[pianotech] New Forum

[Encore Pianos]

Thank you for taking the time to respond.  Let's hope that it does not end
here and a wide open discussion will continue amongst the many parties
involved.  

 

I think that it is instructive that you are still waiting to be wowed by the
Higher Logic software.  The interface is based on pizza logic - a little
this and a little that, here, there, and everywhere.  It still astounds me
that the new forum was launched without help files.  It is hard to believe
that patches here and there can ever make this a sensible, friendly, and
easy to use program.  That would require a groundfloor rewrite by people who
actually know something about interface design, and none of them seem to
work for Higher Logic.

 

What the powers that be and those who are in charge of implementing this
system need to hear is that most of us think that it is a world class piece
of garbage that we hate and don't want to use.  A majority of users have
already voted with their feet and no longer participate.  

 

Will Truitt   

 

 

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Berry
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 9:14 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] New Forum

 

I have been following the recent discussions on Pianotech regarding the new
my.ptg.org system. First I need to talk about how we got here. The Board was
looking for a system to integrate the member information, the accounting,
and the web site. They were faced with major upgrades of servers and
software whether or not they went to a "cloud based system." The Member Max
software which runs the member data and the regular web site was chosen by
staff and Board. That part of the equation seems to have worked fairly well.
There have been login issues because of the attempt to have Single Sign On
with both www.ptg.org <http://www.ptg.org/>  and my.ptg.org, but things are
working there reasonably well. The fact that so many members don't know how
to log in or what their credentials are makes us believe that many of them
were not logging in to the member area of the old site. I still have a login
issue with IE9, but it's not unusual for things to break when new IE
versions come out. 

 

Higher Logic was chosen because it is a social media site that integrates
with Member Max. There are features that set up committee forums just by
assigning committees to the members' record. This will keep past work from
committees even when the committee membership changes. 

 

There were many parts of the implementation of these two sites where I was
not involved until after things had been basically set up. I did look at
Higher Logic in the early stages, and it looked quite capable of doing what
we need. The set up is very complicated, and a small change one place can
cause other problems you didn't expect. A quote from Andy Rudoff: "All
software is broken until you prove that it works." I am still waiting for
something about this software to wow me. In many ways we are being Beta
testers for Higher Logic and Member Max. 

 

I personally tend to read the forums in Gmail either on my computer or
iPhone. It seems to work better to respond within the web forum. I
completely understand about losing work that you have typed. I am composing
this in Open Office and will paste it in. The problem for anyone making
software like this is that you are competing with Microsoft, Apple and
Google who have infinite resources. Gmail is a remarkable environment, and
making all that work within a web based system is amazing. I really think
that many of you prefer the email versions, because you can use any email
reader and customize it the way you want it. Higher Logic gives you one web
interface to view data. I do agree that the web format does not make good
use of screen space. With email I have a dense amount of information that I
can scan quickly. Since Higher Logic does not have snippets of the message
it is harder to tell what is there. If I am scanning through all the current
messages one by one, then at Higher Logic they all end up on one page, and
that is easier. 

 

I am very concerned that the momentum that was built up over the years of
Pianotech and CAUT emails has come to a near halt. Too many of the messages
are about the system itself and not enough about pianos. I know that every
person on the lists values the list and that is why they are passionate
about them. Some of your messages have talked about how you want quick and
seamless communication. I would totally agree. Just as you should not be
aware that you are playing a piano when you are making music, you shouldn't
have to think about the computer when you are expressing your ideas. 

 

Apostrophe issue

The mangling of apostrophes in Don Mannino's post was not just a Higher
Logic issue. It is an HTML issue. They were mangled on my Gmail display on
my iPhone although the windows computer showed them properly in Gmail. I
have dealt with that issue for years on the older system on the convention
registration page and on the chapter web sites. That said, a piece of
commercial software should be able to deal with it. I understand that people
are frustrated and notice every issue because they don't like the software. 

 

Archives

Transferring the archives over to the new system is a process that PTG has
to pay for. That is why there will only be two transfers. We did a test, and
there are many archives at my.ptg.org in Pianotech Archives and CAUT
Archives. Before the old server is closed down, the full archives will be
imported. The search function for them on my.ptg.org works well and will be
an advantage. On the old server I used Google to search the archives in the
past. I have submitted a search request to Google during this transition but
they seem to not archive pages from a mail.domain. Since the very beginning
of this project, I have said that the highest priority is the Pianotech
archives. Yet they will end up being one of the last pieces to be fixed. 

 

I had intended to be out of the webmaster job in March, but I was asked to
stay on another 6 months to ease the implementation. I have found it
somewhat frustrating to be expected to fix things when I don't have the
access to fix them. We are in the process of transferring much of the
regular maintenance of the site over to Home Office staff. 

 

Don Mannino's recent post is very well thought out and direct. Communication
with Board members is what needs to happen. We have the convention coming up
and positive criticism and solutions will be the key. The Pianotech meeting
at the convention should be one not to miss. I will also be available at the
convention outside the registration area to help you.  



-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ronald Berry Piano Service
Indianapolis, IN
317-255-8213
ron at berrypiano.com
http://www.berrypiano.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ask me about Healthy Chocolate!
http://www.berrygoodchocolate.com

Public Key
http://www.berrypiano.com/key/Ron_Berry.txt

 

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