After the move to Microcosm

OK, so the first week is out of the way... a debrief of sorts.

What went wrong?

• Sign-in issues in the first 3-4 days were appalling
  
• Search defaults didn't suit the way people used search
  
• No adequate replacement to the "New Posts" page
  
• Lots of minor UX bugs and quirks
  
• Some people didn't sign in using the same email they had before, which would create a new user
  
  

What went right?

• All content that we said we would migrate we did migrate
  
• All permissions were intact for secure forums, etc
  
• The servers didn't melt down
  
• Much glee at mobile suddenly being pretty damn good
  
  

We spent much of the last week fire-fighting bugs and issues that should've been caught during the 6 months of testing. It's obvious that we had a very technical and non-representive crowd testing the test.lfgss.com and go.lfgss.com test sites as very few of the eventual issues that everyone freaked about were even mentioned.

Fixed:

• The sign-in issues, with only a few individuals still having trouble with Persona.
  
• The search defaults have been improved, title only and sort by date rule.
  
• The /today/ page was built (it's just a search really)
  
• Tons of small UX fixed, but lots more still to be done
  
• Gave lots of people their account back, by associating it to their new email address
  
  

There's still loads to do, but I feel good about it... it's about as smooth as it could've been given the sudden urgency brought on by old and failing servers.

I guess the big question is "Does it work?". As in, is it as effective or more effective than vBulletin, or did the site just nosedive? With 1 week of data it's too early to say, but early numbers:

Since moving, we have seen an increase of 17% in the number of registered members who visit the site each day. Members are also staying a lot longer (close to 17 minutes per session).

What we have seen is a big drop-off in Google traffic. This is in part due to Google suddenly freaking out and re-indexing furiously as Google realises that none of the 2.5 million pages it knows about are valid. We are watching Google increase the indexing, and Google is loving the new pages as the attachment shows.

Basically: Members appear to love it, are staying around and returning more frequently... mostly due to mobile view, though the /updates/ page is being used way more than the Subscribed Threads and UserCP ever were. And Guests do love it too (high time per session), but we're overall seeing a lower volume of traffic due to Google freaking out.

We'll carry on splatting bugs, and will keep an eye on Google.