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Site FeedbackOpen forum for discussion of this site. Post your kudos or criticism so that we can continually improve service to the new MINI community.
I've been waiting to provide feedback until there were some listing in there. There are now 4.
I have not been able to find a way to quickly search by generation, which seems to be the very first filter most of us would want to apply.
You offer a search by model, which seems ineffective, as selecting "Coupe" or whatever model would include my R53, will give me 3rd Gen results as well.
Searching by year isn't fully effective either, since many convertible parts from 07-08 1st Gen cars would be of interest to me. On top of that, having to type in 2002 and 2006, or maybe 2008, every time I want to check for parts for sale (at least 1 time per day) is annoying, and will probably cause me, to, check less frequently.
Being able to search a first Gen marketplace is important to this member, and I would guess others would feel strongly about searching the appropriate generation for their car.
This seems like a huge downgrade to me. I'd suggest you consider adding that filter, or reverting to the old marketplace design.
Once you have created the search criteria you are looking for, you can bookmark the URL or subscribe to that set of filters in order to view specific generational stuff all at once. The URLs are unique and constant once a search is enacted. I'm not sure how you want this to be displayed. Could you please be more specific about what you'd like to see?
Once you have created the search criteria you are looking for, you can bookmark the URL or subscribe to that set of filters in order to view specific generational stuff all at once. The URLs are unique and constant once a search is enacted. I'm not sure how you want this to be displayed. Could you please be more specific about what you'd like to see?
I would create a data element for generation - Gen 1,Gen 2, Gen 3, much as the old marketplace had sub forums. Set that as the first filter (above Category).
If you are limited in the amount of data fields you can offer, you could consider reconfiguring the "Make" field, since all should be MINI. change, that to Generation, with the poster able to select one or more (since some parts are usable across multiple Gens). I would suggest that the Gen filter should take precedence over the category filter, if you can't offer both, as many users are looking for bargains for their car, rather than looking for a specific part. Specific part searches are more likely going to occur in the search bar, and are still likely to be filtered by generation.
We are working on an update to move the search pane to the header area to make things a lot more obvious. I am unsure about the generational importance though, how many typical customers know which generation they have, vs how many know what year their vehicle is?
It's an enthusiast site--I would venture to say that the vadt majority know what generation their car is.
You could create the labels similar to how they are set up in the current marketplace, which I think indicates generation, models, and possibly years. Part of the challenge of going just by year is that at least for first Gen cars, the years aren't completely accurate. For hardtop cars, first Gen is 2002-2006, but the convertibles continued through the 0i model year as Gen 1. So a 2007 hardtop is a Gen 2, but a 2007 convertible is still a Gen 1 and has most parts in common with 02-06 hardtops, rather than hardtops of the same year.
I am not any where near qualified to speak for most, but if you want to get more feedback, I'd suggest you ask these questions in a more prominent sub forum and invite more response.
if generations don't align with years, I'm not sure how we can expect the average member here to know the nuance between them. I also don't know how I can set up a filter that includes one year for convertibles and a different one for hardtops :/ I'll have to give this some consideration as to how it might be achieved.
As for putting this thread somewhere else, there is a site wide announcement that links to this thread, not sure how much more prominent to make it?
I would think Year would be less important than Generation, with Model being most important. Of course, filters are only as good as the information that is entered. Some members have no clue which models their parts are compatible, so they only list it for what they 'think' they have.
if generations don't align with years, I'm not sure how we can expect the average member here to know the nuance between them. I also don't know how I can set up a filter that includes one year for convertibles and a different one for hardtops :/ I'll have to give this some consideration as to how it might be achieved.
As for putting this thread somewhere else, there is a site wide announcement that links to this thread, not sure how much more prominent to make it?
First, if a MINI owner doesn't know what Gen their car is, they aren't going to be on this forum, because they are not a car enthusiast and will be buying parts and doing repairs at the dealership. When one is learning about MINIs, the first thing you learn is the different generations.
Second, I'm not suggesting you set up a filter by Gen and by year, or Gen and bodystyle.
I am suggesting you create a data element for "Generation" for each post/record. If you look at the current marketplace, you will see that we've all been sorting our posts by generation for years (probably since 2007). Even the site is broken down by generations for most subforums.
I would think thst the easiest way to do this would be to reconfigure the "Make" field, since it is essentially worthless because there should only be one make listed in this marketplace..
Then a user looking for Gen 1 parts can search on that data element. The results will include parts of 02-06 hardtop, as well as 07-08 convertibles, which would be excluded from a MY search; it would also eliminate all of the 07-08Gen 2 hardtop results that would be returned in an 02-08 MY search.
Some of us hit this site every day, particularly users with older cars that parts are scarce for. The marketplace design we have now makes it easy to scan for relevant new posts. This redesign is reducing that functionality. Most of us don't read all the stuff, and might easily ignore the banner, or not read all the way to the bottom to see if there is a feedback link. They may not even pay attention to the change until they use the new site. I suspect that most haven't noticed the difference yet. I can't imagine many people will think this is an improvement when they do notice.
There is already one user I noticed last night who posted several times without a year designation. Some of, them he identified as R53 in the description, but the way his entries were made, there's not enough standard data elements to return a positive result in a search.
Ive spent a lot of years doing data projects for large corporations. This is an essential data element for MINIs that you are not considering. I'm trying to help. I'll be disappointed if the changes aren't made, because you will make it difficult to continue using the marketplace, which is one of the main reason I log in at least daily.
I absolutely appreciate that you're trying to help. What you suggest sounds easy, however it's unfortunately not. We will continue to improve the experience to reflect what you are requesting however it may not be immediate.
The fact I can not search by model generation (1st, 2nd, etc.) or series (R56,etc.) is a complete bust for this new format, of all criteria to eliminate, how you decided on this one makes zero sense.
-Kevin
Last edited by Kfriceman; Oct 7, 2020 at 10:52 AM.
I would create a data element for generation - Gen 1,Gen 2, Gen 3, much as the old marketplace had sub forums. Set that as the first filter (above Category).
If you are limited in the amount of data fields you can offer, you could consider reconfiguring the "Make" field, since all should be MINI. change, that to Generation, with the poster able to select one or more (since some parts are usable across multiple Gens). I would suggest that the Gen filter should take precedence over the category filter, if you can't offer both, as many users are looking for bargains for their car, rather than looking for a specific part. Specific part searches are more likely going to occur in the search bar, and are still likely to be filtered by generation.
all of this.
The new search doesn't search by model series (e,g., F56, R60, etc) which makes it hard to get the right match, because BMW doesn’t roll the entire MINI product family to new platforms in the same year.
Filtering by “Cooper” is useless. Every MINI sold in the US is a Cooper, there are no MINI Ones sold here.
Model years create a ton of incorrect overlap. Parts for a 2007 convertible are not interchangeable with a 2007 hatch, but they can be interchanged with a 2006 hatch. And the 2013 hatch is a full redesign but shared the “Cooper” name with the 2013 Cooper Roadster which is the previous generation car. (And so forth. BMW does this a lot.)
The new marketplace may be fine for a general interest car site, but it falls down in the specifics of this brand. hopefully you can simply add a couple of additional search facets. It’s not fundamentally broken, it’s just lacking the attributes needed to correctly and accurately describe these cars and their parts. I suspect the work done for this will make life easier for IB’s other enthusiast sites as well.
(if I wanted to browse an utter mess of badly tagged products, I’d go to eBay. Yuck. Let’s not. )
Lastly, I’ll add that I design web based systems like this for a living. Making changes to or replacing an existing system with users who are deeply invested in the status quo is one of the least pleasant possible assignments. Please keep at it! You are doing great work! This particular assignment is not easy but it’s possible. I really love that you’ve already applied principles 2 and 3 of Spool’s principles of embraceable change!
Last edited by bratling; Oct 7, 2020 at 10:50 AM.
Reason: Be more supportive and helpful. :)
The new marketplace may be fine for a general interest car site, but it falls down in the specifics of this brand. hopefully you can simply add a couple of additional search facets. It’s not fundamentally broken, it’s just lacking the attributes needed to correctly and accurately describe these cars and their parts. I suspect the work done for this will make life easier for IB’s other enthusiast sites as well.
(if I wanted to browse an utter mess of badly tagged products, I’d go to eBay. Yuck. Let’s not. )
Lastly, I’ll add that I design web based systems like this for a living. Making changes to or replacing an existing system with users who are deeply invested in the status quo is one of the least pleasant possible assignments. Please keep at it! You are doing great work! This particular assignment is not easy but it’s possible. I really love that you’ve already applied principles 2 and 3 of Spool’s principles of embraceable change!
Thanks for providing a much-better worded summary of what I was trying to articulate. I'm not the technical expert, but spend enough time working with them on these types of projects to think I know what I'm talking about, even if I can't communicate it effectively.
I bolded your words above to emphasize what I agree with. I didn't respond to the thing about spool, because 1st Gen cars run superchargers, not turbos. 😜
As we work on ways to improve the experience, can I get some clarity on when each model version ended, especially the Gen 2 cars? Does Countryman need it's own banner, or can it be included in the Gen 2 (R60) and Gen 3 (F60, R61) categories?
I have this, any help would be appreciated.
Gen 1
R50/53 - 2002-2006
R52 - 2005-2008
I'm at a loss for these changes and the interaction of Robb M. Clearly Robb you know very little about these cars. How did you get involved with this site? Did the site change hands recently? Surely one of the first steps in "upgrading" a site would be to understand the subject matter and the audience? Basic design principles.
Currently the "new" marketplace is a huge step back from the old. One click of the past is many clicks now if even then. I gave up in frustration.
Hey there RobbM! Checking in to see how it goes. I just hopped over the the marketplace to browser parts, and it looks like to find F56 parts I still have to wade through lots of parts for the R-series car, due to the overlap in model years: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co..._location%5D=0
RudeJoe wrote:
I'm at a loss for these changes and the interaction of Robb M. Clearly Robb you know very little about these cars. How did you get involved with this site? Did the site change hands recently? Surely one of the first steps in "upgrading" a site would be to understand the subject matter and the audience? Basic design principles.
NAM was purchased by "Internet Brands" some years ago, a company which bought a lot of car forums with an eye to making a cheap, unified platform across them all. It was largely a case of benign neglect for years, but in the past couple years they've been slowing making upgrades to the site. I speculate the current system is – kind of like their phone app – a generic tool fitted onto the site, and as you note, it's not designed for the kinds of weird overlapping year-vs-model that BMW does so commonly.
Frankly I feel you are being a little harsh on Robb M. While I agree that it's bad design, this poor guy has been given a job that is… not impossible, but a very bad fit to MINI/BMW cars. If anyone is to be yelled at, it's his boss. Instead of yelling at Robb, I'd rather give him both time and useful feedback that he can use to revise the marketplace to make it better fit the products listed in it. Or put another way, yes, he doesn't now a lot about these cars – but ignorance is a condition which can be corrected
I've been here at NAM for a decade, and have been a car guy my entire life. That said, i've never seen another manufacturer split the same generation across differing years depending on what essentially amounts to different trim levels. we're working to incorporate your feedback and to allow for a similar experience to the older version of our marketplace product which had unfortunately reached the end of it's life from a code/upkeep perspective, hence the new version.
That said, it's definitely an unforeseen challenge to align the parts which fit a gen 1 coupe compared to the gen one convertible and we apologize for not having recognized this in advance!
We are still working to bring the model designators into the marketplace (they are coming), but today we rolled out a new header that makes the search feature a lot more prominent. Please provide your feedback, NAM is the first community to get this upgrade.
We are still working to bring the model designators into the marketplace (they are coming), but today we rolled out a new header that makes the search feature a lot more prominent. Please provide your feedback, NAM is the first community to get this upgrade.
cheers,
robb
Thanks for continuing to work on this Robb. And I appreciate the effort to make interim improvements as well.
I don't remember what it looked like before, so my feedback won't help. I've just been waiting for the model designator update, and not doing as, much searching right now.
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