I hate the new eForum structure - it makes no sense

[jengarweb]

It's the first time i have visited in weeks and it is caotic (more than it had been in the past). How come under devices Apple have thier own section were Sumsung and every other non Apple manufacturer has been thrown in the Android section. Android isnt a device, it's an operating system. I dont like it so there :smileysad:

[BandOfBrothers]

Hello @jengarweb

This is a recent similar thread Where-has-the-HTC-forum-gone.

A forum re structure occurred not too long ago. 

[kids]

@jengarweb As you say the old forum was becoming a bit chaotic in as much as there were so many different boards.

Any reorganisation would look at the amount of visits each board gets and decide whetrher a particular device warrants its own section.

As you say there is one board dedicated to Apple, but previously there were three.

[Nabs]

The forum has now been arranged by Operating system rather than manufacturer. I think the Apple board should be renamed to iOS to save any further confusion.

[hrym]

There's an ongoing debate over whether people think of Apple devices as "Apple" or "iOS".  The simple fact is that all Apple mobile devices run it, so it's really just a matter of semantics.  The old structure was getting out of hand, with some brands getting their own boards and others even getting ones devoted to specific models.   As traffic varied, things had to be moved around to take account of new models and changes in popularity.   Sticking to operating systems should avoid that in future, saving work, disruption and confusion.

[Tink-GB]

Sorry Guys but Jengarweb is right.

It may be easier to manage a forum with fewer sections but unfortunately this site and Vodafone has now committed the cardinal sin of Customer Service...forgetting about the end user and putting their revenue streams ahead of the service being provided.

I suspect the VF Tech team staff that regularly used to reply to User comments and questions have gone the same way..been pushed onto other things that provide revenue to VF rather than good Customer service which needs resource to keep operating successfully.

I know Band of Brothers your non-Vodafone disclaimer is honest enough but let us also be honest ....as the shear fact that you need the disclaimer tells it's own story.

The forum is in the worst shape it has ever been.
There are no decent threads grouped together anymorebso finding answers or indeed questions to comment on is nigh on impossible.

Yes there are lots of Android handsets now but without any decent search or keyword functionality on the mobile version at least, the forum will fail further.

[Nabs]

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@Tink-GB wrote:
I suspect the VF Tech team staff that regularly used to reply to User comments and questions have gone the same way..been pushed onto other things that provide revenue to VF rather than good Customer service which needs resource to keep operating successfully.

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The forum team is actually growing at the moment, there have been several new faces appeared just this week. I assume it will take them a little time to get fully up to speed on everything though.

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@Tink-GB wrote:
The forum is in the worst shape it has ever been.
There are no decent threads grouped together anymorebso finding answers or indeed questions to comment on is nigh on impossible.

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I'm not sure about the worst shape but it's certainly not its best. The big problem at the moment is the complete lack of any non account threads. The traditional "how do i do x on x phone" threads have kind of dried up, i'm not sure if thats because people are more savvy now than ever before or just that people are finding the answers without having to ask on the forum, either way it gives us less to post on.

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@Tink-GB wrote:
Yes there are lots of Android handsets now but without any decent search or keyword functionality on the mobile version at least, the forum will fail further.

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100% agree, the search functionality on the forum is pretty poor. I'll be honest and say I don't use the mobile version for the sole reason that it lacks so far behind the desktop site, I know this is definitely being addressed though, hopefully it'll not take too long.

[drey_p]

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@Nabs wrote:

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@Tink-GB wrote:
I suspect the VF Tech team staff that regularly used to reply to User comments and questions have gone the same way..been pushed onto other things that provide revenue to VF rather than good Customer service which needs resource to keep operating successfully..

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 I think Tink-GB may be referring to the way that the eForum Team used to deal with issues on the forum and send customers Private Messages with instructions on how to get in touch so that they could help.  As we know, account specific queries are passed back to the various customer service channels.

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@Nabs wrote:

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@Tink-GB wrote:
The forum is in the worst shape it has ever been.
There are no decent threads grouped together anymorebso finding answers or indeed questions to comment on is nigh on impossible.

---

I'm not sure about the worst shape but it's certainly not its best. The big problem at the moment is the complete lack of any non account threads. The traditional "how do i do x on x phone" threads have kind of dried up, i'm not sure if thats because people are more savvy now than ever before or just that people are finding the answers without having to ask on the forum, either way it gives us less to post on.

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I would agree with Tink-GB.  This new structure is too messy.  Lumping every Apple device in one section is bad enough, but to put every Android device in the same section is madness.  It makes it just short of impossible to find anything meaningful.  I'd imagine that is also having an impact on people coming to ask questions.  It needs to be broken down by manufacturer.  Something like this would improve things a bit:

Android

         > Samsung

         > Sony

         > Vodafone

         > Huawei

At least that way the posts relating to the same manufacturer would be in the same place.

In the Apple section, something like this:

Apple

       > iPhone

       > iPad

[BandOfBrothers]

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@Tink-GB wrote:
Sorry Guys but Jengarweb is right.

It may be easier to manage a forum with fewer sections but unfortunately this site and Vodafone has now committed the cardinal sin of Customer Service...forgetting about the end user and putting their revenue streams ahead of the service being provided.

I suspect the VF Tech team staff that regularly used to reply to User comments and questions have gone the same way..been pushed onto other things that provide revenue to VF rather than good Customer service which needs resource to keep operating successfully.

.I know Band of Brothers your non-Vodafone disclaimer is honest enough but let us also be honest ....as the shear fact that you need the disclaimer tells it's own story.

The forum is in the worst shape it has ever been.
There are no decent threads grouped together anymorebso finding answers or indeed questions to comment on is nigh on impossible.

Yes there are lots of Android handsets now but without any decent search or keyword functionality on the mobile version at least, the forum will fail further.

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Hi @Tink-GB

I placed that part in my signature so that members are fully aware I'm not a Vodafone Employee as that posed question did crop up quite often. There is no other reason. 

I appreciate your opinion on the new forum restructure.

Some people will like it and some people will not ,but that's probably always going to happen. 

[SimonWilding]

i think the new OS based board makes more sense. Most posts seem to be OS related rather than relating to the physical device. Someone with an HTC running Android 5 might have the same problem as someone with a Samsung whihc before would result of two posts of different sections. Now it's all in one place.

Yes I'm aware that there may be some device/brand specific query but just make that clear in the post title.