New TwoPlusTwo Platform
Hey, everyone!
We’ve got some exciting news: the new 2+2 platform is finally live at https://twoplustwo.com.
Don’t worry - You can continue using the old platform as usual
The original VBulletin platform (https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com) and the new one are synchronized, so you can continue using the old one as usual. You can also log in to the new platform with the same username and password.
What is so different about the new 2+2?
- The feed. The feed helps you discover fresh and interesting content on 2+2. This feature is designed to attract new users to the website. This isn’t the final version of the feed or its algorithm. Let’s call it iteration #2 (the first was a Facebook-style feed we shared two months ago). How would you change it?
- Two-level threads. No more derailing! Threads now have a main post, replies relevant to the topic, and separate discussions under each reply.
We’ve introduced many other features, but the two above are the most game-changing.
This new UI/UX is not final—it’s just the starting point of a long journey. Our goal is to make 2+2 the ultimate platform for professional poker discussions.
Thoughts?
19 Replies
My feed, has a bunch of threads I would never normally look at. Is this normal, as in it's meant to get me to look at different things on 2p2?
It would be nice, and maybe there is a way to do this already and I'm a noob, to reorder communities in the fashion I'd prefer. So for me NVG then below that business forum then so on, rather than pre sorted areas.
Also would be nice, as in the old platform, if when you click on a community it takes a different font so you know you've clicked it before. As in the old one the hyper link is yellow when you have not clicked it before and blue after you've done so.
Edit, - No idea who "RelaxedMerganser" is lol, how did logging into the new platform give me a new user name? Prolly user error but odd.
How do you access the old UI? It seems to be defaulting to the new one for me now, and I'm running into a bug where none of the thread titles are visible. The issue is possibly related to using a private browser as I am able to view the titles if I switch over to a normal browser window.
Other first impressions:
1. The new interface looks a lot better/ more modern.
2. I'm not a fan of splitting the threads so that it requires an extra tap to view replies. This makes more sense to me on very large/active forums where the extra organization is needed. Here it just makes navigation less clean/requires extra clicks to see the same amount of information. Also, the derails can be a problem at times but they're kind of the charm of two plus two.
3. Especially for strategy posts, it would be nice if the first post would semi-stick. That way if you're scrolling through posts you can scroll back slightly and see the first post immediately (kind of like it's a sticky where it's always on top). Not sure if I'm explaining the concept well, but to me this feature would be more useful than tiled responses. In strategy posts I find myself constantly having to scroll back to the first post to check a detail of the hand.
You guys should try to get the ranking stuff Pocket 5's had since GG has decided to ruin it for absolutely no reason. Was literally the only reason I logged in over there ever.
I also do not like the idea of seperating the threads. Sounds like FB esk commenting and they absolutely destoryed the comment section when they did that. Let the discussions take the shape that they take.
While we're at it, get rid of the majority of the moderators they're awful.
Like the idea of two-level threads. It should lessen the impact of anonomous trolls and the attention they crave.
I don't see anywhere to access my PM's nor see a way to message someone on the new platform.
My first impression is that it looks good. Some replies in threads seem to be missing, and whole threads as well. Maybe I still haven't gotten used to the new platfrom. The avatars also seem to not be linked to the new platform.
Like the idea of two-level threads. With some improvements the new platform has good potential. I also like that the new look is a lot more modern, let's see...
Think I mentioned this before but PMs would
be really useful especially for coaches.
Also you cannot see the title of the threads in the feed at least as I see it. That would be nice as well.
Personally, i hate two-level threads - having to look for answers in 10 different places and then piece them together reminds me of my job too much. Could see it being useful for massive threads with hundreds of posts, but for smaller threads its more work than its worth imo. Id like to see everything in one place at least in <10 posts threads (maybe you could not do the two-level thing until some number of posts in the tread) and/or a button that would show all replies and sub-replies on a single page.
The new interface also loads way slower for me.
Made a new thread and it does not default to follow it. Also not auto following threads after posting.
Are the threads on the new site truncated? I am seeing threads that had 80+ pages reduced to five and responses to posts that are no longer visible.
it's a bit tough to navigate... mainly because I am not used to the layout. like all things, it will come naturally after repeated usage.
One thing I liked about the previous format is seeing when the last post in a thread was made. Now it looks like it just shows when the thread was created
What is Column on the right? It just takes up space best I can tell?
impressive
When using the old forum ui, the threads that were created in the new ui stay at the top forever, even if there are new forum threads or new posts in the old threads that are newer than new-ui posts. Is this intended?
The padding and margins for the elements on the page take up way too much space. The left column navigation could be a lot narrower. It would be even better if by default it isn't there and you click a button that opens a navigation. The right column could go away entirely. If I want to know about the OP, I will click on their profile link or picture in one of their posts.
I've noticed I have to do a lot more scrolling with the mouse to read posts which isn't so nice.
Overall, it feels like a solution to something that isn't even a problem in the first place. Why not improve upon the old interface in small increments rather than redo everything entirely?
I do like the little hand randomizer as the logo in the upper left hand corner of the screen. That is pretty cool.
Edit: I figured out that I can collapse the navigation on the left panel and it is already looking way better. If we could collapse that even further that would be great. I like the triple bars that are used in the old forum. I do like that my post turned into a cool brown color after I posted. It looks nice.
I don’t like at all that when you write a post, you can’t scroll to see the thread discussion. You can’t review the hand history while you’re composing, for example.
Can you no longer see how many views a thread has? Seems like a negative. Not a big fan of the change feels like unnecessary complexity but maybe appeals to some used to newer forums
Well I wanted to give some feedback about the site. Hopefully my post doesn't come across as too critical. I'm just going to state my opinion and take it for what it is.
1. There are too many subforums, and/or the subforums don't mingle enough. This creates little silos on the site where in a particular subforum only a couple posters are active along with an occasional random. There isn't enough activity in all the various sub forums to keep a discussion going.
The "feed" is a step in the right direction but IMO what is needed is a forum-wide "newest posts" section. That way active users can view active threads that might not be in sections they frequent. I occasionally click on a subforum I do not usually go to, and will see a well-thought-out thread from a new user, and it has 0 replies. This drives new users away from the site when they don't get engagement, and I think it is mainly just lack of visibility of posts when people post in sub forums that aren't active.
2. I gave the new format a fair shot but it is basically a step in the wrong direction IMO. Maybe it has some value for the owners with built-in analytics but the user experience is subpar for some of the following reasons:
3. Private messaging/direct messaging is seemingly unavailable on the new site? This seems like pretty basic functionality that people expect going into 2025.
4. Being able to scroll through responses while typing a reply is not available in the new format? On a poker forum where you're often replying about poker hands, it's necessary to be able to look back at stack sizes, suits on the board, etc. while you're responding on your phone.
5. New and old twoplustwo don't integrate seamlessly. Like I will see a post that shows up in one and not the other.
6 (probably should be #1). The vibe just needs to be friendlier and more open and accepting of other opinions.
I saw a discussion from rickroll in the NVG moderation forum about how active users with dissenting (often political) opinions are banned, even when they are not being hateful, spamming or doing anything else that should result in a ban. Over time that has affected growth/maintenance of the forums.
There's this weird process that occurs on this site where certain people post, and it's like "the authority has spoken, end of discussion." I've probably been guilty of this too in some of the strategy threads, where I post a solver screen shot trying to be helpful but maybe it makes people hesitate to post their opinions.
I know I've avoided posting in the politics, philosophy and similar forums out of fear of pissing off a mod, or just because I see someone threatened with a ban for posting something that doesn't seem too outrageous, even if I don't agree with it.
Anyway this post has gotten long enough, but good luck with the future of the site. It would be nice to see twoplustwo resurrected as it has a history of being the home for some very high level poker discussion.
Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing. I forgot to mention that the notifications on the new site don't link back to the threads. So you will get a notification that someone responded to your post, but you can't just click the notification to read what they wrote.
