ᐅ What do you think of the new design of the house building forum?

To sum up again, basically nothing here supports successful forum use. And honestly, listing all this is a bit unnecessary.

• Post functions such as quoting, briefly editing again, image functions like before, emojis (which were allowed again), like buttons, direct linking/addressing of a single post within a thread, etc.
• Navigation: from the overview to the first unread post of a thread, page selection preferably above and below a thread, direct selection of a single post, returning to "new posts" directly from a read thread
• Clear display of thread overviews (including creator and last poster as well as forum section) – this was actually good in the old forum overview
• Account settings – origin, whether currently building, etc.

And, I just saw Proeter's post... I can fully agree, but I would like to briefly respond to the points since I know the previous forum software from another forum.

• Lack of the option to display more than just half a dozen posts per page. This made searching within threads very difficult. Ideally, there would be a default setting of, for example, 20 posts – with the ability to display the entire thread on one page by clicking.

  
  This is an operator setting; I also know the setting of 20 posts per page from the other forum. As a forum operator, I would not offer the click to show the entire thread on one page. There are threads with more than 1,000 posts and photos—namely house introductions—where that would be absolutely counterproductive.

• No option to send and receive private messages to users if you have not reached a certain number of posts (how many exactly?).

  
  Another operator setting. Currently, a user likely needs 150 or 200 posts to be able to start a conversation or message with another forum user. I have never understood the reasoning behind this policy.

• No option to post web links.

  
  Operator setting. Technically possible, but not desired. Not even to, what I call, "generally accepted information sites," which for me include government sites, sites like Wikipedia, and even manufacturer sites.

• Search did not work with search terms of fewer than four characters. So it was not possible to search for important topics like "QNG" or "KfW".

  
  Yes, search with three letters would be good, but it could also increase index size and search times.

• No option to delete posts after the editing time has passed, for example if personal data was posted by mistake. I understand that the forum also aims to serve as a reference work – but there must be a balance with privacy rights.

  
  As a forum operator, I would also not allow that. What about already given responses? The forum software had a "Report" button/link below every post in a thread. This allowed direct contact to an admin, who could then delete posts. That is how we handle it in the forum I help moderate.

Now I am curious whether the "list function" in this post works. In the display of Proeter's post, the <ul>- and <li>-tags are shown as text. I copied them here, and in the preview in the reply window, they turned into list points again. Let's see what happens when I submit.

Ah, my last paragraph is no longer relevant, as the list display is now correct again in Proeter’s post.

I find it really frustrating that, with new posts in the currently selected thread, you always have to start back at post 1.
So, everything that makes a good forum more than just a simple question-and-answer platform is gone. There is no functional usability – it’s all like a terribly bad house design… or a nightmare come true for active forum members.
The layout, with its large number of posts in a thread, is also completely confusing.
One positive is that I dug out my knitting again yesterday 😀

@ypg .. doesn’t work anymore either, but despite knitting, you’ll eventually check in here again .... I wish for a scarf .... Smiley added today ;-)

Another malfunction ... when there is a new post in a thread, it definitely takes more than 30 seconds or even longer for the "New Posts" overview to show that and when the new post appeared.

It would be great if @admin or @webmaster could leave an official statement somewhere. Maybe a dedicated thread or something

After several days, I have to say:
I am spending significantly less time here and hardly contribute any posts anymore.

Firstly, because it seriously lacks functionality and I find the forum quite difficult to use now. There are hardly any low-threshold interactions between contributors (missing tagging feature, missing quoting function, missing reactions). The interface itself lacks various features (including notifications about new posts in threads where you have been active, clarity in forums and posts, and so on).

Secondly, because I also do not like the design, especially the colors.

Overall, unfortunately, I have to agree with @Proeter: a rollback would be best, then consider the “new coke” attempt closed. It didn’t work, return to the old formula. And if there is to be a return at all, it should only happen after a significant improvement in functionality.