Forum Upgrade: A Parable

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Back in the '90s, when I had a business partner, we worked out of my garage making machine vision equipment. It was near Christmas, and one evening I had to drive down to a nearby town to get some spiral binding done for one of our manuals. When I returned home, I could not believe my eyes. My wall-to-wall carpet had been entirely ripped up, exposing the wood floor. A note was attached: "Merry Christmas, Phil! How do you like your new oak floor?" It was signed by my business partner and his girlfriend at the time. I had no idea that there was an oak floor under my carpet, but I was LIVID! How DARE anyone come into my home and tear up my carpet! I felt violated. My knee-jerk impulse was, "Put that carpet back where you found it!" But you know what? I didn't make them restore it. I grew rather fond of the oak, although I've never bothered to refinish it. (See, as a bachelor, I don't have much of a domestic agenda.) Anyway, this event has lived on in local legend as "home-invasion remodeling." I've been threatened with it again since, only this time involving a Sawz-All. But that's another story.
Scroll forward to 29 June 2015. The place we call home, the Parallax Forum, suffered a home-invasion remodeling. I say "home" because, even though Parallax owns the property, it's our sweat equity that has built this place, and we forumistas can justifiably claim some ownership to it. But when the landlord came in, ripped up our carpet, repainted the walls, and put in smaller windows, some of us -- myself included -- got more than a little peeved. I'm not saying this excuses some of the regrettable things I've written in response -- and I'm sorry for any hard feelings those have caused -- but I think it does explain the almost universal disdain for the changes foisted upon us without much of a heads-up or even a decent PowerPoint presentation.
That said, however, I'm starting to become comfortable with our new oak floor. I think the remodelers have shown significant post-traumatic sensitivity to our concerns, and I'm hopeful, at last, that things will end well. So to Bump, Jim, and everyone else involved in this "home-invasion remodeling project," keep up the good work! I want to see this thing succeed like you wouldn't believe!
Thanks, -Phil

Oldbitcollector (Jeff)

As mentioned in another thread, I'm noticing much work being done on the layout and functionality.   It may take me a bit longer to "like" the oak floor, but I do REALLY appreciate seeing the efforts being made.

Ps.  Next time, Parallax could we have that mentioned power point presentation?

NWCCTV

Being in IT I just have a hard time understanding where the Lab setup is/was at????? Before I roll anything out for my clients I setup everything on a "Test Bed" in what I call a Lab at their facility. I install the Server software and anything related to the new or upgraded setup. I have at least one workstation (usually more) to connect to it's own Network for testing purposes. Once that is complete I have users from each Department within the Company check to insure proper operations of their specific programs, data access requirements, etc. Prior to a full roll out I connect the test bed to the "live" Internet/Network connection. None of the old equipment is powered down or taken off line until the new system is verified as 100% operational.  
It is not so much as a dislike of the new forum, but I think the 3 P's were in play here. ALL issues should have been ironed out in a Lab setting prior to rollout. I understand that this is not always 100% doable, but most of the time it is.

xanadu

The forum went half hardwood and half carpet. This is the little bump in between

Heater.

And some of the wings of the house were demolished. 
And all those cherished pictures of family and friends were replaced with garish infantile scrawl.
Still at least they did not change the locks and lock me out like they did last time.

xanadu

Heater, there are so many other posts for that!!

WBA Consulting

Change is never easy to take, but change is also inevitable. Yes, it may sound like a pretty cat poster, but how you handle the change says much more than the change itself. I have taken a step back from the forums while the dust settles, but still peruse daily since I feel I have a responsibility to do as a moderator. The reason why is that I have experienced many rough changes that ruffled my feathers a bit over the years, but in every case where I remained calm, analyzed all details, communicated issues clearly, with more facts than opinion, I was able to handle the change much easier and be a part of making the change as positive as possible.

I will always remember the "Who Moved My Cheese" seminar I attended a number of years ago. It's amazing how much of this video can be applied to the various reaction from all perspectives of the forum migration: