Site Updates

Last updated 5/19/08, 1:15 pm PST

Thank you for your feedback on the UrbanBaby redesign. We'll continue to make changes to the site over the next several weeks, so please keep your suggestions coming on the Site Feedback board, and check back to this page for updates.

Below are answers to the most common comments and questions, and some updates on specific technical issues:

Your Questions:

Why did you relaunch UrbanBaby?
Lots of reasons. Technologically, the old site was unstable, outdated and hard to navigate. We rebuilt it on an entirely new platform that is not only more stable, but scalable. Now we can much more easily add features and serve users better (and respond more quickly to suggestions and complaints).

Why didn't you tell us this was coming?
We posted messages on the site front door and in the newsletters prior to launching our redesign, but we realize that it still came as a surprise to many users. We will communicate more clearly and in more prominent places as we go forward.

How do the filters work?
The filters (TTC, New York, etc) are designed to help you direct your questions to the most appropriate users, and to read only about topics you are interested in. So, if you live in NYC, have a toddler, and are interested in general chatting, you should select NYC, Toddler and General Topics in the "Your Settings" box, and you will see posts from those categories. When you are posting, if your post is about a NYC resource, select that box to post to and your post will be read and replied to by the NYC users. Please try to use the filters this way, as it will greatly improve the experience on the site for you and for other users. Please do not post to all boards unless your post is specifically relevant to all of them. To reach a broad audience with a question, use the relevant category, and General Topics.

Are the boards still anonymous?
The boards are still completely anonymous to the users. We debated this a great deal, but we know that complete anonymity is important to our users, and a large part of why these boards are such a lively, honest and useful place. We want to continue to provide a forum for personal, honest discussion, and we believe that we still are providing a one-of-a-kind service among parenting sites.

What’s with the “flagging”? Is Big Brother watching?
UrbanBaby was always moderated, and it continues to be. But we don’t intend to moderate differently than we always have. We have added the option for users to “flag” a post – that is, alert the moderator that there’s something wrong -- to help reduce spam and also truly offensive or problem posts. We will continue to allow much freer discussion than you can find elsewhere.

Please Note: A few of our users have been posting that they were suspended without reason and that our moderation policy has changed. We want to reiterate, our policy has not changed, and these accusations are simply not true. We have checked the records for these users and they show no suspensions at all, unjust or otherwise. As we keep a very open moderation policy, we will let these posts stand as part of the conversation on the site, but please understand that we are committed to fostering open and free discussion on the boards, and comments to the contrary are not accurate.

What happened to my "watched posts" from the old site?
We apologize that we did not import your watched post information from the old site to the new. However, we did import all of the old posts to the database, and we have rebuilt search to be more effective at finding specific posts. So, we encourage you to use search to find your old watched posts and save them to your watch list again.

The site used to have a lot of good local resource information. Where did it go?
We’re starting from scratch. We’re committed to providing the most complete local resource information on any parenting site. But too much of the information that was up before was out of date. So we're rebuilding that portion of the site, starting with our New York and San Francisco blogs. We will be rolling out additional local areas and a full resource database in the next several months.

Technical Issues:

We have resolved the following issues, please let us know if you continue to experience problems with them on the Site Feedback Board.

• NY Schools Board missing—This board was restored on 5/8/08
• Refresh button not working in some browsers—Problem was resolved on 5/9/08
• Watched Posts Release Bug—Problem was resolved on 5/9/08
• Most Active View—Feature restored on 5/11/08. Please note, the view now defaults to "Most Active" (the most recent new posts and posts with new replies move to the top of the queue). If you prefer to view in order of most recent new posts (and not new replies to older posts, please select "View by Recency" in the settings box on the right and click "Update filter".
• Password Reset Issues— Resolved on 5/9/08, additional issues resolved 5/12/08. If you were having this issue, please try logging in again now.
• Wider/Expandable Screen— Screen was set to full browser window width on 5/12/08. Additional refinements in progress.
• Post & Reply on 'Enter'— This feature was added on 5/16/08.
• One Click to Watch Posts — This feature was changed/added on 5/16/08.
• Watched posts do not autocollapse — This was resolved on 5/19/08.

• Search by Board
• Remembering of collapsing/expanding of individual posts
• Prohibit cross posting to all boards (allow max. of 3 boards)
• Additional Boards: Atlanta, Only Children, Multiples, etc

We have a long list of other issues that have been raised here on the boards -- text color, collapse/expand issues, size of logo banner at the top of the page, TMI/Private, autofill, to name a few -- that we are determining how best to address. We will keep you posted as we progress, but please rest assured in the meantime that we are following your feedback, we take it very seriously, and we want to make this the best possible place for you as users.

UrbanBaby