Author Follows

Apologies if this has been covered somewhere. An author I follow has recently published a new story and I didn't receive a notification.

Is this because this aspect of the site isn't functioning correctly currently or. ??? 

Thanks in advance for your reply. 

CG

Xxx

Hiya CG. This issue has been mentioned to the tech team and is on their to-do list. Thanks for flagging it up. 😊

Thanks for your reply CG

*giggles*

We're seeing double here! 🤣

Again, I expect this has been reported already, Curvy, but just in case. When an author replies to a story comment the original commenter is not getting a notification of a reply. 

And what's happened to 'Friends Activity', how am I supposed to know what I'm meant to be doing if I don't have my friends behaviour there to guide me? 

Anyway, I'm sure they're both already on the 'to do' list, but I thought I'd raise them anyway just in case. 

Quote by CumGirl

And what's happened to 'Friends Activity', how am I supposed to know what I'm meant to be doing if I don't have my friends behaviour there to guide me? 

Quote by CumGirl

Apologies if this has been covered somewhere. An author I follow has recently published a new story and I didn't receive a notification.

Is this because this aspect of the site isn't functioning correctly currently or. ??? 

Thanks in advance for your reply. 

CG

Xxx

My question is we use to see who was follow us.  For the life of me I can't see where I'm able to do that anymore.  Was that function removed?  We can't see who or how many people are following us anymore?

I just wanted to add to this that I've stopped receiving notification for authors I follow when they publish a story. I was receiving them for a few, but didn't realize I wasn't being notified of others before. Today I didn't get any notifications from two authors I follow whose stories I saw on the front page. One of whom I had been notified of previously.
Thanks for looking into this.

Quote by VioletVixen

I just wanted to add to this that I've stopped receiving notification for authors I follow when they publish a story. I was receiving them for a few, but didn't realize I wasn't being notified of others before. Today I didn't get any notifications from two authors I follow whose stories I saw on the front page. One of whom I had been notified of previously.
Thanks for looking into this.

Quote by kistinspencil

Quote by VioletVixen

I just wanted to add to this that I've stopped receiving notification for authors I follow when they publish a story. I was receiving them for a few, but didn't realize I wasn't being notified of others before. Today I didn't get any notifications from two authors I follow whose stories I saw on the front page. One of whom I had been notified of previously.
Thanks for looking into this.

Some have had success unfollowing, then refollowing authors. It does not work for all, but is worth a try.

You really have to question what is the point of writing stories if no one knows you are writing them.

They stay on the front page for less than 24 hours.

They do not appear on your profile page. You have to actively seek them out by clicking on a profile's stories page.

You do not get a list of what your friends have been reading or voting on so do not have a guide to stories you might have missed.

You do not see if a story has received a Recommended Read unless you click on the story or click in the recommended read section. Even then, it is easy to miss as it is not highlighted. The blue severed thumb was easy to spot.

You do not receive a notification if an author has replied to a comment you have left. This really removes the interaction between author and reader that made this site so unique.

All the priority seems to be going to the Chat side. The four page pdf of issues circulating in the chat rooms was very skewed towards the chat side. This is a chat site with a side serving of stories.

Simple things such as fixing the spacing between lines and the font size could have been easily fixed but isn't seen as a priority.

There are vague promises of all these changes coming in the design fix but there is no list anywhere of what the design changes will be.

Every day or two I hear of authors deciding not the renew their subscription.

Yes I know Lush v1 was developed over 15 years and a lot of what was there wasn't there at the start but a lot of the evolution of lush v1 was because of changes in technology or because users realised how useful an addition would be, not because the developers only got around to it after 7, 8 or 10 years so for us to be told we should be thankful that Lush v2 will evolve from the bare bones of a swingers site into something possibly reminiscent of Lush v1 faster than lush v1 evolved is frankly patronising.

If you look up your follows, under your profile, you will see that it now says:

"Following allows you to see when other users upload new photos." 

So this is just more confirmation of what Susie and other Lush authors are saying. Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

If you look up your follows, under your profile, you will see that it now says:

"Following allows you to see when other users upload new photos." 

So this is just more confirmation of what Susie and other Lush authors are saying. Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

My friend, 

Quote by simplyjohn

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

If you look up your follows, under your profile, you will see that it now says:

"Following allows you to see when other users upload new photos." 

So this is just more confirmation of what Susie and other Lush authors are saying. Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories addedFo on.

That is not new as you imply. That has been the description from day one.

Last night I was on Lush and a messaged flashed across my screen and the vanished with no record on my notifications; Verity had published a story. Oh joy, and yet that was short-lived, for Luca and Susie had published without a notification. 

I love Lush, want to be able to advocate for it, but please give me something to work with. The timetable for when these developments will happen would help enormously. The goodwill is huge, please don't squander it, John. 

Annie

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Because Lush is homed on a site that was, up until six weeks ago, a place mainly for chatting and swapping porn pics. The stories have been added on; that's why it feels like it _now_. But it won't be that way forever.

Given infinite time and resources, it could all be made the same as it was, sooner. Sadly that's not the case and everything takes time to (re)build. In addition, there are ever increasing and oppressive content restrictions being put in place by stakeholders such as financial gateways and hosting providers that have an impact on what can be rolled out and how it is managed. Lush 1 would equally have been affected and would have required sweeping changes to comply; basically forcing us to moderate every single picture posted anywhere on the site, in addition to the stories.

Yes the upheaval is inconvenient in the short term. Yes there are features I would dearly love to see returned as soon as possible, including stable email notifications of stories published - as an author that can make the difference between a few reads and hundreds.

The points Susie and others have raised are all valid. Everyone has their own idea of what features are important, and not everyone's vision aligns. Some features in Lush 1 were bodges. Bodging them again for the sake of getting it working right this minute, for parity, isn't a sustainable path; it introduces instability which makes it harder to add new stuff and maintain existing features down the line.

If I had a roadmap, I'd publish it. Maybe now much of the firefighting is out of the way and people can (mostly) log in and use the site, a tentative schedule can be published. I don't know.

Trouble is, if a schedule or feature hit list is published and it's not adhered to or doesn't meet some people's expectations, it will be used as a vehicle to trash the site. If a changeset is published after every software push, it might give some people a reason to flame the site for prioritising feature X over feature Y. Maybe an advertised fix means something else breaks (which happened regularly in Lush 1 and happens in every complex software system the world over - it's not unique). In that case, publishing the fix list gives people ammo to ridicule it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Because Lush is homed on a site that was, up until six weeks ago, a place mainly for chatting and swapping porn pics. The stories have been added on; that's why it feels like it _now_. But it won't be that way forever.

Given infinite time and resources, it could all be made the same as it was, sooner. Sadly that's not the case and everything takes time to (re)build. In addition, there are ever increasing and oppressive content restrictions being put in place by stakeholders such as financial gateways and hosting providers that have an impact on what can be rolled out and how it is managed. Lush 1 would equally have been affected and would have required sweeping changes to comply; basically forcing us to moderate every single picture posted anywhere on the site, in addition to the stories.

Yes the upheaval is inconvenient in the short term. Yes there are features I would dearly love to see returned as soon as possible, including stable email notifications of stories published - as an author that can make the difference between a few reads and hundreds.

The points Susie and others have raised are all valid. Everyone has their own idea of what features are important, and not everyone's vision aligns. Some features in Lush 1 were bodges. Bodging them again for the sake of getting it working right this minute, for parity, isn't a sustainable path; it introduces instability which makes it harder to add new stuff and maintain existing features down the line.

If I had a roadmap, I'd publish it. Maybe now much of the firefighting is out of the way and people can (mostly) log in and use the site, a tentative schedule can be published. I don't know.

Trouble is, if a schedule or feature hit list is published and it's not adhered to or doesn't meet some people's expectations, it will be used as a vehicle to trash the site. If a changeset is published after every software push, it might give some people a reason to flame the site for prioritising feature X over feature Y. Maybe an advertised fix means something else breaks (which happened regularly in Lush 1 and happens in every complex software system the world over - it's not unique). In that case, publishing the fix list gives people ammo to ridicule it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Very well said, WW. 

Members continually asserting that they are "being patient, but", is the opposite of being patient. 

Whilst I appreciate that this site upgrade, and it is a significant upgrade, has been an upheaval for many, it doesn't help to be patronising and unkind to one another. 

Everyone here is doing their best, the developers have done an outstanding job catering to what is a very demanding membership base. Having high expectations is a good thing, let's also be realistic. 

It's been a month. We're getting there. 

Quote by AppleByBoom

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Because Lush is homed on a site that was, up until six weeks ago, a place mainly for chatting and swapping porn pics. The stories have been added on; that's why it feels like it _now_. But it won't be that way forever.

Given infinite time and resources, it could all be made the same as it was, sooner. Sadly that's not the case and everything takes time to (re)build. In addition, there are ever increasing and oppressive content restrictions being put in place by stakeholders such as financial gateways and hosting providers that have an impact on what can be rolled out and how it is managed. Lush 1 would equally have been affected and would have required sweeping changes to comply; basically forcing us to moderate every single picture posted anywhere on the site, in addition to the stories.

Yes the upheaval is inconvenient in the short term. Yes there are features I would dearly love to see returned as soon as possible, including stable email notifications of stories published - as an author that can make the difference between a few reads and hundreds.

The points Susie and others have raised are all valid. Everyone has their own idea of what features are important, and not everyone's vision aligns. Some features in Lush 1 were bodges. Bodging them again for the sake of getting it working right this minute, for parity, isn't a sustainable path; it introduces instability which makes it harder to add new stuff and maintain existing features down the line.

If I had a roadmap, I'd publish it. Maybe now much of the firefighting is out of the way and people can (mostly) log in and use the site, a tentative schedule can be published. I don't know.

Trouble is, if a schedule or feature hit list is published and it's not adhered to or doesn't meet some people's expectations, it will be used as a vehicle to trash the site. If a changeset is published after every software push, it might give some people a reason to flame the site for prioritising feature X over feature Y. Maybe an advertised fix means something else breaks (which happened regularly in Lush 1 and happens in every complex software system the world over - it's not unique). In that case, publishing the fix list gives people ammo to ridicule it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Very well said, WW. 

Members continually asserting that they are "being patient, but", is the opposite of being patient. 

Whilst I appreciate that this site upgrade, and it is a significant upgrade, has been an upheaval for many, it doesn't help to be patronising and unkind to one another. 

Everyone here is doing their best, the developers have done an outstanding job catering to what is a very demanding membership base. Having high expectations is a good thing, let's also be realistic. 

It's been a month. We're getting there. 

I have seen several forum threads where posters have been slapped down by cries of its great, there are new features every day, Rome want built in a day, you can’t go back so shut up. 

I understand all about the old site was going to keel over and we had to move. I think the fact we moved to a swingers chat site with a story bolt on shocked everyone and with hindsight I imagine there would have been a lot more notices preparing people about the new normal.

Yes let’s agree that Lush is improving weekly but let’s not pretend it’s all great and there are no issues so let’s all keep quiet. To create an environment like that merely encourages everyone to slink away quietly and with no fuss or protest.

Absolutely. The help desk is there to raise missing stuff, bugs, features, and so forth. That's probably the most constructive avenue, but there's the issue of bogging it down.

Maybe a single sticky post where someone (me?) can list the things that need addressing. When they're done, cross them out. If they break, uncross them. At least then, before raising a ticket, someone can squint through the list in the OP and see if it's already there, instead of wading through threads to find stuff.

Would that be useful?

Yes WW, that would be useful. There have been mixed messages from the help desk over the past few weeks. I logged an issue last week about the series order being wrong and was told to post it on the forums. When I logged about the notifications I was told we already know. So yes, something to stop the help desk being overloaded would be useful and we can see what is supposed to be working but is broken or whatever. 

I know you don’t like the idea of timelines for implementation but even if there was just a list of design features that are in the pipeline, people would know they are coming and that what they are enduring now isn’t going to be for ever. 

Quote by deviantsusie

Quote by AppleByBoom

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Because Lush is homed on a site that was, up until six weeks ago, a place mainly for chatting and swapping porn pics. The stories have been added on; that's why it feels like it _now_. But it won't be that way forever.

Given infinite time and resources, it could all be made the same as it was, sooner. Sadly that's not the case and everything takes time to (re)build. In addition, there are ever increasing and oppressive content restrictions being put in place by stakeholders such as financial gateways and hosting providers that have an impact on what can be rolled out and how it is managed. Lush 1 would equally have been affected and would have required sweeping changes to comply; basically forcing us to moderate every single picture posted anywhere on the site, in addition to the stories.

Yes the upheaval is inconvenient in the short term. Yes there are features I would dearly love to see returned as soon as possible, including stable email notifications of stories published - as an author that can make the difference between a few reads and hundreds.

The points Susie and others have raised are all valid. Everyone has their own idea of what features are important, and not everyone's vision aligns. Some features in Lush 1 were bodges. Bodging them again for the sake of getting it working right this minute, for parity, isn't a sustainable path; it introduces instability which makes it harder to add new stuff and maintain existing features down the line.

If I had a roadmap, I'd publish it. Maybe now much of the firefighting is out of the way and people can (mostly) log in and use the site, a tentative schedule can be published. I don't know.

Trouble is, if a schedule or feature hit list is published and it's not adhered to or doesn't meet some people's expectations, it will be used as a vehicle to trash the site. If a changeset is published after every software push, it might give some people a reason to flame the site for prioritising feature X over feature Y. Maybe an advertised fix means something else breaks (which happened regularly in Lush 1 and happens in every complex software system the world over - it's not unique). In that case, publishing the fix list gives people ammo to ridicule it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Very well said, WW. 

Members continually asserting that they are "being patient, but", is the opposite of being patient. 

Whilst I appreciate that this site upgrade, and it is a significant upgrade, has been an upheaval for many, it doesn't help to be patronising and unkind to one another. 

Everyone here is doing their best, the developers have done an outstanding job catering to what is a very demanding membership base. Having high expectations is a good thing, let's also be realistic. 

It's been a month. We're getting there. 

I quite agree it helps to be realistic but what I was objecting to in the final paragraph of my late night flounce post is the cheerleaders for lush 2.0 who have no time for protest or dissent. 

I have seen several forum threads where posters have been slapped down by cries of its great, there are new features every day, Rome want built in a day, you can’t go back so shut up. 

I understand all about the old site was going to keel over and we had to move. I think the fact we moved to a swingers chat site with a story bolt on shocked everyone and with hindsight I imagine there would have been a lot more notices preparing people about the new normal.

Yes let’s agree that Lush is improving weekly but let’s not pretend it’s all great and there are no issues so let’s all keep quiet. To create an environment like that merely encourages everyone to slink away quietly and with no fuss or protest.

Totally. I do think that it's important to think about the way things are said though. For someone on the development team it would be extremely disheartening to check in with the forums and see what's been posted here. Given the extensive work they, Nicola, along with a lot (if not all) the moderators who were mods before we moved, have put into this, I imagine threads like this, when they turn so negative,  would actually be quite hard for them to read. 

 I don't think it's a big ask for members to have a little faith. I'm like that though. 

Nobody is saying things are perfect, but things are certainly not shit. The people who are reminding members that things are happening and improvements are being made, Rome wasn't built in a day, are saying that because it is true. 

WW had a really good idea and has made a lovely offer there. I wouldn't get focused on a time line for each task though as there are external factors that arise and mean that "deadlines" would not be met. 

Just a thought. 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

I've made a (categorised) list of about 50 things I can think of or have noted, or have trawled from the various threads here. No timelines ('cos I don't know them). I'm sure I've missed stuff or promised things that the developers will club me for, so a few other people are weighing in to check I've not gone overboard.

When it's in some publishable format, I'll see what can be done about posting it somehow and making it the go-to resource. Who knows, maybe it'll only serve us for a month or two and then we'll need a new sticky topic with the next batch of changes in it to keep the amount of reading to a minimum.

My aim will be to a) list what's being worked on/known about, which will... b) provide a fairly easily scannable resource so that if anyone encounters a bug or missing feature, they can check if it's known about before filing a helpdesk ticket. That cuts down on the volume of tickets, which helps moderators and developers and ultimately everyone here.

Watch the forum space in the coming days...

I quite agree with WWs idea and offer and said that a list without deadlines would be great. WW made very good reasons why a timeline isn’t a good idea. 

I do have faith, as I am constantly telling others as I try to convince them not to let their memberships lapse. 

I’ll keep quiet then as I don’t want to upset anybody. 

Quote by deviantsusie

I quite agree with WWs idea and offer and said that a list without deadlines would be great. WW made very good reasons why a timeline isn’t a good idea. 

I do have faith, as I am constantly telling others as I try to convince them not to let their memberships lapse. 

I’ll keep quiet then as I don’t want to upset anybody. 

Why would you keep quiet when you're contributing to solutions? Oh, because the way I wrote that suggested otherwise 🤦🏻‍♀️ see what I mean? I wasn't thoughtful enough there about my own post. I wasn't having a dig at you for not having faith, more venting my own frustrations as well I suppose. I do apologise for that.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

I've made a (categorised) list of about 50 things I can think of or have noted, or have trawled from the various threads here. No timelines ('cos I don't know them). I'm sure I've missed stuff or promised things that the developers will club me for, so a few other people are weighing in to check I've not gone overboard.

When it's in some publishable format, I'll see what can be done about posting it somehow and making it the go-to resource. Who knows, maybe it'll only serve us for a month or two and then we'll need a new sticky topic with the next batch of changes in it to keep the amount of reading to a minimum.

My aim will be to a) list what's being worked on/known about, which will... b) provide a fairly easily scannable resource so that if anyone encounters a bug or missing feature, they can check if it's known about before filing a helpdesk ticket. That cuts down on the volume of tickets, which helps moderators and developers and ultimately everyone here.

Watch the forum space in the coming days...

This is awesome.

Legend. 

Quote by deviantsusie

 

I quite agree it helps to be realistic but what I was objecting to in the final paragraph of my late night flounce post is the cheerleaders for lush 2.0 who have no time for protest or dissent. 

I have seen several forum threads where posters have been slapped down by cries of its great, there are new features every day, Rome want built in a day, you can’t go back so shut up. 

I understand all about the old site was going to keel over and we had to move. I think the fact we moved to a swingers chat site with a story bolt on shocked everyone and with hindsight I imagine there would have been a lot more notices preparing people about the new normal.

Yes let’s agree that Lush is improving weekly but let’s not pretend it’s all great and there are no issues so let’s all keep quiet. To create an environment like that merely encourages everyone to slink away quietly and with no fuss or protest.

 

i think that we did a very good job of patiently trying to answer questions, get info for people, fix issues, and keep people informed about what is going on. you have to remember that we are getting this from the developers which means that we need to catch their attention and pull them away from whatever it is they are working on in order to get the answers and information people are looking for. it's been stressful and hectic at best. I'd like to commend people like SJ and Jen who have gone above and beyond in filling in the blanks for people here. it's been kind of a thankless job.

So. things are improving. i know everyone wants it to be perfect NOW, but that's just not going to happen. the site will settle, it will be awesome and as close to perfect as can be and probably a few people will even express their satisfaction. lol until then, please please please have patience with people who are doing the best they can in a difficult situation. thanks.  

I am a developer and Sprite made a great point about them. It's hard to get fixes done when you are constantly pulled away with questions, etc. And these threads, if read, would be disheartening. I'm guilty too of not being patient of late. I miss my followers. I will stop fussing about it too. I'm sorry. 

I think, too, when people are crying out in frustration, "Calm Down" rarely works. Maybe prefacing with "I understand your feelings" would work better. And the member who seems to scan threads to make fun of the frustrated is definitely NOT helping. 

Comps are usually fun and a big one is underway. Even without notifications, entries are easy to find in the comp box. Maybe kill time waiting for fixes by reading entries or writing your own. 

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I am a developer and Sprite made a great point about them. It's hard to get fixes done when you are constantly pulled away with questions, etc. And these threads, if read, would be disheartening. I'm guilty too of not being patient of late. I miss my followers. I will stop fussing about it too. I'm sorry. 

I think, too, when people are crying out in frustration, "Calm Down" rarely works. Maybe prefacing with "I understand your feelings" would work better. And the member who seems to scan threads to make fun of the frustrated is definitely NOT helping. 

Comps are usually fun and a big one is underway. Even without notifications, entries are easy to find in the comp box. Maybe kill time waiting for fixes by reading entries or writing your own. 

 

Completely fair and true on all points. Bless you, Kimmi :)

Quote by simplyjohn

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

If you look up your follows, under your profile, you will see that it now says:

"Following allows you to see when other users upload new photos." 

So this is just more confirmation of what Susie and other Lush authors are saying. Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

That is not new as you imply. That has been the description from day one.

Following an author has (or was) always to receive notification of when they published a new story and nothing else. Only friends got notified if you posted a new pic and then only if you allowed that in your activity feed and they allowed it in theirs. It has only shown that followers will receive notification of new photos here in the "improved" version of Lush 2.0 from day 1.

Quote by AngelWorthy

Quote by bob03567

My question is we use to see who was follow us.  For the life of me I can't see where I'm able to do that anymore.  Was that function removed?  We can't see who or how many people are following us anymore?

If you are on a computer/laptop = On your home page, under the cover pic you will see "Follow". Click on Follow. It will take you to the screen showing the authors that you follow. Just above the avatars you will see "View Followers" Clicking on View Followers will take you to the screen that shows the members who are following you.

Actually, when you click on "Follow" it shows who you are following. To see who is following you, you must select "View Followers". This is just like on the old Lush, where who you were following showed on your profile page and you had to click to a second screen to see your followers, except now it takes an extra click.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Because Lush is homed on a site that was, up until six weeks ago, a place mainly for chatting and swapping porn pics. The stories have been added on; that's why it feels like it _now_. But it won't be that way forever.

Given infinite time and resources, it could all be made the same as it was, sooner. Sadly that's not the case and everything takes time to (re)build. In addition, there are ever increasing and oppressive content restrictions being put in place by stakeholders such as financial gateways and hosting providers that have an impact on what can be rolled out and how it is managed. Lush 1 would equally have been affected and would have required sweeping changes to comply; basically forcing us to moderate every single picture posted anywhere on the site, in addition to the stories.

Yes the upheaval is inconvenient in the short term. Yes there are features I would dearly love to see returned as soon as possible, including stable email notifications of stories published - as an author that can make the difference between a few reads and hundreds.

The points Susie and others have raised are all valid. Everyone has their own idea of what features are important, and not everyone's vision aligns. Some features in Lush 1 were bodges. Bodging them again for the sake of getting it working right this minute, for parity, isn't a sustainable path; it introduces instability which makes it harder to add new stuff and maintain existing features down the line.

If I had a roadmap, I'd publish it. Maybe now much of the firefighting is out of the way and people can (mostly) log in and use the site, a tentative schedule can be published. I don't know.

Trouble is, if a schedule or feature hit list is published and it's not adhered to or doesn't meet some people's expectations, it will be used as a vehicle to trash the site. If a changeset is published after every software push, it might give some people a reason to flame the site for prioritising feature X over feature Y. Maybe an advertised fix means something else breaks (which happened regularly in Lush 1 and happens in every complex software system the world over - it's not unique). In that case, publishing the fix list gives people ammo to ridicule it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Actually, what if means is that proper testing was not done. Having tested software for many years, I can tell you that when proper testing is done, including regression testing and quality assurance testing. 99+% of new bugs or a re-occurance of old bugs can be eliminated. The problem is, most companies see it as an unnecessary expense, rather than a a great customer relations issue.

Quote by AppleByBoom

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Quote by NicolasBelvoir

Lush is now mainly a site for chatting and swapping porn pics. With some stories added on.

Because Lush is homed on a site that was, up until six weeks ago, a place mainly for chatting and swapping porn pics. The stories have been added on; that's why it feels like it _now_. But it won't be that way forever.

Given infinite time and resources, it could all be made the same as it was, sooner. Sadly that's not the case and everything takes time to (re)build. In addition, there are ever increasing and oppressive content restrictions being put in place by stakeholders such as financial gateways and hosting providers that have an impact on what can be rolled out and how it is managed. Lush 1 would equally have been affected and would have required sweeping changes to comply; basically forcing us to moderate every single picture posted anywhere on the site, in addition to the stories.

Yes the upheaval is inconvenient in the short term. Yes there are features I would dearly love to see returned as soon as possible, including stable email notifications of stories published - as an author that can make the difference between a few reads and hundreds.

The points Susie and others have raised are all valid. Everyone has their own idea of what features are important, and not everyone's vision aligns. Some features in Lush 1 were bodges. Bodging them again for the sake of getting it working right this minute, for parity, isn't a sustainable path; it introduces instability which makes it harder to add new stuff and maintain existing features down the line.

If I had a roadmap, I'd publish it. Maybe now much of the firefighting is out of the way and people can (mostly) log in and use the site, a tentative schedule can be published. I don't know.

Trouble is, if a schedule or feature hit list is published and it's not adhered to or doesn't meet some people's expectations, it will be used as a vehicle to trash the site. If a changeset is published after every software push, it might give some people a reason to flame the site for prioritising feature X over feature Y. Maybe an advertised fix means something else breaks (which happened regularly in Lush 1 and happens in every complex software system the world over - it's not unique). In that case, publishing the fix list gives people ammo to ridicule it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Very well said, WW. 

Members continually asserting that they are "being patient, but", is the opposite of being patient. 

Whilst I appreciate that this site upgrade, and it is a significant upgrade, has been an upheaval for many, it doesn't help to be patronising and unkind to one another. 

Everyone here is doing their best, the developers have done an outstanding job catering to what is a very demanding membership base. Having high expectations is a good thing, let's also be realistic. 

It's been a month. We're getting there. 

And mods and developers are continually saying, "the site has only been up for x days, but..." and that is also patronizing. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.