Propeller. Fail. »
Posted By DiffeeOnline 11 months, 2 weeks ago in Science & TechnologyThe reviews are starting to roll in. There are only two possible conclusions so far: either the community will need some time to get used to the new changes over at Propeller, or the changes were a bad move. The initial feelings of the community can best be described when you look at the current (as of 12am PST 7-23-08) top front page story. Here is a screenshot:
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DiffeeOnline
Social media, politics, technology, news, marketing, and the environment. These are my passions. These are the things that I spend more time with than anything ...
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DiffeeOnline11 months, 2 weeks ago
I personally think it's going to be okay, but I have some exploring to do. Still, this is funny.
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AlfredKo11 months, 2 weeks ago
OH MAN, I am totally disappointed with Propeller.
I understand that much effort is made for improving the site, but this actually is the worst thing that they have ever done!
I am BEGGING the AOL team to revert Propeller back to it's original state.
WHY?
1. Members' Benefits
It's very clear, the majority of the users hate it. Propeller is going to a significant amount of its current members if this continues on - including me.2. Search Engine Friendliness
I considered myself experienced in SEO (search engine optimization).
And the new Propeller are NOT search engine friendly at all.
Propeller will lose much traffic from Google and Yahoo, I am 210% sure about this.
Propeller doesn't stand a chance against Digg if this carries on. The previous ones are much more user-friendly compared to Digg.I can predict 2 things will happen if Propeller decides to carry on with it's current state:
1. At least 50% active users will leave and become inactive.
2. A lot of TRAFFIC LOST from Google, Yahoo.The outcome: Propeller Alexa ranking will drop from 863 to 10,000.
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wtaggComment removed: Spam
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nightcrawlerX11 months, 2 weeks ago
Im still trying to figure whole thing out. I find it rather confusing and I had just gotten used to the old format. It kinda feels like I'm the person who had just finished cleaning up a big mess and all of a sudden drunken coke fueled monkeys are released in the room with a pile of mud.
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Dicax_Maximus11 months, 2 weeks ago
OK, I give up.... I may come back when they make this pile of crap work......
Unlikely, as I have very little patience for eeejits...
This "new site" is FUBAR........
I tried, even created a "group", attempted to do things, SOD IT, I've had enough of wasting my time...
I'm off to trustserve.net At least that site works !!!!
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ranchhandComment removed: User banned.10 Replies
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gamahuche11 months, 2 weeks ago
Oh Shadow! You were really missed! I was afraid it was the itsy bitsy thread that finished you off...
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What a day to come back!
This is a catastrophe!
I'll describe it in another post - its not fair to lay the whole trip on you just because you disappeared!
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AlphaGnosisComment removed: User banned.2 Replies
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hyperbola11 months, 2 weeks ago
The "new" propeller represents a massive failure to understand why the majority of propeller users participated in the site. We were NEVER very interested in the "front page", but rather in the active back and forth discussion and comments. One could learn a lot from those debates.
The "new" design massively degrades capability and user friendliness for participation in active commentary.
POOR visual design: too much white space; much more scrolling, clicking and paging (often very slowly) required to see the same information; nested commentary threads where a majority of comments cannot be seen without endless clicking, .....
POOR choice of categories. The most popular ones have disappeared and/or been fragmented into numerous user groups, where the fragmentation is likely to make them become much less active than previously (the stellar example is politics).
ELIMINATION of some of the most useful tools. For example, elimination of "recent comments" from user pages. These were essential for discussions extended over multiple online sessions and a crucial tool (usihg recent comments of friends) for finding where the interesting discussions were happening.
etc, etc.
Propeller will not survive by showcasing 10 "interesting" (or not) front page stories and has just alienated a large part of its active user base by massively crippling the capabilities for back and forth commentary and discussion.
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Formidable11 months, 2 weeks ago
Hmac, you are on to something. Why are any threads discussing the change being removed.? Propeller overlooked the fact that its' member base drives revenue. Looks like screw the customer to me. I have found the Trustserve site to be a lot of fun without the micromanagement. You are not censored there.
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GWHayduke11 months, 2 weeks ago
I think we all would have been ok with improvements, but a complete 180 was a bit unexpected. The new format has few of the features of the old Propeller, and requires much more time and effort to navigate.
THATS improvement?
DiggOphobia indeed.
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Formidable11 months, 2 weeks ago
Hmac, you are on to something. Why are any threads discussing the change being removed.? Propeller overlooked the fact that its' member base drives revenue. Looks like screw the customer to me. I have found the Trustserve site to be a lot of fun without the micromanagement. You are not censored there.
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lvrofwolves11 months, 1 week ago
The ONLY thing that even comes close to liking about this is, you can see peoples avatars better, of course I can't upload mine.......I really really really don't like this one bit.
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canadianrancher5711 months, 2 weeks ago
I was busy yesterday and wasn't on the internet, but this comes as a real surprise and I have noticed that some of the negative stories have dissappeared. I was trying to read comments and when it prompted me for the next 25 I could not get any more comments. I was on propeller for the exchange of ideas and opinions which meant I liked to read all comments. After trying to navigate my way around this here this morning I have a feeling that someone has shot a hole in the bottom of the boat ,so to speak.
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ChrisLang11 months, 2 weeks ago
It could be that they got buried just like negative things about Digg get the same response. Enough buries on Digg and the article dissapears.
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joeblowe11 months, 2 weeks ago
I suspect they have let the youngsters fiddle with the format. This looks like a cartoon, but doesn't work as well. No - I don't like it any better today than I did yesterday. I agree: FAIL!
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AlphaGnosisComment removed: User banned.2 Replies
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1basque111 months, 2 weeks ago
The look is so generic. They took away the personality that propeller once had. It is a pain to work your way through trying to find stories that your friends have submitted and any message that you send to a friend is public .
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I hate to complain , but when you make things harder for people to understand they tend to go look for something that is easier for them. -
AlphaGnosisComment removed: User banned.3 Replies
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AlphaGnosisComment removed: User banned.1 Reply
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canadianrancher5711 months, 2 weeks ago
Who ever thought up these changes must have never read many of the comments posted by the members of propeller, the comments of we the people . What I noticed from both the right and left was the concern about how we the people felt on issues. In most cases it was through our comments that we tried to arrive a the truth and although sometimes the debates were heated usually sanity prevailed,. right now I feel that our community has been invaded and all my rights are gone.
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gamahuche11 months, 2 weeks ago
Well said, CR!
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I just waded through all 34 pages of "new" propeller. Waded - I mean in thigh-boots, through the slop..
There was virtually NOTHING there apart from floating garbage. A LOT of the kind of stories that I never liked seeing on the front page of the REAL propeller - lots of sock-puppet votes, no content - and a lot of absolute total crap. And everyone of these stories had a rating of 9.6 or higher.. Out of what, a million?? Hardly a comment between them after page 6 or so.l
(Meanwhile a few poor friends are trying to continue as "normal" and have posted some good stories..and they barely show through this sludge and filth that surrounds them}.
Maybe a dozen - at MOST - stories that might have been interesting but multiple repetitions and many stories that shouldn't have emanated from any orifice, even a posterior one. And virtually NO comments.. maybe it just wasn't working??
I tried to post to one poor fellow, damnedviper's second attempt today - the first had apparently abused the TOU by criticising "new propeller" and been removed.. and failed to post, despite trying half a dozen times.
This all takes me back to the days when this was first being discussed and after some initial trepidation amongst many members on one thread, there was a second thread when we were promised that indeed an incredible amount of thought and effort and planning were going on and we would undoubtedly be delighted with the results - and that our concerns and opinions were being taken notice of.. It was used as a carrot during the worst technical failure period.. Just wait and see what's in store for you!!
I believed it!
And now we've REALLY been taken for a ride.
Like getting abused by a hohoho Father Christmas!
And the very WORST thing?
As far as I can see we've actually LOST access to OUR friends - the people that we individually chose to have little back-room discussions with or to share some personal part of our lives with. With no warning we can't access them unless we were close enough or careful enough to also get an e-mail address for them..
AAAARRRGGH!-
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amazed11 months, 2 weeks ago
I am also upset by the loos of access to friends, the duplicate and triplicate posting, absolutely NO improvement in loading times and, what I miss most -- the My Participation Link. I have had discussions that have continued for days as we go back and see if anyone else commented the next day, if they did you answer, and then they answer and so forth.
Oh well, I guess it will make my husband happy -- there's really no reason to bring the laptop to bed, anymore.
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TLovesTeddyComment removed: User banned.
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alakazam11 months, 2 weeks ago
type your comment hereYeah I noticed the Forum Nazi's were out in full force over the issue.
Apparently all dissent must be crushed.
This IS identical to the NGE fiasco at Sony.
If this kind of censorship is what they have planned I will have no further use for Propeller, AOL nor any of their affiliates.
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ChrisLang11 months, 2 weeks ago
You pay for things in some form or another, in our case yesterday it was our time wasted seeing error messages and being unable to submit articles that we all would have liked to have seen.
Also, any documentation on the bookmarklet? Is it going to work again soon?
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