Could this site improve by being easier to enjoy?

[Investy]

My humble opinion is that this site is too complex, daunting, with too many individual sections which results in people not bothering to get involved.

I often find myself confused with navigation even though Ive been here a while, but the same is not true of say housepricecrash.co.uk where its very easy to navigate

IMAGINE YOU STUMBLED ACCROSS THIS SITE;
You want to find out about where to invest - do you go into property for sale, or buy to let, or how about the main board (which is not apparant it is a main discussion board - I just happen to know it is).

I personally think if you have to many boards, people intereact and get involved less as they dont 'stumble' accross coversations, they have to actively seek them out.

The Moroccan forum for example has sub forums for certain groups of people - I think this causes lower interaction and engagment as people hive off into little groups much of the time

THE SUPERMARKET APPROACH
Super markets deliberately cause users to 'wander' seemlesly thru the store in order to cause the user to engage on a greater level.

If you have most people concentrated on one main discussion panel I think you might find a lot more interaction - for example someone might post on a main board that Dubai is great - and I will be drawn in, whereas with it being tucked away I would currently have to take the conscious decsion to go to that section.


Also there are many non useful marketing approaches - often just 2 lines that really clutter the place up and often those OPs have little interest in debate. They also often Im afraid come accross as intectually challenged - with no mention for example of how easy it is to repatriate funds or set up a will, instead just some useless nonsense along the lines of "buy here, its really great and last year went up 8%"


Just my 2 penneth

[totallyproperty]

Hi Investy,
Wow. A lot to take in. I must say I agree with a lot of the points. We need to invest in a better / more user friendly design. This will be a priority after a few current tasks such as server upgrades and software upgrades. The forum has grown quickly in a short space of time and we need to catch up.

I really appreciate your feedback and would like to assure you that we will take your points on board when we re-structure.

Regards
Bob

[Investy]

Bob

I just re - read my post and it's all negative and not a true reflection of the whole!

I should have added that this site is far superior to the likes of CH4 where the mods jump on users at every turn and where the rules of engagement are ott. I like the fact TP is an exchange for frank debate. Some forums seem to forget thier customers and assume a high and mighty attitude which drives traffic away.

I' have been into some sub forums here that deal with specific places but I've noticed if you want to offer some critical analysis you are seen as a troll or imposter into a private club! This means national sections become a self appreciation society with little ion the way of comparative analysis.

[jessicatam]

I like the separation for the areas - each country / continent has their own concerns, trends, etc.

I think it may be easier for newcomers if the general sections were at the top of the board, and easier to see, and the country boards were 'collapsed' and you could open the ones you were interested in. It would make for less scrolling past countries you didn't want to invest in.

Maybe you could ask where people were interested in buying property when they registered, and automatically have those boards displayed prominently when they logged in?

Just a suggestion.

[apacheman]

I agree, i'm new and the site is pretty overwhelming.

[Peter Mitry]

Originally Posted by Investy

Bob

I just re - read my post and it's all negative and not a true reflection of the whole!

I should have added that this site is far superior to the likes of CH4 where the mods jump on users at every turn and where the rules of engagement are ott. I like the fact TP is an exchange for frank debate. Some forums seem to forget thier customers and assume a high and mighty attitude which drives traffic away.

I' have been into some sub forums here that deal with specific places but I've noticed if you want to offer some critical analysis you are seen as a troll or imposter into a private club! This means national sections become a self appreciation society with little ion the way of comparative analysis.

Just read your post Investy and I agree with you 100%; there is a tendency in many sections of the forum for anyone with anything negative to say about absolutely anything to get jumped on from a great height. Whilst it is important to avoid leaving ourselves or the forum open to litigation, surely the most successful formula is to create an environment where we can all contribute in any way which seems appropriate? The very nature of a 'forum' is that it reflects a cross section of opinions.

[redfeffer]

informative site, but quite difficult to guage how much weight to attribute to the comments - some are highly subjective

[redfeffer]

...my inital feel is that there are some very helpful contributors, but their posts get swamped by agents trying to sell stuff!

[nubianqueen]

i agree!

nubianqueen!

p.s. when i have got jumped on! i keep quite for a while!