i've read the posts in this forum, and there have been a number of questions that have gone unaddressed. it would be nice to think that if a whole new layout is thrust upon us users that we can at least get some true answers to our questions to help alleviate some possible frustrations we already feel...

here are a few of mine, and i'm guessing i will probably need to come back and ask more after i get stuck yet again trying to figure things out:

1. i dislike the way my old 200x200 thumbs are now distorted in the few that i can see in my gallery. i spent some time, quite a bit actually, pulling out and unearthing my original files in order to cut new thumbs that could overwrite the old ones and not be distorted. however, in trying to access and edit things already posted, everything goes smoothly UNTIL i hit that 'upload' button. then i just get stuck in the land of pure white page. it feel cold in that land, so if you could help guide me to a warmer clime, i'd certainly appreciate it. why can i not edit my junk???

2. i'm not a fast typist, and i tend to sit and think about what it is i want to say as i'm typing, so that too eats up time and how long the site might see meas 'inactive'. the time has definitely shortened!! i tried to respond to a sitemail 3x, finally giving up because after i was done, i hit "send" only to find that i'd been logged out most likely due to "inactivity". i've never had this issue before. so, how long is the timer set for now???

3. where in the heck do i find another member's Wishlist? i'm assuming the site still would like my monies, but you can't get it if you don't give me clues as to where to go to spend it...

4. how do i view my entire gallery, or anyone else's for that matter. if i wish to change out my old thumbs and i can't get to images that are in the middle of 'newest to oldest' and 'oldest to newest', well, you surely see the dilemma... then again, i'm assuming noone else can see those in the middle of the timeline images either so what does it matter [sigh]...

yeah i am struggling with the same issues.and that freaking white screen breaks my nerves.

1. under "Artists", and i forget where exactly at this point, is an option to view all artists that currently participate on the site. the trouble is is that you get an artist's name and thumbnail to their gallery, but this area only auto-populates alphabetically. so say if i want to see all artists whose user names begin with the letter T, i need to scroll, let the auto-pop do its stuff, scroll, auto-pop, scroll-auto, etc etc, because there is no way to skip ahead nor define a place in the alphabet you may wish to begin. or am i missing something???

2. why are there still dead links and terribly outdated info in the top portions of the forums??? i mean look in this forum and you'll see that Artforms2 in the AOM and OOT is the MOM... how long ago was that actually the truth?

3. why can i no longer see if a sitemail has been read by the person i sent it to? it was a helpful feature to have whenst contacting vendors as it allowed one to gauge how much time had passed if a mail went unread, or was read yet ignored, and being able to weigh whether or not to get a staff member involved if one had issues. we've always been encouraged to seek resolutions first amongst ourselves prior to involving staff, and i felt better about involving staff whenst i had facts that i could point to such as "this person got the mail, but 10 days have passed, can you now help me?"

1. can anyone truly verify that the Search in the MP has been properly fixed? honestly, i could type things into that old Search for days and get no return on something, and then go hunting in a manually intensive way and turn up items that actually had word(s) in their titled names that i had entered into the Search field. go figure... i am also hoping that maybe with this new update, vendors have been provided with clear guidelines on how to categorise their packs - it's odd to find 2D content, for example, in the 3D models category...

2. whilst i understand that it is most likely intended to be a 'helpful' feature, i do not care for the "for you" types of features as they currently are: in the MP, i'm being directed to look at a lot of modeled cars and planes and stuff in categories that i have never made any kind of purchase from. in the galleries, i'm being recommended people that i've no interest in whatsoever and that row of recommendations takes up even more space in an already cramped view...

1. in the activity/feed thingy, i see that Rendo announced yesterday something about the site having maintenance yesterday. i also see that there's an announcement for the new TOS. both of these things are links, yet if you click them, you go nowhere? will this be fixed so that future feeds of site announcements are able to actually give me information???

1. more observation than question - in traversing the site, i'm struck by all the odd advertisement. so far i've been bombarded with to links to: silly online games [i'm guessing]; sites to buy furniture, and i mean real, actual furniture; a Honda site so i can buy an actual vehicle; several different online [again, actual] clothing retailers; a link for insurance, which i'm assuming goes in tandem with that new spiffy Honda i just bought; and a host of other links that will take me somewhere else on the net to sites that have nothing to do, or even remotely to do, with artistic and/or creative endeavours. the game site link makes sense for probably the larger part of the user base here, but the rest? true, these types of links existed prior to the site makeover, but they were NOT listing themselves at the top of someone's personal gallery...

anyway, all this leads me to wonder about the overall financial health of Rendo as a whole. i'm not trying to set fires by bringing this up either. it just seems to me that all of this, from the changes onsite to the FaceBook involvement to these odd advertisements to changes in staffing, tells a potentially concerning tale...

and i do hope that TPTB are truly listening to their current client base and their concerns with all these changes so as not to further alienate long-term supporters. it is all fine and well to try to attract new blood, and new blood would certainly be welcome, at least for me, but definitely not at the expense of us who are here and have made RO our online artistic home/basecamp...

1. observation: in the forums, if you click on a username, you're supposedly going to be sent to their homepage [renderosity.com/homepage.php?Who=(username)], but obviously those pages no longer exist thus you're dumped onto the front page of the site.

2. are we still supposed to be getting notifications whenst a favourite artist has posted? whilst i can access the 'activity feed' for such information, i'm no longer receiving notices. is the 'feed' replacing notifications? if so, and the feed is what will be solely updating us for site announcements, favourites posting, etc., what is the function of the 'notification' feature??? i don't ever click the notify box whenst posting to a thread, so is that what that feature is being used for? or is it a non-functioning redundancy feature at this point?

re #13 - i just asked someone to send me a sitemail. i get a red flag under notifications [the bell icon] AND a blue flag under sitemail [the envelope icon], so at least it is revealing some useful functionality...

Giana, if you add the user name at the renderosity top bar search (next to the logo) - a new page for the user opens... click on profile you'll get all the old info for that member. I guess this is the new way to go to a member's homepage, unless you see a post of his (like I see yours) and click to the home icon next to his name.
Not very practical.. I fully agree!

thank you for that bit of info, Rena. i appreciate it.

if the site could look like that at all times, and with uniform thumbs, well, it would be better imo.

i guess my overall, biggest, brightest, burning question would be this:

if the idea here is the idea of community, why is it being made even more difficult to connect in ways that serve to potentially produce that sensibility?

but maybe it is reverse psychology, where everyone who dislikes each other will bond over the common dislike of these changes...

auh, if life were but so simple...

if noone is going to address any of this, can you please at the very least tell me where to find the Wishlist for another user? today happens to be a celebratory day for someone, yet i find nothing in terms of a wishlist, and i know for certain they have one.

i am more than willing to go find a few things o'er at Daz and RDNA if you prefer...

Hi Giana-- Thanks for writing!

1. I've noted the issues with the profile photo.

2. I'll look into this inactivity issue. How much time are you away before it logs you out?

4. Can you please send a screenshot in order to further explain this?

6. why are there still dead links and terribly outdated info in the top portions of the forums??? i mean look in this forum and you'll see that Artforms2 in the AOM and OOT is the MOM... how long ago was that actually the truth? Where exactly?

7. Actually, you can. It says the user name, your user name and below that, the time it was "read"
   

8. As far as I know, this issue is being addressed.

9. Could you provide me with a screenshot of this? Thanks!

10. This is what happened when I clicked on a member's name in the forum:

11. Your feed will let you know when your favorite artist has uploaded a product.

Thanks for your continued patience.

2 examples of outdated info at the tops of forums - sorry, i don't have the time to run through each forum for you

in terms of the "For You" things, no, i will not take a screenshot of either of these sections [galleries & marketplace]... you find these options on the dropdown menuing at the very top of the site under their respective tabs...

some "tailored" things that come up for the MP area are accurate [ex. i get some of Poison's stuff that pulls in and i love his twisted little part of the universe], but a lot of it is models of cars, ships, planes, etc. that i have zero use for, nor have i ever purchased such types of models, and most of those vendors are folks i've never purchased from either, so i'm clueless as to how the parametres of recommendations is supposed to be functioning.

in terms of the gallery 'for you>recommendations' area, it seems i am overly saturated with a only a handful of specific artists whose work i do not care for, whose work i'm guessing i've never commented upon, etc.
moving over to the pillbox next to the "recommendations" that is titled "artists", i get a few gallery thumbs of folks i like, some i may like, and i'm sure a fair number that i won't care for -- but at least this area seems to be a bit better in its use of parametres.

again, i just have no idea why the PTB think they can reduce me, or anyone else, down to some sort of algorithm. as i said above, i'm sure the intention is one that is supposed to be helpful and friendly, but if it can't be done right where things are truly customised to an individual, it just is pointless and somewhat insulting. i can understand that for a new user, or for someone who does not frequent the site too oft, it might be more difficult as not enough info has been garnered, but, speaking only for myself, i've been at this site for over 14 years now - surely you have enough data to be able to magically reduce me down to a nice, neat, little box...

edit: i AM open to being exposed to new things, and do understand that that is part of the intent of such features; however, it would be nice if somehow it all felt more like MY general tastes were a somewhat larger part of the equation...

i sincerely appreciate your time and response, Hope

many thanks and regards...

re: timing out

i can't give absolute accurate info on this since i can't tell where the cut-off point is. however, i can tell you that if i sit idle for 15 minutes on the site, i stay logged in EXCEPT if i am in SiteMail with a note open and ready to write/respond... somewhere around 15 minutes, i'm shoved out the door rather unceremoniously...