This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.rw.admin.badmin/5011/mb.ashx Message Board Post: My comments about the changes... Obviously you allowed someone to make decisions about the message boards, who actually doesn't use the boards. You might have been better served to do some beta testing with some administrators, and users of these boards, in order to see their response before you simply put them into use. You have made these message boards much more USER UNFRIENDLY. First--I can't see the entire wording of the threads which is the most useful way to scan a particular forum. Remedy: move the PAGE TOOLS box, make wide horizontally either above the Search box, or below it. This gives you room to widen the actual forum, so you can see more of the thread name, etc.. Second--I can't expand the threads. Some of us read and answer hundreds of these queries a month. Just seeing how many replies have been made to a post doesn't tell me whether I've already responded. Remedy: Add an option to expand the threads (i.e., view it similar to how the message boards used to look). Third--Only 10 threads show up at a time. [Hmm, the magic number 10... where did you come up with that? Also see below]. Remedy: Add an option to view more than 10 at a time, and that you can set more than 10 (at least 25) as a default. Fourth--"the Edit Board Info" option is still broken. Remedy: fix it. Fifth--The "My Favorites" section is also not user friendly. I now have 5 pages (49 items) of message boards, NOT in alphabetic order, or even by surname/location/etc. I have to browse through 5 pages to find the one I want. Again, not helpful to anyone who has more than 10 message boards as favorites. Remedy: create a different format, that is more user friendly. Need suggestions on how to do this? Send me an email. Fifth--Why should you bother to make the changes I've outlined? Answer: Your message boards draw in many new people to Rootsweb/Ancestry.com (and therefore to its other products). The current format is not inviting to new or current users. Most aren't going to write to you to tell you they don't like it, they simply will stop using the message boards. I've been using message boards AND researching genealogy for over 25 years and I've seen many versions of message boards. This particular one is particularly unfriendly for research. I have ALL of the Ancestry.com subscriptions, and I use the tools almost every day. To be honest, as a result of these changes, I'm 100% less likely to browse these message boards to help others, and to use them as a tool in my research. Realize I have a background in internet technology teaching (online and in person), so I am not adverse to change. Oh, and I have marketing degree, so I know how this post will end up in the message board circular file never to see the light of day. I fully expect that little will be done to implement what I've suggested, because, well, you've probably invested a bundle in something that doesn't work well... so you'll just continue with it. Janice