Rentboy Version 5.0 Preview

[EXPAT]

You can preview the new RentBoy.com version 5.0 website now.

 

 

It was quitetly announced yesterday and the testing phase has limited functionality, but the staff is encouraging you to tell us what you think after you visit http://preview.rentboy.com/.

[EXPAT]

http://preview.rentboy.com/FeedBackForm.aspx?rtn=%2fDefault.aspx

 

Above is the link to provide feedback.

 

 

Source: both links came from Brandon Baker's blog website.

[Guest novabear22031]

Nice look, but I prefer the feedback that Daddy has here. It may not be perfect but Daddy does make me feel "safer" in my choices here.....

 

I have also been able to turn to companions here that I want to meet up with and built something with to share concerns about others with out a track record here.....

[whipped guy]

Yes, a nice new look... but rather confusing and redundant... simpler is always better and aside from the fact that the older version at times did not function properly, it was easy and simple to use. Furthermore, this new version reflects the recent trend toward multiculturalism by trying to be “geographically correct” and in the process makes for a somewhat perplexing configuration. Sure it is nice to give the folks in United Arab Emirates equal billing with the United States, but as far as usage goes in all practicality it is indeed an irrational thing to do!

 

Now for a laugh do check out what is available in the United Arab Emirates… everyone there seems to be named either Thom or Peter… and seem to look quite alike! :+

[buttlvr99]

It's not bad. I like the idea that you can now used the advanced search on multiple criteria like muscular and versatile. One thing I noticed though, if you select advanced and pick the United States as country, the State box appears as province. I know some of us may want Ontario and Quebec to join the US but it's just wishful thinking.

[+ deej]

I had to study the screen to figure out what I was supposed to do.

 

When designing an interface, making people have to guess what they're supposed to do isn't usually the most successful approach. Their old interface had issues, but I never sat staring at the screen wondering what to do.

 

Now, what's the difference between the backgrounds with a white cloud and the ones with a baby poop yellow cloud? I didn't see any obvious explanation. Or maybe I was looking for the "next" button too hard to notice.

 

Stuff that is clickable is too close in appearance to stuff that is not clickable.

 

This wouldn't pass muster when looked at by a usability expert. Or even a usability novice.

[+ ArVaGuy]

I realize the site is in Beta stage right now but have to state that it still needs work. From my persective it's less user friendly than the old version. The Stats get covered over by the pic on my viewing of the profiles which is an obvious coding glitch.

 

The intial search feature to find a city is cumbersome and the box is not big enough to show the full text in each line. Call me xenophobic if you like but having to scroll all the way to the bottom of the list to find the US is a lousy feature. It would be better to list country groupings regionally like they have done in the advanced search.

 

I am assuming that the colored backgrounds mean something. Perhaps the guys with the yellow gold backgrounds are premium members and the guys with the grey are not? Hard to tell what all that means.

 

And all those city and state listings are a complete mess. The listings for Washington, DC are burried in the scroll down list for the city list which makes this hard to deal with. It took me a while to realize its alpha by state. It would have been better to list each state rather than starting off the list with Phoenix, AZ.

 

It always amazes me that the people who design the sites never really think of the user perspectives very well at all. I have this fight with our web designers at my organization all the time. Plus not everyone has a T1 line or high speed despite what web designers may wish was the case. Simplify the interface. Thankfully there's no Flash presentations or awful music blaring from the home page like some sites.

 

If this is going live in a few days they have a lot of work to do before then.

[Guest novabear22031]

>

>It always amazes me that the people who design the sites never

>really think of the user perspectives very well at all. I

>have this fight with our web desingers at my organization all

>the time. Plus not everyone has a T1 line or high speed

>despite what web designers may wish was the case. Simplify

>the interface. Thankfully there's no Flash presentations or

>awful music blaring from the home page like some sites.

>

>If this is going live in a few days they have a lot of work to

>do before then.

>

 

 

I hate it as a Mac user when they don't invest in a Mac to see how things work on it, since M$ seems to own the web..... <eeek>

[Guest zipperzone]

I notice a right click on the picture will allow you to save it. This wasn't possible on the old site. I wonder if this is an oversight and will be changed?

[whipped guy]

This needs a lot of work…The cities are listed in alphabetical order by state but that is not obvious at first… plus a lot of guys listed in the “standard” version are not listed in this “beta” version… and some of the guys that are have their pictures missing… Once you find a location and then decide to do an advanced search you have to start from scratch… but not start from the country but from the continent… and also as noted above the USA suddenly has provinces in advanced search mode!

 

Well it’s new and it’s beta which means it needs work… and with a few adjustments it will work and work nicely... but still it always amazes me that how these computer geeks and nerds don’t think like regular people… and it takes input from the common man and ordinary individuals to make them see the light! :+

[whipped guy]

It probably is an oversight, but the "not allowing pics to be saved" feature is something that a child in computer pre-school would be able to override... but it does serve as a first line of defense.

[JT Brooklyn]

Whip Man..Totally Agree! IMHO it definitely is a "little too much" for what the Subject Matter is....

 

BUT it does give a New "Dignity" to The Working Guy Ads! At what these Guys are Paying to Advertise on Rentboy these days, at least THEY are getting more of a Bang for THEIR Buck! LOL :P

 

BUT JT ain't liking the Huge AD on the same page as the "Working Guy's" Photo's..A little to distracting, it will tend to make you compare looks!

 

That's IMHO of course! LOL :P

[Guest ript4hire]

Hmmm - NOT liking it. Tons of formatting errors and Deej is right ...

your eye doesn't know where to go!

 

And I DEFINITELY don't like having advertising on my escort page - we

are all paying between $60 - $300 per month for a NYC listing ... adding

advertising revenue to that is just greedy.

 

Sigh - we need a new escort site on the net.

 

Eric

[Guest ript4hire]

Oh and to anyone who is wondering about the backgrounds ... Rentboy has

three different levels of membership, which govern how "towards the

beginning" your listing appears: Platinum, Gold, and Classic. I guess

the backgrounds are their attempt at a metal effect?

 

Doesn't work ...

 

Eric

[ted]

Current Rentboy(when its working) = B+

Beta Rentboy = D

 

Problems with margins all over the place making copy very difficult to read, one good thing more ads per page, but negated as the ads seem smaller. Lets face it we visit for one reason, the info related to the prime traffic generator is only given half the page. Most of the regular priced ads, which are most of the ads, are blank grey space. I'm in a hotel on a high speed-don't know how it will play on my sometimes slow dsl at home.

[whipped guy]

Ript... good to get input from the "other" side... and especially info regarding the various rates.

 

Yes, there is just too much advertising in our lives... and when you are paying for a space it would only seem logical that your space should be the main and only focus of the viewer's attention... Still, one can't watch a ball game these days (either live or especially on TV) without ads popping up all over the place...

[cuteathlet]

Hate it (that is, what I can get to work of it).

 

The new interface is almost exactly like another M4M site that I rarely go to because I LIKE THE CURRENT RB BETTER! NOW, they're going to change their site to make it like their INFERIOR competition!?!

 

As to its functionality, as a Safari/Mac user, I could not get very far before it stopped working.

[+ deej]

>Well it’s new and it’s beta which means it needs work… and

>with a few adjustments it will work and work nicely...

>but still it always amazes me that how these computer geeks

>and nerds don’t think like regular people… and it takes input

>from the common man and ordinary individuals to make them see

>the light! :+

 

Remember that programmers often don't have the best human interaction skills. They're used to dealing with machines. It's no surprise that a typical programmer is not up to the task of designing an interface meant for human interaction.

 

At the other end of the scale are "artists" or "designers" who get so caught up in the art of the display and fancy tricks that they forget that people actually have to use it.

 

In the middle are "human interface" specialists, who focus entirely on usability. A LOT of development projects lack this person. (And in the computer field, "usability" also includes affordances for people with visual or physical impairments.)

 

But it's not just lacking in programming. How many times have you had trouble working a remote control for a TV you're not used to? Have you ever stood looking at a door unsure whether you're meant to push or pull? They're all examples of bad interface design.

 

It's a fascinating field to study. If you'd like to read up about it, I recommend "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman. It will surprise you how pervasive the LACK of interface design is. And it might remind you of things that YOU could do better in your everyday life that could maybe be done in a clearer way.

[EXPAT]

the one thing I hated about the old site was that you could never easily get the entire profile of the "rentboy of the day". That seemed completely stupid to me. I also know many escorts who travel a lot and wanted to list their profile in a different location had to get a new URL from the older rentboy and that made re-finding your favorite "traveling escort" very difficult because they couldn't use the same URL. that should be fixed with this new version. I don't mind the adverts on each page because I'm so used to them on all sites anyway. It would be nice if the reviews section actually worked with this version. I have submitted a few reviews on the rentboy site as well, but they have never been linked properly back to the escort. I think that they should also think about a blog section as well. it might be used a lot.

[+ ArVaGuy]

>

>Remember that programmers often don't have the best human

>interaction skills. They're used to dealing with machines.

>It's no surprise that a typical programmer is not up to the

>task of designing an interface meant for human interaction.

>

>

 

You are not kidding. Programmers are an interesting species. Whenever I have to tell the programmers at my organization that their work needs better interface they react like I have just tried to rip their hearts out. I learned not to tell them face to face but put it in a e-mail which usually results in some terse reply. Then we have some series of "why it can't be done" followed by resignation and acceptance on their part to make the changes.

 

I also learned years ago that surly programmers are not exacty a good thing. Projects can wind up in that mysterious black hole in cyberspace when these guys get grumpy. So a few bribes with beer and junk food has resulted in much better services from our guys for my projects.

[+ deej]

>You are not kidding. Programmers are an interesting species.

 

Perhaps I should have prefaced my remarks with "I am a programmer". ;-)

 

>Whenever I have to tell the programmers at my organization

>that their work needs better interface they react like I have

>just tried to rip their hearts out. I learned not to tell

>them face to face but put it in a e-mail which usually results

>in some terse reply. Then we have some series of "why it

>can't be done" followed by resignation and acceptance on their

>part to make the changes.

 

That is a sign that there is no human interaction specialist working with your teams. As I said, this role is often ignored. Many IT departments consider it unnecessary overhead, and that leads to situations like yours.

 

The shortcoming is so pervasive that I decided years ago to study the principles and literature myself because I learned I wouldn't be getting help on the subject otherwise. Darned few programmers will do this. Their job is to make sure the software doesn't blow up, and that's where they consider the job done.

 

Usability is not a focus, but it's because IT management has not made it a focus.

 

>I also learned years ago that surly programmers are not exacty

>a good thing.

 

True. There are few "features" in software I've written over the years that will ONLY appear for a specific user. }( There are 3 roles in any organization you don't want to piss off: the payroll person, the department secretary, and the programmers.

 

>bribes with beer and junk food has resulted in much better

>services from our guys for my projects.

 

LOL -- yup, the sign of a dysfunctional IT department.

 

Teams I've headed have truly enjoyed the cookies, pizza, beer, and in one case tickets to Blue Man Group. But they were gifts of appreciation because I *always* make usability the first priority.

 

I had the luxury once (ONCE in 25 years!) of working with a dedicated QA professional, a role typically at loggerheads with developers. We got along famously. She'd walk into my office and say "we have a problem" and I'd say "I'll fix the technology, you fix the customer issue" and we'd high-five and go about our stuff.

 

It's the way things SHOULD be done. Sadly, it usually isn't done that way.

[whipped guy]

Re: Perhaps I should have prefaced my remarks with "I am a programmer". ;-)[/font color=blue]

 

Somehow I always kind of suspected that!

 

Still, you make an excellent point regarding how different types of individuals and personalities see things differently and can offer different types of input to help resolve the various situations in which we as humnan beings find ourselves.

[whipped guy]

PS Regarding: Somehow I always kind of suspected that![/font color=blue]

 

Deej... your AVATAR more or less says it all! :+

[+ deej]

>Deej... your AVATAR more or less says it all! :+

 

That's my life.

 

"File not found? BULLSHIT!" :+

[whipped guy]

Well... I have a job that's like pulling teeth x( ... so I can more than somewhat identify with your situation!