RaceDepartment New Website Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

RaceDepartment.com will be down on Wednesday 30th October, as we look to bring a fresh new image to the largest sim racing website in the world.

Having undergone considerable growth and change in the last decade and a bit, we feel the time is right to take our website to the next level of presentation and functionality. On the evening of Wednesday 30th October (approx 22:00 UTC) we will close access to www.racedepartment.com for much of the night, as we upload and launch our brand new website!

We anticipate access will be restricted for around 12 hours, but if you still need that essential sim racing fix, take the opportunity to check us out on our various Social Media platforms, which can be accessed via the below links.

See you all on the other side!

 

[Tassos]

As a management analyst, the comments show clearly (already 14 pages for an issue with no significant value to the core thematology of this site i.e. car racing) and they form a very valid statistical sample, that this is a clear fail and should be rolled back to the old one (because the customers ask for it). Actually, as another user said, I dont even like to surf it anymore....
If this is a partial step to a new site, then launch it as soon as it is 100% finished (where in any case I would run a poll to listen to the voices of the Customers first, and then act)
..oh and the resolution Im seeing it is HD

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Maybe we have mistakenly gave you the impression that we are running a democracy here but that is not the case, sorry

Site design, road map, business development, and how our site and staff will look in the future are not something you have a say in. Everybody is happy to help, provide feedback and report bugs and yes you can even step up to a position where you can make decisions but we are not rolling back anything as I have clearly outlined a few times now we MUST adopt this framework to move on to the next phase.

This site is visited 1.5 million times each 30 days so these few vocal comments do not represent the voice of the customerbase. The majority of our users are still very happy with us improving the site and developing new features for free!

If you don't wish to visit the site anymore that is your decision and totally fine. The web is large enough to browse other sites you prefer over this one. No hard feelings.

 

[Dennis Phelan]

Is there a way to mark "all forums read"? Haven't been able to find it yet, must be my arthritis

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Is there a way to mark "all forums read"? Haven't been able to find it yet, must be my arthritis

Yes, on the left click on the arrow next to forums and select the "mark all forums read" link

 

[DrRob]

Hey guys, thanks for your efforts to update the forums template!
It has pros and cons and I still need to get used to it. A few things I encountered and think they can be looked at:

1. It is very difficult to differentiate thread names in bold, i.e. "non-read"-post threads and threads, which are not bold, i.e. read threads. Is there a possibility to make this more pronounced with an icon or similar? Increasing the font size to "large" didn't help as I thought it would be a scaling effect.
2. The theme is mainly for widescreen monitors and there is no setting for a more "compact" view, e.g. vertical setup of the monitor. With smaller screens the news-tiles take up 1/3 of the width leaving almost no room for the forum itself.

Cheers!

 

[Jempy]

Just a question about the sign "New"

This appears for general threads as for example Assetto Corsa Series, Automobilista Series
But in a more precise thread, the different other threads don't show any "New" sign or something else to show which thread has new messages.

This was an easy way to know which one had new messages .... now as it is for the moment ... that's not possible any longer.

That's of course possible to use the "Watch Thread" feature .... but not sure it's a very light system if there are too many of them.

But I suppose the whole work is still in development and it will be added in the following days.

 

[LeSunTzu]

The layout of the front page is weird in Firefox with a large blank space between the upper bar and the news pics. Also the navigation menu on the left is not very eye-pleasing.
Personally I do not care because I know what is in the site, but for newcomers it does not look as attractive than before.

 

[Mascot]

Maybe we have mistakenly gave you the impression that we are running a democracy here but that is not the case, sorry

Site design, road map, business development, and how our site and staff will look in the future are not something you have a say in. Everybody is happy to help, provide feedback and report bugs and yes you can even step up to a position where you can make decisions but we are not rolling back anything as I have clearly outlined a few times now we MUST adopt this framework to move on to the next phase.

This site is visited 1.5 million times each 30 days so these few vocal comments do not represent the voice of the customerbase. The majority of our users are still very happy with us improving the site and developing new features for free!

If you don't wish to visit the site anymore that is your decision and totally fine. The web is large enough to browse other sites you prefer over this one. No hard feelings.

The ads that now hijack almost the whole display surface on mobile aren't just a cynical attempt to coerce users into paying for ad-free premium subscriptions, are they? I don't think I've ever seen such invasive advertising on my phone.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The ads that now hijack almost the whole display surface on mobile aren't just a cynical attempt to coerce users into paying for ad-free premium subscriptions, are they? I don't think I've ever seen such invasive advertising on my phone.

Screenshot please? They are roughly 320px in width on my phone i tested on...

What's invasive about them exactly?

 

[386]

GO BACK TO THE OLD DESIGN

 

[gamer19]

I can't see anymore for which game new mods are, so... I suppose I have to open them all to see for myself !?!
I really don't want to go through all those sheety "my Winter Car" or whatever it's name is "racing game" stupid and pointless mods.
Or am I missing something. But I believe I don't.
So impenetrable.

 

[Jivesauce]

It is very difficult to differentiate thread names in bold, i.e. "non-read"-post threads and threads, which are not bold, i.e. read threads.

Yes this is literally the only issue I am having, it is a little difficult for me to quickly differentiate between read and unread threads. I came here to mention this not expecting the vitriol I would find, this thread is hilarious.

 

[leclettico]

Uh. I can't see anymore rapidly the subcategories in the mods uploaded. It's an indistinguible list!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Uh. I can't see anymore rapidly the subcategories in the mods uploaded. It's an indistinguible list!

Already been reported as a bug and being worked on..

 

[Mascot]

Screenshot please? They are roughly 320px in width on my phone i tested on...

What's invasive about them exactly?

On my phone (Galaxy S8E) the ad takes up almost all of the screen space and it's the first thing on screen when loading RD, so the home screen is effective one giant irrelevant advert. I could tolerate the ads before, they were a small banner. These new ones are harder to accept. Guess if they don't change (and it seems like your mind might be made up about all of these things) then I guess I'll have to install an ad blocker, something I've avoided on RD in the past as it kills one of your revenue streams.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Again please add a screenshot as i cannot reproduce this on my mobile phone or tablet. A screenshot helps.

 

[Mascot]

Again please add a screenshot as i cannot reproduce this on my mobile phone or tablet. A screenshot helps.

It'll be a faff trying to post a screen from my phone. Imagine a giant advert filling the screen and you won't be a million miles away.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Depending on the device taking a screenshot takes one second and you can directly post them here in this thread. I can't reproduce it myself.

 

[Please Stop This]

oh the irony

some gerrman ad-firm got it even more so:
their name is "SchneeVonMorgen", what in englisch is "SnowOfTomorrow", not gonna explain that...
edit: lol ceo's name is Nikolai Longolius, is this monty python? i expect this to be deleted though

 

[Mascot]

Depending on the device taking a screenshot takes one second and you can directly post them here in this thread. I can't reproduce it myself.

I'm sorry, I really have no idea how to do this, I've never had the need to post a screenshot from my phone before and I'm just about to head out for the rest of the day so don't have time to work it out. Forget the whole thing, I'm sure someone else will mention it if it's affecting other people.