Really? I guess I shouldn't be surprised but hearing that a handful of times already is still uncomfortable. GD has never been "pretty", it's a technical content site. I would visit if it were on raw text files, because when I am developing games and I ask a question, I get a competent answer usually in minutes.

So you like the old site better, great. Complain about it. But if you're leaving over it then you're here for the wrong reasons.

On that note, thank you staff for working hard on the new site, I'm sure it was a hell of a lot of work.

I came to this site years ago and stayed due to the helpful and friendly community found on the forums. I'm not sure how things like site layout and color themes are the most important features of a website.

It was the same when they changed the design the last time

[...]So you like the old site better, great. Complain about it. But if you're leaving over it then you're here for the wrong reasons.[...]

The reason I'd guess people are leaving is exactly because they are here to enjoy technical discussions with competent developers. The new design looks largely targeted to draw in younger, less experienced people that will contribute more questions than answers and (based on my experience with other social networking sites) more soliloquies, snark, and sass with a significant shortage of serious science and other interesting-to-me topics. If the community makeup switches so such demographics match that description, it will not have the same kinds of content that such people are interested in.
Also, it makes my eyes hurt in a way that feels very similar to a migraine. I'm not sure how GDNet has always managed that, considering that most sites on the internet used black-on-white, but somehow onl this site has ever continually caused pain. I could easily see why this alone would cause people to leave at least until a less painful theme is available.

Dunno why I should leave a community because there is a new site layout...
Its the helpful and competend community what binds me and not the design

This is a developer's forum. Anyone who knows about programming/development knows that software grows and gets fixed along the way. Staff and Moderators have already said this from the beginning, especially the "More Changes Are Coming" part. I feel that if anyone is going to leave over the design, then don't let the doorknob get lodged in your ass on the way out.

Thanks.

I don't think anyone is going to be leaving specifically from the changed site, at least not while there's still hope that the glaring problems and design choices will be rectified. I think it more like that people are worried about the direction one of their favorite sites is taking and hope that exercising the only power they have in the process (their patronage) will give them a bit of leverage to turn it back toward something with which they will be happier.

Really? I guess I shouldn't be surprised but hearing that a handful of times already is still uncomfortable. GD has never been "pretty", it's a technical content site. I would visit if it were on raw text files, because when I am developing games and I ask a question, I get a competent answer usually in minutes.

So you like the old site better, great. Complain about it. But if you're leaving over it then you're here for the wrong reasons.

On that note, thank you staff for working hard on the new site, I'm sure it was a hell of a lot of work.

The site has never been pretty, but it has been simple and easy to read. For me, a lot of the new layout detracts from that simplicity -- it's not the color scheme, which I don't mind. It's the things like the massive amounts of spacing between everything, the clutter of all the social networking buttons, the weird font inconsistencies and the huge boxes devoted to pointless user e-penis measurements like post count. These annoy me a fair bit and I don't see how you could think that's invalid. It may be a bit extreme to huff off in a fit because of the changes, I agree, but I don't think that means the issues should be ignored.

Fortunately most of those issues are things that could be easily remedied with some simple tweaks to the new software, it's just a matter of time. The staff need to prioritize fixing real functionality bugs.

I bet half the people who "leave" in the next week come back eventually anyhow.

I bet half the people who "leave" in the next week come back eventually anyhow.

Relevant: "... devs should avoid forums." WHAAAA?

I think we should all vote on the colour scheme, from 12 candidates. Everybody who voted for the one which wins can stay. Everybody else has to go be emo about too much lightness somewhere else.