New Discussion Forum Format Good or Confusing?

I like the new thread and the user system sections. I dislike the older thread format. Too much info; can't quickly scan. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

I agree with most above. The new threads are OK, and the pictures next to the user systems are nice.

However, the new posts to old threads is hard to scan, and if you go to the title and read the new posts, you can't tell next time because the links to these new posts are not "greyed" out.

I like the virtual systems bit with the photos but dislike the rest of the layout it used to be easy and fast to look around - not now. Lets hope enough of us voice our opinions and maybe they will change it back.
Steve.

Thanks for the feedback.

For those who are not sure what this is about: it is regarding the new 'Recent Discourse' page of the forums:
Recent Discourse: last 24 hours.

The above is the new version as compared to the Old Version.

Instead of "New" and "Old" perhaps we should include both versions and reference them as "Quick View" and "Expanded" views? (allowing one to choose between them)?

The Expanded view was developed with these goals in mind:
- Require less clicking into individual threads to see what's new
- Arouse interest in threads whose title alone may not sound interesing.
- More easily follow threads of borderline interest.
- See what other members are saying in various threads.

I would ask that regular visitors try it for a few days to see how it 'burns-in' as Dchase put so aptly. It is certainly an eye-full compared to the original bare bones display (especially if the simple version has been engrained in the eye-brain twice a day for several years, right?)

We have been using and developing the expanded view for several months now, and what appears to be a 'clutter' at first starts to make more and more sense as you get used to it. But most importantly, we find ourselves more entertained in a shorter browsing session, becoming more curious about more subjects, and getting to know other members a little better.

We just did some minor tweaking, such as bolding the thread title in some areas, and adjusted the links to 'grey' out once a followup is viewed. (hopefully that will mean something to the folks who mentioned those things).

Lastly, for those of us who pretty much _live_ in the forums, the expanded view can display any number of hours, such as my favorite: 4 hours

Please do give it (and yourself) a couple of days to evolve and rest assured that the title-only view will still be available as well.

It's good to have the option of Quick View versus Expanded View. Thanks.