I know it's been half a year since the site was updated, but I still am reeling from the changes... I know nothing is probably going to bring back the old site completely, and I'm glad that we at least still have a place where we can commune with our interests, but I still don't like it in its current state. That's why I've been gone for so long, at least, it's part of the reason. In terms of social media, I don't have a whole lot, with this site being one of the few that I have. I used to have a Reddit account, but that got banned early this year (for BS reasons may I add). So yeah, it's been rough to say the least.
Anyways, I'm writing this to Alan, and any other mods/devs to this site. There's some things that I'd seriously like to be changed. I'm not saying you have to do them, but I'd greatly appreciate if you did, and I think they'd be for the better.
#1: Get rid of the AI generated artwork.
As I've stated above in this thread, I am very much against AI generated graphics and "art". I think that AI has no place in the creative/graphics/artistic spaces. As it goes against the entire idea of creativity (i.e. you put thought, care, and skill into making a picture rather than telling ChatGPT to generate a pucture for you), and in the case of this site, it's just plain hideous. I know it sounds like nitpicking, but like I said before, this site used to have character and charm, and now that is all gone. This AI stuff is salt to the wound. Also on a sidenote, the Ebay and Amazon links with the AI thumbnails are totally useless. The Ebay link just redirects you back to the page your were just on, and the Amazon link just takes you to the search results for the term "best vacuum cleaner" (and I think the results don't reflect most of our opinions to say the least). Making these changes would help greatly in making this site more asthetically pleasing.
#2: Adding more customization options and graphics.
I know I should like a broken record, but I seriously adored the look of the old site, mainly with it's 1950s-60s esc color palette, the feature where you could set the background of your thread posts to the logo of your favorite vacuum company (In my case, I set it to Hoover), and the graphics otherwise trying to look like something out of the mid-20th century. Did it look dated? Absolutely, but I didn't care, and I think I speak for the majority of the users here when I say that we didn't care either (most of us are already into dated appliances, so is there much of a difference?). Was it perfect? No, and there are some things like the notification bell that I do like, but again, there was that charm that the old site had that the new one doesn't.
What I'm trying to say is that I really would like some of those customization options to return, like the thread logos, for example. However, I'd also like to be able to switch to different color palettes that are more akin to The old look. Just anything that could make it like how it used to be...
Please Alan (and other devs), I'm begging. I just want a slice of my Vacuumland back!
