The Mossoleum: Fresh Tracks in Squamish

For our first feature exploiting the goods of our new back end system, we're happy to bring you some big photos from Derek Dix: Kevin Landry riding the 2013 Banshee Rune at "the Mossoleum" outside of Squamish, BC. Make sure to click those photos!

not sure I'm a big fan of the new commenting system….I like doing all my commenting in the forums since then I don't have to go back to all the articles to read comments since they're all here. on the other hand, big fan of the clickyness to make pics big! very nice!

I second Flip. Going back to the article to see comments kinda sucks.

I like how the old system had the comments both here and on the article.

Love the big photo's, good job guys….that big rock roller looks amazing!

Somehow my computer seems to have a few minor issues with the board and the main site, so it is no longer working properly. But maybe this is another internet explorer thing, have not yet checked out firefox.

I like the picture thing, increases the awe. And that roller looks killer. I would crap myself, probably.

I'm copy/pasting my comments from the article, since it seems they are no longer linked to the BB.

Like the look of the images when they pop out into a bigger floating window. Being able to click through to see all of the images on the page in one spot is cool.

Images seem to work on my PC and Macbook browsers, but clicking the images crash my iPad browsers. Just FYI. Both the Chrome and Safari apps on the iPad.

In my opinion, if one of the new features of NSMB is to remove the links between the articles and the board, I think that's the wrong move.

I agree with previous comments. Locking the threads on the Articles sub-forum sucked, and made me less likely to even bother clicking on the article link.

^^^^This.Put it back to normal.

Help us understand your opposition, guys. Everyone resists change, we expect that to some extent, but if you have legitimate concerns other than "I liked it better than before" we do want to hear them.

So, why the change? The main goal of this is to encourage more inline commenting at the base of articles - the more there is, the more other viewers will be encouraged to add their own comments, particularly people who aren't regular BB posters or may be new or returning to NSMB. And that's something that isn't really happening right now except for a very small, select group, except for in isolated cases. Under the old system the number of comments per article was way too low given the amount of eyeballs they get. Our plans don't stop with what you've seen so far, we're rolling out changes in phases. We do plan to add more functionality to the inline commenting system, allowing people to comment on specific comments above them, for one thing. This will create more interactivity and discussion.

In addition, we're trying to streamline things on the back end (in the interest of being able to create more content rather than spending too much time posting it), and there are a few reasons why creating a thread for every article is both problematic and time-consuming. One thing we won't continue to do is post locked threads on this forum and expect people to open and read them. Naturally you don't want to click on a locked thread, but the reason for that was alert everyone about the new system.

It's normal to resist change, and I catch myself doing it all the time, too. But we are working to make the experience better around here. Your patience while we conduct these changes, and ongoing feedback, are really appreciated.

Somehow my computer seems to have a few minor issues with the board and the main site, so it is no longer working properly. But maybe this is another internet explorer thing, have not yet checked out firefox.

I like the picture thing, increases the awe. And that roller looks killer. I would crap myself, probably.

If you do one thing tomorrow, download ANY other browser (Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox) and start using it. We do want to be compatible with IE and we are working on a few bugs, but your entire internet experience will be better if you never use IE again.

Help us understand your opposition, guys. Everyone resists change, we expect that to some extent, but if you have legitimate concerns, we do want to hear them.

I generally acces content from the BB, not the main page. Often times I will see that there are a bunch of comments on an article that I may not have read. Or I'll read a bb discussion and it gives something context or I get curious about the article due to the comments. What was wrong witht the hybrid system you had for a while where posts would show both here and on the main page?

If you do one thing tomorrow, download ANY other browser (Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox) and start using it. We do want to be compatible with IE and we are working on a few bugs, but your entire internet experience will be better if you never use IE again.

yeah but don't forget that some people at work may not be able to switch browsers due to corporate IT policies.

and like couch surfer, i pretty much never go to the main page. any time i check those articles it's thru the boards.i guess the only real way to see if the new system is beneficial is to run with it for a while and minitor the traffic to the articles. if it goes down significantly then you have your answer.

I generally acces content from the BB, not the main page. Often times I will see that there are a bunch of comments on an article that I may not have read. Or I'll read a bb discussion and it gives something context or I get curious about the article due to the comments.

Understood. There will always be people who access the BB first, or spend most of their time here. The BB has always been a big part of the site, and we don't want that to change. However our primary mandate with the content we create is for it to be published to the main page, enjoyed there, and now, interacted with there as well. For those whose NSMB experience revolves more around the community and discussion provided by the BB, it will mean a bit of a change for those times when you want to access our created content. And frankly, we want that to be the case. Busted. We are definitely trying to train you to check out the main page on a daily basis.

Don't let that make you think we're biased against our BB members and traffic, however. We will be doing some things in future to encourage more interaction here, too.

What was wrong witht the hybrid system you had for a while where posts would show both here and on the main page?

It's a major hassle to set up a thread every time you post an article (it's different than just starting a thread and adding links back to the article) and it interferes with our ability to load content in advance and program it to go live at a certain time and date. In other words, it was keeping us locked in the dark ages as far as scheduling content. Or, if we did set up a post to publish in advance, the first thing that had to be completed was the thread, and those cannot be scheduled since vbulletin (our BB platform) is not designed to be used in this way. That meant that in the case of an embargo or timed release scheduled for midnight (as normal), someone would have to be awake at the right time to make the thread live, then the post.

yeah but don't forget that some people at work may not be able to switch browsers due to corporate IT policies.

Of course. It's been so long since I had an IT person dictate my computer use that I temporarily forgot about that.

and like couch surfer, i pretty much never go to the main page. any time i check those articles it's thru the boards.i guess the only real way to see if the new system is beneficial is to run with it for a while and minitor the traffic to the articles. if it goes down significantly then you have your answer.

Well, as above, we want you to go to the main page more. And we will be watching traffic to articles, naturally.