patrick.net

Do you mean the links on the right hand side of the home page?

They are chosen and voted on by users now, and I like it that way. More democratic, not my bias. And the users are doing a pretty good job.

Or do you mean something else?

See the attached image.

Does this "look" like a forum to you?

er...the image. Sorry

er...once again. Sorry.

kapone says

The new layout/format sucks. feels like a cesspool.

I guess "constructive criticism" can be transmitted in any number of ways.
You dick wacker.
See, if I would have called you a 'little" dick wacker you might have taken it offensively and ignored my concerns.
I was going to mention the new layout seems repetitive, but was going to give it more time to try and understand it's intent and benefit.
Now if you will excuse me, I am going to the cesspool.

I tend to agree. I find it a whole lot harder to use than it used to be. I figured I was just being a whiny bitch complaining about change, and that I would get used to it after a while. I haven't.

I'm not a big fan of the way the links are done now, but it's a second order issue to me. The big thing I don't like is how the forums are all obscured now. It used to be that there were several links on the left side of the page that would take you to different forums, now you see messages from all different forums together...

There are multiple problems with this.

1. It's confusing. Politics and housing and investing all get lumped together.
2. Threads have to fight with other forums in order to stay relevant / on top / commented on. A good "investing" topic might get lost because it has to compete with 3 hot-button political topics and a very active housing forum. Lost in the noise.
3. It forces me to have to think about which links I want to pay attention to, instead of just clicking the forum I am interested in.

I definitely think it was better before.

says

1. It's confusing. Politics and housing and investing all get lumped together.

You can see any of those topics separately:

http://patrick.net/politics/

http://patrick.net/real-estate/

http://patrick.net/investing/

Did you know that they are all separated that way? I admit it's not obvious.

You know, I think I have clicked the links across the top of the page before, but I don't really use them regularly. They aren't obvious, and I was never really sure that it was doing what I thought...Also I'm one of those fickle lazy web users, I think.

I still think lumping all the topics together in one feed waters things down. I wish I could configure the forum to be like it used to be for me when I'm logged in.

At the end of the day I use patrick.net a lot less than I used to. Partly due to shifting priorities / interests, I'm sure...partly due to the nature of the housing bust...it seems to be settling/resolving, there aren't huge YOY drops, etc...but the new format is definitely a part of it.

Not trying to be harsh -- I like the site and appreciate all the work that you have put into it...I just happen to think it was better before.

says

I wish I could configure the forum to be like it used to be for me when I'm logged in.

This should be very close to how it used to be:

http://patrick.net/real-estate/

I agree that the housing bust just isn't as fun as it used to be. No real debate about whether there was a crash, and not such huge price drops anymore. More of a slow deflation.

So I'm looking for new ways to have fun with the site. It really is about fun since the site never made money or came anywhere close to justifying the time I put into it.

My latest idea is to let people designate what their housing interest is (renter, landlord, buyer, seller, lawyer, agent) in their profile, and have that interest show up by each of their comments. Click on their profile, and you see their written description of what they're looking for.

I think this could perhaps help a lot of people find rentals, tenants, houses, buyers, customers, etc. Please try it out!

Next step is to add for-rent and for-sale forums, where landlords and sellers can list property for free.

Think it will be useful? What would make it more useful?

TMAC54 says

kapone says

The new layout/format sucks. feels like a cesspool.

I guess "constructive criticism" can be transmitted in any number of ways.

You dick wacker.

See, if I would have called you a 'little" dick wacker you might have taken it offensively and ignored my concerns.

I was going to mention the new layout seems repetitive, but was going to give it more time to try and understand it's intent and benefit.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to the cesspool.

How much invested ? How much back ? What's the risk ?

A spade's a spade.

I hope Patrick realizes that it wasn't meant to be offensive per se. It was meant to convey my own personal viewpoint. I chose that word quite carefully btw.

Again, this is supposed to be a "forum". It doesn't feel like one right now.

I'm not offended. Just trying to understand how to make it all more useful and intuitive.

kapone says

Again, this is supposed to be a "forum". It doesn't feel like one right now.

Why not? Seems like a forum to me.