There was a similar outcry of disbelief over, what I am choosing to call, the link. I am here Письмо this to gather everyone's collective panic and misgivings into one place, as well as to try and look at the positives of these Последнее changes, in an attempt to placate some of your fears.
First of all, let's get the obvious out of the way. AH! OMIGAWD! Fanpop LOOKS WEIRD AND IS ALL DIFFERENT! It's like Facebook and YouTube had a baby and named it Fanpop! It's FaceFanpopTube! Danger Will Robinson Danger! FREAKING OUT! PANIC ATTACK! TROWING MOLOTOV COCKTAILS INTO Fanpop HEADQUARTERS!
*Hyperventilates.*
*Calms down.*
OK. There. Some of Ты may still need a paper bag to breathe into, so go get one and then finish Чтение this Статья because now I'm going to try and address these new changes in a rational way, and try to be as impartial as possible.
First of all, yes, the above was (somewhat) close to my first reaction to the changes. DarkSarcasm can attest to that. Not that I would ever consider throwing Molotov cocktails into the Fanpop office, because that's blasphemous... But still, it captured my sentiments. So I do empathize with everyone who is freaking out and has automatically decided to hate all the changes. I want to hate all the changes. I fear change. Change is scary. I was afraid of the new ratings system four months ago, but I've swallowed my pride and, for the most part accepted it. From past experiences, I have a feeling that four months from now, people will be used to these changes, as drastic as they are.
секунда of all, let's just remind ourselves that Fanpop is a labor of love. It was made for the Фаны and for the community. And running any sort of society, even a simple online community, can be tough and decisions will be made that will not be Популярное with every member of that community. So my hat off to the great Fanpop Four, who do their best to make Fanpop as awesome as possible for the rest of us. They did not change Fanpop to ruin your online life. They did it to try and make it better.
Let's look at some of the new features, OK? Like the new walls that exist on spots and profiles. A Комментарий wall, such as those on Facebook and MySpace, has been suggested by users in the past (link). And, based on that example, еще people сказал(-а) they would LIKE a Комментарий Стена than WOULDN'T like it. So Ты can't say that this wasn't in demand.
Also, let's think about the benefits of the Комментарий Стена for a minute. Several of us, mostly the grumpy old fogey users, complain about how Ответы is used to make link. I can only hope that this Стена feature will eliminate the need to abuse the Ответы feature as much. Secondly, it may stop Болталка and/or pointless props, and perhaps get rid of that dreaded holiday "props day!". So those are two things the Стена could be good for.
So the Комментарий Стена seems like not a bad idea, right? или at least not as bad as Ты first presumed. Hopefully.
One qualm I do have is all this clutter. I kind of wish the boxes were organized in a different order, so that I could put my own Комментарий Стена on the bottom of my page, или maybe disable it alltogether. The option to enable или disable your personal Комментарий Стена should be provided. That's my first critical suggestion about the new lay out. Keep in mind that for a Комментарий to be "critical" it should mention something that could be improved, and suggestions for how that could be done. "This sucks" или "Fanpop is Fail" are not examples of critical comments. They're just complaints. But complaints have their place in a public Форум as well.
Thinking critically about these changes, I'm wondering why certain categories (like Обои and videos) were grouped together. If Ты want to group things together under tabs like that, why not put them all (images, videos, answers, forums, picks and questions) all in ONE box with several tabs? Also, where are the links? They seem difficult to find. Should they be paired with the Статьи section? Perhaps if these things took up less space, it would feel less cluttered. Somehow, it feels еще cluttered than the layout before it. These are just some critical notes I've made.
Back to the positive! (Compliment сэндвич, бутерброд yay!) This new layout provides opportunities for Космос saving. And yes, I know I JUST сказал(-а) it feels cluttered, but hear me out. The tabs are actually kind of helpful. I think they categorize content fairly well.
Also, not everyone is upset about the new change. Some people are excited about it:
"I really like how the spots look. The Обновления section took up too much unneeded Космос at the вверх of the page, so i like that they moved it to the right and made it smaller. I like that Обои are on вверх because that's the first place I always look and i like the condensed picks/links/articles." - link
Others accept the change with a grain of salt, realizing it's not the end of the world:
"I guess we'll get used to it. Just hope people will use this Стена function for decent things, not spamming and bashing." - link
"Actually, it might not be that bad. At first glance, it seemed aweful, but maybe it's the type of thing that just takes a bit to get used to, then Ты Любовь it." - link
Still others have jumped right into the new features with reckless abandon (and I do mean RECKLESS):
"Team Rosalie For Life! =D" - link
My best Совет to those of Ты with less-than positive attitudes about the change is this: Try and be flexible. Ты may not like it immediately, but give it a chance to grow on you. In a month, Ты might not even remember what Ты were so upset about.
A few other suggestions I've heard/seen.
"[The Fanpop 4] could have doubled [links] up with the Статьи like [they] did with Обои /videos and Ответы /forums and picks/quizzes." - link
"Wall posts should have a Сообщить button..." - link
"I don't exactly like the new Профиль layout... with the Стена & everything because it's totally uneven, the right side is way longer...they need another section on the left. My only other problem with the Стена is that the text is too big... but other than that i really like the new additions/style" - link
A personal suggestion from Yours Truly would be to allow users to use the "old version" of Fanpop, at least until they are ready to accept the new version. I am not an HTML wizard, или adept at running a website, so if this is too difficult to do, then apologies. I only know that this is what some websites and programs do to help sooth the savage Фан beast - I mean, base. I know when Facebook transitions, it does that. Then again, a lot of people are complaining that it's too much like Facebook, so maybe that would be kind of paradoxical. But whatever.
Actually, just Письмо this Статья has helped me, personally, calm down a lot about the changes. I no longer need my paper bag. I'm coping. I'm moving on. I hope a lot of Ты are calmer now, too, and maybe even looking at these changes еще positively. Have a great rest of the week everybody and link because I hear that only TWO PEOPLE have voted. So get your butts in gear! </FGT plug>.
