dontwantaname wrote:Can we have our pictures back????
Please

i think you still have pictures, ms. name. it's just me that has no pics.

Well, I am finally about done with this thread since obviously all the talking is getting us nowhere.

It seems that the sense of community is not important to Woot, and that many people have said that the site seems less friendly. I still come here, but mostly to check the daily deal, but I just don't hang around.

This is the one thing that should worry the staff. I was one of the biggest proponents of Woot, and I used to talk it up all the time. (my boss even joked during my year end review how much I talk about it).

I was just thinking as I was reading that I have not said anything to anyone lately. The new blahness of the site has not only dampened my interest when I am here, but I am no longer spreading the word. I know for a fact that I have turned at least twenty people on to this site since I first came here, and now I don't tell anyone about it. For me, talking about it now would be the equivalent of telling everyone I know about a great store called Sears.

saltone wrote:Well, I am finally about done with this thread since obviously all the talking is getting us nowhere.

It seems that the sense of community is not important to Woot, and that many people have said that the site seems less friendly. I still come here, but mostly to check the daily deal, but I just don't hang around.

This is the one thing that should worry the staff. I was one of the biggest proponents of Woot, and I used to talk it up all the time. (my boss even joked during my year end review how much I talk about it).

I was just thinking as I was reading that I have not said anything to anyone lately. The new blahness of the site has not only dampened my interest when I am here, but I am no longer spreading the word. I know for a fact that I have turned at least twenty people on to this site since I first came here, and now I don't tell anyone about it. For me, talking about it now would be the equivalent of telling everyone I know about a great store called Sears.

Not quite done yet though eh? Well you can be pleased to know that I'll still visit this thread even if no one will talk specifics with me.

It is our sense of community that caused us to create woot and to continue to seek to improve it. feeling a general sense of blah and disliking change because it is change is not productive input. good luck & thank you for your passion while it lasted - we'll drop you off at woot 2.0.

I think I'm probably out of the norm from this thread. I kinda like the changes. Maybe not so much the movement of the post count, but I never really looked at that much anyway. I still say the old purple was the best color. The old purple with this design? sounds good to me! I'm not really affected by the size of the front page so I've got no beef there.

So from one of your loyal wooters,

Keep up the good work.

Snapster wrote:Not quite done yet though eh? Well you can be pleased to know that I'll still visit this thread even if no one will talk specifics with me.

dude, we're following your lead. you say there's more content that's going to make the width worth our while? where's the specifics in that? why roll out a new format if there's nothing to put into it?

if you don't treat our opinions with any respect why should we treat yours with any?

Snapster wrote:
feeling a general sense of blah and disliking change because it is change is not productive input. good luck & thank you for your passion while it lasted - we'll drop you off at woot 2.0.

Not productive input? what is left to say. The site is generic and no longer sets itself apart. If someone painted your house an ugly gray, and you didn't like it, I guess that you really do like it, you just don't like change. People telling you they don't like the format and the color is "productive input" I deal with people every day in marketing and sales that make bad decisions. Ads that are terrible, logos that are terrible. But they are unwilling to accept that they may have made a mistake. Customers telling you that they don't like the changes for whatever reason, is the most important feedback you can receive. Without customers your site will be nothing. The fact that you brush off so many peoples opinions that are different than your own is really pretty arrogant. I guess you can just chalk it up to the fact we don't like change, and keep living in whatever world you live in.

Congratulations from being the leader in the DOD industry to being one of the masses.

no1 wrote:dude, we're following your lead. you say there's more content that's going to make the width worth our while? where's the specifics in that? why roll out a new format if there's nothing to put into it?

if you don't treat our opinions with any respect why should we treat yours with any?

I think it would be fun to just have a bad day here after so many days of taking some opinions with respect. A little bluntness would do this conversation good perhaps.

Yes, there is more content in the works for the front page. That content will roll out over the next few years, or sooner.

saltone wrote:Not productive input? what is left to say. The site is generic and no longer sets itself apart. If someone painted your house an ugly gray, and you didn't like it, I guess that you really do like it, you just don't like change. People telling you they don't like the format and the color is "productive input" I deal with people every day in marketing and sales that make bad decisions. Ads that are terrible, logos that are terrible. But they are unwilling to accept that they may have made a mistake. Customers telling you that they don't like the changes for whatever reason, is the most important feedback you can receive. Without customers your site will be nothing. The fact that you brush off so many peoples opinions that are different than your own is really pretty arrogant. I guess you can just chalk it up to the fact we don't like change, and keep living in whatever world you live in.

Congratulations from being the leader in the DOD industry to being one of the masses.

I have spent enough time over the past 39 pages to make many logical and specific statements that people do not wish to read or respond to.

What kind of car do you drive?

dontwantaname wrote:Now I totally confused. What the heck happened?


Snapster, we have whole threads just for pictures.
Can we get our pictures back?

I have no clue how that picture posted three times. I tried img and url to see if it made a difference.

I'll even delete the ahuhu cats on the product thread, if that is what it takes!

Thanks - as I hope we've relayed to the mod crew, dev crew is on it. (this is the effort to stop trolls from avoiding moderation and posting nsfw images)
edit - I have confirmed they are aware of your example posts.

Snapster wrote:I have spent enough time over the past 38 pages to make many logical and specific statements that people do not wish to read or respond to.

anticipating what the size of web browser windows will be 2 or 3 years from now seems less than relevant, hence the lack of response.

Snapster wrote:What kind of car do you drive?

htnmmo wrote:After 38 pages of comments and no indication that there will be any change... well... I guess you got your answer

I find it annoying too. Colors seem fine though but I haven't really explored the rest of the site.

Don't bother. They keep removing the good things and screwing up the rest.


We had the ability to use fonts (different font, color, & size) for a while, but then they pulled that away.

So what if they added a button to go back to the top of the page. We need the link to switch back to the main thread (for World of Woot, etc.), not the stupid top of page. Can scroll faster.

They still haven't fixed the PM system (want an email when you get a new PM? Good Luck). And it is too cumbersome to use the new PM system. You can't use it as efficiently as you used to.

And using a mobile device on the new Woot? Fudgeddaboutit.

As others have reported, I find myself referring others to Woot less and less. And shopping Woot less and less and other sites more.

Snapster wrote:I think it would be fun to just have a bad day here after so many days of taking some opinions with respect. A little bluntness would do this conversation good perhaps.

Yes, there is more content in the works for the front page. That content will roll out over the next few years, or sooner.

The content will roll out over the next few years? Ouch. That's just poor planning there. Given your track record of changing the website every year or two, those changes are going to be put to the side in order to redesign your new site two years from now because the technology will have changed and your site can look better.

I think the best change you could make is build a mobile friendly website since more and more people are surfing on their crackberries and iPhones.

I still don't think the changes are bad and I am looking forward to the enhancements that you have planned, I just hope they come out and stay for awhile before you redesign again for more enhancements that we hope to see in a few years from the redesign.

Snapster wrote:I have spent enough time over the past 39 pages to make many logical and specific statements that people do not wish to read or respond to.

Did you not wish to read or respond to my last post, or did you just not see it?

Speebs wrote:Your last sentence makes me sad. Really really sad. Why are you so committed to this attitude of "well, if they don't like it, there's nothing we can do about that"? OF COURSE THERE ARE THINGS YOU CAN DO. For example, not change everything all at once. Change the colors, let people get used to that. Add some widgets, let people get used to that. Add some width, let people get used to that.

You've already acknowledged that people feel "at home" here and part of the reason old-timers are complaining is that woot isn't familiar any more. Why not gradually transition instead of suddenly changing the site into something barely recognizable?

You throw this new, generic, corporate, sterile web site at your customers, then blame them when they are turned off. I just don't get it. It's become a really disappointing trend among companies lately, and I'm wondering when people will realize that it's alienating. It might net you more money in the end, but that doesn't make it "good business". I guess the question is, which is more important: greater profits, or higher customer satisfaction/lower turnover?

Speebs wrote:Did you not wish to read or respond to my last post, or did you just not see it?

I read that this was too much change at once and we should have moved slower to keep more of an air of familiarity about the place. I think this is a very fair criticism.


for all - I have updated the ongoing 1024 on Woot.com spreadsheet for those interested in how woot's audience differs from the mainstream:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pXSnuTqRzXAGsEQfzsiB7Bw

repeated preface: this spreadsheet tracks only a narrow subset of woot.com visitors affected by our 1080 width - that subset being only those that are running in 1024 max resolution. look further back in this discussion for other commentary on choice of browser window size and how that's also impacted by technology.

current notes: impressive acceleration out of 1024 now shown by w3schools latest worldwide data for January '09. increased acceleration across 6, 12 and 36 month look back periods. largest 2 month drop in percentage terms ever and second largest 1 month drop. it is worth noting likelihood that our design width may further accelerate woot's percentage shift out of the 1024 max audience moving forward from January 14th - though the w3schools new trend line actually shows mainstream conversion is accelerating more than woot's.

Side note: both wine.woot and shirt.woot have significantly more technologically advanced audiences with nearly 25% fewer 1024 visitors than main woot.com data linked at current time.

cruzer wrote:...
I think the best change you could make is build a mobile friendly website since more and more people are surfing on their crackberries and iPhones.

I still don't think the changes are bad and I am looking forward to the enhancements that you have planned, I just hope they come out and stay for awhile before you redesign again for more enhancements that we hope to see in a few years from the redesign.

I agree - mobile platform is an even more desirable departure point for us as we increase content of the desktop version.

My 2 year comment was intended to come across as sarcasm. Basically we now have room and dev time to devote to additional content and it will come as it fits into other priorities, asap. (read: coming months)

Snapster wrote:I read that this was too much change at once and we should have moved slower to keep more of an air of familiarity about the place. I think this is a very fair criticism.


for all - I have updated the ongoing 1024 on Woot.com spreadsheet for those interested in how woot's audience differs from the mainstream:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pXSnuTqRzXAGsEQfzsiB7Bw

repeated preface: this spreadsheet tracks only a narrow subset of woot.com visitors affected by our 1080 width - that subset being only those that are running in 1024 max resolution. look further back in this discussion for other commentary on choice of browser window size and how that's also impacted by technology.

current notes: impressive acceleration out of 1024 now shown by w3schools latest worldwide data for January '09. increased acceleration across 6, 12 and 36 month look back periods. largest 2 month drop in percentage terms ever and second largest 1 month drop. it is worth noting likelihood that our design width may further accelerate woot's percentage shift out of the 1024 max audience moving forward from January 14th - though the w3schools new trend line actually shows mainstream conversion is accelerating more than woot's.

Side note: both wine.woot and shirt.woot have significantly more technologically advanced audiences with nearly 25% fewer 1024 visitors than main woot.com data linked at current time.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

• All
• Work
• and
• no
• Play
  
• Makes
• Jack
• a
• dull
• boy

Snapster wrote:I read that this was too much change at once and we should have moved slower to keep more of an air of familiarity about the place. I think this is a very fair criticism.


for all - I have updated the ongoing 1024 on Woot.com spreadsheet for those interested in how woot's audience differs from the mainstream:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pXSnuTqRzXAGsEQfzsiB7Bw

repeated preface: this spreadsheet tracks only a narrow subset of woot.com visitors affected by our 1080 width - that subset being only those that are running in 1024 max resolution. look further back in this discussion for other commentary on choice of browser window size and how that's also impacted by technology.

current notes: impressive acceleration out of 1024 now shown by w3schools latest worldwide data for January '09. increased acceleration across 6, 12 and 36 month look back periods. largest 2 month drop in percentage terms ever and second largest 1 month drop. it is worth noting likelihood that our design width may further accelerate woot's percentage shift out of the 1024 max audience moving forward from January 14th - though the w3schools new trend line actually shows mainstream conversion is accelerating more than woot's.

Side note: both wine.woot and shirt.woot have significantly more technologically advanced audiences with nearly 25% fewer 1024 visitors than main woot.com data linked at current time.

Although I'm reading it that you are losing customers, rather than accelerating the resolution screen size.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Although I'm reading it that you are losing customers, rather than accelerating the resolution screen size.

I'm one of the no longer 1024 peeps. I was running the "standard" 1024 resolution at work, but Woot convinced me to break free (i.e. break into the group policy) and emancipate my desktop properties pages. So now I'm running at 1182 or some strange resolution. It only slightly hurts my eyes after a long time (like a full work day, so I just don't work all day). Although I still have the scroll bar since I tend not to have Woot maximized at work very often. I leave about 1/5 of the screen open for actual work stuff. Hey, do you think we could have a boss key?

Snapster wrote:

What kind of car do you drive?

Can this please be a quality post? I love it.

I like the new site, I've thrown in my 2 cents before, but I'll do it again. I use a 17" screen at 1024 so I have no problem viewing the site. I think the site is a little easier ot navigate now also, I find it easier to jump to shirt.woot and wine.woot(if I do visit it).

Sonan wrote:I'm one of the no longer 1024 peeps. I was running the "standard" 1024 resolution at work, but Woot convinced me to break free (i.e. break into the group policy) and emancipate my desktop properties pages. So now I'm running at 1182 or some strange resolution. It only slightly hurts my eyes after a long time (like a full work day, so I just don't work all day). Although I still have the scroll bar since I tend not to have Woot maximized at work very often. I leave about 1/5 of the screen open for actual work stuff. Hey, do you think we could have a boss key?

Woot! I'll try not to act too excited

Generally speaking LCD monitors have a "native" resolution that results in the most crisp performance. Many manufacturers recommend use of this resolution in the manual or setup guide on new monitors. If you're on CRT I don't think it matters as much - it's an LCD pixel alignment thing. You might google or post your monitor model number here to see if native resolution is easy to find and then test what it looks like. If native is higher res than you're used to, you might still try it for a day and move your monitor closer to compensate for smaller text.

I really like the "hover over" post count and woot count.

Snapster wrote:I have spent enough time over the past 39 pages to make many logical and specific statements that people do not wish to read or respond to.

What kind of car do you drive?

I drive a 2002 Chevy Cavalier with a big dent on the passenger side, courtesy of an rocket scientist ex. Thanks for asking.

Sorry, I just had to.

I don't love the changes, I do miss Woot! 2.0 a bit. I don't hate them either.

Here's what I do love--that you, the CEO of a large company, have taken so much time to respond.

Here's what I hate (don't worry, I can duck pretty well)...that so many fellow Wooters take your responses to mean that you aren't hearing them or don't give a carp about their input. Disagreement doesn't equal disrespect. I think that you read AND post responses shows your respect. The reality is we don't know, and you can't divulge everything that led to this decision.

I'm really sorry you seem to feel a bit resigned. I like reading your posts. And Woot! still rocks, in my book.

Snapster wrote:If you're on CRT

Bingo. The higher the resolution, the lower the frequency response and the greater the flicker. I tried 1280 and it was unbelievably bad, which is why I chose the odd 1146.57 or whatever I'm on now. I heard they're replacing CRTs with LCDs as needed. Whoops, there goes my coffee... Guess I shouldn't have been using the monitor as a table.

xmmx wrote:I really like the "hover over" post count and woot count.

Agreed! Keep the positive changes coming!

Snapster wrote:Woot! I'll try not to act too excited

OK...here's a suggestion.... no really.... I think this will be good.


When I click the picture of the featured product and the big HUGE picture comes up.... can I have an (X) at the bottom of the picture also, instead of having to scroll back up to the top to close the picture?

mistmi01 wrote: Disagreement doesn't equal disrespect. I think that you read AND post responses shows your respect.

Matt AND Jason do sometimes stray into the sarcasm....

unixrab wrote:Matt AND Jason do sometimes stray into the sarcasm....

I agree. It seems to me though that Jason's normal tone is sarcastic. Matt SEEMS different to me (not that I know the man). I don't necessarily think that it is disrespect.

My intuition says that Matt's sarcasm stems from exasperation. He has alluded to plans for the future, that he can't divulge. I expect he's frustrated by what he can't say. And, what he CAN say won't satisfy the (relative) few who frequent this thread.

Even when he resorts to sarcasm, I don't get the impression he disrespects his woot! community. Imagine how frustrating it would be to have a compelling argument to make, but be unable to use it. Again, I have to say, disagreement is not disrespect.

As woot's plans unfold, will we remember this thread?

Snapster wrote:I read that this was too much change at once and we should have moved slower to keep more of an air of familiarity about the place. I think this is a very fair criticism.


for all - I have updated the ongoing 1024 on Woot.com spreadsheet for those interested in how woot's audience differs from the mainstream:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pXSnuTqRzXAGsEQfzsiB7Bw

repeated preface: this spreadsheet tracks only a narrow subset of woot.com visitors affected by our 1080 width - that subset being only those that are running in 1024 max resolution. look further back in this discussion for other commentary on choice of browser window size and how that's also impacted by technology.

current notes: impressive acceleration out of 1024 now shown by w3schools latest worldwide data for January '09. increased acceleration across 6, 12 and 36 month look back periods. largest 2 month drop in percentage terms ever and second largest 1 month drop. it is worth noting likelihood that our design width may further accelerate woot's percentage shift out of the 1024 max audience moving forward from January 14th - though the w3schools new trend line actually shows mainstream conversion is accelerating more than woot's.

Side note: both wine.woot and shirt.woot have significantly more technologically advanced audiences with nearly 25% fewer 1024 visitors than main woot.com data linked at current time.

The width of this monitor is 1440, which is the most I could get in a monitor of this physical size. I keep a buddy list open on the left side, as well as the gadget stuff on the right. On your spreadsheet, I show as more than 1024. In reality, 1024 is about all I have for a browser window.

It is for this reason that I have privoxy installed and rewriting the pages my browser pulls from woot.com, both to get rid of the extra column on the main page, and to get rid of the junk at the bottom of the forum pages. I really don't need the forum to constantly remind me what is on the front page, and I don't need the front page to give me posts from the current forum thread. So I suppress 'em both, completely removing those elements from the html before my browser ever sees it. Oh, and I got rid of the 1080 fixed-width background, allowing me to narrow the window without getting a scrollbar.

Ozru wrote:The width of this monitor is 1440, which is the most I could get in a monitor of this physical size. I keep a buddy list open on the left side, as well as the gadget stuff on the right. On your spreadsheet, I show as more than 1024. In reality, 1024 is about all I have for a browser window.

It is for this reason that I have privoxy installed and rewriting the pages my browser pulls from woot.com, both to get rid of the extra column on the main page, and to get rid of the junk at the bottom of the forum pages. I really don't need the forum to constantly remind me what is on the front page, and I don't need the front page to give me posts from the current forum thread. So I suppress 'em both, completely removing those elements from the html before my browser ever sees it. Oh, and I got rid of the 1080 fixed-width background, allowing me to narrow the window without getting a scrollbar.

oooooooooo post your privoxy code... I use that too!!!

mistmi01 wrote:
As woot's plans unfold, will we remember this thread?

I will. :'(

unixrab wrote:oooooooooo post your privoxy code... I use that too!!!

The changes I make are pretty draconian, but here's a simpler one that just hides the right column on the main page (rather than deleting it entirely) and breaks the tyranny of the 1080px minimum width.

[Edited to remove rant about greater-than and less-than signs in posts, because I improved the filter to not use them]

In user.action:

# Block some junk in the new woot.com layout
{ +filter{woot} }
.woot.com


Four lines in user.filter (after the FILTER line, there are three, and each starts with s and ends with g):

FILTER: woot Block right-side junk
s/class="salebar"/style="display:none;"/g
s/class="sidebar"/style="display:none;"/g
s/width:1080px//g

Oh, and to hide the footer so you don't have to keep seeing the current item while you're in the forum:

s/class="footerBlocks"/style="display:none;"/g

Ozru wrote:Oh, and to hide the footer so you don't have to keep seeing the current item while you're in the forum:

s/class="footerBlocks"/style="display:none;"/g

THANKS!! Maybe this will help until the $%@$@$%$ woot 4.0 change over when Snapster has promised to go back to Carrots & Broccoli and a reasonable width. ;)

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

I found a positive aspect to the extra width. I check Woot from my laptop a lot, and I use my longest finger on my right hand to move the mouse pointer with the track pad. All the extra moving and tapping I'm having to do to scroll the Woot pages is giving that finger an extra workout, and it's proving to be quite beneficial on long rush-hour commutes to work!

I believe I already posted in this thread a while back but figured I'd share again...

The site redesign blows. Mainly because it's too wide but I'm not a huge fan of the colors. Or the general sense of a cluttered page.

Please fix it soon. Thanks!