I Miss the Old Format

[Dwight]

I just wanted to voice my personal opinion that I liked the old "Leatherworker.net" format much better than the "New & Improved" one.

I am sure someone, . . . somewhere, . . . looks at the new one and gets all warm and fuzzy about all the changes they were a part of here, . . . how the new pages look, . . . how the new format is laid out.

The problem is that there are some folks here in the good old USA that are stuck with no option other than dial-up, . . . and in my case, . . . EACH and EVERY page change that occurs takes anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 minutes and 45 seconds.

I love leatherworking, . . . I love the banter and chit chat we have here, . . . but I simply do not have the time nor patience to spend an hour here doing what I previously did in 4 or 5 minutes.

I am also very much disappointed that it seems like another "down home" place has gone Wall Street with no apparent regard for the consequences.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Johanna]

I've received a couple of complaints about the speed of the site, and they were usually resolved on the members' end. We are moving the ads to a different server this weekend, and we hope that will speed up the site a bit more. We upgraded the site to get better security, add more features and be able to accommodate all the traffic on the site.

We are growing pretty quickly, and I don't know what you mean about "going Wall Street"? To make this site possible, there are bills to pay. Our sponsors are reputable companies with products and services of interest to our members. Between them and the members that really care about LW, we'll be here for a long time to come, sharing education, entertainment and fellowship in Leather Land. Without the financial support of the members and sponsors, we die.

Let me know next week if the speed improves for you on your slow connection. We are doing everything we can to improve the performance, and many members have noticed a significant speed-up. (Thanks folks, for writing to let me know it helped!) I'm sorry you feel like we're letting you down- quite the opposite. We're trying to make leather info available to anybody anywhere without turning people away just because they can't pay. Membership here is free because of all the blue, brown & green names you see online and the sponsors at the top of each page. They are the heroes of LW.

Johanna

[dbusarow]

but I simply do not have the time nor patience to spend an hour here doing what I previously did in 4 or 5 minutes.<br /><br />I am also very much disappointed that it seems like another "down home" place has gone Wall Street with no apparent regard for the consequences.<br /><br />May God bless,<br />Dwight<br />

Dwight,

Go to the bottom of any page and change Massice Brown Crystals to IP Board Lo-fi

Kind of ugly but it works really well and is really really fast.

Dan

[dustin29]

Johanna I think what you are doing on the site is awesome. This website has been a big help to me and many others, and if waiting two minutes or even five minutes is too much of a hassle for some folks to deal with, then they should go find another website.

[TwinOaks]

Dustin, that' exactly the wrong attitude to have. This website is for all the members, regardless of skill level or ability to contribute financially to the site. Telling someone they should go find another place to learn about leather, just because they don't have a high speed connection, is reprehensible. There's plenty of other sites on the internet that harbor "holier than thou" attitudes, this one doesn't need to be another one. Dwight, give us a little time, and Johanna and Kate (and others working on the behind the scenes activities) will get it straightened out. This site didn't really have much choice but to upgrade, as there's things in the works (yes, I've heard some whispers) that the old site just couldn't handle.As for the "going Wall Street", well, like Johanna said, there's bills to pay. The members contributions help, but run thin pretty quickly. The ad banners really help to offset the cost of leasing a server, plus they provide a direct source for US to get what we need. Leatherworker.net, your one-stop-learn-and-shop website!!!

[Luke Hatley]

Johanna I think what you are doing on the site is awesome. This website has been a big help to me and many others, and if waiting two minutes or even five minutes is too much of a hassle for some folks to deal with, then they should go find another website.

[CitizenKate]

Dwight, we do appreciate your feedback. Improving site performance has become for us a continuous process. In days past, we hardly ever had to think about it; it was the hosting provider's problem. But nowadays, it's something we have to consider every time we add a new feature to the site, including upgrades. Even if we didn't change anything, the increase in traffic that we see every month would require it. We are taking steps to improve page load times, and will continue to do so, probably until the end of time, as it appears to us now.

Dustin, thanks very much for your supportive comments. But we do want everyone to feel welcome, regardless of their pocketbook or their internet bandwidth.

Kate

[dustin29]

Dustin, that' exactly the wrong attitude to have. This website is for all the members, regardless of skill level or ability to contribute financially to the site. Telling someone they should go find another place to learn about leather, just because they don't have a high speed connection, is reprehensible. There's plenty of other sites on the internet that harbor "holier than thou" attitudes, this one doesn't need to be another one. Dwight, give us a little time, and Johanna and Kate (and others working on the behind the scenes activities) will get it straightened out. This site didn't really have much choice but to upgrade, as there's things in the works (yes, I've heard some whispers) that the old site just couldn't handle.As for the "going Wall Street", well, like Johanna said, there's bills to pay. The members contributions help, but run thin pretty quickly. The ad banners really help to offset the cost of leasing a server, plus they provide a direct source for US to get what we need. Leatherworker.net, your one-stop-learn-and-shop website!!!

Sorry for my comment, But it had nothing to do with his financial status or skill level. I was just dont like hearing any negative comments about LW, especially when it is basically a free website. I guess I dont understand how somebody could complain about something that is so great. My internet is also slow, but I feel it is worth the wait. I did not mean to cause any trouble, I just got a little defensive. Sorry for any inconvience that I may have caused.

[Luke Hatley]

[Double U Leather]

I guess I'm just simple minded enough (or maybe I've had too many concussions) that, to be honest, I don't even remember the old format. I've adjusted to this format, and like it quite well. When it first changed, I had some anxiety simply because I don't like change a whole lot. But, now that I've gotten accustomed to this format, I love it. I will have to say, I like it better now that the color scheme is a brown rather that the early blue. I didn't care much for that. Bottom line.......Johanna and gang are doing a helluva job with this site, and if I can scrape together enough pennies soon, I'm darn sure fixin' to be a contributor.

[hivemind]

Oh, yeah, contributions. I always forget, and I know how much IP Board costs. Hold on...

...there, contributed.

Thanks all!