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1. leannewhatever
   Member
   May 17, 2012, 10:20 PM

   When all these changes started happening, I went to the news section, which I have to say isn't easy to find, but more on that later. I wanted to find out what the changes were and how they would affect me. I couldn't believe that there was nothing there.

   I did notice after a week that there was something there for the changes made to how you follow comments on each blog. It would have been great if that had been there when the change happened.

   WordPress have made many changes to how blogs are used and read by other users, and it has created major panic, and confusion in the WordPress community. I can't help thinking that if WordPress had used the news section to notify users of what they were doing, why they were doing it, and what to do with the new changes, then a lot more people would have been less confused. For example the tags/categories limit.

   The news section should be there to advise and help people, make it the first place that people go to to find out about the changes. It should be kept up to date, treat it like news, tell users what is going to happen and how it will affect them.

   The other problem I find is that it is hard to find. I have a bookmark for it, but if I try to find it once I'm in my blog then I can't seem to get it anywhere, maybe that is me, but I do think it should be one of those items that is highly visible. I would suggest putting it as one of the tabs that we go to find our readers, stats, topics, etc.

   I know if I had read about changes and knew what to do, I would not have needed to come to the forums, get really confused etc. Communication is the key, after all isn't that what blogging is all about?
   Blog url: http://leannecole.wordpress.com/

2. macmanx
   Happiness Engineer
   May 17, 2012, 10:23 PM

   Thanks for the recommendation!

   We are looking into the best way to announce new features. As it is, we can't make a new post right away, as some of the features do have some growing to do based on feedback after launch. For example. the comments following change that you mentioned was almost completely redone based on feedback from the moment it launched to the time we posted about it.

3. leannewhatever
   Member
   May 17, 2012, 10:50 PM

   Can I ask though, was the feedback more about people trying to work out what was happening, rather than constructive feedback, what they like and what they didn't. My husband is a programmer and he said it is important to let people know what is happening, and when it is happening, it creates less confusion.

   I haven't enjoyed the last week on WordPress, and almost considered taking my blog somewhere else. I found it really hard to find information about the changes, and to work out what I needed to do.

   The other problem seems to be that you have random people helping other people, and they aren't always helpful and, as it turns out, can be rude. I didn't enjoy this week at all and think if I had just known right from the start that I just needed to reduce the amount of tags/categories that I was using, because it had changed, things would have been so much better. There has to be a better way to communicate with people on this. I don't like the "let's change it and see what they say".

   I think, I stress this is just my opinion, that if you put the information out there, then you will still get feedback, but it won't be amongst all the other stuff about how people don't understand what is happening.

   I've been doing news updates on my blog to let people know what I have found out and my readers have been really appreciative to have some news to help them understand what is happening.

   The idea that non staff people are helping is a worry, and coming across as staff. I really thought that timethief was staff but had logged in as a non staff person. I don't think I am the only one that thought that. Took me a while to realise that the gray background meant you were staff.

   I don't have any issues with my blog now and everything seems to be working. I'm not a great fan of the new reader and I do have issues with it working properly from time to time, but I suppose I will adjust.

   Thanks

4. macmanx
   Happiness Engineer
   May 17, 2012, 11:07 PM

   Can I ask though, was the feedback more about people trying to work out what was happening, rather than constructive feedback, what they like and what they didn't.

   No, most of the feedback was definitely Like and Dislikes, which helped us to form the feature to what it was when it was announced.

   The other problem seems to be that you have random people helping other people, and they aren't always helpful and, as it turns out, can be rude.

   Well, http://en.forums.wordpress.com/ is a community forum, so any user is welcome to respond and volunteer their help. If you want to contact us directly, please use http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/

   I think, I stress this is just my opinion, that if you put the information out there, then you will still get feedback, but it won't be amongst all the other stuff about how people don't understand what is happening.

   Yep, that's what we're going for, something that will better facilitate that exact situation. At this point, publishing a post about a new feature, taking feedback, then publishing a new post a week later about how much it changed is a bit more of a misuse of the news blog than just posting when it's done. Maybe we'll have an easily found changelog instead, but we still haven't decided.

5. leannewhatever
   Member
   May 17, 2012, 11:54 PM

   See for me, it was trying to work out what had happened, what had changed and what I needed to do. I was so confused. I would do what one person said, then realise that there was another part I hadn't been told about. I was so confused, and I know I wasn't the only one.

   There has to be a better way. Hope you find it.

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