SSIW has built a wonderful community and resourse, an important resourse in the ongoing battle to restore the Welsh language across all of Wales. I’r gad!
To misquote a passage from the Bible: where else would we go? You have the words for lifelong Cymraeg.
The site is great, Catrin. Don’t stress. We’re with you for the long term.
Have you heard that famous saying?
“A language course is only as good as its learners”
The only reason we are still here is because you lot are… it’s each and every one of you which make all of this possible.
I consider myself very lucky indeed to have so many additional brothers and sisters, aunts and unlcles, cousins, nephews and nieces. 
Diolch. X
I think I’ve been with SSiW for nearly 5 years and it has been one of the best things in my life, so there’s no chance that I’d desert you because of a dodgy forum. Yes it’s a shock and a shame that we’re losing the brilliant one with all it’s functions and usability as a teaching aid, but I hope that by some constructive criticism, here will eventually be just as useful to learners as the old one.
I’m off to bed now, and once again Catrin and Aran will most probably send me of to sleep (in a good a way).
Nos da my non-corporeal friends.
I think the new forum is good…simple to use and always there when you need to ask a question or whatever. The course is wonderful and I appreciate everything Iestyn,Cat Aran and Catrin do for us welsh learners. A whole new world has opened up to me and I have made many new friends thanks to learning welsh. Diolch o galon pawb.
Is there any information on how to use the forum. All can see is a scroll of topics and nothing else. There was a lot more info on the old forum which made it interesting and I thought it was easier to view topics. i could also easily go to my old posts to see if I had a reply or not.
Dafydd,
I don’t think there are specific instructions, but this is what I do:
- The most recent post is always at the top of the left column, and I work my way down from there
- If I think I’ve missed a reply to my (or anyone else’s) post, I use the search function for names, topics, anything really, this works extremely well on the new forum.
Thanks for that, I was wondering how I would find my posts. It still does not feel very user friendly. It is a lot more techy than the old forum. The old forum was more suited to people like me who do not know the way around these types of sites. Thanks for the information Louis.
I think it’s to make it easier to use on phones and is probably more cost effective in the short term. From what’s been said we’re being listened to though, and improvements are coming. I doubt it’ll be as good as the old one, as I don’t think the set-up is as customizable, but as I know nothing of the technical side, that’s merely a big fat guess. There’s obviously some big brains behind the operation, so I’m most probably going to be proved wrong (I hope so).
@Catrin: The thanks for all the hard work goes without saying, of course, although I will say “Diolch yn fawr iawn” anyway.
However, I’m rather puzzled, given all the work on the actual courses, and other parts of your core business, I wonder why it was seen as a priority to change the forum as well, and to change the look and feel so radically, or dare I say drastically?
The old forum may not have been perfect … but it worked pretty well I thought.
I think I understand why you wanted it on a new platform, but that doesn’t explain why its “look and feel” had to change so radically at the same time.
You could have made it look at least a bit more like the old user interface, at least initially, and then gradually tweaked it.
As it is you may have pleased a small number of new users who were apparently “confused” by the old forum, but you’ve disgruntled a possibly larger number of old users (I use that term advisedly) who were content enough with the old forum, and who have been your core supporters for ages (I can’t include myself in that category, as I’m a relative newbie, but I didn’t find the old forum confusing, but I find the new one incredibly confusing).
I suspect a lot of the old timers are far too polite and loyal to complain, and I’m not happy to be doing it, but I can’t pretend that I like something which, frankly, I do not like, so far, at least.
I will repeat though: I do very much respect and appreciate all the hard work that everyone associated with SSiW/SSiEverythingElse does.
The old forum may not have been perfect … but it worked pretty well I thought.
No, it didn’t. It worked extremely badly in a lot of different ways.
I will repeat though: I do very much respect and appreciate all the hard work that everyone associated with SSiW/SSiEverythingElse does.
To be honest, that’s quite hard to see at the moment, particularly when you make a point of raising the same points you raise everywhere else on the very thread in which Catrin asks for patience and support.
As I’ve said previously, since you have such strong feelings on the matter, it’s a great pity you didn’t take part in the stages of testing when we invited everyone who was interested to contribute to the process of getting the first draft hammered out.
Just to get back to Catrin’s original post. I also want to say thank you for everything you’ve all done. There is no where quite like this that I’ve seen and through your hard work you’ve openned up a world which was closed (or at least feindishly difficult to access) for many of us. I will never forget the amazing feeling I got the first time I held a conversation with somone in Welsh and that’s all thanks to you all. I also want to thank all the other learners and members, together you have also made this community what it is. As was said before: this place feels like a family! So thank you, thank you and thank you again for creating something so precious. As for the changes, every organisation has to experiment and try new things as they grow. Somethings will work, others not. But like they say “The only way you can never make a mistake is by doing nothing at all” so thank you for continuing to experiment and push the wonderful resource forward.
Hi Mike
I think one of the issues here is thar you’re not using the new forum on a smart phone - half of the most recent bootcampers did not have a smart phone, which I found interesting.
Anyway, the new forum works much better than the old one on a smart phone, which means I access it most of the day. I think for users of laptops, tablets, etc, the message has to be bear with the forum for a bit longer as things gradually get sorted out on all platforms.
Helen
A great point Helen, the new forum is much more user friendly on mobile devices.
Hi Mike!
You say…
"As it is you may have pleased a small number of new users who were apparently “confused” by the old forum, but you’ve disgruntled a possibly larger number of old users (I use that term advisedly) who were content enough with the old forum, and who have been your core supporters for ages (I can’t include myself in that category, as I’m a relative newbie, but I didn’t find the old forum confusing, but I find the new one incredibly confusing).
I suspect a lot of the old timers are far too polite and loyal to complain…"
In reply to this, I can assure you that the point you make above (luckily for us) just isn’t true.
Out of the umpteen feedback messages regarding the forum we receive daily (from new and established users), not only here but also through emails and private messages, the majority of them are complimentary and positive.
Unfortunately, as is with many other aspects of life, it tends to be the negative comments which stand out more.
I would like to stress a few things which we’ve been very clear about from the beginning. Firstly, this new forum is still a work in progress, work to improve its look and its functionality is being done as we speak - this goes on daily.
A few preferred the look and functionality of the old forum, finding it comfortable and familiar. The truth is, it didn’t work very well and needed a lot of regular maintenance and repair.
This new forum and layout is absolutely essential in order for SSi to move on and grow and for us to be able to make the Spanish course a success… If the two families behind SSi were just doing all this as a sideline or hobby then SSi’s success wouldn’t be such an important issue.
I would like to stress again that this is absolutely a labour of love for us, many sacrifices have been made along the way over the past 5 years to ensure the growth of SSi and we care very deeply for it.
No decision made here is made lightly or on a whim. A lot of thought and discussion, research and preparation has gone in to this new forum as well as open discussions with our learners and we always take on board constructive feedback and suggestions from users.
This new forum at present continues to have aspects which need improving and fixing - we are not presenting a finished product here.
We know that when it is finished, there will be people absolutely love it and some who still don’t like it, in the same way that there were people who didn’t like the old forum.
In the meantime all we ask for is patience, support and constructive feedback to help us ‘get there’.
Diolch. X
I will never forget the amazing feeling I got the first time I held a conversation with somone in Welsh
Diolch o waelod calon, Martin - heartfelt thanks - it’s the sheer delight of hearing stuff like that, and the enormously kind support we get from this community, that keeps us going through the more challenging patches…:-))
I don’t find the new version of the forum difficult to use on my laptop but haven’t yet tried to use it on my phone. Judging by the previous discussion, it sounds as though I should be able to do it fairly easily …… if only I knew how to start. Do I download an “app?” Sorry if this is a daft question and I am quite happy using my laptop, but the phone would be handy too.
Assuming you have a smart phone, just use the web browser on the phone and navigate to http://saysomethingin.com and go from there exactly as you would on a desktop/laptop.
Everyone finds change difficult at first but with a little persistence we’ll get used to the forum’s new look !! I know I have and the important thing is we’re still learning welsh!! Thanks so much for your hard work, your doing so much for the language and us!! Deb x
Dwi’n licio y forwm newydd, mae’n hawdd feindio sgwrsiau diweddaf. Dwi’n gwybod mae na lawr o gwaith i osod rhwybeth fel hyn, mae forwm yn debyg i fi oherwydd dwi’n defnyddio ‘social media’ gymaint. Dwi’n swr bydd pawb yn dod arfer format newydd yn fuan! Diolch Aran a Catrin am eich gwaith
Liking the new forum, very easy to find the latest conversations. I know it’s a huge amount of work to set up something new like this, the forum seems familiar to me as I use social media a lot. I’m sure people will get used to the new format soon! Thanks Aran and Catrin for your work
Thanks Wondersheep (Kev). Up and running on my phone and easy to use.