Poll - where do you need assistance in using the "new" Finlander?

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

Today I have got a couple of comments regarding the new format of the Finlander. The last two emails indicated that people would prefer the e-mail driven discussion format. - This indicates that people are having trouble using the forum or otherwise find it harder to use than earlier when we all got the 100+ emails per day.

In order to help you out there - could you indicate with this poll where you think the most troublesome "features" lies? You may also send your comments directly to me at hasse.nygard%40e-brev.nu

[Alf Blomqvist Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Alf Blomqvist]

I´m too lazy to log in to the new "Finlander".

I have possibities to check mails with help of Webmail at the office but not to be on the Internet.

So I don´t know what to do...

At home I have many other issues every evening.

Alf Blomqvist
Kronoby

[domander Registered Find all posts View Profile Close domander]

Email vs. Web

I find that I'll probably not participate in the forums as much as when it was an email based discussion. This is merely because before the emails would come to ME and I could view all of the discussions at once, and now I have to actively go to the web to participate and then click around. Laziness dictates that this is going to be less inviting!

As well, the time needed to click around as well as the possibility in getting lost is always a problem. The web site is very impressive! But I don't know if it will be ultimately successful.

- Brian Domander

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

I love it!

Personally, I much prefer this format. I belong to a number of mailing lists so I'm not so concerned with email volume. This format is great as there's a permanent record of the postings. It seems to me to be very logically laid out and if there's a particular posting I'm interested in, it's very easy to find what I want. I don't need to worry about organizing and filing those emails that I have interest in on my local hard drive. It's also very easy to see what threads have current postings so I can quickly check them out.

I would also imagine for those who are pure genealogists and expect nothing else this method would be much more to their liking. If I want a recipe, I go there; if I want culture, I go there; if I want to try to help someone find an immigrant, I can go there.

I'm 100% satisfied with the decision to change the format. I've bookmarked the main forum page and check it whenever I feel like it. It's great!!

[debbiesantelli Registered Find all posts View Profile Close debbiesantelli]

I was quite intimidated when I first looked over the new forum. Just the same, with this new forum, I appreciate my email box not being deluged with personal conversations about topics that don't concern me. I also appreciate not receiving unsafe messages from people who use outlook or outlook express, and don't have adequate antivirius protection.

I have found that if I look around, I find everything that I would want to see, and I do it when I have a desire to research. I don't get the interruptions in my email box that I was getting previoiusly. On this new forum, it appears that inquiries are made with more thought behind them and less emotion. With the old email format, it often seemed to me that people were just dashing off emails right and left without considering that everyone was going to be reviewing them. Long strings of personal conversations were frequently exchanged. On this new forum, you open what you want to see without having to receive all of it.

I'm still not real savvy as far as the site goes, but I'm learning and I like it. Initially, I thought I would never learn it and never like it. I was wrong. "Systematic desensitization" = exposing oneself to something until it is no longer bothersome. I guess this is what is happening for me.

Bravo on the set-up, Hasse. Keep trying folks!

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

A Finlander User Guide

I'm setting up a Finlander "user guide" at http://finlander.eget.net/help/

For a brief guide with some "hints" - visit that page sometime.

Of course this will be "under construction" indefinitly.

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

Re: Email vs. Web

Originally posted by domander
I find that I'll probably not participate in the forums as much as when it was an email based discussion. This is merely because before the emails would come to ME and I could view all of the discussions at once, and now I have to actively go to the web to participate and then click around. Laziness dictates that this is going to be less inviting!

As well, the time needed to click around as well as the possibility in getting lost is always a problem. The web site is very impressive! But I don't know if it will be ultimately successful.

On the other hand people who didn't post much messages to the mailing list version seem to have activated on this forum. I even had a peek at the postings log for the old Finlander. Not so many participated during its lifetime! In your case, as an example, you have by now posted 400% more on the new Finlander than on the old Finlander mailing list. And - I hope you will continue doing so.

[KellyK Registered Find all posts View Profile Close KellyK]

forum

Hasse,

I so much appreciate all your hard work and the lovely forum you have set up. I understand the difficulties with viruses and don't have a great solution to that problem. It took me a few minutes to figure out the website, but it wasn't that complicated. Having it automatically log me on is great, and getting responses to messages I post is very helpful.

My difficulty with the new format is that I am quite lazy and just don't go check out the revamped website very often. Part of what I liked about receiving e-mails was the sense of community, even when I deleted half of them just by looking at the title. The e-mails allowed for haphazard contact, as well, that just isn't there in the new format.

I would love to keep the revamped website as a message center/archives, but if there is a way to keep the e-mail list, as well, I know I would enjoy it. I miss reading the names of people I don't really even know, miss 'hearing' the familiar names of families, towns... I feel disconnected.

Please know that I understand the difficulties on your end, but I wanted to let you know my preferences, anyway.

Thanks for all your hard work!
Kelly Keegan

[syrene Registered Find all posts View Profile Close syrene]

George Miller

This is George Miller speaking from the SFHS office as I cqnnot read the threads from my own computer.

First of all I have disfficuilty calling up the Forum on Netscape 4.7 I have to go to Explorer. Can the Netscape 4.7 be used too?

I notice some of the script Forum threads are in Swedish for example: att registera. How about us English speakers.

<millerga%40mindspring.com>

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Forum

George,

I used Netscape 4.7 and had no problem getting into any of the forums. If you have IE, you can use it and get into the Forum. And the forums are open to English or Swedish languages. Just disregard the Swedish messages and look for English. I can read the Swedish if I want to, but I usually skip them and go to the ones in English.

June

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

Re: George Miller

Originally posted by syrene
This is George Miller speaking from the SFHS office as I cannot read the threads from my own computer.
First of all I have disfficuilty calling up the Forum on Netscape 4.7 I have to go to Explorer. Can the Netscape 4.7 be used too?
I notice some of the script Forum threads are in Swedish for example: att registera. How about us English speakers.
<millerga%40mindspring.com>

There should be no reason why Netscape 4.7 couldn't be used. I think several of the users still are using this old version, since 7.0 is much heavier for the PC. Without an indication of what the error message is I can't help you.

I chose to create separate forums for those Swedish speakers who don't want to write in English. Part of the members prefer to write in English and part prefer to write in Swedish. Both groups should be given the opportunity to get in contact with relatives on the other side. This I hope won't be considered a problem but a challenge. As the signature says under your posting: "SFHS - Building a bridge back to Finland!"

The majority of the forums are in English, as are the members. The "att registrera" message is posted with a Swedish subject line in response to a need from a person who had a hard time figuring out the 100% English language registration process.

Respectfully
Hasse