After the great migration...

[X.]

Is it a good time to say what a downgrade the migration feels like from a user's perspective?

I just had a look at the LabVIEW Shortcut Plugins section of the site:

and all I see is a list of topics spread over 4 pages (at this point).

If I click on a link, it opens as a single page without context, suggestions or additional information like there used to be in the previous site.

This is the way the whole sites seems to work now.

I guess that has been thoroughly thought through and extensively vetted by the majority of users and I am just the exception.

No kudos from me.

[Kristi_Martinez]

Hello X,

Thank you for your feedback. Categories in the old platform, lived within a "group" which had features like the overview page to provided descriptive information. The new platform is limited in the community with a new setup our user are not use to. Our team is currently working on customizing the various pages to provide more context to users who may land there.

We appreciate your feedback to provide a better community experience for everyone.

Best Regards,

Kristi Martinez

NI Community Support

[X.]

@Kristi_Martinez: Thanks for reading.

A feature I liked in the previous site is the "suggestions" or "related" topics or documents (not mentioning again, the more compact and feature-rich layout). I have discovered a ton of stuff like that.

Right now, the new site looks like what an amateur like me would be doing: folders, subfolders, etc, and at the very bottom of the hierarchy, a single page displayed with absolutely zero context.

Not what you guys had let us expect with all the hooplahoo about the new community website (although I had sensed a disaster in the making at the very last minute)...

[X.]

I have reported a few broken links in some of the threads I browsed recently  to the "Moderator" (not my links or threads, but links found when browsing other threads in search for information) and was told each time, in the same exact terms (probably a template message) that this was all expected due to the non-migration of personal documents.

Please show me where this was clearly explained and OK-ed by the community.

But more importantly, I want to reiterate this, because apparently this is not clear to NI:

If a link to a document located on the former decible.ni server was working before the migration, that MEANT that it was shared with the community. Therefore, it was NOT a personal document.

Now what are we supposed to do if we discover a broken link? Contacting NI is pointless, since you will receive the template personal message I refered to before, explaining that sorry, but we won't fix what we have broken.

So instead, should we contact all individual users, and ask them to check with NI and make sure that either:

- NI re-establishes a link to those documents (in fact they are completely reformatted, so these are not strictly speaking the same documents anymore)?

- get a copy of those documents from NI (which I have had to do) and post them on a personal website, which they will have to maintain in the long term (which I haven't done yet)?

At least, it appears pretty clear that we will have to give up on receiving a flat and humble apology from NI to have magistrally screwed up their website rejuvenation. In fact, as I have mentioned before, I have been asked in a personal message to try and act constructively and professionally. Am I the only one to see the irony in this request?

[Christine317]

Hello X,

In planning for the migration, we took many steps to ensure that this transition would be as smooth as possible. Since April of this year, we were as open and proactive as possible in our communication regarding the migration -- via announcements, blog posts, emails to group owners, and through NI’s other communication channels, such as newsletters.

Our team is well aware of your opinion of the changes we’ve made this year to the NI Community. We’d like to remind you again, as we already stated to you in private, expressing your criticism in an unconstructive and unprofessional manner is not acceptable nor does it follow the guidelines of being respectful in the NI Community.

We do recognize these changes have caused you and other community members inconveniences. Our Community Team has been looking at every issue reported, responding as quickly as possible, and prioritizing accordingly.  We will continue to support our community members in resolving any issues that have arisen due to the migration or in general.

[X.]

Define "unconstructive and unprofessional".

Point where I was not respectful (or define respectful, whichever you think is easier).

I stumbled upon the blog post I linked to BY CHANCE. I tried to understand what this meant practically and expressed my concerns. I was provided advices and reinsurance, but despite following these advices, I now am facing with extra work to re-post the stuff I had posted before (if I do it, this will be elsewhere, where I will only have myself to blame for loosing it).

If you do not seek or even tolerate frank criticism, I would suggest you state it clearly.

I wish you good luck in your cleansing efforts. Looking good so far.

[LiliMcDonald]

X. -

Constructive criticism is always welcome, but complaints with no actionable feedback are unconstructive and don't help us make improvements as we move forward. While you are certainly welcome to express your frustration with the changes that have occurred with the migration, we ask that you understand that some changes cannot be reverted as we have merged with this platform. The best way for our team to help users is to provide specific details about the issues so that we can troubleshoot more quickly.

Earlier in this topic you did have a question regarding broken links. Yes, some links may be broken as the content was not migrated -- such as personal documents -- but we should still verify if that is the case. Other broken links may be fixable by updating a redirect. So, it is still valuable to report broken community links to the team so that we can investigate.

Thanks,

Lili McDonald
Community Manager

National Instruments

[X.]

It's perfectly fine to blame Lithium and NI's choice to use it and thereby limiting themselves to a... oops almost got unprofessional and non constructive again!

After all, I often tell my users: can't do, this is a known LabVIEW limitation/feature/bug...

[Ray.R]

I do not think "X" was out of line.  What I think (and it is my personal view) is that none of you "Admins" are listening.  Why is it that you are obsessed with believing that this new format is so great?  It isn't...  Explaining everything that is wrong wth it is a full-time job.

This forum is made up of various groups of people, some of which exchange knowledge (ask / provide answers) among the members, some are NI employees who provide assistance and some administer this forum.

WIthout the participation and feedback of members such as X or myself (people who exchange knowledge), what are you left with?  Potentially a very desolate forum full of NI employees and admin. 

You call this a community.  If it is a community, stop being on the defensive and work with the people who care enough about this forum to voice their concerns.  It is not a simple matter of "this feature works or it doesn't", it is a matter of feeling like this place is a home where we can exchange ideas and knowledge and feel good about visiting the site. 

Since the great migration it certainly feels unwelcoming and alienating.

It's up to you to delete this post if you wish.  I hope someone gets a chance to read it before it dissappears (if it does).

Our seemingly negative posts are no to fight with you or to tell you that it's all wrong.  We are trying to get your attention that it does not feel right.  Do we know what's "right"?  Maybe not.  (or maybe we do). 

This was a great place.  My favorite site on the net.  It is now very far away from that top position.  And yes, I was aware of the upcoming migration.  I was not aware that it was going to turn this way.

[X.]

@Ray. R: thanks for the support, but I believe this is a lost cause. We will have to deal with the file explorer-like website structure (reminds me of the "site map" of yore or notorious usefulness), and resort  to Google to find useful information. I guess that the motto was "let's consolidate our website under a single umbrella" and "let's off-load the engineering to Lithium". Still work to do as far as the first item is concerned.

Unprofessional and non constructive comments aside, I managed to stumble on interesting bits (and some downright awful ones) while trying to browse the "site explorer" systematically, but with no  convenient way to bookmark them in the site (bookmarks in the User's settings? That must be an example of professionalism), I am slowly building my own site with links to them for the future. I may make it public some day...