Audiogon's new face

[LL21]

I got all excited when I saw this post...
I've been waiting with great suspense. I went over and it says "This application is undergoing maintenance right now. Please check back later."

Perhaps they are hearing the comments?

Peter B.

I think their launch was poorly executed. I'm no techie, but i am a consumer and when someone re-launches, i kinda expect it actually launches in full. Instead, they launched part, took it down, launched again, did not allow members to sign in, then took it down again...

And when i did get a few minutes to scroll thru i noted the following:

- if you search for 'Transparent', they used to list all the Transparent Audio Cables by Use...or "Krell" by use...preamp, CD, etc. Now, they seem to just list them...or i could not easily find a way to sort...so by the main description "Transparent Ref XL...brand new!"...you cannot tell if its an RCA, an IC, a speaker cable etc...
- there seems to be more words with the same font size, so it seems harder to visually prioritize and sort...it seems to strain the eye to read thru all the mass of words...maybe just not used to it...
- sometimes things just take getting used to...happy to try, but initial take was not nearly as user friendly as when i first got onto Audiogon.

sometimes if it aint broke...

 

[Peter Breuninger]

The boy's at my most recent print gig says' it makes $300,000 a month from their data points and hypothesis. I have a good math head and I think that this may be at the top of the speculations, but... the relaunch should have more spit and polish from what I've heard here. I love the site nonetheless (I hope this continues).

 

[DaveyF]

I think their launch was poorly executed. I'm no techie, but i am a consumer and when someone re-launches, i kinda expect it actually launches in full. Instead, they launched part, took it down, launched again, did not allow members to sign in, then took it down again...

And when i did get a few minutes to scroll thru i noted the following:

- if you search for 'Transparent', they used to list all the Transparent Audio Cables by Use...or "Krell" by use...preamp, CD, etc. Now, they seem to just list them...or i could not easily find a way to sort...so by the main description "Transparent Ref XL...brand new!"...you cannot tell if its an RCA, an IC, a speaker cable etc...
- there seems to be more words with the same font size, so it seems harder to visually prioritize and sort...it seems to strain the eye to read thru all the mass of words...maybe just not used to it...
- sometimes things just take getting used to...happy to try, but initial take was not nearly as user friendly as when i first got onto Audiogon.

sometimes if it aint broke...

Lloyd, I do agree fully with your post.....

One of the main bugaboos ( is that still a valid term ) that I have with techies, is that they NEVER learnt the saying..."If it ain't broke DON'T FIX IT!!"....

OTOH, looking back at the last several years in tech, I have to say there have been improvements that wouldn't have taken place if Techies just stood still

BUT and this is a BIG BUT ----- The new A'gon site is so far a DISASTER I sure hope that this "Beta" version is just that and NOT the final rolled out site.....Beacuse IF it is, my 11 year old niece could do a better job with one hand behind her back

BTW, The site is 'down' as I type this.....go figure

 

[LL21]

Lloyd, I do agree fully with your post.....

One of the main bugaboos ( is that still a valid term ) that I have with techies, is that they NEVER learnt the saying..."If it ain't broke DON'T FIX IT!!"....

OTOH, looking back at the last several years in tech, I have to say there have been improvements that wouldn't have taken place if Techies just stood still

BUT and this is a BIG BUT ----- The new A'gon site is so far a DISASTER I sure hope that this "Beta" version is just that and NOT the final rolled out site.....Beacuse IF it is, my 11 year old niece could do a better job with one hand behind her back

BTW, The site is 'down' as I type this.....go figure

As of 7am EST, its still down. AGon is a great site, but i expect change (particularly of such a signnificant nature) to be driven by major improvement, no just change for the sake of it. Will be interesting to see what they actually do here. So far, see no major improvements in useability, just cosmetics, and in fact, some limited decreases i useability. based on limited access of course!!! site went down 2x! good luck to them...cannot imagine this is fun for them.

 

[flez007]

I think their launch was poorly executed. I'm no techie, but i am a consumer and when someone re-launches, i kinda expect it actually launches in full. Instead, they launched part, took it down, launched again, did not allow members to sign in, then took it down again...

I am a techie (or at least led techies for many years at Oracle and Sybase), and usually this kind of "upgrade projects" requiere a precise work plan involving variables such as available time windows, data backup strategies, replication schemes and QA tests for data integrity, among others. The site has more that 8 hours down now... A roll-back route was either not planned or impossible to consider, I suspect the earlier.

 

[ack]

BTW, the forums and other areas never went offline - you can type forum.audiogon.com and see they are still active, though not much traffic. This would be another indication the main page is probably still undergoing changes, as opposed to a maintenance downtime.

 

[flez007]

BTW, the forums and other areas never went offline - you can type forum.audiogon.com and see they are still active, though not much traffic. This would be another indication the main page is probably still undergoing changes, as opposed to a maintenance downtime.

That's even a worst sign of poor planing IMHO

 

[c1ferrari]

Thanks ack...I'll check it out.

 

[Jayeltex]

For what it's worth.. I haven't spent a great deal of time on the new format but my initial reaction was negative, it was easier to navigate before... Anyway it's 2:16pm EST and still down. Maybe they are changing it back ?

 

[mep]

And it's still down as of 2:34 P.M. on 7 Jan 12.

 

[MylesBAstor]

From the Audiogon blog:

Dear Audiogon Community,

Yesterday evening at 5pm eastern we put the site in maintenance mode to speed up the download of user accounts. We were able to achieve a 50% increase in the update process by doing this. We felt it more important to get user accounts back online even if it meant putting the site in maintenance mode. Rest assured we are making great progress, and the user accounts should be restored shortly.

Thank you for your patience.

Site Launch Begins Today, January 5th
Posted on January 5, 2012
Site is currently in maintenance mode as we complete the update. Please be patient while we finish this process.

Please Read Before Commenting:

If you can’t currently see your listing: please be patient as all ads are being updated into the new system and should be on the new site shortly.
If your listing does not show correctly: This is also due to the listings being updated, please be patient and it should soon show correctly.
You cannot login because user accounts are being updated, once they’re updated you will be able to login.
If the site is acting slow: we’re working very hard to speed things up, our goal is to make the new audiogon faster than the old one, but please be patient with us.
If you’re not happy with the search options: We’re getting a lot of great feedback around how we can make search better and will be improving it over then next few weeks as well as getting the most requested feature which is search by zip code radius.
If your bookmarks are not working: This will be fixed once the updating of listing is complete.
Thanks for everyone for being so supportive, suggesting how we can make things better and being patient while we make this transition. Please understand that the new site is a stepping stone to a bigger and brighter future for Audiogon and this is the first of many updates that will incorporate your suggestions and comments.
As you might have already seen our current marketplace is currently undergoing the upgrade we’ve been sharing with you on the blog over the last couple months. We plan on having accounts back up and running by tomorrow morning and will continue to keep you updated here. Thank you for your patience.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a reply

 

[microstrip]

Audiogon is now up. Just browsed trough the new features for selection in the classifieds - they did a good work, search is now much faster . They now show immediately some of the Other items from this seller, an welcome addition.

It took time, but in view it was worth the effort. But I will miss the familiar yellow background for some time!

 

[MylesBAstor]

Audiogon is now up. Just browsed trough the new features for selection in the classifieds - they did a good work, search is now much faster . They now show immediately some of the Other items from this seller, an welcome addition.

It took time, but in view it was worth the effort. But I will miss the familiar yellow background for some time!

The search function still sucks

 

[Pete Roth]

Two of my listings are still not showing up. Very frustrating. I also second the point made above (at least once) that by no longer having search results grouped by product sub-type under the brand being searched (e.g., amplifier, preamplifiers, cables, etc.) it is much more difficult to scan.

 

[LL21]

I have noticed that on the SEarch function for the Auctions, if you put a brand in, the search function not only does not sort via type of product, it also brings up Waaay more items that have nothing to do with that brand. I typed in searches for: Zanden, Gryphon, Esoteric, DCS, FM Acoustics, Rockport, MBL, Transparent Audio and a few others...the Zanden 2000P/Zanden 5000 DAC showed up in the Search Results at least 6 times!!! STrange.

As an example, type in "Kalista". There used to be 2 actual Kalistas. Now there are 20 but only 1 Kalista...the rest have nothing to do with it!

 

[treitz3]

When I first went on to run a search a couple of days back, it was nowhere near what it is now. It was actually a delight to fly through. The issues lloydelee21 is experiencing were not there and everything was very organized. Within a short time, it looks like they must have changed something because widespread feedback turned negative and when I tried the same searches I had just tries hours earlier? The results were a complete mess and they still are.

 

[MC352]

I get the feeling that this Audiogon upgrade will become the model for what not to do when upgrading a web site. Not good.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I have noticed that on the SEarch function for the Auctions, if you put a brand in, the search function not only does not sort via type of product, it also brings up Waaay more items that have nothing to do with that brand. I typed in searches for: Zanden, Gryphon, Esoteric, DCS, FM Acoustics, Rockport, MBL, Transparent Audio and a few others...the Zanden 2000P/Zanden 5000 DAC showed up in the Search Results at least 6 times!!! STrange.

As an example, type in "Kalista". There used to be 2 actual Kalistas. Now there are 20 but only 1 Kalista...the rest have nothing to do with it!

Yep!

 

[etunes]

Reminds me of the Coke versus new Coke debacle. I think Audiogon Classic is coming soon.

 

[microstrip]

I have noticed that on the SEarch function for the Auctions, if you put a brand in, the search function not only does not sort via type of product, it also brings up Waaay more items that have nothing to do with that brand. I typed in searches for: Zanden, Gryphon, Esoteric, DCS, FM Acoustics, Rockport, MBL, Transparent Audio and a few others...the Zanden 2000P/Zanden 5000 DAC showed up in the Search Results at least 6 times!!! STrange.

As an example, type in "Kalista". There used to be 2 actual Kalistas. Now there are 20 but only 1 Kalista...the rest have nothing to do with it!

It seems the search function is searching in the tittle and in the text of the advertisement. As many seller list all previous sales in the advertisement this can be a bad option.