Google Group New Interface

[Mohammad]

In the new interface we have missed some great features we have got used to. But it seems the new GG interface has brought some of them back.

1. Mark a post/message as favorite using star button at the right of post title and then see them under Starred conversation from left side bar

2. Label conversation like tag in previous version. Group admin has blocked this feature now, but if open you can label a message from top bar

3. To list all message labeled (tagged) say with Bob from left sidebar click on Labels and then click on Bob 

4. You can organize favorite groups into folder

[bimlas]

I know a thread has already been opened for the new forum somewhere, but I can't find it, so here's one of the big negatives (I think): I can't write a reply on Android because I don't have a button to press!

[Ste]

Yep...you have to go to the menu in the browser and click 'show desktop site'

[TiddlyTweeter]

The new approach SUCKS.

-- Being able to edit posts??? How?

-- INDENT? How?

-- INSERT SOURCE code? How?

The development process of the revised GG is AWFUL and AUTOCRATIC.

And, above all, CONFUSING. Very confusing 

-- as the aim is obscure, 

-- the implementation constantly changing

-- f*ks up the ability to just get on and write at will.

I have never before witnessed such a developmental MESS at such a VAST scale.

TT

[TW Tones]

The mobile version is all but unusable.

For Google a Mobile First business this seems like a slap in the face.

Tones

[TiddlyTweeter]

TW Tones wrote:

The mobile version is all but unusable.

Right.

I am RANTING about GG now. Maybe slightly OTT. But not much. MONTHS have gone by and its still a mess.

GG said they were wanting to improve GG. It has been nothing but arbitrary hassle for far too long already.

For our needs here this continuing milarky its damaging because it is CONFUSING. It makes the MAIN user portal for support a complex fog of meaningless, unexplained, changes.

It is a MESS. And just "hanging in there" is looking less and less good for TW long-term.

I completely understand the INERTIA against change. PRACTICALLY it would be a nightmare to use a better system.

But as of today, 23-11-2020, GG looks very, very uninviting. It would be a BEGINNER'S nightmare just posting.

TT

 

[TiddlyTweeter]

I know people who work at Google. 

Revision of GG they tell me is the thing "no one wants to handle". Why? Because GG handles very extensive LEGACY. 

And that legacy has features that Google does not want.

**RANT ON**

Long ago Google took legacy on in one interface to support both LISTSERV (email lists) and USENET (nntp: the "news-group" protocol). Both were vital during earlier internet. 

NNTP: still exists and used, though most end users would not know about it, it having gone from a free non-centralised news distribution system to a usually paid for add-on. 

But NNTP's de-centralised model of info sharing was and is brilliant. That was how the net was first thought about. It was conceived as a NET, not a HIGHWAY to Google.

Google's changes in GG function are incoherent. They are REDUCING function. It makes NO sense. The whole original POINT of GG was to be LISTSERV + USENET that is EDITABLE & BETTER LOOKING. To add value to them through a web interface.

IMO, it looks like some poor inexperienced Google folk were lumbered to work on "improving" it--with disastrous outcomes so far. 

**RANT OFF**

TT

[TW Tones]

TT,

I suggest every time we come across an issue, to report a google groups bug. I did recently.

One of the things I said is a large number of people moved to gmail/google on the basis that the forums existed back in the day. Its a bit rich to harvest users with an offer you do not maintain going forward.

Fine they could give us a total reinvention with superior features and retaining current content and we would be happy, but this is exposing google as happy to address its own needs and not that of its customer base. They are failing at cloud service 101.

This is the first time I have started to distrust google as a reliable tools provider.

Tones

[Mark S.]

Am I missing something in the editor, or did they really do away with the ability to paste a code block?

On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 10:38:45 PM UTC-7 Mohammad wrote:

[Ton Gerner]

Hi Mark,

Code formatting is lost but you can use - as a workaround - another font.

Cheers,

Ton