I’m sorry for posting this, but I have no idea where to post anything or to find any meaningful content anymore. Perhaps I am missing how to browse based on vendor tags, etc. The old forum was 100X better than what we have now, I cannot find a single discussion that I am looking for. What was wrong with the forum where you could actually find relevant topics? Sure, the page layout on this is “simple”…but actually participating and helping the user community is not.
An example of something I cannot find that used to be easy would be panel vendor specific content, there is not a single way to even find just posts related to ADC, my Qolsys panel, or my previous 2Gig panel. We just have one massive jumbled pile of noise, how is this progress? If the search was even remotely accurate perhaps it would be less of a problem for finding prior content (but still impossible to find relevant topics you can contribute to)…but, just try to search for the “master firmware thread” for Qolsys IQ2. The search is horrendous, no ability to control what is searched for, sorting (e.g. by date!)…why would I want to look at a firmware post from 2016 here in 2019?
I have yet to find a single word salad that finds anything meaningful. If this is the permanent new forum “design” you will lose any of my participation going forward, as it entirely alienates your user base. Every good forum at least needs to be broken out by primary subject areas (just like this one used to be!).
I’m very sorry to hear your frustration. First and foremost, your feedback is appreciated and I promise will be taken seriously. The last thing we want is for intended improvements to make it more difficult for people.
I agree, we need to do more work on improving the search feature. I will try to get this prioritized based on your feedback. Is this the topic you’re looking for?
As for using the tags, I think I see your point. There isn’t a way to find available tags on the main page anymore. If there were would that be what you’re looking for? In the mean time, here are links to the Alarm.com, Qolsys and 2GIG tags.
Again, we hear your feedback loud and clear and apologize for the inconvenience. Is there any other feedback you would like to share that we can take into consideration?
The old forum setup allowed for tech questions to be answered, but it also had areas that you could post other things.
It would be nice to have e forum that facilitated more membership posting. Things like what things people are doing with their systems, reviews of products, etc
I wish the Surety staff would post more industry news, new product releases, tips,etc
The more people you drive to this site and the more likely they may sign upmtomyour services
Hey @Ryan, that was the topic I was looking for…though I ended up going to one of your competitor’s site to get details and they had info on 2.3.3 posted which I am now running.
I really hope you can switch to a different forum platform, or find a way of exposing the word tags and better topic selection. The current version will not be getting much participation for me, as only being able to watch the main portal for every topic/category is not something of interest to me.
DD & Russel, again thanks for the feedback. The good news is that under the hood nothing went away. Those categories still exist, they’ve just moved from completely separate forums to tags for added flexibility. The bad new is we missed the mark and overlooked how you use those categories with the initial changes. We’ll get some quick fixes up ASAP but you can expect to see continued improvements over the long term to make the forum more powerful and convenient for you.
I concur, the new site is really bad. You guys should revert and undo what has occured. I have some serious issues with my system but may be inclined to move to something else if this forum isnt resolved. Just a overall bad design.
Thank you for the feedback. We agree that the new website design caused issues with the forum. We’re working on overhauling it to be much better than it is now and was before. I can’t say when the new forum will be launched but it shouldn’t be long.
Do you have any constructive advice that you would like us to keep in mind with the overhaul?
There’s a bunch of stuff and not just the forums but your homepage as well.
There are links for “I have equipment” or “I want a new system” but how about “I’m already a customer and want to look at your pricing for possibly adding other options”.
There should be a link to the forums directly from the homepage.
Horrible user interface. It looks like it’s from 15 years in the past. You need a UI/UX expert to completely revamp this. The “tags” system is not as convenient as subtopics on a main forum page.
What was wrong with the old version? Sometimes new isn’t better.
There are links for “I have equipment” or “I want a new system” but how about “I’m already a customer and want to look at your pricing for possibly adding other options”.
Thank you for your feedback! There is a store link in the footer currently for general products, (or here is the link) but a product search and more prominent options for existing users is something we’ve had feedback on and updates are in the pipeline!
There should be a link to the forums directly from the homepage.
There is always a link directly to the forum right in the header menu on every page. Click “Help Forum” to reach the forum home page.
There is also a new Support page with a wider more robust search, reachable via the Support link.
Horrible user interface. It looks like it’s from 15 years in the past. You need a UI/UX expert to completely revamp this. The “tags” system is not as convenient as subtopics on a main forum page.
Are you referring specifically to the forum here? Yes, I think with the switch some of the forum functionality needs repaired. As above, there are additional updates to the forum on the way!
What was wrong with the old version? Sometimes new isn’t better.
I do think it is tougher for existing subscribers to navigate the general products in our store. That is something we are aware of and updating soon!
Additional streamlining, functionality, and features are being added and the new format allows for this more readily. Look for additional functionality in the forum and new features in the system manager soon!
We definitely appreciate all constructive feedback on any pain points! The website development is informed largely by user experience, so please do let us know if you have issues!
Thank you all for providing honest feedback. As promised, we’ve been working hard to address the issues you pointed out and go above and beyond that. Our goal is to have the best forum experience possible. Here’s the teaser…
-The search feature to me needs the most work. When I search for something, I would like to sort results, see the dates etc.
-The second biggest loss when the switchover occurred is the sub topics, this was a nice feature for limiting content to relevant information at the time.
-As Diamond said, we should make sub topics for new devices and news. I am always searching the internet and forums for new zwave devices or adc cameras etc. It would be nice to have all that information easily accessible.
The old forum is what sold me on becoming a customer since I enjoy reading about issues people have and I have learned a lot by doing so.
I think/hope the new forum will meet or exceed your expectations. It’s based on Discourse, a modern and powerful forum platform.
Search is solid.
I completely agree on the lost functionality. We will have multiple main categories. We intend to use tags instead of subcategories but tags in Discourse are powerful. Much more so than we have now. We don't want too many categories because most topics naturally span multiple categories which doesn't work. Here's a better explanation. But these tags offer all the functionality we had before with subcategories and more.
We will have a Product Updates category and a News category to serve those purposes.
We’re doing our best to improve but with any change there may be unanticipated challenges. Please keep the feedback coming and remember we’ll continue working to improve even after the initial launch. All the best!