It is an improvement

Like a lot (maybe almost all) people with decades of experience using the old Motley Fool system, I had trouble with this design. After several weeks, I am pleased with the new system. The “help” for users doing the transition was poor. I complained and got lucky. Somehow I managed to connect with a person in help and was give direction to open such and such a screen, click on that thing, etc. While I did need multiple contacts the The Helpful Fool – I got there. My feeling now is the system is very intuitive. My difficulty at the transition was partially with TMF (it is hard to give directions to an intuitive process - a video on YouTube would have been helpful) and partly mine. Ancient creaky ole dogs tend to plod along and the new system uses a different approach.

I apologize for any complaints I made == I was wrong and the folks behind the change were right.

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Hi GWPotter!

What a great post to read and I am so happy you are finding the new boards to be an improvement. I couldn’t agree more.

Yes, there certainly is a learning curve, and I’m still learning myself. But because of amazing expert Fools like Jen Roberts who goes out of her way to post videos and help every inducing need, navigating curve becomes less confusing and so much easier. The difference in the new system is like going from the horse and buggy to a modern automobile with all the newest bells and whistles. I think you’ll continue to discover new features and abilities as you continue to explore.

Thank you for having the patience to work through the new platform and thank you again!

Tony

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Us old folks have expectations about User Manuals and such. We expect to be told.

My 26 year old granddaughter said something to me that struck home. That is not how she and her generation work. When faced with something like the new version of the boards, they just start using it and clicking on things until they have it figured out. They expect to explore. They don’t have time to wait for explanations. There are too many things that would need explaining these days. Just use it.

Yesterday, as I was posting clips of screen shots for some reason, it occurred to me that it was the power of this system that made it possible to provide that very specific and (for me) clear guidance. (The irony was that the help provided using these features was about other features we never had before that needed such explanations.)

Analogy is always suspect, but one came to mind this morning and I keep coming back to it in my head. I imagined how confused someone whose experience was with canoes and rowboats would be by something like the Mayflower, with all those masts and sails and ropes and pulleys.

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To me its remarkable that the old boards lasted as long as they did. Over 20 years.

In personal computers change is constant. Its a field that easily accommodates change. And many aspects depend on upgrades for income. Steady state means no growth and maybe decline.

How often do you get a software update that requires new learning? For most of us three or four a year is typical.

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Yeah, I’m right there with you. We made the video for folks who just wanted an overview and posted the long Help Guide for folks who like to read through things (it even has a table of contents on the right to help folk jump to specific sections). But there are so many features here that the guide doesn’t cover them all so we do try and jump in to help where we can. Fortunately, a number of folks get to some of the questions and provide answers before we get to them as we’re also doing other activities…such was the case this week with the question and answer on Polls. By the time, I got there, it was already answered.

But please don’t stop asking - we keep finding new stuff all the time (such as, we’re now showing more icons below a post than we were before. After a few folks complained about having to click the three dots, I dug a little deeper and found a setting (out of 1000s) that let us display more before without hiding them.)

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Hi Tony! And Happy New Year!

Sorry to bother you on this forum but I have lost all TMF ability to communicate on fool contractors/talent pool etc. My main computer has gone completely dead and I will be trying to get it repaired in the next 7-14 days.

It was the computer that you and/or the TMF techies or someone at TMF created my fool contractors email account on. This account was not created on my iPhone email, so the only email and contact list I have is my personal one.

As you know, I am a computer and iPhone dunce, so my ability to perform my Home Fool duties is seriously impaired until I get my computer up and running/ buy a new one.

Any ideas in the meantime??

Thanks, as always, for helping a 76 year old Luddite :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
TMFMurph

Hi TMFMurph. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten a response quicker than this.

How old is your computer? Windows? Desktop? Laptop?

When completely dead, if a laptop, you probably know to recharge the battery and maybe replace it.

Most of them have a clock battery. Its a small button battery. If machine is over 4 years old, it can be dead clock battery.

The people you took it to should be able to figure it out.

Good luck.

Hi Paul!

I said completely dead but that is not accurate. I’ve tried all the normal diagnostics and computer “repairs” on my Windows laptop (Dell about 4-5 years old). Then I went to the tech support at Dell and had three folks try to help me online. Just can’t get it to reboot. Even tied system restore. No go. Their best thinking is that it’s a hardware not software. So I will be sending it to one of their centers. Of course if they have to replace the hard drive, I’ll lose a lot of records/data. Haven’t backed it up on an independent source in
quite a while.

Ah well, such is life!

Cheers!
Murph
( Home Fool and computer dunce)