New Forum

Don't like the new forum front page. I liked seeing the pictures up front. It gave you more incentive to read the post. Now it's like looking at classifieds without pictures. Now you have to open everything to see the pictures. Also there is no indication that there is a picture until you open it.

I agree. I liked being able to read a snippet of the post to see if it was something I was interested in and who had replied. Really dislike the new format guys. There was nothing wrong with the old one.

Working great for me. I like it.

I do not like this new style put it back the way it was

Definitely need some type of preview to grab attention.

Seemed like there were some crazy reports being put up. A good report is ok this way or the old way but the word is good.

What about the indians?

I like the idea of including an icon that indicates there are pictures and maybe some teaser of the content. Stay tuned. Thanks again for your participation and patience.

hate the new forum, won't be reading if it stays like this.bring back the pics

I'm too old for change!!

I don't care for it and have not read any reports. I read this one only to voice my displeasure.

We will be making additional updates but we won't be changing anything back...sorry guys.

This bunch of coullions must live under an old dillo shell on Grand Chenier Hwy. The old design sucked, this is way better on my phone.

I don't care for the upgrade. It was never broke, so why fix it.

Don't care for new format. Click on reports then view all and still have to choose from individual categories fishing, bass fishing, inshore fishing, hunting......... I miss when view all meant VIEW ALL.

Anyone keeping score of likes and dislikes --------- a previous posted summed it up well , it sucks ! -------- but it is still the best thing going as RnR sucks more

fishhfiles, thanks for the vote of we suck less - Ha!
Shadrig, I sent you an email. If anyone wants to know the content, basically wondering if he has left message boards all together and what made him leave here.
A question for everyone posting here. What is your age? For the record, I'm 54 (I think that's right). Just curious if there is anyone much under 50.
Does anyone here frequent tigerdroppings? They are by far the largest message board in the state. This forum is very similar. Also, Vbulletin is by far the largest software platform that all message boards use and ours is also similar to it. Like tigerdroppings we have also developed our own custom message board.
Again, the software we built some 15 years ago was antiquated and not a responsive design, meaning that it was not phone friendly.
Please read my earlier comments a few posts up.

I appreciate the responses Tony and I understand you are trying to improve the site because you're right, the old site was outdated. But it really helped being able to see a preview of the post and not have to guess from a vague title if the post is relevant to me or not.

Also is it just me or are the articles on the main page getting updated less frequently? It seems like before the update there were 5 or 6 new articles posted daily. Now I see maybe 1 or 2. am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

I prefer the old format where I could see all the most recent postings without having to figure out what category something was posted in.

There may be a way to do this already, but I would suggest having a way to see all of the most recent posts no matter what category they are in. I would exclude classified ads from this like they have always been.

Most importantly, anyone headed to Grand Isle this weekend? I'm headed out tonight to be fishing at first light. How's the fishing? Friend of mine caught some beautiful trout on topwater yesterday morning. Can't wait! All fishing tips appreciated.

Thanks for the quick reply and explanation Tony.

I am not crazy about the new format but I'm sure I will get used to it. Like others said I liked seeing the pics and a little preview of what was being said. I also like the 'view all' ability to scroll through all the latest and hottest reports. I like the ability to see the number of comments made to each post to see if that post has generated much discussion or not. I do most of my reporting around duck season but visit the site several times a day all year to read reports and check classified adds for things to buy ( that I usuall don't need!). I will contine using the site and hope that some changes planned make it a little more user friendly and/or I get used to it. Thanks Tony and those who post reports for a great site to help keep me tunned in to the hunting and fishing life when I'm not in the marsh or the woods.

Is Mike Lane still the Admiral Rabbit of river diversions? That dude was off the deep end last I heard.

what was wrong with the old one? this one sucks! I will return when you change it back over , bye

Tom try posting a report from your phone, night and day difference in ease of use.

Hey Tony planning to go to Grand Isle Sunday but not to chase speckled trout I am looking to run out to the second set of rigs in chase of mangroves and Cobia
A few weeks ago got some beautiful trout near Pelican Point about a hundred and fifty yards off the shoreline maybe I will run into you at bridgeside

Madhook, thanks for the heads up on pelican point. We always run out to the rigs after the morning trout bite. We are addicted to wrestling with the mangroves. Burned out many a drag on em. Have you caught any cobia yet this year? Hope to run into them. I've got the big 28' all-welded dual console. Will be in the slip out near Buggie's houseboat.

No the cobra we're not there last time but I hope they have shown up by now. I have the Sea Hunt that has tigers on the side. But did really good on Cobia last year at the second set

Nice one. I've seen your boat. See you this weekend!

Hey folks...today has been a record day for traffic in the reports section! I'm excluding this thread in that number. Thanks everyone!

I'm sure that had everything to do with the new format in a positive light. 100's if not 1000's of people were waiting by their computers just waiting for you guys to release an update.

No doubt about it Ricky. The sarcasm was deserved. Needed that.

Just trying to keep you all on an analytical path. That was the second time someone mentioned this. I'm sure this will turn out decent down the road but I think y'all should start taking complaints more serious. There are some solid suggestions throughout all of the threads.

i don't like to read reports that don't have pictures, i don't know if they have pictures until i click on the report now that sucks, also like mentioned before some preview of the report, whether that would be visible straight up or at least some preview when you mouse over the report

I do not like the new set up. I agree with a lot of the other posts. It looks like a classified section. I miss looking at the pics with the comments.

I agree.

it still sucks. I visit both lasp and rod n reel. I may not post but still I visit. I also buy from sponcers.

I posted in the classified and it was very easy. Loved it! Posting reports is eaiser also. Still miss the attention grabbing pics that can be seen on reports home page. Not going anywhere. Love this site! Thanks again Tony!

Forget about the 500,000 or so that don't complain. Just look at the nays vs yays on this thread alone. That should tell you something. Come on guys. Why wouldn't you want as many folks as you can get interested in your site weather they post or not. Seem like it's leaning towards being exclusive. Not sure I'll be joining the club. Don't like it.

I feel the new format will be fine once people get used to how it operates, it's like everything else in today's world, if you throw a kink in someone's line it gets them all tangled up. This is my first time posting to the new format so not sure if this will work or not but all posts have 'reply' in the bottom right corner. If I reply to that post, it should have like a drop down 'replying' to that particular comment. If it works like that already, then my bad...

Well, it didn't work. I had replied to Tony Taylors last post and it dropped me all the way to the bottom. Not sure if this can even work, but if a computer guru could fix it like that it would be helpful...This is actually one way it works on Facebook

Lock.n.Load:

I agree with you on the new Forum look..........I much preferred the old style.

'Pete'

I really love the new site! Thanks.

I like the old way a lot better. I am never going to click on each and every post just to see whats in it. I hope they don't ruin the classifieds too.

I don\\\'t like the new format at all! I find it harder to navigate and I like seeing the pics before opening a thread. I HATE CHANGE! Is this gonna screw up the classifieds section too? If so, how is one to see the items for sale without clicking on each one? As far as doing things on my phone.....it's a phone. I make calls, texts, and take pics. Then I upload pics to my home computer. I don't do all those other fancy posting things on my phone. Couldn't even tell you how it's done. Besides, the print is WAY too small to read an article.
In this case, mikey don't like it! But thank you for allowing us to vent our frustrations.

Lock an load I agree with you 100% . New forum not good.

Thanks for all of your opinions. I'm glad so many of you have taken the time to let us know what you think about the changes. We anticipated that some people would not be happy and that some would. Following will be my last comments about why we changed.

All sites that are not responsive - display and work easily from a phone, to a tablet to your PC are dying quickly. Our mobile traffic grows by leaps and bounds every year and now represents the majority of our traffic. This new reports and classifieds format works flawlessly on any device now. Posting a report with or without a picture, making a comment, or placing a classified ad all works flawlessly from any device you want to access the internet from. Since we have made the changes, our traffic has grown significantly!

The reports/forum section of this site has declined every year for the last three years. All of the other parts of the site have grown significantly. On most forums the same thing is true. Facebook, basically a glorified forum or message board, has a lot to do with that.

There are exceptions to the rule of decline for forums and message boards. One you have to be mobile friendly and two you have to divide the various interests - mixing deer hunters with duck hunters with bass fisherman with kayakers with hog hunters does not work in the long run. In the old format, every time someone posted anything about something there it was at the top of the page for anyone to post a comment about. Sometimes the comment was helpful, most of the time it was not and sometimes it was just downright mean or stupid. In addition, the majority of you did not go past the front page. if you only liked to hog hunt there might have been a great post on hog hunting, but it was now on page three within a day or two. Kinda tough to form a community when you didn't even know it was there.

This forum looks different now, acts different now and hopefully will continue to grow like it has since we made the changes. We pray that by separating the folks that like to duck hunt from the speck fisherman from the hog hunter from the person that just wants to post a cool picture from the person needing advice on a scope, etc YOU CAN begin to form communities of fisherman and hunters that can come here and enjoy themselves, learn something and share something.

This thread will be locked now and all other threads on this subject will be deleted. If you have a question about how to use a feature on the site, obviously we look forward to helping you out. If you have further comments, email me directly by clicking the little button that says contact user right under the picture of me and my lovely daughter.

Thanks!