Community Redesign – Modernizing the Autodesk Forums - Feedback

[CGBenner]

[Blog link in original post updated 3/6/2025]

Clarification as requested - 2/14/2025:  Any feedback in this forum thread that does not directly say that a feedback form has been submitted, and even some that does, is being captured and logged for the team to look into.  We may not respond directly to each post but we will add a "Like" to the post to indicate that we have seen and logged it.  If we have anything meaningful that we can add at the moment, we will reply with that.  If we do not reply, it means that we simply don't have anything to add to that request at the time.  We are adding links to the posts that we submit, and giving details on which individual post the team should look at, as well as including any images you share.  We do not have a way to add videos to the feedback form, but these are still welcome and appreciated, and we make a note of it on the form when we submit it so the team knows to look for the video.  Thank you!

Hello Community! 
 
As you can see from this recent blog post on our Autodesk Community Blog, the Autodesk Community Forums will soon be getting a new look and feel.  This new look is part of our efforts to modernize the community and place key resources where you can more easily find them. 
 
Some of you have had an early look at these updates during our recent A/B testing across the community. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who shared their feedback during this phase. Your insights and comments have been instrumental in refining this design.  Here are some of the changes you will see: 

• Updated Forums experience: Enhanced navigation, optimized mobile experience, new threaded posts and the ability to upvote content. 

• Recommended content: Explore new content sections featuring suggested blog posts, events, and additional resources tailored to your interests.  

• Recognition for top contributors: Visual recognition to help you get to know the most active members in the community. 

• Changes based on your A/B test feedback: We’ve made several updates based on your valuable feedback detailed in the Product News posts on our Autodesk Community Blog.  

We would love to continue to hear your feedback on this redesign, so we have created a feedback form, which you can bookmark for future use, to report any issues or suggestions that you have. 
 
For more details on this release, I invite you to read the full blog post on our Community Blog. 

Thank you all for being a part of this Community! 

[Valentin_CAD]

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@a.laasW8M6T wrote:

As far as I can tell there aren't actually any "Improvements"

Lets break this down:

• Updated Forums experience: Enhanced Degraded navigation, optimized Much worse mobile experience, new threaded posts(Possibly an enhancement to some but I have it turned of as its confusing to follow) and the ability to upvote content(Unneeded Feature). 

• Recommended content: Explore new content sections featuring suggested blog posts, events, and additional resources tailored to your interests.  (Where is this?)

• Recognition for top contributors: Visual(Now down the bottom of the page) recognition to help you get to know the most active members in the community. (This already existed and had a meaningful metric(Accepted solutions), now is way down the bottom of the page where no one goes and has unknown criteria for appearing on it)

• Changes based on your A/B test feedback: We’ve made several updates based on your valuable feedback detailed in the Product News posts on our Autodesk Community Blog.  (All of the Changes were to fix regressions to the forum compared to the Old format, there were no "Improvements" other than fixes to bring back functionality that was removed)

The thing is, at the end of the day, it just looks BAD and is less functional than before

I find it astounding that after all the Feedback during the (Poorly announced)Testing period that it was no good, that Autodesk would continue with the project and Ram it though with out having a serious rethink and regroup about the goals they were trying to achieve as it was very obvious to anyone following along that it was NOT the right direction.

I will add that I'm always excited for new and Improved UI on products I use, I'm not just complaining because I don't like change it's just that this isn't improved.

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Well said!

As true as re-modernizing the wheel and expecting everyone to adapt while providing positive feedback.

[saclovitzky]

Bring back the old format on the forum!This format is confusing,do not change it,just concentrate in developing the software(ARSAP) not playing around with the ARSAP forum!!

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Link button does not work in mobile. 

clearly the developers didn’t adequately test this design before releasing it, there is obvious, basic functionality with new features they created that doesn’t work.

 

[CGBenner]

@Simon_Weel 

My apologies for not posting a thank you reply for all of these, I really was just thinking of not adding to the posts in this thread.  I do appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts, good bad or (let's face it) ugly.  But if I added a thank you post for each of these, the thread would double in size.  At least that's my reasoning.  Just as a visual though, I have added a LIKE or Thumbs Up on each post that has been logged in our tracker.  The current list is rather large and growing.  

So please know that all of this feedback, regardless of the tone in which it is given, is seen, logged and very much appreciated.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

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@CGBenner wrote:

So please know that all of this feedback, regardless of the tone in which it is given, is seen, logged and very much appreciated.

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< I have removed the meme I posted here voluntarily, I think it served it's purpose 😉 > 

 

🤣 hang in there Chris!

[Curtis_Waguespack]

In part due to the removal of this at the top of the page:

when using Oldest to Newest it is really difficult because it now takes a great deal of scrolling to navigate.

I think there are some very unintuitive "landing" spots that occur with the browser Back button and the interface Previous and Next buttons when using Oldest to Newest that is factoring into this as well. 

I'm not exactly sure what all the combining factors are, but the experience using Oldest to Newest has become extremely unintuitive, disorienting and fatiguing.

This needs to be looked at and tested much more thoroughly... and I can't believe I need to say this, but... when I say "looked at and tested much more thoroughly"... I mean by the developers not just the users/customers.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

here's some low hanging fruit.

I'm pretty sure I have reported this already in the A/B test and the feedback went into the feedback "black hole".

The resulting link has nothing to do with Inventor Programming - iLogic, Macros, AddIns & Apprentice

It's just general information about getting started with the forums.

This should say:

     new to the forums > start here.

or

     new to the Inventor Programming forum > start here

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-programming-ilogic/bd-p/120

[pendean]

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@Curtis_Waguespack wrote:

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CSS edits solve the issues for those of us that can do it...everybody fend for themselves community experience is looking more likely 😂

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New users don't care honestly: never met one that did. They get in, post a meaningless one sentence question, then they spend hours trying to share files by replying to the email they got, only to find out a restart of their PC fixed the issue 🙂

Be a McGyver, not a patsy!

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Embarrassingly out of date Event in the sidebar.

I checked my calendar twice, and asked three colleagues to verify this, and we all came to the conclusion that it is currently the year of 2025 🤔

This was reported in the A/B test.... and apparently ignored.

You can not say "we're improving the site" and then do this kind of thing.

Low effort, no value, placeholders are telling of how little effort the team has put into this new release.

I understand they wanted to improve the experience, and they might have fooled themselves into thinking they did, but this type of thing shows users that the team didn't do much more than "play around" with ideas for the future, and have not released a serious production ready update. 

[C_Haines_ENG]

I also don't know if this is just me, but the Mute button no longer works. (I tried muting this thread) and I still get every single update direct to my phone.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

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@pendean wrote: New users don't care honestly: never met one that did. They get in, post a meaningless one sentence question, then they spend hours trying to share files by replying to the email they got, only to find out a restart of their PC fixed the issue 🙂

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That's not been my experience with this community. I'm sorry that has been yours. 

[kacper.suchomski]

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@pendean wrote:
users don't care honestly: never met one that did. They get in, post a meaningless one sentence question, then they spend hours trying to share files by replying to the email they got, only to find out a restart of their PC fixed the issue 🙂

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I have very few such experiences. Yes, they do happen, but they are negligible on the scale of the entire forum.

However, for several months I have been observing an intensive flood of topics on Idea Station, which have been implemented for many years and should be questions on the forum, not suggestions for improvement.

[ChrisRS]

A like is good enough.

I am using mobile, so the quote function is not a available.

I submit a form later.

[CGBenner]

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@kacper.suchomski wrote:

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for several months I have been observing an intensive flood of topics on Idea Station, which have been implemented for many years and should be questions on the forum, not suggestions for improvement.

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Hi Kacper.  When this happens, sometimes the Product Manager monitoring the Idea board will move the post back into the forum, I see that a lot with Vault.  If you see these though, and only if you WANT to help... you can report these using the Report button, and it will let our moderator know to move the post into the forum.  If there is any doubt, we check with the Product team first. 

Thanks for the feedback!

[Curtis_Waguespack]

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@kacper.suchomski wrote:

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@pendean wrote:
users don't care honestly: never met one that did. They get in, post a meaningless one sentence question, then they spend hours trying to share files by replying to the email they got, only to find out a restart of their PC fixed the issue 🙂

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I have very few such experiences.

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@kacper.suchomski , I think you and I might be a little "spoiled" because we concentrate on the Inventor forums 😎 The Inventor forum users very seldom engage in the way that pendean described.  

@pendean I'm not dismissing your experience, having been involved with the ACAD and ACAD customization forums way back when, I can attest to the fact that the Inventor boards are different and are generally a much more professional, friendly, and easier to work with bunch of people. Most of the senior members on those boards (including @CGBenner )  have worked very hard over the years to shape the Inventor boards into a friendly and supportive community for new and existing users,  and it has been a very enjoyable experience. The Inventor product development team is actually pretty badass in their commitment to their users too, and that helps a great deal. 

That is why it's difficult to watch the community developers trash the user experience with things like this modernization effort and the recent archiving effort. 

[pendean]

@Curtis_Waguespack Agreed. happy Cadding y'all.

[ChrisRS]

I McGyver enough in Civil 3D. 

The current modern format works fine for:

OP: Here's my question.

Reply: Here's the answer.

Reply: Hazah! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are a God!

For anything beyond that, it is suboptimal. It does not seem reasonable for everyone to just roll their own UI.

I do not accept "If Autodesk wants the forum this way, it must be OK. Anyone not liking it is using it wrong or needs to reboot."

I am even crazy enough to think there should be an AutoCAD Ideas forum, but that is just me.

 I have self-nominated myself for a "Curmudgeon Badge" but have yet to be awarded one.

[CGBenner]

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@ChrisRS wrote:

 I have self-nominated myself for a "Curmudgeon Badge" but have yet to be awarded one.

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Maybe someone could personally design one for you?  😂  (putting on my creative hat...)

[Curtis_Waguespack]

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@ChrisRS wrote: I have self-nominated myself for a "Curmudgeon Badge" but have yet to be awarded one.

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@ChrisRS, I acknowledge your feedback and have taken action to implement your request. Here's your badge. 

see community improvement team, this isn't so hard 😂

 

[pendean]

@ChrisRS To quote one of my favorite and frequent contributor to these forums

"I don't hate the new format. I don't necessarily like it. But it's something I can work with. It's not going to stop my participation. We're here to help each other. Not punish Autodesk."