un-logical laid out forum

What do you find hard about it Albany Nomads? There is a row of headings on the blue strip across the top, all with pull down menus to choose where to go next - it looks very easy to navigate to me.

Motherhen

un-logical ? ExploreOz ? Part of the problem (if there is one) could be the forum users (including me by the way:) We are all humans.

Cheers
Greg

Great Forum, great layout!!
Simple to use all on one page, brilliant search engine that allows you access to the information compiled in tens of thousands of posts going back some 10 odd years.

Hate the complex multi faceted forums others use which require you to look through various topics to try and find the info you want.

This site is not just about the forum either as said above heaps of info on just about every subject or place in this country you can imagine.

Best places directory you can find on any Aussie web site.

You can set the forum to suit yourself such as having the latest reply to a thread appear at the top of the list etc.

Spend the time to learn its features and functions and you wont go anywhere else.

There is a wealth of information here, and it's growing all the time

If you do not like it then GO AWAY !


Bucky

Well I like the structure of this forum.
Everything in the one place and so easy to read and search for past information.

I have looked at some "more traditional" forums and don't like the myriad of sub topic structures that make reading the posts and replies tedious.

The only thing I didn't like was the review comments appearing in the forum.
Having been made aware that as a member you can turn them off, I have now "fixed" this problem:-)

What you are forgetting Albany whatever, is that this site is NOT a forum site.

First and foremost it is a site for those who are interested in or actually get out there and travel Australia. The forum page is just one small part of it. And a minor part at that. With this in mind have another look at the services on the blue line. It is just a page where anyone can chat about anything on travelling Oz. Just like around the camp fire and I have never seen a "structured" fireside chat yet. Being able to look back and find something is a bonus.

Phil

Hi Nomads,

The large number of regular users seem to like the site! It has a very large amount of features and you do need to take a bit of time to explore the site itself and find out how it all works.

For me some of the key features are the ability to sort forum threads either in the order they are posted or by response time. Also you can put a watch on threads of particular interest.

After many years with an indifferent search facility, David now has done a great job and made a brilliant search system, that searches the whole site.

You may not have realised that members have a few more options, like being able to suppress some of the ads and review posts in the forum (as well as being able to post blogs etc).

Hope that helps you to get started with using what for us is pretty much a one-stop-shop for Oz travel info.

Cheers,

Val

I totally agree with you Albany Nomads. It needs to be categorised; fridges, tyres, phones etc etc. Quite often a question is asked and some one will reply that was discussed to post number such and such. And lets face it every conceivable question, problem or issue has been done to death an million times over. I've also noticed over the last few years the activity on this site has waned to almost being stagnant.

I bet there will be a few who tell me where.....

Albany Nomads
What you find on this site is a wealth of information from a wide range of experienced people.
The information in the different categories seems to be pretty easy to find.
The Forum does offer a different scenario until the search system is learnt.
One thing you will notice as displayed above, is that if you have an opinion there is a small band of people who choose to not just disagree, but take it to heart for some paranoid reason, and only give verbal abuse.
You will be told to "Do a search", "If you don't like it, go away", you will be called a liar, or just plain ridiculed for offering a view on something thse self proclaimed experts know all about.
It is a great site, even though some frequent users have no people skills.
It may be similar to a computer version of the Short Person Complex. It is annoying, but to get the best answers, sometimes you have to put up with nonsensical stupidity.
Cheers
Ian

I'll start by saying I don't mind the layout of this forum because it is different.
But, there is a tendancy for topics to be repeated and for recent topics to dissapear quickly 'off the radar' as they move down the list. I know in the past the search feature was diabolical and next to useless and people say its been improved. I haven't had to use it much recently so I'll take their word for it and find out when I try next time.

What I do find funny is the people who say "I don't like other forums with their sub categories. It's too much trouble to go between them". Well as a member of other forums such as lcool, they all have a button at the top which says something like "View all new posts since last visit" which when clicked will display all latest post in time order just like on here no matter what sub group they might be in. So you can have your cake and eat it to.

So when someone queries why this forum is like it is, rather than lambasting them why not explain the positives of why it is better this way.

I can certainly understand what people find frustrating about the forum structure.

the seperate "reply and follow up" structure is a bit different to most popular forums, and does take a bit more following, but I can see advantages in it.
This format will deal with sub discussions better that a single line forum.

But outside of the popular forums that run "V bulliten board" or similar, there are quite a few different formats that are harder to read & follow than this one.

The lack of catagories is a bit of a concern, and would be much more of a problem if it was a higher traffic forum.

As it stands, this whole forum has lower traffic than a single subsection of some of the bussier forums.

A lot of other forums don't support blogging, or have the other associated site features.

I would not say it is illogical...but it is certainly different to other forums and takes a little getting used to.

cheers

I think it all comes down to how our brains work and what cues we pick up on.

And since my brain doesn't work at all, I'm having no more & no less problem with the ExplorOz layout than I do with any other forum that I visit.

Does that make sense?

Cheers & beers - Wayne

A few random thoughts on the forum and the replies so far:

I also find problems with all the advertising and opening EO can take about ten minutes, and even opening or closing a thread is extremely slow for me. Although I try and look in once a day, I only open a few threads and reply only occasionally; I just cannot take the time to participate more than that. Sometimes it freezes my browser and I have to crash out of it and start again – all time consuming. However it is a business website and advertising is a big part of their trade.

Having separate sections for topics suits some other forums covering a wider range of topics, and this has been suggested here many times (by me too ,going back some years). EO does not cover a broad range of topics or have a huge amount of threads each day, so hardly seems necessary. In other forums, most people use the view latest threads, which groups all subject boards. People have different perceptions of what gets put where or don’t even think about it and moderators have quite an onerous job keeping it all tidy. Not many people search a particular subject board – just the whole forum, and are generally not taking any notice of what board the thread is in. An array of choices of where to look and where to post is very confusing for newcomers.

Of more benefit would be if posters followed the recommendation to do a search first; if they aren’t willing or able to do that, then they would hardly think about putting their question in the most appropriate section. A lot of repetition of threads does fragment the information.

The search function here is not very effective, and this may contribute to the posts on the same subject coming up every week.

A thought out of all this would be if posters at the start had to tick a box of subject area of their thread (eg mechanical, caravans, places), and a search field that narrowed a search down to searching only those flagged for that subject, may improve the usability of the forum.

Motherhen

I always thought that if you become a paid member you get extra features like being able to track threads you've posted in and the use of private messages etc.

Having used various other forums (from coffee to mountain bikes and other topics) most have had what you might call a standard forum layout, so completely agree, ExplorOz takes quite a bit of getting used to. But once you're used to it it's not so bad, just for catching up with the latest threads or doing a search for something in particular.
I do agree that the disadvantage comes if you want to follow a certain thread or topic more closely. I guess not as much an issue if you're happy to note down the thread numbers and do a search (or bookmarking it might work I guess?). At least you still get email notification on any replies to your threads or your comments, that is certainly a big plus and overcomes having to search and check if you've missed replying to anyone!

I've always loved this forum for the info contained on it. I tolerate the Ads because I understand the bills have to be paid, but I must say the layout of it has never bothered me particularly whereas the layout of the lcool & Pajero forums constantly drive me nuts. Each to his own I guess, but I reckon you're doing alright David & Michelle.

My two penneth worth.

Another advantage over standard platform forums is the follow up function within threads - this keeps the side tracks within the thread together and the whole thread makes more sense. A great feature.

Mh

I can find the last post on this thread by just going to the bottom - but how do I find the last followup without having to scroll through about 40 entries.

I like to be able to look at what has changed in the forum since last visit - again I have ticked the box that lists threads by time of last change but without scrolling through each post it is not possible.

The box at the right of a thread lists how many posts and follow ups - by being able to click on them and be taken to the last post or follow up would be helpful.

Garry

This post probably sums up the forum layout in one. All of the dribble like this post is mixed up with the mostly useful other stuff going on here.
Other forums at least seperate the pointless from the good.
BS

What are the forums that you think are better !!!!!, I for one would like to look at some of these to compare for myself .

not that I would have that much time to look , after this one & others I use .

cheers

I just went slowly through this thread again and found a couple of followups I missed yesterday about half way down. And there-in is the issue some people have. Is it necessary to slowly run through the whole thread time and again when it pops to the top of the list and you see that there has been added followups.

eg. this thread pops to the top of the list and you think that there are 4 extra follow-ups (having to remember how many were there from last time shouldn't really be necessary though). So I scroll to the bottom as that is the logical place to find recent information and I see a couple there. Ok then, so maybe there was only 2 new follow-ups since I last visited and so I leave the thread not realising that there were a couple more elsewhere.

Is there a way to highlight recently added follow-ups which can be hard to find in long threads.

Added replies are no problem as they are always at the bottom.

y complain when u are not a member
become a member then people may care