A huge step backward--what are you guys thinking?

I hate it. I’ve lost count of all the websites I used to drop into on a daily basis that I now no longer bother with. The ones I’ve stuck with over the years need to be easy to navigate and also look good. This is neither. Why do things always have to be designed for people who have yet to reach their 20th birthday?

Why has Beynym's question upon this sensitive subject sat there for over 5 days without response? And you have ignored all of his polite follow ups! He has raised the issue at least 4 times now, across two separate threads?!! And this is your opening week, where one would expect your best behaviour. Where are your staff Moderators? IMO this is a serious FAIL.
.
A thunderous silence, I believe, is the right phrase here:-)).

Its actually very sad to see how badly this has gone.

When I read some of Sonos' responses to the initial 'pre-launch' concerns on this thread (carried over from 'forums') it appears that all the doom-mongers were correct. https://en.community.sonos.com/new-community-feedback-229090/sonos-closingmoving-the-forums-a-good-idea-44247/index1.html

The new site doesnt work well at all, is badly moderated and has lost its community spirit.

Now the asteroid has wiped out the dinosaurs, time for a new species to take over.

Why do things always have to be designed for people who have yet to reach their 20th birthday?

Because we're no longer their target audience. We have their kit. They're looking for new blood to buy more stuff, and what better way to attract them than to chase us out with this wreck of a site. The new crowd won't know any different.

Sonos can't be as stupid as that, intentionally. This is a resource to guide new buyers and to existing ones that face issues with their install. Pull the plug on that, and you may as well shoot yourself in one foot.

Employee mods will be able to take some of the resultant load, but not all, as is already visible.

Unintentionally of course there is no limit to how stupid the suits can be.

Guess community answers are going to go the way of feature announcements for new releases... non-existent. They wanted a single experience... guess they're REALLY moving toward it!

Now the asteroid has wiped out the dinosaurs, time for a new species to take over.

Or maybe time for a new breed of dinosaur? :-)

I have to say that I find this all very disappointing... Not surprising, but disappointing nevertheless...

It's early days yet, so maybe it will improve. However, if this site doesn't improve dramatically, then there's no reason why we couldn't set up another user-driven site if we want to. This sort of thing is fairly cheap these days, and the old style forums type interface is available off the shelf - I had a play with one a couple of years back, and it didn't look too difficult to implement.

We'd lose the history, of course, but as long as enough of the 'old guard' were on board, it could work well.

I think I am close to coming to a place where I will come here only to troubleshoot my system whenever it develops a glitch, till I find that the response from Sonos Support is faster than what I get here. That hasn't been the case so far, but there is no knowing this will remain the case in future.

Sonos support is probably busy on the phones now that no one can find their way around here.

Now the asteroid has wiped out the dinosaurs, time for a new species to take over.

Or maybe time for a new breed of dinosaur? :-)

I have to say that I find this all very disappointing... Not surprising, but disappointing nevertheless...

It's early days yet, so maybe it will improve. However, if this site doesn't improve dramatically, then there's no reason why we couldn't set up another user-driven site if we want to. This sort of thing is fairly cheap these days, and the old style forums type interface is available off the shelf - I had a play with one a couple of years back, and it didn't look too difficult to implement.

We'd lose the history, of course, but as long as enough of the 'old guard' were on board, it could work well.

Indeed that could be an option if this doesn't pan out as we might hope. A 'donation' option could be added to support the running costs. Id be happy to contribute if it came to it.

On a separate note - I seem to remember reading that in the past there was a beta only board which was private to all but beta testers (therefore endorsed by sonos as did not violate NDA) - did this really exist or did I imagine it ?