What I like about the new BP site

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To all community members,

I have been using the new site for a few days now. Some will remember that I was an active contributor to the old site. I took some time off for a number of reasons including the fact that something was missing from BP in the past. Josh assured me that the gaps would be filled with some changes he was planning so I took a break and focused my online activities in other places.

Having used the new site I have to say my usage patterns have changed. I find that while there are still discussions in the forums I can more likely to start a conversation (from the conversation tab or from a PM in a forum discussion). I trade a few messages with a specific person. I get to know them better or can ask about something specific that would be Off Topic (O/T) if places in the thread.

I have been adding people to my colleague list. More or less the same types of people who in the past I found interesting. I am in a sense storing them up because I anticipate that I will want to ask them a question about something in the future. I use the notes section to put in some keywords or something specific they said. Like a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system I can organize my contacts and my communication in a way that makes sense to me rather than having to search the forum for something that I think might have been said by someone.

Most people do seem to be using the profile section to provide a description of what they do. I also like the idea that if I find someone's profile interesting (or what they said in a post interesting) I can work back to prior posts including any introduction they might have left on the new members forum. Granted this mostly works for new people as those who did an introduction a long time ago might not appear in that specific forum.

I see that most people have not discovered the references section. I have asked for a few references and some do not even understand the concept. Maybe too new or maybe just not what people are used to as this was a forum and not a social network in the past. That might change with time.

There are some glitches along the way. Josh tells me that many are being sorted so things should get even better with a bit more time.

I would still like the ability to tune or otherwise adjust my preferences. Mostly when I read a thread and I know that I no longer have an interest even if a new responses is posted. I want to put the specific topic on ignore so when I check for new activity nothing shows up for that thread.

I would also like a prompt if someone responses to my specific post. That way I do not ignore people who have asked me something specific in a forum. A bit harder to do depending on the site design.

What are other people thinking about the new site? Has your use of BP changed (assuming you are a user from the old model). For those who have only used the new site how does it compare to other social networking sites in terms of navigation and other things you have come to expect from Facebook, LinkedIn or what ever site you also use. Even when other sites are not similar in intent they tend to create perceptions as to what makes a site useable or effective. We grow from ideas even if the ideas are found in unrelated places.