Obsidian Portal Launch Feedback

Dungeon_Master_Loki

Travis, welcome. Good to hear from you. Pop in over here once in awhile and just give us a few sentences of updates, please. Hopefully you will still be engaging in a few weeks. If you can be a consistent voice that turns up about once a week I'm sure we would all be a lot more at ease with the current state of flux.

Best of luck to you!

GamingMegaverse

@Travis19- Thanks for coming on the forums! Weekly updates have been something folks have been begging for! I also encourage you to check out the "New Reforge Issue Tracking List":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=3414&page=1 which is a great listing of issues people have asked about!
You, sir, have begun to rekindle Hope- which can conquer many things!

GamingMegaverse

@DMLoki- Come on- give a link to your blog! I for one will check it out..

SkidAce

@Travis19, been following your comments and efforts on the help board, good start!

Kallak

Nice to have someone dedicated to communicating with the user-base.

Leonidas300

pin drop

SkidAce

I still see Travis19 posting and sorting through issues on the help board every day.

Travis19

Glad to be noticed. :)

As SkidAce mentioned, I (and the rest of the OP team) am still around and working on the support forums.

I do realize the community forums also have some outstanding issues (bit of an understatement, that) and I will absolutely check them out when things are in order on the support forums. Until that time (which I estimate will be in a couple of weeks depending on how many more reports come in and how much time I'm able to devote to it) I want to encourage everyone to please report your problems on the support forum.

The reasons for this are pretty simple: the support forum is specifically designed to track issues (letting us know what is pending a response, divide up work between the team, integrating with our trouble ticket system, etc.) in ways the community forums are not.

Some hard numbers: I started with the OP team on January 18th. I have made 713 replies in the support forums since then. I have personally closed 92 support requests.

I understand the frustrations that still exist but I'm trying to avoid making promises I can't deliver on to alleviate those frustrations. So, please take those numbers as evidence that customer support is a priority at OP right now. We just aren't quite up to date yet. Please be patient with us just a bit longer and we'll get there.

twiggyleaf

Cool communication, Travis19!

twigs

GamingMegaverse

@Travis19- You have done a phenomenal job! Keep up the great work!
Thanks for checking in here, and I look forward to you getting caught up on the help/support forum and delving in here- especially with an update to the now dormant (as the creator gave up) "New Reforge Issue Tracking List":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=3414&page=1 which is still the best summary page going!
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
"OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/

Dungeon_Master_Loki

Thanks for communicating, it is a nice change. I, for one, am now inspired to have much more patience with the ongoing process.

Leonidas300

The pin drop was not intended as a knock on Travis, who is doing a good job, it was intended to reflect the lack of communication from the absentee developers; who despite promises to be more communicative and having time to post stupid shit such as who would win in a fight between Yoda and Gollum and other nonsense on their Facebook page have not given an update in over 2 months. (much longer than that in responding on any community forum post that I am aware of). In fact there has not been a single KS update of consequence at all.

Where are we on the map tools? What is the status on natural editing? Travis seems to be the only one doing anything.

*Stretch Goal #1* - *Reworking the Maps* - $10,000 - ACHIEVED - I know this is not done as I am waiting to redo 90 sessions of icons and links because the default icons eat up a ton of my Master Campaign Map and the settings borked most of my other maps.

*Stretch Goal #2* - *Names! Names! Names!* - $20,000 - ACHIEVED! - Has anyone seen this? I sure have not. Developers Where are we at on this?

*Stretch Goal #3* - *File Storage Locker* - $35,000 - ACHIEVED! - Have not seen or heard anything on this either.

*Stretch Goal #4* - *Custom Campaign URLs* - $50,000 - ACHIEVED - I think this one is done, but there has been nothing said about it.

*Stretch Goal #5* - *Natural Editing* - $75,000 - Swing and a miss, have not heard jack-squat about this either.


So, 10 months after the end of the KS, This is what we have: We might have 1 goal achieved. 10 months after the KS we have a half-assed, poorly tested, rushed roll out that wrought devastation on countless campaigns, we got a ton of extra work to fix short sighted and mystifying design choices, we have a less functional community, we have a lot of people who left, we have a lot of people who are pissed because the people who asked for and took our money, by their inaction have pretty much flipped the bird right in our face and maybe they'll get around to the rest of the reforge someday if they feel like it.

What we don't have - is pretty much everything they said they were going to do (You know... when they were still communicating, when they wanted money).

Oh... We also know that according to today's FB post "Yesterday's "versus" wasn't even debatable" That's good to know... Not as good as let's say any update at all but still glad we know Yoda defeats Gollum... that's important stuff.


"Leonidas300":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/metzger/wikis/leonidas300
"A Manifestation of Chaos":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/metzger/wikis/main-page
COTM - Sept. 2012

twiggyleaf

LOL! Leonidas

The sarcastic tone is quite funny but I wonder at how constructive it might be. Nonetheless, there are some salient observations which hopefully might help to spur some new action.

twigs

schiann

@Travis19,

Please see if you can convince the devs to give you permission to give us a weekly update of what they're working on. There is a sense that nothing is getting fixed because unless it was drastically messing with *my* campaign, I'm not gonna notice it was fixed. Like, if the whole site was FUBARed in Chrome on Ubuntu, I would never know, but it's totally reasonable for them to spend as long as it takes to get that fixed, ahead of, say, having to turn my Android phone twice to complete the login process. I've mentioned the whole status update thing before, but I figured maybe the devs will listen if you say it.

SkidAce

@Leonidas300, you do bring up some very valid points. Hope to hear some feedback on them.

GamingMegaverse

I think some of your points are valid Leonidas300- I will address what little I know

"Stretch Goal #1 – Reworking the Maps – $10,000 – ACHIEVED – I know this is not done as I am waiting to redo 90 sessions of icons and links because the default icons eat up a ton of my Master Campaign Map and the settings borked most of my other maps."
Actually, this is partially complete. Should they have told us we would have to redo all our existing maps- Yes. Can you put up a new, larger map- Yes. Have they not added all the icons previously promised? No.

Stretch Goal #2 – Names! Names! Names! – $20,000 – ACHIEVED! – Has anyone seen this? I sure have not. Developers Where are we at on this?
Nothing here.

Stretch Goal #3 – File Storage Locker – $35,000 – ACHIEVED! – Have not seen or heard anything on this either.
Partial- Storage Size is done- I was pushing the previous max. I am no longer anywhere close to the max. However, they have not expanded the image upload to include PDF's or MP3's, which was said.

Stretch Goal #4 – Custom Campaign URLs – $50,000 – ACHIEVED – I think this one is done, but there has been nothing said about it.
It was stated that it would be yourcampaign.com That has not happened, unless they decided that what we have now yourcampaign.obsidianportal.com is what they meant- I am unclear as well.

Stretch Goal #5 – Natural Editing – $75,000 – Swing and a miss, have not heard jack-squat about this either.
Nothing done yet.

So, very valid, and I too am hoping this is addressed.
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
"OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/

Maesenko

I have finally reached the end of these long 15 pages of commentary, and having read through all of it, I noticed a good deal of trends, many of which have already been addressed by members such as killervp, Langy, Saethone, SkidAce, madartiste, Leonidas300, and others. I cannot speak as to what happens on Facebook or Twitter, as I no longer use either (too much pointless drama), but here on Obsidian Portal is where it all matters.

I have sat back and taken a long view on everything that has happened since the Kickstarter. After all, for better or worse, I'm an Immortal here. I have have watched, I have read, I have listened, and I have participated. Perhaps not enough, but that is partly why I am posting now. I have grown tired of my silence.

Communication has thinned, and as of December it seems even those posting on this forum thread has dwindled to maybe 10 people. Perhaps we just lost that many people to this event. The forums as a whole have, apart from a few CSS discussions and a rare topic, been fairly light of late. I understand a good deal of time has been devoted to repairing site issues and solving support/bug tickets. People have gone about repairing their sites and/or have left OP. We've had our CotM and CotY continue, Haste has continued, ENnies have happened, I have read these pages and seen opinions reverse, watched emotions rise and fall, and seen Devs and CSRs get involved with the rest of the community to varying degrees of success. All of this in less than four months; February's end will mark that milestone.

As I mentioned above, I have taken a long view on things; I know that it takes time to perform the tasks involved, and I understand that time is the most valuable resource that everyone on this site possesses. We all have lives beyond the Portal. After reaching the end of this thread, I went back and looked at the Kickstarter page, and read that over to remind myself what we have all gotten ourselves into. I know that for me, the biggest reason for my contribution was the stretch goals listed above. I want those better maps, the localized storage, the WYSIWYG natural editing. I also know those are a long ways out. Before the Reforge was pushed back to October from August, I knew things were going to be a while before it was done. Even October was overly ambitious for a project started at the end of April, as the last few months have shown. The stretch goals were going to be several months after the revamp was finished. I'm still expecting them, as I know many others are (and rightly so, as that is what we paid for) but I'm willing to wait.

If you're wondering "what are you getting at, Maesenko?", I don't have a clear answer for you. I felt that something needed to be said, and so I've said it. I hope those of you who have read this will think on things and reply with a refreshed mind. I am more than willing to have a discussion, and I want to be involved. After all, what good is being a part of a community if we don't participate in it?

_~Mae_
"Whispers in Tamris":https://whispers-in-tamris.obsidianportal.com/

SkidAce

Well written.

Expresses many of my feelings also.

twiggyleaf

I think with KVP's post and Maesenko's post, there is certainly something to mull over.
Taking both into consideration and knocking together the few pebbles in the space I call my mind, I agree there will be longer wait for things than we would earlier have hoped for. I would say that DEV to USER communication has been particularly bad, but that Travis19 has made a big difference to this. I am generally still happy with the REFORGE and will be patient waiting for the next developments - my buying into the Kickstarter covers me till Jan 2015 anyway.
I think a higher priority should be given to USER SEARCH as that is something that has really disrupted our "Community" but if that gets fixed soon, then I regard all the other STRETCH GOALS as bonuses.

twiggyleaf
CURRENT CAMPAIGN: "Mysteria":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/mysteria - set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: "Shimring":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shimring

Basileus

I think the dwindling of discussion in this thread has more to do with many/most folks having said what they want to say, and there not being much movement on the Reforge front to inspire new opinions, rather than a mass exodus of Portal users.

I'm still not happy with the way things went down, but I'm content enough with the state of OP at this point that I let my Ascendant subscription renew. At the very least it feeds my wiki-building and coding addiction (like I think many OP users, I compulsively build new campaigns that remain in planning "until they're ready", LOL), and I did also recently join a campaign as a player through Obsidian Portal, so for me that is a sign that there is still life in the community. Or at least enough for me to benefit from it - I'm sure other folks have had different experiences with changes in the community.

I guess the short story is that I wasn't quite unhappy enough to be driven away as a customer, but I'm certainly more wary of the site administration now than I was previously, and think that they need to be careful about how they manage future developments and communicate with their user base.

---

Side note: Travis19 seems to be a tremendous CSR and has done wonders for the OP community and the staff's image on the support front. But I think we still need to hear more from the admin/dev side... or hear from them at all...

The weird thing to me is that I remember the admin and dev team being very communicative Preforge, but post-Reforge the communication seems to have slowed to a trickle. I understand that this is probably because they were hoping for a new day for OP with major positive changes and excitement from the community, and instead what they got was (let's be honest here) effectively a net failure and at best a storm of mixed reactions from their users. This was probably depressing and stressful, and didn't inspire them to commit extra time and resources. I get that, I really do.

Still, the difference is so dramatic... did they Reforge the staff as well as the site itself? What happened to the flow of information that was so prevalent in the days leading right up to launch? I can accept some degree of mistakes and oversight, but at this point it is too obvious that there has been a deliberate choice not to communicate, and that is a little insulting.

Nothing would make me happier than to be proven wrong about this - for someone to show up and provide an explanation and fill us in on what the plans and status are, and describe work they have been doing for the past few months. Even a short "Sorry folks" would be a tremendous improvement over silence.

SkidAce

Didn't we used to be able to read forums from other campaigns?

I could swear I was following an adventure that was pbp on someone's forums, but now I can't find them. (It would help of course if I could recall which campaign it was, /grin)

SkidAce

Good post Basileus, especially the change in communication listed in your "side note".

Thorvaldr

@SkidAce: I _know_ we used to be able to read other campaign's forums! I learned a whole lot about how to DM and so many tips & tricks of working an Obsidian Portal wiki from going through others' forums. Half of how I get my players active in the wiki I learned from reading A Manifestation of Chaos' forum. :D It was a _terrific_ resource in my formative days!

-Thorvaldr
DM of "Tyellador":https://tyellador.obsidianportal.com/

GamingMegaverse

Update on searching for a campaign- please feel free to add your voices to the "ticket":http://help.obsidianportal.com/discussions/problems/12375-search-for-a-campaign-functionality-post-reforge , as it seems that is where things are getting done.

Posted by Travis19 on Feb 24, 2014 @ 04:13 PM

Just a small update on some of the requested features:

User search is still being investigated but probably will be implemented.

Sorting by fan count is not likely to be an option for campaigns.

Thorvaldr

So I know I've been AWOL for a couple of months until recently, but has this been an issue for people? When I edit a forum post in the Tyellador forum, even if I uncheck the "Email All" box... and all of the other boxes are unchecked, I'm _pretty_ sure everyone is still being emailed. Although it's not emailing the person who wrote that post. I edited one of _my_ posts, and Meagoinc got an email saying that post had been updated. Then just now in an abuse of my overall DM powers, I edited one of _Meagoinc's_ posts... and _I_ received an email saying that it had been edited, while she did not.

So, it makes sense that the person who writes the post doesn't get an email... but everyone else seems to be getting emails despite box checking status.

-Thorvaldr
DM of "Tyellador":https://tyellador.obsidianportal.com/

Lord_AO

Hello all,
Not that I have much constructive feedback to give, but I felt the urge to voice my thoughts. When Leonidas300 introduced me to this site I went at it tentatively. Slowly learning the in's and out's - then committing to paying for membership and ascended account (which at first I thought was ridiculous, but later really felt a part of the community and wanted to give support to a great resource)
,the outlet for my meager artist expression, then exploring the options of CSS and all its glory with everyone's help. I have to admit I almost had more fun making my portal then actually playing the game at the table.

Then the reforge hit and my heart dropped and the wind was sucked out of the sails. I couldn't understand why there at least couldn't be a button to select to apply new changes to existing site or keep old code, but that's my ignorance. What I did know is that all my countless hours of learning and toiling were gone.

I also left the site in disgust. I let my pay account revert back to free and I figured I'd never return and having read many posts here including Leo300's it seems I was correct in staying away. I still long for those old days, no idea if things will ever be back to the way they were and hope the powers-that-be respond in kind...with a small glimmer of hope I started another adventure, returned to the bottom of the mountain of learning a new reforged website and have started inching my way up again.

Lord_AO
"Wrath of Swords":https://mythiccampaign.obsidianportal.com/

Basileus

Well, please let us know on these forums if there is any way we can help you (with coding or just general questions), Lord_AO. For whatever post-Reforge negatives there may be, I have been impressed both with the way the community members have supported each other and with what you can do with the new layouts and functionality (even though it is a pain to relearn, particularly if you were/are a self-taught, trial-and-error type). The final product does tend to look pretty nice now though.

Keryth987

Do not despair Lord_AO. I felt the same way after The Reforge hit. All my hard work was destroyed, or so I thought. However, I took it a piece at a time, and eventually got my site back, not only how it was before, but even better. Once you get the han g of things, the new setup is actually nice. It just would have been helpful if it hadn't broken so many things, but, with the changes they made, it was inevitable. I will, however, add, that more beta testing should have been performed.

Either way, if there is any help wiht your new site that the community can assist with, let us know. We're still the helpful group we've always been

Keelah Se'lai,
Keryth
"Shadows Over New York":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shadows-over-new-york
"2013 Campaign of The Year":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/2013-coty-shadows-over-new-york/
"Campaign of the Month July 2013":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/shadows-over-new-york-julys-campaign-of-the-month/

Thorvaldr

@Lord_AO- Not all is gone! While yes, all of your toil is gone, hopefully at least some of the learning is still there! :) To reiterate Basileus and Keryth987, let us make the process as easy as possible for you. I know it's a huge pain to remake everything, I needed to take a month or so hiatus after burning myself out recently. But, my site is coming together better than it was before. And if you need additional help than just here on the forums, there's always the Vanguards! As far as I know, they just automatically fix anything/everything for you. :P ...and I _think_ anyone promoted to Co-GM status can edit/help out with your campaign, including CSS.

Hopefully we can all help make your return as triumphant and comfortable as possible! And it's good to get you back.

-Thorvaldr
DM of "Tyellador":https://tyellador.obsidianportal.com/

SkidAce

@Thorvaldr, I "think" when you edit and save a post, it inherits the original settings for who gets notifications as when the post was first made.

That's what I saw happening to me a while back.