I find this whole site very hard to navigate to find what i am looking for and way to many ad's and pictures.  I also see from the lack of responses from the staff to the members questions is a rare occurrence. I have pretty much read most of the small animal forums on this site and sometimes days or weeks go by before a members question is answered and when they are it's by another new member that only made a few posts then disappears from the board.

I am not trying to bash this forum or rock the boat in anyway i am just trying to give my input on how to make this site better and more active. I have learned that the K.I.S.S [Keep it simple stupid] method is one of the best ways to keep a site active and user friendly. Most people who use forums are first time pet owners and are looking for information on the husbandry of them and not use to the online experience when it comes to pet sites.

When they find a site like this one they go wow it looks great and then  they try to find what they are looking for or ask a question and have a hard time finding the answers or their question goes un answered they give up and leave. This is no way to keep your members happy and active and this will show your sponsors that their ad money could be better spent elsewhere.

 I know since ferret magizine has joined this site they are hoping for a boost in online members since they are no longer printing the magazine. I know ferret people want answers to their questions in a timely maner and if they dont get them they will look elsewhere for them. This is just my 2 cents worth of input on the overall site.

*edited for a typo

Ferretopia.proboards51.com

Ferretopia.proboards51.com

Critters Moderator

Well in a nutshell, I am disappointed. While this board loads much faster than the old board did - it is cluttered and took me quite a while to figure out how to get into the forums.

Is this a ferret specific forum? Or for all "small animals"? The old board had ferret specific sections which made for easy navigation and review. Is the "Club Critter" even part of this forum? Or part of the site? Do we use the same sign ons? I started to create a logon for that area, only to have it tell me I HAD to give my phone number then wouldn't let me continue even though I did, then when I exited the page and started all over again, at the end it said my created logon was taken!

What happened to all the old posts from the old forum? I had several on there and would sometimes refer to them in other posts on the online community, but now I get a page error for that destination. Is all that info lost or is it archived somewhere?

I am really bothered by how much screen real estate all this "header and sidebar" info/ad takes up. ON a screen that is practically 13" x 13" I end up with barely  4" x 6" of viewable typing area!

All that scrolling to navigate and read is annoying. Even using the "F11" function on my PC to "hide" Internet Explorer's huge header still doesn't increase the forum's active typing/viewing area.

Clicking the link on you page for "larger area" only makes the viewing area about 6" x 6". Do we REALLY need all those advertisers icons? Can you consolidate the forum links?

For some reason it bothers me that my ferret is now lumped together with "small animals" instead of having their own board. Although my natural fed ferrets might think this is a great place for dinner ideas!

I don't think this board will get much traffic if it continues to be this difficult to navigate and bothersome to use.

Not what you really wanted to hear, but that's my observations.

Regards, Kim

Josie made me do it! I had to build this just for her! www.vanityferret.com []