There was a similar outcry of disbelief over, what I am choosing to call, the link. I am here 写作 this to gather everyone's collective panic and misgivings into one place, as well as to try and look at the positives of these 最近的 changes, in an attempt to placate some of your fears.
First of all, let's get the obvious out of the way. AH! OMIGAWD! 潮流粉丝俱乐部 LOOKS WEIRD AND IS ALL DIFFERENT! It's like 脸谱 and YouTube had a baby and named it Fanpop! It's FaceFanpopTube! Danger Will Robinson Danger! FREAKING OUT! PANIC ATTACK! TROWING MOLOTOV COCKTAILS INTO 潮流粉丝俱乐部 HEADQUARTERS!
*Hyperventilates.*
*Calms down.*
OK. There. Some of 你 may still need a paper bag to breathe into, so go get one and then finish 阅读 this 文章 because now I'm going to try and address these new changes in a rational way, and try to be as impartial as possible.
First of all, yes, the above was (somewhat) close to my first reaction to the changes. DarkSarcasm can attest to that. Not that I would ever consider throwing Molotov cocktails into the 潮流粉丝俱乐部 office, because that's blasphemous... But still, it captured my sentiments. So I do empathize with everyone who is freaking out and has automatically decided to hate all the changes. I want to hate all the changes. I fear change. Change is scary. I was afraid of the new ratings system four months ago, but I've swallowed my pride and, for the most part accepted it. From past experiences, I have a feeling that four months from now, people will be used to these changes, as drastic as they are.
秒 of all, let's just remind ourselves that 潮流粉丝俱乐部 is a labor of love. It was made for the 粉丝 and for the community. And running any sort of society, even a simple online community, can be tough and decisions will be made that will not be 流行的 with every member of that community. So my hat off to the great 潮流粉丝俱乐部 Four, who do their best to make 潮流粉丝俱乐部 as awesome as possible for the rest of us. They did not change 潮流粉丝俱乐部 to ruin your online life. They did it to try and make it better.
Let's look at some of the new features, OK? Like the new walls that exist on spots and profiles. A 评论 wall, such as those on 脸谱 and MySpace, has been suggested 由 users in the past (link). And, based on that example, 更多 people 说 they would LIKE a 评论 墙 than WOULDN'T like it. So 你 can't say that this wasn't in demand.
Also, let's think about the benefits of the 评论 墙 for a minute. Several of us, mostly the grumpy old fogey users, complain about how 答案 is used to make link. I can only hope that this 墙 feature will eliminate the need to abuse the 答案 feature as much. Secondly, it may stop 随意 and/or pointless props, and perhaps get rid of that dreaded holiday "props day!". So those are two things the 墙 could be good for.
So the 评论 墙 seems like not a bad idea, right? 或者 at least not as bad as 你 first presumed. Hopefully.
One qualm I do have is all this clutter. I kind of wish the boxes were organized in a different order, so that I could put my own 评论 墙 on the bottom of my page, 或者 maybe disable it alltogether. The option to enable 或者 disable your personal 评论 墙 should be provided. That's my first critical suggestion about the new lay out. Keep in mind that for a 评论 to be "critical" it should mention something that could be improved, and suggestions for how that could be done. "This sucks" 或者 "Fanpop is Fail" are not examples of critical comments. They're just complaints. But complaints have their place in a public 论坛 as well.
Thinking critically about these changes, I'm wondering why certain categories (like 图片 and videos) were grouped together. If 你 want to group things together under tabs like that, why not put them all (images, videos, answers, forums, picks and questions) all in ONE box with several tabs? Also, where are the links? They seem difficult to find. Should they be paired with the 文章 section? Perhaps if these things took up less space, it would feel less cluttered. Somehow, it feels 更多 cluttered than the layout before it. These are just some critical notes I've made.
Back to the positive! (Compliment 三明治 yay!) This new layout provides opportunities for 太空 saving. And yes, I know I JUST 说 it feels cluttered, but hear me out. The tabs are actually kind of helpful. I think they categorize content fairly well.
Also, not everyone is upset about the new change. Some people are excited about it:
"I really like how the spots look. The 更新 section took up too much unneeded 太空 at the 最佳, 返回页首 of the page, so i like that they moved it to the right and made it smaller. I like that 图片 are on 最佳, 返回页首 because that's the first place I always look and i like the condensed picks/links/articles." - link
Others accept the change with a grain of salt, realizing it's not the end of the world:
"I guess we'll get used to it. Just hope people will use this 墙 function for decent things, not spamming and bashing." - link
"Actually, it might not be that bad. At first glance, it seemed aweful, but maybe it's the type of thing that just takes a bit to get used to, then 你 爱情 it." - link
Still others have jumped right into the new features with reckless abandon (and I do mean RECKLESS):
"Team Rosalie For Life! =D" - link
My best 建议 to those of 你 with less-than positive attitudes about the change is this: Try and be flexible. 你 may not like it immediately, but give it a chance to grow on you. In a month, 你 might not even remember what 你 were so upset about.
A few other suggestions I've heard/seen.
"[The 潮流粉丝俱乐部 4] could have doubled [links] up with the 文章 like [they] did with 图片 /videos and 答案 /forums and picks/quizzes." - link
"Wall posts should have a 报道 button..." - link
"I don't exactly like the new 个人资料 layout... with the 墙 & everything because it's totally uneven, the right side is way longer...they need another section on the left. My only other problem with the 墙 is that the text is too big... but other than that i really like the new additions/style" - link
A personal suggestion from Yours Truly would be to allow users to use the "old version" of Fanpop, at least until they are ready to accept the new version. I am not an HTML wizard, 或者 adept at running a website, so if this is too difficult to do, then apologies. I only know that this is what some websites and programs do to help sooth the savage 粉丝 beast - I mean, base. I know when 脸谱 transitions, it does that. Then again, a lot of people are complaining that it's too much like Facebook, so maybe that would be kind of paradoxical. But whatever.
Actually, just 写作 this 文章 has helped me, personally, calm down a lot about the changes. I no longer need my paper bag. I'm coping. I'm moving on. I hope a lot of 你 are calmer now, too, and maybe even looking at these changes 更多 positively. Have a great rest of the week everybody and link because I hear that only TWO PEOPLE have voted. So get your butts in gear! </FGT plug>.
