Almyk
Offline
Idea for compromise? Old and New Balance!
To those of you who come here saying you like the new layout, I respect your opinion. But those of you that say that we're just whining about it and should except it, Gaia will do what they want. You're just being sheep. We're not whining (Most of us) we are giving Gaia the feedback they wanted then became too afraid (When they took down their poll) to have when they realized no one liked their "jump onto Myspace/facebook bandwagon" look. I can guarantee you 90% of the people (if not all) that have signed the petition are not just signing it just to say no and be difficult, they all have issues and dislikes that are reasonable about the new layout.
It's NOT organized. As many people have stated, it's harder now to navigate then it has ever been. We have two toolbars on some pages that have the SAME links! If it's easier to use the new toolbar to navigate, then why not put it at the top of the page? Instead of shoving it under the old toolbar/links making everything below it cramped and smashed together. It would be easier to use whether than having to click to a different location to even find it. It'd even prolly make the PMs look better as well, like how they had been..
Gaia has all but kicked originality in the butt.. (see pics below)
I Moved the Gaia Speaks to the Guild under What You Don't Like About the New Layout. We only have a fraction of people on Gaia that have signed this, if we can get signatures over 10K (Yes high number), we have a chance of Gaia listening to us more. Just SIGN here, post what you like and don't like in the Guild! THANKS!
DON'T PM ME WITH SIGNATURES!!! OR STUPID RANTS! POST THEM ON FORUM! It's hard enough to keep up with all the signatures.. keeping the all in one place helps a LOT. Also please don't quote the first post OR the signature list. Thanks!
~*~
Features
~Redesigns
I have to say you did a good job in listening to your users when you were trying to redesign the home page. You showed us what you were thinking about doing, you gave us a poll and feedback thread, you put it up anyways, but then you took it right back down when you realized how unhappy we were with the scary, screaming girl. You then listened to our feedback and then came up with a bunch of redesigns, let us give feedback on those and let us pick our favorite ones. This is how redesigns and features should be released to us.
When Gaia posted the redesign for the My Gaia page, you did have a site feedback thread. But there was no poll to be found. A lot of users were very unhappy with this redesign and were even more unhappy that there was no poll. Even some of the users on the first page of the thread were letting other users send their feedbacks to them so they could add those comments to their posts just to make sure Gaia would see how unhappy the users were. And yet, the redesign was released. And yet there's been no indication that Gaia is listening to their users on how bad we think of this.
Problems with the My Gaia redesign: This redesign is unoriginal, boring, cramped, and is so confusing when it comes to navigation. There is also the major issue of the feeds. The feeds are frankly, pointless and are taking up way too much space on the little amount of space there is. There is also an issue of privacy with the feeds as that people on your friend's list can see what it is you're doing.
Possible solutions for My Gaia: Come up with a few more redesigns (like you did with the front page) and give users a chance to vote on their favorite ones. With the redesigns, make them bigger, more colorful, less like Facebook and Myspace, and take away the navigation bar. Also, take away the feeds idea. We don't need to know what our friends are doing, they don't need to know what we're doing, and we can just look at our thread subscriptions to see if we have any new posts. Overall, I would say to make this page customizable like when we had channels.
Future redesigns: Make sure to make it look like Gaia. Don't just copy from other websites. Make an announcement on the redesign, put up a feedback thread, put up a poll, really listen to the users, and then put it up. Also with this, maybe just plan on making a few different redesigns and let users pick their favorite ones instead of guessing and thinking "what will the users like."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~GIM
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Aquariums
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Working on old features
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Releasing too many new features
Issue: Too many features are coming out. I feel like I'm getting all this stuff shoved down my throat and I can't breathe. It's great that we are getting all this stuff, but it's too much at one time. One of the other problems with this is that some of the stuff is being released too quickly to where some of the stuff isn't working properly or isn't that good. We do like quality better than quanity. And that also goes for items with more than one pose, but that's a different topic.
Solution: Slow down. You don't need to release a new feature every week. Take your time on the features and don't worry about getting new stuff out so often just to make users happy. You will actually make a lot more users happy if you fix and update the older features first and then start releasing newer features.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Releasing features that are focused on new users
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaia/User Communication
~Announcements
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Answers from Gaia
Issue: Some of the problems I have been having lately is the answers we are getting from the people running Gaia. Now, I love the ATA and I love the admins/devs who take the time to answer our questions. But, I feel that the answers we get are way too vague and it seems we're getting the same answers over and over again.
Solution: Just tell us the truth. We can handle it. We're not a bunch of babies. Let us know if there are problems within Gaia. Let us know the direction you are heading. We want to know this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Bugs and Glitches
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Others
~Sponsors/Advertisements
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Anime/Plot Updates
"GAIA Online is the Newest Community-based Anime and Videogame Resource Site on the web. Here you can gain access to a huge archive of Anime and Videogame related links via our link list, converse with other fans through our forums and chat rooms, show off your artistic skills in our online Art Arena, and customize your own personal avatar for use all throughout the site! "
Issue: This is what Gaia was like at the beginning. This is what attracted most of the experienced users to Gaia. This Gaia has almost completely vanished from the site now. I understand Gaia is growing and it is becoming more diverse, but it does not have to completely leave what it was behind. Since the beginning, we have lost the huge anime list that was on the front page, anime sponsors have disappeared, and role playing has declined greatly.
Solution: Knowing that not all the new users are interested in anime, the site should not revert back to being all anime. Most of the new users would probably quit and the site wouldn't grow anymore. But, we don't have to take all the anime out of Gaia either. So some solutions that would make the anime based Gaians happy would be to try to bring in more anime companies, put in more anime pictures around the site, use the NPCs more, and maybe make a page that would be all about anime.
The poll is whether or not you like the new layout Gaia wants to do.
Sign if you want Gaia to go back to how it was before My Gaia.
Gaia's newest change made it look like an exact copy of Myspace/Facebook. Don't Believe me? Ok Pics...
Gaia Now:
Myspace:
Facebook:
Me personally, I don't want people to know when I've updated my profile, and I don't care when any of my friends do either. I liked it when Gaia was original... not a sellout.
So here's a petition for Gaia to go back to how it was BEFORE My Gaia, for them to fix the bugs and glitches that are wrong with the site right now, and to finish the battle system.
Edit:
One thing I don't get... I understand Gaia has too expand and grow to fit all the people and things they want... but why do they need to change the appearance of the site in order to do that? :/ Someone care to explain?
-Thanks!
(Make sure you add -signs- to your comments so I know to add you to the list ^^ I'm adding those of you who say negative things about the new layout to the list as well.)
New Guild! Please Join! Bring Old Gaia Back <- Discuss here what you like and don't like about the new Gaia Landing Page idea. Please pass around the guild link!
Answers we got from Lanzer himself -
Gaia is like a big city where different parts will be under renovation at one point or another, I don't think there will be one day where we fix everything at once. Next up is probably the inventory system, and community features.
.When will all of the changes be complete for the new layout of Gaia?
Sorry to hear that you don't like the feeds feature in the new framework. There are many teams working on Gaia today, artist work on items, storylines, NPC, and games, while the admin team work on restoring hacked accounts, keeping the site safe, removing bots, and maintaining a good culture throughout the site, while flash developers work mainly on zOMG today along with other games and improvements, the UI team help tackle many complaints that new users have with how hard it is to learn how to use Gaia. We're trying really hard to address everyone's concerns, and unfortunately sometimes one person's request might upset another person. Imagine a new user asking for a better menu, when a veteran Gaia user would ask for things to stay the way it is. Unfortunately we have to make some choices that cannot cater to everyone, but we only act with the intention of making the overall site better. Having a better way to keep track of your friends and having less announcements or updates flooding either the announcements forum or the PM inbox is also part of the goal. Everything is in response to feedback and complaints from other users, for there's nothing to gain from making anyone upset. We'll continue to address your concern and think of how to find a good layout or solution that will please as many Gaians as possible.
Why are you working on an ugly facebook/myspace layout instead of working on things that need to be done? Are you trying to get rid of your sites originality and piss off alot of users that are going to quit? You have alot of users that love gaia the way it is don't change that. Work on better Mc's they have gone downhill alot, Work on improving the GD problem, Work on towns and better ways for us not to get hacked. NOT a new layout please not a new one. Alot of people say you guys don't listen to us anymore and say you are money grubbing. Don't prove them right.
-BANNERS-
~Black List~
Dreamer NiGHTS - Harassing people.
Don't make me add more please.
To those of you who come here saying you like the new layout, I respect your opinion. But those of you that say that we're just whining about it and should except it, Gaia will do what they want. You're just being sheep. We're not whining (Most of us) we are giving Gaia the feedback they wanted then became too afraid (When they took down their poll) to have when they realized no one liked their "jump onto Myspace/facebook bandwagon" look. I can guarantee you 90% of the people (if not all) that have signed the petition are not just signing it just to say no and be difficult, they all have issues and dislikes that are reasonable about the new layout.
It's NOT organized. As many people have stated, it's harder now to navigate then it has ever been. We have two toolbars on some pages that have the SAME links! If it's easier to use the new toolbar to navigate, then why not put it at the top of the page? Instead of shoving it under the old toolbar/links making everything below it cramped and smashed together. It would be easier to use whether than having to click to a different location to even find it. It'd even prolly make the PMs look better as well, like how they had been..
Gaia has all but kicked originality in the butt.. (see pics below)
I Moved the Gaia Speaks to the Guild under What You Don't Like About the New Layout. We only have a fraction of people on Gaia that have signed this, if we can get signatures over 10K (Yes high number), we have a chance of Gaia listening to us more. Just SIGN here, post what you like and don't like in the Guild! THANKS!
DON'T PM ME WITH SIGNATURES!!! OR STUPID RANTS! POST THEM ON FORUM! It's hard enough to keep up with all the signatures.. keeping the all in one place helps a LOT. Also please don't quote the first post OR the signature list. Thanks!
~*~
Alexis Pendragon
Features
~Redesigns
I have to say you did a good job in listening to your users when you were trying to redesign the home page. You showed us what you were thinking about doing, you gave us a poll and feedback thread, you put it up anyways, but then you took it right back down when you realized how unhappy we were with the scary, screaming girl. You then listened to our feedback and then came up with a bunch of redesigns, let us give feedback on those and let us pick our favorite ones. This is how redesigns and features should be released to us.
When Gaia posted the redesign for the My Gaia page, you did have a site feedback thread. But there was no poll to be found. A lot of users were very unhappy with this redesign and were even more unhappy that there was no poll. Even some of the users on the first page of the thread were letting other users send their feedbacks to them so they could add those comments to their posts just to make sure Gaia would see how unhappy the users were. And yet, the redesign was released. And yet there's been no indication that Gaia is listening to their users on how bad we think of this.
Problems with the My Gaia redesign: This redesign is unoriginal, boring, cramped, and is so confusing when it comes to navigation. There is also the major issue of the feeds. The feeds are frankly, pointless and are taking up way too much space on the little amount of space there is. There is also an issue of privacy with the feeds as that people on your friend's list can see what it is you're doing.
Possible solutions for My Gaia: Come up with a few more redesigns (like you did with the front page) and give users a chance to vote on their favorite ones. With the redesigns, make them bigger, more colorful, less like Facebook and Myspace, and take away the navigation bar. Also, take away the feeds idea. We don't need to know what our friends are doing, they don't need to know what we're doing, and we can just look at our thread subscriptions to see if we have any new posts. Overall, I would say to make this page customizable like when we had channels.
Future redesigns: Make sure to make it look like Gaia. Don't just copy from other websites. Make an announcement on the redesign, put up a feedback thread, put up a poll, really listen to the users, and then put it up. Also with this, maybe just plan on making a few different redesigns and let users pick their favorite ones instead of guessing and thinking "what will the users like."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~GIM
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Aquariums
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Working on old features
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Releasing too many new features
Issue: Too many features are coming out. I feel like I'm getting all this stuff shoved down my throat and I can't breathe. It's great that we are getting all this stuff, but it's too much at one time. One of the other problems with this is that some of the stuff is being released too quickly to where some of the stuff isn't working properly or isn't that good. We do like quality better than quanity. And that also goes for items with more than one pose, but that's a different topic.
Solution: Slow down. You don't need to release a new feature every week. Take your time on the features and don't worry about getting new stuff out so often just to make users happy. You will actually make a lot more users happy if you fix and update the older features first and then start releasing newer features.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Releasing features that are focused on new users
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaia/User Communication
~Announcements
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Answers from Gaia
Issue: Some of the problems I have been having lately is the answers we are getting from the people running Gaia. Now, I love the ATA and I love the admins/devs who take the time to answer our questions. But, I feel that the answers we get are way too vague and it seems we're getting the same answers over and over again.
Solution: Just tell us the truth. We can handle it. We're not a bunch of babies. Let us know if there are problems within Gaia. Let us know the direction you are heading. We want to know this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Bugs and Glitches
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Others
~Sponsors/Advertisements
Issue:
Solution:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Anime/Plot Updates
"GAIA Online is the Newest Community-based Anime and Videogame Resource Site on the web. Here you can gain access to a huge archive of Anime and Videogame related links via our link list, converse with other fans through our forums and chat rooms, show off your artistic skills in our online Art Arena, and customize your own personal avatar for use all throughout the site! "
Issue: This is what Gaia was like at the beginning. This is what attracted most of the experienced users to Gaia. This Gaia has almost completely vanished from the site now. I understand Gaia is growing and it is becoming more diverse, but it does not have to completely leave what it was behind. Since the beginning, we have lost the huge anime list that was on the front page, anime sponsors have disappeared, and role playing has declined greatly.
Solution: Knowing that not all the new users are interested in anime, the site should not revert back to being all anime. Most of the new users would probably quit and the site wouldn't grow anymore. But, we don't have to take all the anime out of Gaia either. So some solutions that would make the anime based Gaians happy would be to try to bring in more anime companies, put in more anime pictures around the site, use the NPCs more, and maybe make a page that would be all about anime.
The poll is whether or not you like the new layout Gaia wants to do.
Sign if you want Gaia to go back to how it was before My Gaia.
Gaia's newest change made it look like an exact copy of Myspace/Facebook. Don't Believe me? Ok Pics...
Gaia Now:
Myspace:
Facebook:
Me personally, I don't want people to know when I've updated my profile, and I don't care when any of my friends do either. I liked it when Gaia was original... not a sellout.
So here's a petition for Gaia to go back to how it was BEFORE My Gaia, for them to fix the bugs and glitches that are wrong with the site right now, and to finish the battle system.
Edit:
One thing I don't get... I understand Gaia has too expand and grow to fit all the people and things they want... but why do they need to change the appearance of the site in order to do that? :/ Someone care to explain?
-Thanks!
(Make sure you add -signs- to your comments so I know to add you to the list ^^ I'm adding those of you who say negative things about the new layout to the list as well.)
New Guild! Please Join! Bring Old Gaia Back <- Discuss here what you like and don't like about the new Gaia Landing Page idea. Please pass around the guild link!
Answers we got from Lanzer himself -
Lanzer
Gaia is like a big city where different parts will be under renovation at one point or another, I don't think there will be one day where we fix everything at once. Next up is probably the inventory system, and community features.
Lil Christmas Angel
.When will all of the changes be complete for the new layout of Gaia?
Lanzer
Sorry to hear that you don't like the feeds feature in the new framework. There are many teams working on Gaia today, artist work on items, storylines, NPC, and games, while the admin team work on restoring hacked accounts, keeping the site safe, removing bots, and maintaining a good culture throughout the site, while flash developers work mainly on zOMG today along with other games and improvements, the UI team help tackle many complaints that new users have with how hard it is to learn how to use Gaia. We're trying really hard to address everyone's concerns, and unfortunately sometimes one person's request might upset another person. Imagine a new user asking for a better menu, when a veteran Gaia user would ask for things to stay the way it is. Unfortunately we have to make some choices that cannot cater to everyone, but we only act with the intention of making the overall site better. Having a better way to keep track of your friends and having less announcements or updates flooding either the announcements forum or the PM inbox is also part of the goal. Everything is in response to feedback and complaints from other users, for there's nothing to gain from making anyone upset. We'll continue to address your concern and think of how to find a good layout or solution that will please as many Gaians as possible.
Dipperdandooney
Why are you working on an ugly facebook/myspace layout instead of working on things that need to be done? Are you trying to get rid of your sites originality and piss off alot of users that are going to quit? You have alot of users that love gaia the way it is don't change that. Work on better Mc's they have gone downhill alot, Work on improving the GD problem, Work on towns and better ways for us not to get hacked. NOT a new layout please not a new one. Alot of people say you guys don't listen to us anymore and say you are money grubbing. Don't prove them right.
Lanzer
The changes aren't necessary for existing users, but we wish to address concerns from new users too. We must stay fair and address everyone's needs. I hope that our constant update in new games, events, MMO, and current features will continue to be our pledge for staying focused on the everyday Gaian at the same time. A summer event with all the updates and games are a magnitude bigger in time and effort than these incremental layout changes actually.
Gaia is a free website for all to enjoy. Today Gaia still remains to have all its features for free. While I hope that everyone would know that the months and months of updates that happens require tremendous efforts, and to keep building these new things, and serving traffic for millions of users actually take millions of dollars. Sponsors help cover some of it, others are actually supported by Gaians themselves. Hope that makes sense, as it's a pretty big eco-system to keep everything working month after month here at Gaia.
We actually have a list of bug fixes and changes that go out twice a week. We fix at least two dozen bugs a week, and new features like zOMG has over 700 that we're trying to fix. Do check out Panagrammic's journal when you get a chance, and you'll see a portion of the changes and fixes that we regularly update, but otherwise, we continue to listen and address bugs and problems, but with the size of Gaia, it's just difficult to fix everything at once.
Why all the unnecessary changes to Gaia? The original layout was just fine, plus it was less glitchy. Many glitches have been found, that nothing has been done about.
When I joined, Gaia was a nonprofit website, what happened to that? In the past year it seems that Gaia has become a community completely about profit.
Actually another I thought of: How many Devs or Admins browse through the forums? There are many thing that I have seen pointed out, but nothing is done about...Users constantly have opinions expressed, but nothing seems like it is acknowledged till it is put here.
Gaia is a free website for all to enjoy. Today Gaia still remains to have all its features for free. While I hope that everyone would know that the months and months of updates that happens require tremendous efforts, and to keep building these new things, and serving traffic for millions of users actually take millions of dollars. Sponsors help cover some of it, others are actually supported by Gaians themselves. Hope that makes sense, as it's a pretty big eco-system to keep everything working month after month here at Gaia.
We actually have a list of bug fixes and changes that go out twice a week. We fix at least two dozen bugs a week, and new features like zOMG has over 700 that we're trying to fix. Do check out Panagrammic's journal when you get a chance, and you'll see a portion of the changes and fixes that we regularly update, but otherwise, we continue to listen and address bugs and problems, but with the size of Gaia, it's just difficult to fix everything at once.
STARS Rescue
Why all the unnecessary changes to Gaia? The original layout was just fine, plus it was less glitchy. Many glitches have been found, that nothing has been done about.
When I joined, Gaia was a nonprofit website, what happened to that? In the past year it seems that Gaia has become a community completely about profit.
Actually another I thought of: How many Devs or Admins browse through the forums? There are many thing that I have seen pointed out, but nothing is done about...Users constantly have opinions expressed, but nothing seems like it is acknowledged till it is put here.
-BANNERS-
~Black List~
Dreamer NiGHTS - Harassing people.
Don't make me add more please.
![[Sakura]Haruno's avatar](http://a2.cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/db/8e/2ba0be4c8edb_flip.png?t=1327212488_6.00_00)
