Recent upgrade, update please.

Morning Gragon

It has really not been a good upgrade,, i belong to three groups, and people are just not using them, the atmosphere, and friendliness that came from them has gone.

This is so sad, i still have to keep trying to get in, the way it is set out for a topic then having to keep going down. Think people are giving up, i know i do not use it as much and i was always here, for company, a chat and to support.

I hope you are keeping well, Thanks for writing the thread.

Take Care Elliexx

Hi Gragon. 
I think your post is spot on. We have lost the community feel completely. There seems to be more posts with people commenting on posts from years ago, than there are recent posts. The RELATED strip on the right hand side is definitely not helping this. Some of the related posts I have seen have been from 12 years ago! And it’s so upsetting seeing posts on there from our dear friends asking for help, who are no longer with us. Things really need to change. 

Dear Gragon

Many thx for taking the time to post this. You have nailed just how important this community is to we incurables, some of us have no other outlet for our worries & woes. It is also incredibly important in how it allows us to tap into the many years of experience in how to cope with our (lack of) future & possible treatments etc...

I am a relative newbie who came onto the site just after it's upgrade and whilst I am very grateful to Macmillan for creating this space, I cannot help but think that it REALLY needs to be MUCH more user friendly, more easily accessible ad considerably more intuitive.

Perhaps we might consider creating a list of all the issues so that MacM's IT team knows exactly the hardships we are facing.

Thank you Gragon & Macmillan inn advance.

Best & Stay Strong 

SiT

Hi SiT,

I think that for me this is the old issue of communication with the service user.  I have highlighted a number of issues to Macmillan but unless I know what they are aware of I might just be tying them up reading e mails about issues they are aware of.  It would be useful to know what they are aware of so we can assist by not  reporting things they are aware of or perhaps a simple tick so they know how many users each problem is affecting.  Of course if you can't log in you can't tick this.

The other aspect is not knowing what they are doing to resolve this.  Is it one person from the online team, outside contractors who designed the site in the first place or something else?  Are they resolving issues all the time or only introducing them in the very short notice maintenance shut downs.

Have they contacted the members who can't sign in to see if they are ok?  If these members would like some peer support can they facilitate members exchanging contact details?  If they can't sign in they can't exchange PMs.

I understand that the previous site was inadequate but I  feel like I know nothing about what is going on with the site and I am able to log in regularly on my laptop.  (My mobile is often more of a problem).

I worry about the members who cannot log in, cannot read the posts due to the size of the site, cannot see the posts they want, see posts from years ago including from friends long dead and have lost the support of the community.

I look forward to hearing back from Macmillan.

Gragon x

y interesting, i gave up messaging them, i had to do this that what ever they told me made no difference, use google chrome i am on this, brand new laptop and i have tried so many times to day to login in.

This is suppose to be a support for us all and this upgrade has caused so much stress for many, when as the incurables, we really do not need it, don't they think we have enough to contend with. It used to be my sanctuary, more so after losing my husband last year, i could always come here and support some one, get support and have a chat, this is the most i have been here in last last two months.

Take Care Ellie xx 

I agree..it's just sad...been missing it just to pop in for a update or chat. So many are not here anymore..and imagine our Daloni to try to give us a message..just sad.

It is really sad.  I wrote a reply to this group the other day sent it but it didn’t send just didn’t have the Will to write all again so just shrugged and signed off.  

Thank you Gragon for saying what so many of us are feeling. I actually don’t have problems accessing the site but since very little is happening I don’t log on very often. It’s Catch 22 really. The Related Topics problem could have been anticipated and needs to be dealt with asap. Things haven’t been going so well for me lately but I haven’t shared that because I know in normal circumstances I would get a lot of support. 

Gragon. You are correct. What is required is for the developers to understand how people access the site, technologies hardware, browsers.

The best thing people can do is to ensure that their browser is up to date.  I don’t know if Macmillan did capture how people connect.  An old pc running an old operating system and old browser will struggle.

i’m using an iPad generally which is fairly modern, however when they say hover over an icon, I cannot do that on an iPad.  I’ve given up using my phone as it’s too difficult 

Hi ditr

If you are having probs like this, how about writing your post in a prog such as word (or similar) then pasting & copying   to the site...

Also, as YM has already said it is quite important to have the latest version of your browser. I am on safari but as I joined after the site overhaul I do not seem to be encountering anywhere near as many probs as older users.

The only other fix I can think of is to delete the site and re-load possibly with a new moniker like tvman did...

Obvs it would be much more preferable if MacM came up with a fix that covers ALL of the bases and then let everyone know how to implement it - we'll see....

Stay Strong

SiT