Thank You Laura/Cruise Critic!!!

[Cruise Cat]

Thank you Laura and Cruise Critic!!!!

I've seen everyone talking all about the new boards, what is good, what they don't like because it has changed, etc.; but, not once did I see someone say "Thank You". Sooo Thank You.


We complained about the boards and Infopop for months. CC did not give in by just upgrading to the latest version of Infopop software like I am sure they tried to get CC to do. Instead, they listened to us, and just like good cruisers themselves, since they did not like the service, they just took their business elsewhere.


I think we all owe Laura, Cruise Critic, and all the Hosts, a big Thank You and a tip of our hats for the hard work they have put in on this change and the Successful results. Again, Thank You.:)

Cruise Cat







P.S. - Oh, and thank you Newt for making these boards so enjoyable.:D

[tbelian]

Thanks for saying that cruise cat. As I see as 'typical' all the negative stuff started showing up in posts before anything positive! The type is too small, I can't see who's online, and yadda yadda blah blah.


Yea! for cruise critic, I say.!

And keep up the good work!

Someone will always find time to criticize but rarely if ever compliment. I'm glad you did that!

[excitedofharpenden]

Nice one Cruise Cat. I would like to add my thanks for the amount of hard work that has been put in to make these board so much better. And they are so much better!

Phil

[dam1050]

Many thanks to all those involved in providing this fantastic service for us.

Dave

[Denisern2]

These boards are great!!!!! Thank you. I am just sad that we lost our roll call. It was started to early and did not make the cut:confused:

Thirteen pages of fun and planning...Oh well give and take, and i will take these boards.:o

[Host Walt]

Speaking as a Host I must say that all we did was gripe and moan about all the problems we Hosts were having with what we liked to call "InfoPoop."

The real effort was undertaken by Laura who had to make the case to her management and convince them not only to change platforms but to make a fundamental change in server management.

Convince them she did...then she had to spend months reading manuals, talking to techies and insisting on things that were mandatory. Then a wrinkle. vBulletin comes out with a new, upgraded, version that was said to have been fully Beta tested.

Then comes the conversion of the massive data base, with over 2.5 million messages and over 100,000 members, from the old platform to the new one. The first try was too big a bite (1 year of history) and, while it should have worked, it didn't. The good news is that Laura's team made sure it wasn't a "do or die" conversion (as many are) where if the conversion fails, nothing happens until the corrections are made. In our case we got our old boards back and everything was as it had been.

Finally, the big day, 6/22/04. And it worked. Fantastically.

The only thing we Hosts did beyond file our gripes was to try out a preliminary version of the new platform to find out what might work and not work with our Members.

Let's all give Laura a big cheer for the outstanding job she and her team did to make sure the new boards are the best they can be...so that Cruise Critic can continue to be the best in everything.

Hugs http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/contrib/tweetz/hug2.gif and kisses http://smilies.jeeptalk.org/otn/love/kotc.gif to Laura.

[LauraS]

We appreciate thatCruise Cat & all of you taking the time to post your thanks. I've been doing this (community management) for The Independent Traveler/Cruise Critic for 10 years now, and I never lose sight of the fact that the majority of our users do appreciate all the work that goes into maintaining these forums, and for keeping them -- for the most part -- free to everyone out there.

For every cranky "my avatar doesn't work" post, I really do know that everyone just wants boards that work...so that you can communicate with one another.

The other stuff - pictures, clocks,, etc. are just icing on the cake.

We'll continue to tweak these new boards. We're listening, and changing things all day long. And fixing things too.

Thanks again,

laura

[Desertbelle]

I would like to add my thanks Laura and to your team. I love the new boards. I never had a doubt that there were better forum products out there than infoPoop.

There will be a learning curve and some break in time for us all but in the end this will be a great place to hang out each day. Thanks!!

[teedee]

A Great Big Thank You from me as well http://smileys.******************/cat/23/23_30_114.gif (http://www.******************/?partner=ZSzeb001) http://smileys.******************/cat/23/23_30_114.gif (http://www.******************/?partner=ZSzeb001) being one of the cranky ones who was having trouble getting the new boards. Now that I'm here I think I'm really going to like them. There is so much more you can do, and a search feature that works!


Thanks again

Terri

[bob278]

Count me in among the very grateful masses (even those who don't post the thanks).

I'd like to think that at least some of the comments that look negative were sincere suggestions, not gripes. There are a couple of things I would like to have now (like a default setting for the enhanced editor fonts), but those things didn't even exist as options a week ago, so I am not unhappy without them. And I really do like the enhanced editor, the preview capability and the search.

What amazes me the most is how many times I see Laura replying to posts with questions, comments and, yes, complaints. Very quickly and always so nice. Having worked in software for a while, I can only imagine all the grief she's been going through. For that, she deserves special praise.

We've lost NOTHING that the extra features of this board don't make worth giving up. If people lost all of a long post, it's their own fault. We knew that this was coming and had the chance to copy important threads to Word or some other safe place. I know I did.

Laura, thanks for the new boards and your extreme dedication to helping us use it!

Bob

[excitedofharpenden]

Bob, as always, nicely put.


Phil

[debjac]

My thanks also Laura - I'm like a kid in a candy store trying different things, fonts, colors, etc and I can preview, edit or delete

oh, the joy!!!:D:

[nealberk]

It is going to take a bit of getting used to but the new features and having the old ones work makes it well worth it.

Thanks for all the hard work, everyone!

[newtocc]

Cat, this post almost brought me to tears, it was so heart felt and honest, I couldn’t have said it better myself, I do make these boards enjoyable, don’t I?

[Host Walt]

...I do make these boards enjoyable, don’t I?
Uh, uh, uh, .....

Newt, can I reserve my reply for a few days? I need to think about that. :)

[jerin]

It's going to take some adjustment, but I definitely think that this a change for the better. I LOVED being able to search and find my buried rollcall thread. Thanks to everyone at CC who put so much work into the conversion.

[Joe1690]

Thanks Laura so much for the new boards. They are great and I appreciate the upgrade. It is so much faster and it is easier to read. CruiseCritic has been amazing asset when planning a cruise and now I think it will be an even more valuable tool with all of the additions.

JC

[jakedoc]

Thank you very much Laura for your dedication and hard work. As Walt mentioned, all the long hours you put in did pay off. Thanks again.

[Cloud9]

Cat, you are right, how rude of us not to thank Laura for all she has done for us! We're not worthy!

[mahdnc]

Yes, I agree.....Thanks Laura and all the others for making this happen.

[Bermudagirl60]

I know I'm fairly new to the board but I love these new boards. Thanks Laura for all your hard work for bring us these boards they are very helpful for us newbies.:p Also, thank you to everyone else that has worked on the boards.

[Cruise Cat]

Walt- I wasn't sure how much involvement the Mods had or not, but, I definitely did not want to take the risk of leaving anyone out for their hard work.


I kind of think of all of this as Cruise Critic II - The Next Generation of Cruising. The change itself was like planning a cruise for a large group and getting them all on board. If anyone has done this themselves before, you know that nothing goes perfect, but once you are on the ship sipping your first drink by the pool and having a little dessert, you forget about how you got here and just enjoy the fact that you are here. You are on a 'Cruise', so Nothing Else Matters!:D

[Cruisin'Nurse]

:D Thanks everyone who helped me get settled on the new boards!

[RichardK]

THANK YOU..............VERY MUCH

I lost my countdown clock, and the number of posts I have made over my four years (a small price to pay), BUT............by not fouling up my "UseR CP", I'm now clear of

*People's signatures,
*Pictures,
*Crazy little guys jumping across the screen,
*Lists of dozens and dozens of cruises people have been on, etc.

Having a dial up modem, I appreciate the ability to get right to a "simple" page in quick order.

THANK YOU LAURA FOR GIVING US THAT OPTION!!!

[gkm]

I also want to add my thanks to you Laura and also to Walt for your patience during these last few days as we settle in. There are a lot of great new features on the boards now, particularly the ability of putting a picture as an avatar, and I'm sure that as the days go on we will all feel more comfortable with the new formats and have the ability to jump from board to board without grumbling.

Thank you!:D :D :D

Garry

[newtocc]

Uh, uh, uh, .....

Newt, can I reserve my reply for a few days? I need to think about that. :)
Walt, I thought we were closer than that, after all the e-mails you've sent me the past couple of years, I thought we were tight!

BTW, 199 posts, welcome newbie!

Laura, I really do appriciate all the work you went through so that I can continue to post my informative, if somewhat, offbeat, view on cruising!

[gardencat]

Laura



I did post a thank you to you for all your hard work, a couple of days ago, but now I can't remember exactly where (I've been popping all over) So just in case you missed it, Thanks again for all your hard work I appreciate it and I'm really happy to have a new search feature.:)

[mango14217]

I really feel bad not thanking you Laura and your crew sooner.
But Thankyou from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work.

[BocaRoo]

Hello, Everyone! And many thanks for the great enhancements to the board.

This is my first "new" post and, like debjac (hi, Deb!) above, I'm having so much fun trying out all the new stuff!

:D Jill :D

[DocJohnB]

Cat, this post almost brought me to tears, it was so heart felt and honest, I couldn’t have said it better myself, I do make these boards enjoyable, don’t I?

Only Newt, when your font is increased in size :eek:

[Host Walt]

At the moment the techies are working on a few other new additional features that I think you all will love. Stay tuned!

[Shari2]

Thanks Laura, Walt and crew!

The new boards are great!!