Much of the good will is probably gone. And they were dicks anyway, so why go back?

I’m done with AB now. I’ve actually come to appreciate the active interest of the moderators here.

I suspect that Answerbag.com was having some problems with their database servers as well. They made a number of moves n the makeover to lessen load there. So just stepping back to the way things were may not be a technically attractive move, to say nothing of how it would affect the pride of those who guided the makeover.

No, and wis.dm will never come back either. We all need to move on.

I just went through this. I have a joke QandA site with a mod here and we just made major changes. Granted the old site has only been around for a month. The new one is about 5 days old.

I even had to ditch the old database and start with people registering new accounts. But I left the old site open with a link to it on the old one. But I’m only dealing with 20 users.

But to answer your question. It is doable. But it is hard to spend 1000 hours working on something and letting that work never be seen.

But it is hard to spend 1000 hours working on something and letting that work never be seen.

I can sympathize with that sentiment. If I had a dollar for every 1000 hours I’ve spent working on something that will never be seen, I could afford to buy an already printed novel fresh off the shelf instead of having to write one of my own.

I’m just here for jellyfish sex.

JP – links or it never happened.

The only way they would change is if their ‘bottom line’ hurts, and I think they have enough traffic from the current users to keep it going for awhile.

AB is DOA! I’m still a member there, but it is a ghost town! A few of the old members have stayed, but not much happening. And few of the old members have given me a hard time for going to other sites….will not mention names!

It would dpend on what motivated the change in the first place. If it was because of the revenue model (likely), then it is unlikely that they will go back.

@zenele say what?

This is “General” @BoBo1946 – or I’d say something about you, jellyfish sex and blowing your lawn.

And no-one visits AB anymore. Captain’s orders.

The format change was only the last straw for most who left. The site got too large and was sold to owners who cared only about revenue. When good will and the sense of community is lost, it’s time to leave and never look back. About all the owners can do now is peddle their dying product to advertisers until red ink starts flowing, then pull the plug.

Seven years ago, that site had much the same feel that Fluther has now. With the commercial sell-out, it became totally unresponsive to users. Even before the format change, it had become a playground for trolls, flamers, spammers and point-whores. Once good will is lost, it can’t be regained.

About all that site is good for now is to serve as a cautionary tale; what not to do when running a Q&A site. Unfortunately, money talks and investors will want to cash in on their investments eventually. When the founders lose control of a site, it’s a good signal for users to start looking for a new place to go.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land The same thing happened with Quizilla. It changed hands about 3 years ago, & had a major layout change. They even got rid of their mascot! It used to be a favourite website of mine, but over half of the users left. The owners wouldn’t listen to our ideas, read our petitions….

I went back to the site agin last week, & it’s overrun by teenybopper Twilight addicts & Jonas Brothers groupies. It used to be a haven for geeks like me….

Oh, & all our profiles were deleted. All that work that we put into our layouts….Gone.

@Draconess25 That reminds me of another thing AB did to us. When the exodus started, the administrators blocked us from deleting our names and avatars from our profiles (the only way to “close” an AB account was to be permanently banned). This was probably a panic move to prevent their advertisers from learning how many users were leaving. Some people used their own photos as avatars, so now their pictures are stuck there, hostage as it were.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I just deleted my Quizilla account. It was bought by TeenNick, which explains a lot.

@Draconess25 I just gave it a quick look. It seems to be aimed at an audience with an upper age limit of 14, and lowest common denominator at that.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land It used to be for people more around my age.

I would love it if they put AB back the way it used to was. But I work in a corporate environment, and know how corporate management types think. They would never admit that they made a mistake and restore the old version. And even if they did, most of the hard-core users abandoned the site, never to return, so it will never see it’s old glory back again anyway.

For another, when AB first started, their mission was to create a knowledge base of FAQs containing serious questions and answers. At that time, their moderators were as anal as Fluther’s are now. They gradually evolved into a social site, allowing casual, nonsense, and joke Q&A, and membership skyrocketed! But now, a prominent “feature” of the new site is that Staff Questions and Professionally Researched Answers now dominate the main page, and member activity is relegated to a little box at the bottom. I.e, they seem to be shifting their focus back to being a content provider rather than a service provider.

@HungryGuy Exactly. The attitude towards users now seems to be “just read the advertisements, then go away, please, and stop jamming up our server”.