EH, et. al.,
This forum was once full of members who held lively, spirited, and sometimes downright uncivilized discussions on just about every topic under the sun. They couldn't agree on whether or not the sun is hot.
In one brilliant move, you have united all these vastly different people, from vastly different backgrounds. Everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or whatever demographic you'd like to parse for your advertisers, HATES the new layout of the forums.
It is, of course, the epitome of irony that the very thing that has brought this community together as One Voice is the very thing that will destroy the community itself. People had already begun leaving in droves, and now you threaten those members that remain with suspension if their lines of text are too long or their pictures "break" your formatting?
First, if your formatting can be broken by such antics, you need to hire a real programmer. Seriously. Second, you might want to put new rules into your member agreement BEFORE you begin threatening people with suspension for violating these rules. It makes you look a little more professional that way.
I would assume that the success of these forums (and the traffic that they have generated) has created this opportunity for you to sell advertising space that is lucrative for your business. How very droll it is, then, that your reformatting and threats have driven - and will continue to drive - away so many users. Will you have to give refunds to your advertisers when they don't get the number of pageviews you promised them? That'd be a shame.
Who am I to offer advice and opinions on this topic? Aw, shucks, I'm nobody important. I'm not an advertiser. I'm not an employee who believes in (or is forced by my employer to enforce) draconian rules that aren't even posted. Nope, I'm just a lowly user. Well, for now, anyway. It's a pretty safe bet that I'll either get booted or quit on my own, and sooner rather than later.
When enough of us lowly users are gone, you will be presented with a unique opportunity to rebuild these forums in such a way as to be attractive and user-friendly. I wish you the best of luck in that, with all sincerity. This area deserves a place like that, and I hope you will recognize it and act when the time is right.
Regards,
Ed
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