Reply #319: I have found the "change for change's sake" aspect of computer interfaces to be

[tblue37]

a hyperactive pain in the neck. The email programs change, the Blackboard program we use to post stuff for our students changes, and usually the changes don't add anything to the experience except a lot of time one must spend learning one's way around the new stuff.

When a tool works very well for me, I do not want to have to spend time learning how to use a revamped version unless it really and truly offers something the older version did not offer, and in most cases, I do not find that new versions add much.

I think the youngsters are a bit hyperactive with their technology upgrades, and I do hope I will be able to use a classic DU version that will keep my experience of it similar to what it has been.

before coming to DU, I was a regular on The Smirking Chimp, but when he revamped the interface and added all sorts of complicated new things, so that I couldn't figure out how to get back to the point in a message thread I had been following--or even to the thread itself, I just gave up and made DU my new political/news home. I also used to adore the handsome look of the old Smirking Chimp homepage, but now it is just as common (and ugly) as most others.

I never could get used to navigating and using The Daily Kos, but DU has always seemed pretty much perfect to me. I can always find what I want quickly and easily, and there is no learning curve.

One thing I love about DU is the "Greatest" page, ebcause I can scan it quickly for stuff if I have just a few free moments before rushing off somewhere, but there seems to be no "greatest" page for the new site, and I will really miss that.

If the new version is significantly less convenient for me to use that it is for me to use now, I might have to abandon DU as I abandoned smirkingchimp.com, but I will be very, very sad if that happens.

I will say, though, that smirkingchimp.com also was problematic in the sense that its owner went all autocratic on us all of a sudden, and then ended up banning some of the most enjoyably prolific posters (and financial contributors) for questioning some of his decisions, and that had something to do with my deciding to leave. Perhaps if he had been more flexible and less quick to ban some of my favorite long-term posters/contributors (Shadowthief comes to mind--he was always so informative!) I would not have abandoned it so quickly over the changes, though the changes really did make it much harder to use the site.

The administrators here at DU are much more willing to negotiate with members, so that certainly works in DU's favor.

I hope I can still use DU comfortably after the change. I have been here since June of 2008, directed here from smirkingchimp.com by a link to a post by H2O Man, who continues to be one of my favorite reads here on DU.