and this particular forum software is the access. At present, to post pictures requires you to have access to the control panel and this allows access to the workings of the site. Thus a few mistaken button pushes, and the site can crash. We are working on this - there is a meeting at the end of the week! There is also of course, the matter of spam posting and undesirable images being put on. This site is slightly more at risk than before due to its popularity and is now a target for spammers. this is also the reason that some will have noticed that their posts need moderating - the automatic spam filters have to be set quite high.

I am sure a solution will be found!
 

On that note - and sorry for hijacking the thread slightly- has anyone else had the site address hijacked from time to time to ***.Webfile.***.

Is this happening at the server end or is it just me/my browser? I'm very careful with pop-up blockers, adware filters etc but it does happen on occasions. Has anyone else had it??

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-spyware/us/frt/0 

Daniel:

kawo:

this would be my number 1 request, go to the first unread post without browsing through the whole tread to find out where I stoped last time. This is quite common within other forums wgich frequently visit (e.g. avsforum)

Why don´t you use Posts you have not read in the upper right corner?

as far as I understand this shows me the theads I did not read completly, but will not help me to get the last post in that thread where I have stoped last time.

 

Karsteen 

kawo:

as far as I understand this shows me the theads I did not read completly, but will not help me to get the last post in that thread where I have stoped last time.

OK, I understand your point!