The site is a bit daunting for new users (and older ones!) The main problems for newbies seem to be:
- The bloody awkward identification drop-down list picking, which has more than once defeated me lately (though this may be ingrowing senility),
- The picture upload problems - it sometimes fails altogether, and it’s not all that clear that you need to wait for it to finish
- The etiquette of not duplicating likely identifications (which was originally supposed to be prevented in the coding)
- The fact that you don’t have to invent an identification if you’ve no idea - just pick a group - isn’t clear.
If people persevere, then they run into other issues, such as the lack of facility to save locations for future posts, the rather antiquated database, and the inability to edit comments.
All this has been said before, by more eloquent users than I. But it shows no sign of improving, and this is perhaps the most off-putting for those who “survive” the initial culture shock, and start to post more often. I suspect that the site is an expensive one to run - google maps and so on - but the lack of feedback from the administrators is really annoying. It highlights the work being done by two or three users to tackle some of the most significant issues, and it would be good if these efforts were matched by the administration. Otherwise, this looks like a situation that won’t easily be improved.