Airliners.net Site Upgrade Announcement & Discussion

SAMike · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:21 pm

Layout idea, similar layout would be better, the top5 is too large area:

http://kepfeltoltes.hu/160616/Untitled-1_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg

kiwiandrew · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:21 pm

I have just received a response from [email protected] ... hopefully this will be the last post you will ever see from me ( as the mods breathe a huge collective sigh of relief).

I urge anyone else who is concerned about the privacy breach to email the above address to get your profile deleted.

Best of luck everyone - and condolences on the death of our once beloved A.net

flipdewaf · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:25 pm

kiwiandrew wrote:
I have just received a response from [email protected] ... hopefully this will be the last post you will ever see from me ( as the mods breathe a huge collective sigh of relief).

I urge anyone else who is concerned about the privacy breach to email the above address to get your profile deleted.

Best of luck everyone - and condolences on the death of our once beloved A.net

Is their response something that can be posted or is it confidential?

Thanks,

Fred

A332DTW · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:28 pm

As I'm reading these concerns on privacy breach, I'm confused as to who exactly is effected, just photographers or everyone? When I click on my user profile, I don't see my full real name visible. I'm confused.

aloges · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:42 pm

JohnKrist wrote:
You do not know me, so you should not make assumptions about me or other people you do not know. I have had my camera taken away from me, and a gun put to my stomach for taking pics in Srebrenica during the war.

So you do know that it can be dangerous and still laughed about it. That does not make it better.

I had hoped that Demand Media's third time trying to change A.net in a major way would be the charm. Turns out it's the third strike.

JohnKrist wrote:
I didn't, I made ajoke about writing in huge red letters that we should take site down, a reference to Mike Tyson who said "Cause I said so, that's why!"

THAT's the part of my post that you considered the most relevant? Un-be-lievable.

gharv · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:45 pm

Hello anetters community.

I have been an avid uploader for nearly 10 years now.
Its been the one real drive to get 'that' shot out there into the community and to better myself and as an aviation photographer.
I love the elation of getting shots uploaded and like all of us feel the frustration when we get those annoying rejections but yet it pushes you on to the point that you are determined to get more uploaded.
There are so many uploaders from all over the world on this site which absolutely inspire me to take a particular shot or drive me to try and better 'them' just for the fun and enjoyment out of this hobby.

So picture this. I am literally stunned as to what has just happened to this website.
No one likes change etc etc.. things take time to get used to etc etc , but as my kids would say O M G.

Its so bad its almost laughable.

I'm genuinely gutted that this site has been messed with.

I'm not even going to list the things that are so fundamentally bad with this site as most of them have already been said.
And no im no IT expert, so I couldn't do a better job if I tried but with so many defending posts saying that we will address this, fix this, know about this...why o why let it go live in the first place..

Finally to put it all into perspective, its just a website that we upload 'plane' pictures so others can view. Big deal.
There is far worse things gong on in the world which we should venting our anger and solutions to.
But this was once just a great site to which we could all experience escapism to enjoy the hobby we all can relate to and love.

I am genuinely deflated about whether to start the upload process or not.

Gareth

airkas1 · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:58 pm

The real name issue appears to be solved. Would love to hear if this is the case for you guys as well.

YellowRibbon · Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:59 pm

Does this thread have the most replies of any a.net thread?

I believe that the 9/11 thread had aprox. 400.

sralfalo · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:07 pm

Well said Gareth, it's 'just' about aircraft photographs, no big deal!
But with all the enthusiasm and passion all of us invested here over the years it's easy too understand so many people being very disappointed.
Seeing the first issues slowly being fixed I guess we have to be patient and help where we can to bring the page to point we all could live with.

I have a good feeling!

Lars

KFLLCFII · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:14 pm

YellowRibbon wrote:
Does this thread have the most replies of any a.net thread?

I believe that the 9/11 thread had aprox. 400.

Still short of that title by a couple thousand posts.

Ytraveller · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:24 pm

YellowRibbon wrote:
Does this thread have the most replies of any a.net thread?

I believe that the 9/11 thread had aprox. 400.

9/11 thread had 422 posts.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=105795

ThePinnacleKid · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:25 pm

I absolutely hate it. Quite possibly the worst website redesign I've seen in a long time. It's advertisement heavy... the forums are horrible... nothing about this is clean. I'll probably use this site a TON less than before. Oh well... so sad.

YellowRibbon · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:31 pm

KFLLCFII wrote:

Still short of that title by a couple thousand posts.

And what might that be?

Ytraveller wrote:
9/11 thread had 422 posts.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=105795

Thanks for the link. I was searching for it on Google but the links were dead.

JimJupiter · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:40 pm

Tugger wrote:
....

Thank you! :top:

flashmeister · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:41 pm

I'm pretty shocked at the behavior of Demand Media here, not just for their botched overhaul, but for the contempt that they're showing longtime users.

I posted earlier that in my opinion, Demand Media is making a shortsighted decision to end the First Class program for those of us who are willing to pay to browse ad-free, like myself, who will likely turn to ad blocking. Not only are they losing our subscription revenue, but they will also losing our impressions due to the ad blocker.

My post was deleted, as I fully expect this one to be.

It's really too bad that my opinion is inconvenient for the owners of this site. I've been a member here for 16 years, most of that time paying under one subscription or another. Most of the time I read, sometimes I post, and I've gotten into lots of interesting arguments and discussions here. I'd like to think that I was considered a valued user after all of this time and money. Apparently, I'm not. If I'm wrong, I want someone from Demand Media (not one of our volunteer moderators) to come on here and demonstrate it to me and the rest of us.

This site was a daily read for me, but I think I'll be taking a break for a bit (certainly if this trend continues), either a few days or perhaps longer. It's not even the design, which is atrocious -- it's the way that this company has clearly stated that they do not care about their users, the resources that they've acquired, or the future viability of their sites beyond simply generating ad revenue.

I suppose the owner can do what they'd like with the site, but I can do what I like with my browsing and ad views, which will likely be going elsewhere for a while unless things change. Good luck to everyone. Hope to see you soon.

einsteinboricua · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:46 pm

The only thing I like so far: no need to close a thread because it's grown too long.

I can get used to the forum. That shouldn't be an issue. The main site, however, looks cluttered. And my work computer (I use Internet Explorer) does not align anything...everything is all over the place.

airkas1 wrote:
757225 wrote:
If it ain't broke....don't fix it....nothing wrong with the big blue screen.....
why?

Because the backend of the old site was one big mess of code. even the simplest fix could result in a downed site at any moment. That's why there was a need for a new design.

Did you guys put a post for folks to help out? I'm a software engineer and usability is my favorite aspect of software development. I could have been one of several folks here to provide feedback on what to do.

Now, I'm really sorry you guys are getting a LOT of flak, and I truly want to keep an open mind and think that this is the usual trip when a big change happens. I won't put any time limit because it's not something I care too much about. However, I must add my voice to the chorus voicing frustration with how the site looks, especially the forum. Whenever I read about an update I pictured something more modern and sleek. This, unfortunately, does not fit that description. I do not pretend to know about how messy the backend was, but I'm certain it could have been fixed parallel to the regular operations. Needless to say, while you won't lose me in the near future, it doesn't seem like I'll be actively coming back as I used to do, especially if members stick to their word and opt to leave as well. Discussions will die down (which could be a boon for mods since it means less post to be monitored), but so could the site, and trust me when I say that I've seen sites die a quick death.

KFLLCFII · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:52 pm

YellowRibbon wrote:
KFLLCFII wrote:

Still short of that title by a couple thousand posts.

And what might that be?

2,857 posts.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1137231

YellowRibbon · Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:59 pm

KFLLCFII wrote:
2,857 posts.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1137231

Thanks! And a most appropriately named thread also too.

KFLLCFII · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:06 am

YellowRibbon wrote:
KFLLCFII wrote:
2,857 posts.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1137231

Thanks! And a most appropriately named thread also too.

Yeah, but this new site with its paged threads doesn't do it justice. Back in 2006, average home computers were struggling to load it all at once without crashing from RAM limits.

777Jet · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:07 am

I was just able to browse the Site Related sub-forum and topics without being logged in. Previously you had to be logged in

Apologies if this had already been mentioned but I'm not going to browse through hundreds of posts on a white background and blind myself just to check

A332DTW · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:09 am

So under settings and basic info, it reads "If set, your real name will be used in place of your username in certain places. This is different from your Photographer Name.", under Real Name. Now can someone clarify exactly what this means?

IADCA · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:10 am

A332DTW wrote:
As I'm reading these concerns on privacy breach, I'm confused as to who exactly is effected, just photographers or everyone? When I click on my user profile, I don't see my full real name visible. I'm confused.

It was everyone, but it appears to be fixed now.

JimJupiter · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:18 am

After the real-name-issue, the photographers not getting credited and so on... another maybe rather boring question (I looked around but didn't find anything): how do I terminate an account? Thanks.

monsoon84 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:26 am

I think the new site looks great, but will take some time to get used to. Can I suggest that for the options for which order the posts are seen in the forums, once you select descending for recent posts, it will stay that way? Similarly to the old site once you pick this option it will stay that way instead of resetting on each thread?

Thanks!

rhuns · Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:30 am

Reduce the size/font of the forum topic on each post. Seems a waste of space to repeat it in such large font over and over for each posting within a topic.

vikkyvik · Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:18 am

I'm confused - am I logged in or not? it says "Welcome, Vikkyvik" and has that pull-down menu, but doesn't have the links to my Photo Corner and such - and instead, prompts me to sign in:

To get to the Photo Corner, I had to go sign in, even though it already recognized me....

Jetlagged · Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:41 am

I didn't realise the site had been updated till I came here to search for photos today and found a completely different interface. The default photo search is poor, though something like the original can be selected.

The new forum design is awful. Far fewer topics listed in the index, no starred threads to help you see where you posted at last login. What happened to "respect rating". I also liked "member since" and the location flags. With RR it gave you a sense of the heritage of the site. Now it's hard to spot people who've been members for a long time and who is highly rated. I can't be bothered to set up an avatar and it seems few can so the forum threads look very bland and with no colour. Forum username is no longer in bold so it's harder to spot reading a thread.

No doubt on a tablet the larger line size is better, but on a laptop or PC the new format looks insipid.

johnr · Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:47 am

Vik,
I discussed this issue with Kas last night. I have the same problem on my iPad but not on my desktop. Only on my desktop can I access the photo corner etc.

fhrx · Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:55 am

Forgive me if the answer has already been posted; I did have a quick scan through the pages hitherto but didn't find a time frame other than one somewhat vague reference to it within the retort here:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1335415

Did we have an ETA on when the watermarks will be omitted for people logged in?

Thanks.

canyonblue17 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:59 am

JohnKrist wrote:
AlphaBravo wrote:
canyonblue17 wrote:
Where did the photo upload que go?

Also missing the que.

Some of my queued photos are not screened yet. Even they should be on turn now (uploaded 9 or 10 days ago).

The screening queue is here:
https://www.airliners.net/user/photo-cor ... /screening
You will find it by clicking your profile image, top right corner, choose Photo Corner, and click Screening in the header where it says "Accepted Appealed Rejected Screening"

Expect a little longer screening times right now, and I guess that the screeners pick crew photos primarily to check for bugs and other errors.

All this link takes me to is the photos I have uploaded. I am talking about the que that shows all uploads - including how many were loaded each day and how many are currently being screened - so we have an idea how long it will be until each photo is looked at.

canyonblue17 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:11 am

Anyone know why my Avatar is a skull and cannot be changed? Every time I click on it I am forward to the Forum List.

jfklganyc · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:29 am

12 years aboard a.net. Was on and off before that.

Literally my favorite site on the net.

I understand the passion in the forum...it is why I love the site.

Beyond the privacy issues (which I think/hope are fixed) everything else is cosmetic and will take an adjustment.

I am glad we have a site that is investing in itself with upgrades.

That said, BRING BACK THE 747!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moose135 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:33 am

JohnKrist wrote:
I wish you would give us some more time to fix stuff than leaving less than 24 hours after launch.

The problem is, John, we've been hearing for over a year about the new design that was coming: "the developers are working on it...", "we're testing it...", "just a few more months...", "by the end of the year..." - remember "$5 says it's under..."?

Now the new design is here, and it's full of problems, and we're told "be patient, we're working on it." Maybe you can understand why some may be skeptical.

airlineaddict · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:33 am

blueangel5 wrote:
Not happy at all about seeing ads in forum view.

As a First Class member, I agree. Why should I pay annual fees?

jetmatt777 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:37 am

airlineaddict wrote:
blueangel5 wrote:
Not happy at all about seeing ads in forum view.

As a First Class member, I agree. Why should I pay annual fees?

First Class payments ended 9 months ago. We have been manually extending those FC memberships on a complimentary, free of charge basis until the new site is up. No one is paying anymore. No one has paid for quite a while. The site is 100% free of charge.

Matt B.
Airliners.net Support / Customer Service

airlineaddict · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:43 am

JohnKrist wrote:
sandyb123 wrote:
As soon as the way back machine is back up I am checking the terms as I distinctly remember that the legal system said that the site would forever be ad-free for first class members. Taking membership options away or not renewing as a president does not infer waiver of the clause btw.

Sandyb123

Said nothing like that to my knowledge, what it did say though was that "We" had the right to change the service, with or without giving notice to the user base.

If you had the right to change the service, I deserve a right to a refund for services NOT provided (i.e., refund for First Class membership for ad blocking not delivered).

UPDATE: No charge since early 2015. My bad. Still disappointed with philosophical change on paid memberships.

airlineaddict · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:51 am

Just looked at my last charge and saw it was at the start of 2015. My bad.

All that said, really disappointed with the change in philosophy about paid memberships. C'est la vie.

NC1844V · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:51 am

Another thing to look at....

While looking a search of photographs on the website, It loads everything but the preview pictures, it will not load the preview pictures until I scroll down and the whole square is in the window . I understand this is a small thing, but it proves to be rather annoying when looking at pictures always having to wait for each preview to load when scrolling down on the page to see what I'm looking at. Would like the whole page of my searches to load like on the old website. (My internet connection is just fine)

~Thanks

jetmatt777 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:52 am

airlineaddict wrote:
JohnKrist wrote:
sandyb123 wrote:
As soon as the way back machine is back up I am checking the terms as I distinctly remember that the legal system said that the site would forever be ad-free for first class members. Taking membership options away or not renewing as a president does not infer waiver of the clause btw.

Sandyb123

Said nothing like that to my knowledge, what it did say though was that "We" had the right to change the service, with or without giving notice to the user base.

If you had the right to change the service, I deserve a right to a refund for services NOT provided (i.e., refund for First Class membership for ad blocking not delivered).

Did you pay for a full year and when did you pay it? If you were paying month to month, it has been free for more than half the year.

Matt B.
Airliners.net Support / Customer Service

airlineaddict · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:57 am

Was paying annual. Glad I didn't buy lifetime First Class membership

jetmatt777 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:59 am

airlineaddict wrote:
Was paying annual. Glad I didn't buy lifetime First Class membership

When did you purchase your last renewal?

Matt B.
Airliners.net Support / Customer Service

len90 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 3:10 am

Is the copyright bar missing linked to the watermark or are those separate issues. All of my pictures that are missing the copyright bar are also missing that watermark. It's like giving photo thieves the pictures on a silver platter.

Also seems like nobody has responded to my issue I posted about yesterday...
Clicking on the thumbnail for this image ID: 2584467 leads to a broken page. Seems like a simple correctable database error in how the linking URL is set up on it; which I pointed out yesterday. Can a staff member please email me or message me to confirm receipt of this issue?

C130jay · Thu Jun 16, 2016 3:25 am

Just bring back the old layout there was nothing wrong with it.

If hundreds of users are telling you the same thing you might want to look at going back!

#RIPAnet

OA412 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 3:33 am

Hi all. I really am sorry for all the bugs/issues the site is having. All I can do is assure you that these things are being worked on and that we are receiving everyone's feedback regarding the site. Please try and be as patient as possible as these things are worked out. It will take a while for all of us to get used to this new site, particularly those of us who have been on a.net for a very long time.

Unfortunately I don't really understand coding, but from what I do know the old site was a nightmare in that respect, which is why a new site was necessary. For instance, the search function hadn't worked correctly in years, probably over a decade. I completely understand the frustration because I was so accustomed to the old site as well, but it had it's problems. Again, apologies.

PITingres · Thu Jun 16, 2016 4:01 am

The new site is GARBAGE.

I just saw it now for the first time. If this is how it will be, good by a.net. What is the point of making 10 times the screen space do what 1x used to do in the past? I don't want "pretty". I want "concise".

GARBAGE.

N202PA · Thu Jun 16, 2016 4:48 am

At this point, this redesign is like the web version of a tire fire.

LH707330 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:05 am

Can we have a return of multi-quoting?

Also, what happened to the red markup for not read and starred topics for ones we've responded to? It'd also be good to have more of a table view like other fora.

Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:10 am

EXUALFlyer wrote:
concerned that DMI now owns rights and title to all your outstanding work (Like Facebook... all photos are their property!).

Incorrect, the photos are the property of the photographer, by uploading a photo you give DM a non exclusive license to publicly display the photo.

jetliners · Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:58 am

1. You need a top banner for the front page like the previous website that had a distinctive identity.
2. If the design stays the same (very likely as we are powerless), can you please at least put back all the functionalities that the previous site had?
3. Please listen to your users, huge companies collapsed by being arrogant not listening, Nokia is one of those.

Any smart people out there may just build a website that is identical to your previous website (the valuable asset you are throwing away) and easily steal all your once long term loyal customers - what they are asking for clearly is to roll back to the previous website and make improvements starting from there.

Wake up and good luck.

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