The v9 End of Life project

It's time... to say... goodbye...

But not quite yet.

I know a good number of our long-time users are still using the old v9 code base, but with the upcoming rollout of our new boards code, the old code will become painfully obsolete and more and more difficult to maintain over time.

However, knowing that sugar is much more effective than vinegar at attracting... users, we want to encourage as many users as possible to migrate without having to forcefully cut them off.

And so the v9 End of Life project begins. We've cut off unregistered accounts and users who never use v9, and we'll continue to do so rolling forward. This will, if nothing else, give us a manageable and slowly dwindling set of users to deal with, while generating a minimal number of complaints (assuming that if you're not using it, you won't miss it).

To the remaining v9 users, a question: What's wrong with the new site design, taking into account all of the skins and display options available (you can format message lists vertically instead of horizontally from your preferences page)? What feature or change, if any, would encourage you to leave the old code?

Please send your comments here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/feedback/new.html?typeid=17

And please be specific. "It sucks", or "I don't like the new design", or "I fear change" without giving any specific details as to what's wrong isn't helpful. Give specific pages, specific design features, and what you think needs to change.

The old code has to go away someday, but I really want to make sure as many people as possible are okay with it first, especially given the number of long-time users who haven't budged from it.

Of the hundreds of responses this topic garnered, here are the common themes:

* Overwhelmingly, the number one suggestion was that the current skins are all too bright. The white/grey message backgrounds are hard on the eyes.
* Pages are too narrow, and the borders on the sides take up too much space, especially at high resolutions. NeoClassic solves this, but it would be nice if the size could be customized even more.
* Too much padding between items, especially on the topic list.
* You need to be able to toggle the topic list icons.
* The font should be selectable, many people miss Verdana, and allowing users to change the font size wouldn't be too shabby.

All of these are fixable. The problem is, we never had enough common feedback to really get a feel for what people really want until now. And now we know, and we can do it. It may take a couple of weeks to come together, but rest assured that the old code won't vanish until I'm satisfied we've taken enough steps to as many as possible of our "old school" of users happy with the new code.