I’ve been a member here almost from the start. Initially I was excited with what Jon and his friends had prepared for us and I recognized that it was (and is) a work in progress. But to date I would have to say that I’m somewhat disappointed with the community as a whole. I’ve read through most of the blogs and with the exception of a few, found most to be pointless. Do we really need links to YouTube music videos? Can’t we find them for ourselves? Is there any merit in posting images of scantily clad women under the guise of an art form when in fact we’re doing little more than objectifying them? I thought long and hard about my one submission on the importance of dress and yet all I received was one short response. It seems that blog posts like: “I’m here” or “this is a test” result in more hits and more responses. What is THAT all about?
The real value in MyOpera was not just the blogs, the photo albums, the mail and the forums but the complete package run through (for most of us) with the fact that we were Opera browser users and the forums provided the assistance we needed as well as an opportunity to help others with the suite. Sure there were members who never used the browser and it would be hard determine what percentage of the membership they might comprise, nevertheless in my mind that commonality gave the MyOpera community a real purpose. I’m not sure I have defined a “real purpose” for this community other than as a haven of sorts for disenfranchised MyOpera members. Honestly, I suppose I didn’t know what I would find when I became a member here but to date I’m afraid I haven’t found it. I tried to convince my wife to join me (she’s also a member of MyOpera’s community albeit an erstwhile one) but she took a look and told me she had no interest. My temptation at this juncture is to simply delete my account and hope that the few “helpful” forums that will remain at Opera will be enough to provide for whatever needs I might have. I don’t really need a soapbox such as this one and from my experience there as well as here, no one ever really responded to my rants anyway. My guess is that most of the blogs are little more than exercises in narcissism anyway (including my own) … as though the world at large is hanging on our every word. Do I really need this attention? Nah… I don’t have that much of importance to convey and my wife fills the need for attention seeking on my part anyway.
Well… that’s my rant. Unless something dramatic changes (which I don’t anticipate), I’ll probably pull the plug here. I do want Jon and his compatriots to know that I am appreciative of their generous efforts but for me… it doesn’t appear to offer what I lost elsewhere.
I think it much up to you to define the content of the site by interacting with other users, and I think you are doing just that. As for the theme, I guess anybody who is interested in following what Jon is doing now and in the future will find that a sufficiently interesting thing.
The shakedown period for a new site is [i]at least[/i] six months. We will see what kind of content appears here. This far it does not seem that people have ported their stuff from My Opera to any appreciable extent. I have not moved my own blogs and albums, mostly because I am on a metered connection and do not relish the idea of using bandwidth to first download and then upload everything.
As Vivaldi gradually fills with content, I think it will become more attractive for other people as well. Currently it is a blank slate which we all will have to fill with content.
In my opinion you approach a bit uptight this new platform. Perhaps you should be more relaxed and wait what the future brings. How long this platform exist? How long are you around here? A few weeks!
What did you expect? One Million new members till February? And don´t forget the holidays (feast days) that comprises nearly the half time since you are here. Many people are not so online lunatics as we are and will follow when the new year is in regular pathways.
And last but not least there are those who never used MyOpera as social network or blog platform but only as mailserver. Maybe they don´t know yet what happens in about two month. If they be taken by complete surprise on 1st of March, they will maybe find out, where to find Vivaldi.
So please – calm down and relax. Vivaldi.net is still in infancy. Don’t meet trouble halfway! 😉
I’m not much into blogging myself, but I did enjoy your piece on the importance of dress, [b]James[/b].
One thing that would benefit the community in the long run is if the administrators would delete the more meaningless blog posts (like the recent one about “Test Test Test” and the Youtube clips). Maybe that would force people to put in some effort in their blog posts in the future.
Ice… I agree that I need to give this more time but I sort of referred to that by admitting that it was a work in progress. I think it might be a little unfair to tell me to relax (although you’re in good company since my wife is constantly reminding me of this ;)). I’ll give it some more time.
Janke: Thanks for the feedback on my blog entry. I’ve been thinking about my post for the past few hours and some of the problem may lie with the way in which I approach vivaldi. As a member of MyOpera, I only read the blogs of my friends. Currently I find myself reading most of them since I open the Community tab and see all the latest activity which includes blog entries. So… I go over to each blog entry (which I would not have known about on MyOpera) and begin reading and in most cases, I’m a bit taken aback by the lack of thought that went into the blog. I’m not sure how else to work with blogs and members but as Ice says, it’s still early and perhaps over time I’ll discover those blogs I want to read and those I want to ignore.
So please tell me: how do you (Ice, Janke, anyone) “use” Vivaldi? From the time you log onto the community, how do you navigate around and find what you want? Maybe I’m doing this all wrong.
Well, I’m just here for the free email address! 😉
But seriously, the most potentially interesting part of Vivaldi is the forum. There are many other places where you can discuss computers, music or religion. But there are, actually, not that many places where you can discuss all of these subjects in one place. The most other forums for general subjects are either inactive or too overwhelmingly large.
James, it’s very sad and unfortunate to read how you are feeling.
Especially with someone like you who has been very active since the beginning.
At the same time, I appreciate you sharing your honest feeling.
I know that there are many things that can be improved in terms of functionalities and ease of use. Some of those things when implemented, would probably improve the overall experience you can get on Vivaldi. I definitely understand the need of finding content you are interested easily without going through lots of other things you may not be interested. And, I thank for your feedbacks through the forums.
You mentioned that there aren’t enough content that you find interesting. I would like to think that it’s a matter of time. We’ve had some people joining Vivaldi from My Opera already but still it’s very early days with lots of room to grow. (We have not yet promoted Vivaldi outside of some forum posts made by you or others on My Opera forum.)
I think the width and the depth of the content will surely increase as we get more people joining.
Even though I see the merit of keeping the site clean as suggested by Janke, I personally prefer not to delete too many things posted by users as long as they don’t violate terms of use.
People have different ways to express themselves, even though sometimes I don’t understand them. I prefer providing a better way to filter content so that users see what they like to see.
Regarding the purpose of the Vivaldi, it’s the same as why we started My Opera back in the old days. And that is to provide a community for Opera users to communicate each other, as you mentioned.
Since it is not run and operated by Opera Software, the discussions are not exclusively about Opera products.
However, most of the users here at Vivaldi are Opera users, and most of us behind Vivaldi project used to work for Opera Software including My Opera community, but of course it’s not the same. We intend to offer better alternative even though the current state is not there yet.
I sincerely hope that you will stay with us and be part of the team to shape this new community going forward.
Thanks again for all the feedbacks you have given us.
Vivaldi needs a function similar to MyOpera Subscriptions page. Until then you can’t really use it the way you did at my.opera.com.
When I leave a comment to someone else’s post I don’t think I will ever be able to find (or remember to find) that post to check for replies…
And yes, that would help to filter out unwanted content.
To James and Janke: MyOpera is/was a Community. Inside the MyOpera Community we developed real friendships. The First Posts my friends and I made was to ‘Test’ Vivaldi to see if it would be a suitable blog home for us. That is exactly why those posts receive a lot of comments.
We are patiently waiting for Vivaldi to work through some things. We are respectfully asking Jon and his team for the functions we would like to see here. When Vivaldi becomes more user friendly, we will put more thought into our posts. Right now, thanks to the Reply button, it takes forever to find the new comments on posts and we are having to scan every comment made to reply to new comments.
Hopefully, in the future, Vivaldi will give us the option of setting our homepage and you will not have to muddle through our pointless posts and comments. Until then, you might try making a comment and getting to know some of us. We are, for the most part, a friendly bunch of people.
My goal, when I joined MyOpera, was to meet people all over the world and learn about different cultures. Not only was I successful in doing that, but I made some really great friends along the way.
I know, and understand, people are her for different reasons. Just thought I’d let you know why some of the blogs are pointless at this point.
I totally agree with u summerangel I couldn’t put it in a better way….
Thank you Lucy
It’s just a beginning, a lot from My Opera have started a blog, settled a new “home” elsewhere, and it’s not easy to follow two or three roads at the same time. This Vivaldi.net was totally unespected. It has its drawbacks but an advantage we know who are behind. I never understood why My Opera is going to close down totally, and if it’s the case why Vivaldi.net cannot reuse the technology that made My Opera. At that moment, I’m just learning how to use the features here, not thinking about a true interaction before I know how to use it.
James, there are only about a thousand people here, and it’s really already very alive ( Please forgive that bad english), it will be better and better.
(And I agree with Oleg, this is a missing feature !! )
:):)
Well my friend until I partly agree with you
But we should also respect the freedom and style of each member of the community … Nobody is equal to anyone … each has formed their ideas.
And in my opinion any image, video and poetry is an art
James’ profile is already gone. I think he was severely under-entertained.
James has left the building.