Solved: I'm quitting out of the community.

SkrOYCx · 01-27-2022 07:50 AM

Hi you all! I'm @SkrOYC. I'm unable to get my account back for some reason:

I've tried at least 10 times the instructions from this post with no luck:

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Account-Info-Registration/How-to-Create-a-Community-Account/...

But, you know what? I don't want to be here anymore.

It was awesome to experience the good fealing that helping others can give you. Eventhough I just started around 6 months ago as an active user on the old (and better) community, I really enjoyed it.

I'm gonna miss people like @Steve @Aurelien @WillowMobileSys @Marc_Dillon @MultiTech and others (I hope I haven't misspelled the usernames).

With this new community it's not fun and joyful anymore. Discourse was straightfoward on so many ways that made me go into a very intuitive url (community.appsheet.com), answer a couple of questions and continue with my day.

I'm really shocked how a company like Google can't make a better product than Discourse. Or maybe I'm not that shocked knowing that Discourse is Open Source and it's made by users that cares about the product.

This is the first time I entered a community and, as I said, I enjoyed it. Now I know it won't be the same, nor better, on Google's hands.

From a productivity perspective, Google Cloud Community seems like the perfect product, because it's so bad that you spend time working instead of helping.

SWITCH(
  [APPSHEETCOMMUNITY],
  "GOOGLECLOUD", "SkrOYC is out",
  "DISCOURSE", "SkrOYC is in",
  ""
)

SkrOYCx

Hi @WillowMobileSys. I'm sorry if it sounded like that, I didn't want to imply anything rather than explain what are the things that I feel are important for me.

Actually, this ones comes just for the fact that Google is the new owner of the platform, we can't do much around that. But know that the community is on Google's product, it's more noticeable. Privacy is on a weird spot, some people doesn't care, some people do. I don't use any Facebook service for example, but that's another field.
When I say function over beauty I mean that this site is obviously following Material Design (aka Material You?) but, although it looks great, it doesn't provide the functionalities on the next 3 points.
I always used Ctrl+Enter/Cmd+Return to post, the same I do for emails, and here it doesn't work. In general, there are no keyboard shortcuts on the community itself, just on the editor afaik
The DPI is how dense the page is. Right know we don't see much, eventhough I use a 1440p monitor. It's actually a lot of wasted space in my opinion and also other's.
Some ideas:
1. We don't know easly which post we have read vs wich ones we haven't.
2. There are a lot of posts around the same idea an other ones like the avatar shown aside the post, before it was the last user replying.
3. The order of the questions is actually not by last response, because a lot of questions are not shown in the main page. Just try replying a post and it seems like some post/topics are "automatically hide". Maybe it's just taking into account when a reply is posted to the main topic.
4. It's harder and requires more clicks/time to get to the replies others make to you and also likes to your posts. It's now "SkrOYCx and x others liked" or "SkrOYCx and x others replied". We don't know who are the "others", we have to figure it out ourselves by checking practically all the posts on a topic.
5. In general, there are a lot of nested pages to get to what we need, before it was solve by just showing the info on the same page. Point 4 is an example that to get to the "notifications" part you need to enter to another page. Check who have clicked "like" on one of your posts, another page..
6. The old Leaderboard is missing. It was not a crucial feature, but it shows how straighfoward it was to get info like that before.
7. We can't search for something from the Browser address bar. Before we could type commu.." and the page was suggested, if we hitted Tab we could then type our question. Since this is now a forum inside a community, it can't do the same. At best it would search something on the whole community (GCC).
Markdown on the editor. I use Markdown a lot. I hate mouse-driven interactions. Click to create a list. Click to create a table. Click to create a code block. You know the rest... BBCode was also great. I'll miss [quote], [spoiler]

# Markdown is powerful.

Is seems like there is just some kinda-markdown support on TinyMCE via Plugin that is not implemented. This shows what Koichi Tsuji said about how this platform seems like a place to entry-level users, people that likes mouse usage, WYSIWYG editor, beauty, and other stuff.

Before it was easy to write something like:

```php
IF(
...,

...,

...
)
```

Now it takes you to expand the toolbar, look for insert code example and then create the code without seeing the previous post in order to help.

That's another one, we had our current reply/post stick at the bottom, we could move freely and our new post was always there.

Other: We could Quote other's response, now it's a nightmare to do. (Just try to quote part of this reply/post)

Other one: We had a preview of a post when adding a permalink, now it looks like this:

https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Community-Feedback/I-m-quitting-out-of-the-community/m-p/388...

Another: We could see a preview of the page when adding a link, now:

https://help.appsheet.com/en/articles/2357277-in

The list goes on a little bit more but I'm just tired and bussy. Others have seen more things that make our lifes harder here, I'm not the only one.

Also, it's not about complaining just because there was a change. It's about the fact that someone stole features and it's a patter we are seeing on AppSheet and we fear we are gonna see it in the future. Let's be clear, AppSheet gets a little bit more powerful every month but the "We think this is better so we are gonna do it" way of working from Google's team is something I'm pissed off

View solution in original post

WillowMobileSys

@SkrOYCx Sorry to hear you are leaving. But you know what, when the Community switched from its predecessor to the previous version, several users said the same thing! App Creators said the same when Workflows were switched to Automation (I think some still feel that way but they'll be convinced - eventually!)

Change is always hard, especially in software. Honestly, I am having some trouble with the adjustment myself! But I have enough experience to know that you need to give new software at least a couple of weeks usage before declaring it a bust. The pains are usually just from the lack of knowledge in how to do the same things in the new software.

And I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with your account. By the way, is that old account email address registered as a Google account? If not, that may be all you need to do. I had already registered mine for the Partner Program or I think I would have been in the same boat as you. It did take me a few attempts to get it right - really just a matter of understanding what I needed to do. If it is something else, then you should give Google a chance to help resolve it. I have found their support, though not immediate, responsive and helpful.

Darmund

Thanks for being part of the community @SkrOYCx !
Good luck on your future projects 😀

MultiTech

Pretty much right there with ya. I'm tryin hard to find merit in all this.

This new community site feels like someone took something from 15 years ago and said... yup, let's use that.
- In fact... the more I think about it, it really DOES feel like something from 2007. Just think about it.... doesn't the interactivity of this "new" site remind you of the old-days in the internet.

So many page loads, so many different screens, nothing is intuitive anymore.

Joseph_Seddik

I genuinely found myself recalling past experiences with the earliest forums from the ‘90

SkrOYCx

@WillowMobileSys I get it. I actually force myself to do things when I feel it will be for the better. I also didn't like Automation but I knew it was more powerfull.

With this new community, I was against the change from the get go. Also, I don't feel that the effort to understand this new product will be worth it to be honest. While I followed all the tutorial from Discobot with interest, like I was learning something useful, this new community feels like a Google's abusse of power.

@MultiTech I really hope you won't give up (like I did) since you are one of the best out there when it comes to AppSheet! But all you said is true, it's just a bad product overall in comparison.

BTW: My account is a no-Google one and gc-customer-community@google.com hasn't give any response to my emails.

Steve

Attn @Michelle

SkrOYCx

@Steve wrote:
Attn @Michelle

@AndrewB is checking the problem with my account btw

SkrOYCx

Thanks @Darmund!

I'll keep using AppSheet since I'm already deep into it

WillowMobileSys

@SkrOYCx @MultiTech

I do understand. I'll reserve any ~~complaints~~ criticisms I might have until next week. 😉

One thing I really do like, it that all of the things I frequented most in the old forum is right at the top of the page - one click away!

@SkrOYCx You can register your no-Google email into a Google account. I'm not sure if you have to do that but maybe that's the issue? That is what I did and like I said I had trouble until I understood what I needed to do.

SkrOYCx

@SkrOYCx You can register your no-Google email into a Google account. I'm not sure if you have to do that but maybe that's the issue? That is what I did and like I said I had trouble until I understood what I needed to do.

Actually I wouldn't like to do that. I don't use Google products rather than AppSheet.

Also, if there is an option to use a non-Google email it should work no matter what. Even more if you take into account that you are moving the users to another platform by force.

Thanks anyway for your sincere interest to help me! @WillowMobileSys

Joseph_Seddik

@SkrOYCx Oscar amigo, por favor no te vas, nuestra subcomunidad hispanohablante no puede faltar a alguien como tú 🌷

Que la lucha continue 🙂 seguramente con el feedback nuestro las mejoras vendrán y quién sabe, quizás tendremos un producto mejor.
Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo, si el uso nos hace más trabajar que leer y participar, así no habrá interés para continuar. Lo único es que creo que es todavía demasiado pronto para rendirse.

Steve

I COMPLETELY understand you!

SkrOYCx

@Steve wrote:
I COMPLETELY understand you!

Fun fact, I don't even need to mention Markdown...

Marc_Dillon

I feel you Oscar. Disregarding the crazy account linking issues that I seem to be having, this site so far is just not conducive to motivating me to participate. I do however also agree with John, it's best to give new things some time before making a decision, so that's all I'll say for now, but I've also started writing out a list of feedback items that I'll probably post a bit later.

☹️

SkrOYCx

@Marc_Dillon wrote:
this site so far is just not conducive to motivating me to participate

That's what I feel also.

As I said before, I use to take my time before giving up. The problem is that I see no point on this from a time and energy pov.

I like to help, but this site make that hobbie a lot harder

Rafael_ANEIC-PY

Short answer:

Long answer:
I agree wholeheartedly, I already made a mistake in over-complaining when automation appeared, granted, it was not a gentle change, it was more like getting hit by a truck, but the change was for good, we know that now, and we could suggest that back then, since Automation promised a lot of new capabilites and usages, but the new forum.....

What's the point, really? It's not better than the old one in any area that I can think of right now, and It's going to take a lot of work from their part to get it done, and by the time it's done, I feel that most of the active users will already give up.

Change is good when the change is for better, change is not good on its own, I don't think losing a single member like @SkrOYC is worth any forum change :c

SkrOYCx

@Rafael_ANEIC-PY wrote:
Change is good when the change is for better

The problem is that this change was good for them. AppSheet is part of Google so they won't share any statistics or anything to any other platform. If the servers are from Google, it's better for them. Now their algorithm can also check and profile the users even better, although I think it started to be this way before even on Discourse and, to some degree, it also applies to the whole internet. You know, Google is a giant ship that won't stop or move just for the interest of a minority like us.

I wouldn't surprise if there is an unofficial Discourse community in the future. Discourse is just plain better.

We could have our Wiki with introduction for the newbies and most advance topics for the rest.

Steve

I looked into this very idea yesterday. $100 a month for a basic Discourse site.

SkrOYCx

I did also.

BTW, some Linux users like me would love this one:

Install Discourse in Under 30 minutes

https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/main/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md

SkrOYCx

Seems like someone deleted my reply.

I'm adding it again:

https://www.linode.com/pricing/

Joseph_Seddik

It is not about statistics, I don’t think so; they could’ve self-hosted the open-source software and do whatever they like with it. I believe it is rather an understandable, typical turf war.

Koichi_Tsuji

Yeah. I’m leaving most likely. I’m busy enough.

Koichi_Tsuji

.

Koichi_Tsuji

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Koichi_Tsuji

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Koichi_Tsuji

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Koichi_Tsuji

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Koichi_Tsuji

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Koichi_Tsuji

Again, very sorry to speak too much.

.

Koichi_Tsuji

.

Rifad

Ugh. the nested replies are even worst. I missed most of your post in this thread. @Koichi_Tsuji hope you get notified and you find this message from this post.

Rifad

It's funny that I can post in between others post.

SkrOYCx

@Koichi_Tsuji Thanks for your input around this.

I apreciate the fact that you took the time to write not just your opinion but your fealings around the change.

Just a simple tour around the other forums makes it clear that this won't be as good as the Discourse community was, no matter the effort.

You can see that this changed from a full community to a forum inside a community (Google Cloud Community). Now AppSheet is just a subset of it.

I'm curious of how many people would be interested into an unofficial and community-driven community.

I think that having the big boys there is enough to make it great (appart from being on top of Discourse)

It's actually not that hard and I'm sure, as a pro-Linux and pro-OpenSource user, that with enough people we can make a better place to share our knowledge.

The only problem I see is that it won't be free. Obviously AppSheet was paying for the service since it was part of the cost, not an expense.

But I don't think that the cost is high when you take into account the benefits of it.

I'm gonna make the first step the following week. Stay tuned

WillowMobileSys

I have been reading the comments and I think there is a HUGE disconnect.

The tool IS NOT what makes this community great. It's the people! It's the willingness of everyone to help and share ideas. The tool should simply allow us to do that.

Is this new community tool a difficult transition? Yes
Is it really as bad as everyone says? I don't think so. Things are different and some are better. But I see nothing that is preventing us from collaborating like we always have. Look how long this post has gotten in just a few days. Again, I'll reserve my final opinion for next week.
Is Google not listening as well as AppSheet did before? I'm not so sure, yet. There are indications both ways.

Two things I do know:

This tool is not our choice and we all should band together, as our Community does, to make the most of it
There have been some bright young people at Google working hard to try to provide us, the Community, a better experience. It can't be easy to read some of these comments about something they have likely spent months in preparing for. They do deserve a little respect.

SkrOYCx

Hi @WillowMobileSys, your feedback is always appreciated.

I'm with you on most of the ideas that you have posted but let be honest, you can't expect that this migration will be taken as a possitive thing when it was clearly a brute-force movement.

Take a look at the platform and you will see that the hard work from the people at Google was to make this platform "feel" like what we have become on Discourse before the change.

I don't know for sure how much work it was to make this but I'm sure it was not enough, eventhough that may sound rude or bad for some people. I respect hard work but I have to say that most of the people that made the hard part was just obeying someone's direction. Neither of them seems to have been an active user of the community when it comes to posting/replying people like us.

Also, I don't think that the community is just made by us, the members. A good community needs a good place to hang out and that place should make its members comfortable. This new one doesn't.

Also, it doesn't matter how bad we feel this platform is, people that worked on this should not feel pissed off. We are criticizing the end product, not their abilities or work will.

WillowMobileSys

I'm sorry, but I just don't think this new tool has been given the proper chance. I see a LOT of positive things in this new tool and, so far, have found a lot of parallels to what we had before. And correct me if I am wrong, the AppSheet community was simply slid into a new slot in their already existing forums. It only makes good business sense from Google's perspective to do so for consistency across their product lines.

The talk of segregating into a yet another forum is destructive - not constructive. Instead we all should behave as we always have - describe what you don't like and how, possibly, to make it better, knowing it IS what we've got to work with.

SkrOYCx

I think we just value different things.

I value:

Privacy
Function over beauty
Keyboard interaction
DPI
Ease of use
Markdown

WillowMobileSys

I apologize in advance but since you are implying I have lower standards than you and since you started this post, I have to call you out on your values list above! Again, sorry to do this to you.

Initial impression is everything. And you have made it clear you don't like this new forum. But when it comes to stating something lacks certain values, you need to explain, if you truly what to be helpful and contribute to improvements.

I would like to see your answers to these questions about this new forum tool:

What Privacy concerns do you have?
What functionality is it missing?
What keyboard interactions are missing?
Which DPI are you talking about and what is the problem?
Why is it not easy to use?
What capability for Markdown do you need?

SkrOYCx