I am Chris the Carpenter -What happened to our LMR?

Wow. What did you do to this wonderful place?

I am Chris the Carpenter -for those who don’t know, I was one of the founding members. I was actually user number 24. I’ve done a few Maker Fairs with IgnobleGnome and others showcasing this wonderful place and sharing it to our fellow makers and nerds. I have spent countless hours speaking with, and helping countless folks via the Shout Box. I had met up with the members (I don’t know how many times) via Skype --Skype so long ago you couldn’t use video with more that two people. For quite a while, I even hosted a live vidcast with fellow members. I was here when All LMR are Belong to Us!

I found this place almost a decade ago when I saw a post elsewhere highlighting the YDM that the incredible Frits had made and learned that the BASIC from my youth (TRS-80 (Trash-80) by the way)) could now create these wonderful moving and thinking creatures.

This was our home, this was our family. Now, I don’t even recognize this place any more.

Now, I could go through all the changes here, as there are many, but I just want to highlight one…
Why, for the love of everything good in this world, have the thumbnails been removed. This was one of the most fantastic things that separated this place from all the other robot forums. Each post had a title and each post had a nice little picture showing the robot or project contained within. Now, its just a title --Just like EVERY OTHER LAME FORUM. Seriously, why? For what possible reason were the pictures removed? This was just one reason this place was so user friendly, interesting, easy to discover new projects going on --And no it’s just this bland, lifeless list of text-only titles.

Seriously, how could those thumbnails cause any negative issues? What was the reasoning? Why would someone wake up one morning and think to themselves, “Hey! What should I do today? Hmmm. Oh, I know, I’ll take this wonderful thing, causing no problems of any kind, and remove it for basically no reason. Yeah, that’s the ticket, I really should take a good thing and throw it away --less good and more sucks seems like the direction to go”.

Ok, I’ve said my piece, it’s time now for this title-only post to blend in to every other post --and lacking some kind of sexy, titillating title -or maybe one without 17 exclamation and question marks, or one that just titled, “HELP!” will just be lost to this stupid, text-only, scrolling world.

Why, why did you remove the thumbnails from the posts?

I weep.

Chris the Carpenter,
User number 24,
Founding member,
Heartbroken.

Hi Chris,

Welcome back to the community—it’s great to hear from you again!
I’m Alexandra, the new Community manager.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and we apologize for the delay in our reply.
We truly appreciate the contributions you’ve made over the years and the passion you still bring. Your feedback is important to us, and we understand the value of what made this place special for long-time members like yourself.

You’re absolutely right—features like thumbnails set us apart and brought projects to life. While thumbnails are still available in sections like Robots, Blogs, and Tutorials, the forum has become more conversational in nature, with dedicated spaces now for showcasing robot projects where thumbnails remain accessible.

Looking ahead, we’re actively working on improving the user experience.
We have a roadmap in place to enhance functionality, design, and engagement across the community. Your perspective is invaluable, and if you’re open to it, we’d love to hear more of your insights on the current platform. Feedback like yours helps ensure we’re heading in the right direction.
We’re committed to bringing back the energy, creativity, and discovery that made this community unique.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts, Chris. We hope to see you around the forums more often!

The RobotShop Team

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