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gwannouncements

GardenWeb needs your feedback!

gwannouncements
11 years ago

Hi everyone,

As you may have noticed, we've been sprucing up the site a bit. Among other things, we've added new ways to upload photos and email notifications of post replies. We are still cleaning out cobwebs and weeding some areas of the site, but we are also working on some bigger projects like a better search engine (yay!) and a mobile app. We'd also like to get some feedback from you. What enhancements or additions would you like to see? What do you love? What do you hate? Think big and small!

We can't promise the moon, but please know that we will read and consider every one of your ideas and suggestions. We appreciate your loyalty and dedication to our site and we know how important your community is to you. Help us make it even better!

Please use this post to offer your feedback. But, as always, you are welcome to contact me directly by clicking on my profile page.

Best regards,

Tamara Amey

GardenWeb Community Manager

Comments (19)

  • User
    11 years ago

    Tamara, thanks for asking.
    I'm not sure what can be done, but I am puzzled by the GALLERY and what it is supposed to do. It is not organized, and as far as I can tell, it is a straight line file of photos. There might be a wealth of information in That Home Site as well as the Gardening site, but figuring out how to search it or figure out how it is organized, it could help to kick that around a bit.

    Also, I noticed some folks have a jazzed up Profile or Member Page, and I don't know how to go about jazzing mine up. And maybe mining the Clippings, working those into my Member page. Extending the functionality of the Clippings was one of the most helpful things done recently.

    Also, I think the direct uploading of a single photo per post is a great encouragement to getting new members or "lurkers" to join in the fun without the prerequisite of opening a photo album account elsewhere (i.e. Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, etc). It is also a convenience because the photo STAYS IN THE POST, where the photos uploaded via those outside albums can be lost if the photo is relocated to a different album. Thanks for that great feature too.

    I note that when I google a gardening term, quite frequently with the Hosta Forum, my favorite gardening forum, Google already has the whole thread from the forum right there already available for anyone on the internet to click and access. Amazing really.

    Thanks for asking. :)

  • gogirlterri
    11 years ago

    I agree with moccasinlanding about the Gallery. I have gone there expecting to see albums of hosta pictures and can't seem to seperate them out of the mix.
    Also, I often am using my regular search engine to find hosta information and one time found even my brothers GW HF posts listed under a hosta name. I would like to be able to enter a hosta name here in HF and find a listing of postings relating to that hosta.
    Theresa

  • hostafreak
    11 years ago

    The thing that drives me to distraction is the pop-ups that you can't get rid of,every time I log on to Hosta Forum. Some of them are so bad,that you have to go back and sign in again to get what you want to see! Phil

  • Steve Massachusetts
    11 years ago

    Phil, those pop ups used to drive me crazy also. Then I downloaded Add Block on Mozilla Firefox. Presto, no more ads and a much more enjoyable experience.

    Steve

  • Steve Massachusetts
    11 years ago

    Tamara,

    Can we have the ability to edit posts? That way when we say something foolish (as I often do) or incorrect we can edit that foolishness.

    Thanks

    Steve

  • mosswitch
    11 years ago

    I do love the ability to post pictures directly from my computer! With my tablet I can now walk out into the garden, take a shot, and directly post it right there! It would be nice tho if more than one photo at a time could be posted.

    Like Steve, I would also like to see an ability to edit once posted. Sometimes I don't see my stupid mistakes until too late.

    All said, I greatly enjoy the forum, even with the annoying pop up ads that cover the text at times and won't go away. On this tablet I can't do anything about those except to log out and back in again.

    Sandy

  • mosswitch
    11 years ago

    I do love the ability to post pictures directly from my computer! With my tablet I can now walk out into the garden, take a shot, and directly post it right there! It would be nice tho if more than one photo at a time could be posted.

    Like Steve, I would also like to see an ability to edit once posted. Sometimes I don't see my stupid mistakes until too late.

    All said, I greatly enjoy the forum, even with the annoying pop up ads that cover the text at times and won't go away. On this tablet I can't do anything about those except to log out and back in again.

    Sandy

  • mosswitch
    11 years ago

    Oops. And that is another thing, the ability to remove a post that got posted twice accidentally! An edit would take care of that!

    Sandy

  • peggy_hosta
    11 years ago

    I like the feature of seeing all the continuing posts in the same area as the original. On some forums, the responses are not by the original post and they're hard to find and follow.
    It's easy to do searches and navigate through!
    Peggy

  • bkay2000
    11 years ago

    The ads finally get the best of me some days. I give up and do something other than hosta. I feel the same way about myrecipes.com. The ads are so obnoxius that it's just not worth it. I'm not all that technical, so I don't do the firefox and adblock. I can always do genealogy, which has very few ads.

    I would be willing to pay for an ad free experience.

    bkay

  • gwannouncements
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi everyone!

    You asked and we listened. Today we are very excited to be debuting our newest feature -- post editing! To use this feature, go back to the post you wish to correct and you'll find the link under the 'My Clippings' links on the right side of the page.

    I want to give a special shout out to all the testers who tried to break the editing tool. ;) Your feedback was insightful and invaluable. Thank you!

    You may have also noticed that we adjusted the login cookie awhile back so that you should not have to login repeatedly.

    Stay tuned -- we have more cool things in the works!

    As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

    Best regards,
    Tamara

  • in ny zone5
    11 years ago

    Firefox does catch pop-ups, but not all. Sometimes I have 4 adds pop up and I am getting worried that that will do bad things to my computer like downloading Trojans. I once clicked by accident on an add on CNN and my computer crashed, though I had security software running.

    My question is, how do you make sure that your pop-up adds do not contain malware or viruses? Do you run them thru a malware and virus check frequently when in use, not only before you use them the first time?
    Bernd

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    11 years ago

    Editing....HOORAY!

    -Babka

  • Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
    11 years ago

    Editing....HOORAY!

    Yeah, saw that yesterday, a welcome and long overdue addition!

    Pieter

    And you can do that by clicking on the "edit post" on the right hand side, like I just did for this addition.....

    Here is a link that might be useful: Steve's edited post (first reply)

    This post was edited by pietertje on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 11:21

  • gogirlterri
    11 years ago

    It's going to take me some time to catch up. I am one of the top double and sometimes triplle posters.
    Steve's voicing the editiing was a good catch. My family was blessed about a year ago with another child and I always have to smile whenever I see a baby sucking on it's toes. It seems we are born with the ability to put our foot in our mouth and never get over it. I can hardly bend over far enough to put on hose but still find my foot fits in my mouth. :)
    So editing my posts is going to be welcomed.
    Theresa

    This post was edited by gogirlterri on Sun, Dec 2, 12 at 7:28

  • hostahillbilly
    11 years ago

    edit my posts ! danke !

    asking us mere users for suggestions, priceless!

    add Me to the list for better search and photo libraries . . .

    Regards,

    hh

  • User
    11 years ago

    Some improvements to the search is a great idea.

    Then, I think the photo libraries or maybe galleries,
    never know how to do anything but start at point A each
    time, seems like it is not searchable, and searching the
    uploaders and subject matter of the libraries will be
    a huge help.

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    11 years ago

    Once upon a time, before I-Village bought Garden Web, there was the option to select the order in which the replies to posts appeared, like newer replies first. I would love, love, love to see be to see that re-instated. Some of then longer posts take forever to load even on DSL, and I sometimes give up if I just want to see the last reply.

    -Babka

  • kentstar
    11 years ago

    I love that you don't have to use photobucket or other sites like that to upload a photo! Awesome!

    The only think I don't like is all the pop ups even though I have a popup blocker on.

    Perhaps some thumbnail images that can be clicked on for larger images?