It’s that time of year again and Newschoolers is beginning to roll out the first of our multiple site upgrades. Now, before you go totally ballistic, we’d like to take a minute to explain what’s new.
Everything we do is in the name of progress! Seriously, it’s upgrades like these that allow us to move into the future. For example, it would be totally rad to have notifications, video playlists, content tagging, and other awesome features like that on Newschoolers. This is what will take us there. The updates that we’re putting into the site are laying the groundwork for the next phase of NS’s evolution. I’m not trying to sound paternal, I’m being serious. Site upgrades will take time and adjustment, and we appreciate your patience and input as we move forward. We’ll leave it up to you to explore and get used to the new forum features, but in the meantime, here’s what you can look for.
A Facelift: It’s 2014, and frankly the site looks so 2010. We updated the aesthetics and gave the site a more modern feel. Nothing fancy, just a fresh coat of paint here and there.
Multi-Quote: No longer will you require limited hacking knowledge to multiquote (sorry, nerds). We’ve installed a handy check box on each forum post so that you can efficiently and conveniently quote multiple users. We know there's not a quick way to quote one reply at the moment, but we'll be fixing that soon.
Responsive Design: If your screen’s not big enough to hide the ads, we’ll do it for you. Or if you prefer to browse NS in one window while you write essays or do math equations or look at, uh, adult videos on the other, our new design will fit properly to the size of your screen.
True Mobile Experience: NS Mobile has been a work in progress since we launched it, and this update is a major improvement. Everything available on the site is now available in mobile format, so you can properly browse NS on your phone at work, on the bus and at important family dinners.
Auto-Save: Ever spend 30 minutes writing the perfect reply, only to hit back and have it disappear forever? We all certainly have, and we're hoping this small feature will prevent that from ever happening again.
Thread Watch: Yup, we did it. Now you can choose which threads to watch. That means you can monitor BST threads, stay tuned to gear talks, or monitor the shit show into which a NSG discussion has devolved. Lurkers, this one is for you!
Font size options: Faunt got bigger?! Yes, this is now an option, but without the hassle of spilling milk on your keyboard. Check the top right of each thread for the size options.
View OP in Reply: The OP will now appear in the reply window when you respond to a thread. No more copy-pasting or new tabs to make sure you’re responding properly to OP.
Edit Post: Well, sort of. Mods can now edit posts in all forums, and regular members will be able to edit posts in B/S/T once we fully test it out. Rejoice! Now you don’t have to scroll through multiple pages to find out whether or not someone else has copped OP’s XXL Jiberish.
Preview Post: It’s coming back, don’t worry!
Right now these features are being beta tested. We’re rolling them out to see how they perform and how you react to them. We appreciate your feedback; you are the driving force behind Newschoolers, and we don’t do anything without factoring your opinion into the equation. That being said, it’s naive to think that we’re going to please everyone with everything that we do. There’s a certain amount of utilitarianism that we have to adopt any time we make changes to the site. Believe us, we always look for the greatest good for the greatest numbers.
So give us your feedback. Remember that blurting out “THIS SUCKS, BLAAUGH” tells us absolutely nothing. Take time to identify any problems you have, because the clearer your complaints, the clearer our responses can be. And tell us what rocks, too. We can build off of your positive reactions just as well as we can adapt to negative ones. Plus, it lets other users see what they might have missed themselves.
Alright, enough talking. Go check it out and report back!
tl;dr -- Yes, change can suck. But these changes will allow us to make Newschoolers a bigger and better platform in the future. Test out the new forums and let us know what you'd like to see reverted or changed. Thanks!