personally, i can live with the few remaining ads left after the adblocker does its work.

what i'm really struggling with these days is just how much still lies unanswered, unfixed, and unaddressed on this site. i'm not sure i feel exactly as Laurie stated regarding the motivation of Rendo trying to get rid of its longer term members; but i do feel that in her post that got deleted, she was expressing part of how i'm left to feel these days, where longer term members do recall a site that maybe did not bend over backwards to please the majority on even half of everything, but certainly seemed far more open to suggestions & ideas for improvement. and a time where a member actually felt valued, if even just for their credit card...

i've watched post after post, and thread after thread, that have members calling out their concerns and actually some posts that tossed out ideas for how to fix things and/or ways to balance/compromise what Rendo wants vs. member[s] desires. much has gone either ignored or have received some sort of placating response, with not a whole lot of follow through after the fact.

i've seen the same issues pop up in a varied number of threads [issue dependent], and still the issues remain. prime example would be the simple request that on upload to the galleries, that there be some non-fixed default setting that stops people from accidentally dumping stuff into the 2D/Abstract gallery. seriously, how hard is this to fix? how long before it gets brought up yet again in yet another new thread about the subject? or how about the Advanced Search request? it's not like it's something that never existed before or so far out there as to be a crazy request. or how about the simply ability to see a friend's Wishlist? or the request to have the options that photographers used to have whenst uploading an image that gave tech info that have now gone by the wayside? or the option to see that a SiteMail was actually received/read? all these things existed before the change over, too, that's the worst part it. seriously, i could go on, and here we are almost 2 months in...

how hard is it to get some kind of communication going betwixt staff & programmer[s], programmer[s] back to staff, and staff back to members? and how hard is it for staff admins to actually communicate amongst themselves so that you're not getting conflicting answers simply because you posted your topic in one forum as opposed to another?

are all the 'fixes' essentially done now, and things are what they are?

so much has been stripped away in this change-over: some communication functionality is gone, any real sense of customising our own little space on this site is gone [and please don't point me to the Bio page - i'm fully aware & that's not quite what i mean], it's harder & more arduous a task to navigate this place, it's work to shop here [and really, the MP search engine leaves a LOT to be desired unless you know precisely what you're looking for & how it is spelt]. there are fewer folks in the forums now, which means fewer opportunities to learn through interaction [and maybe even making a new friend along the way], there are fewer artists posting, so the galleries are not terribly inspiring any longer... gods, again, i could go on and on...

and unlike Laurie, i've stuck it out these past two months, i've been coming here, i've learned the ins/outs of the place [and here i will say that i really prefer how things are now when looking at an individual's gallery]. but even though i've pretty much adapted, am able now to take a step back & look at things from a more objective place [though i suppose this post may seem like that might not be the case.. shrug], i do have to agree with John's initial sentiment...

i hate this site... [lil resigned sigh]