All I Am Saying...Is Give Beckett's New Site a Chance!!!

(Roughly sung to the tune of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance," not his version, but the 90's version seen below. Get over the real message of the video (I'm not going to even go there...) and the awful 90's hair, and eventually you'll understand where I'm going with this...)



Everybody's talkin' bout...

Beckett's new site oh so bad
All us members have been had
The new site is hard to use
My computer's been abused
Can't figure out where's the board
I am getting oh so bored.....

All I am saying...is give it a chance
All I am saying...is give it a chance

What we're talkin' bout...

Members saying that it "sucks"
Wishing people "best of luck"
Leaving the site cause they had enough
But come on people, it's not so rough

All I am saying...is give it a chance
All I am saying...is give it a chance

Okay, that's enough...

It's been four days since the new Beckett site launched, and I think it's safe to say that tons of people who've used the site for years are not happy. Why???:

• "The site is unorganized"
• "I can't get onto the message boards"
• "I'm number 5000 to get my collections downloaded"
• "You want us to 'pay to trade'?"

And the responses from said members?:

• "This sucks" (about a thousand times this has been said, in many cases, in very unflattering ways)
• "I'm leaving"
• "Nice knowing you"
• "Hey, we're all over on this board now, come on over, it's just like OLD TIMES"

Mark Twain (and yes, I'm looked this up) once said, "The only two certainties in life are death and taxes." A third certainty in life is change. Beckett made a change to their web prescence. And while there are certainly faults and bugs in the overall system, it should not have been enough to drive many to say what was said above before making the exodus to other sites (which I am not going to glamourize by linking here).

One of the newest features on the site is that members can write their own articles and have them published on the site (just like guest blogging). One of the best ones I've seen so far is from former Becketteer Pepper Hastings. In his article, he actually predicted that the ensuing mess that occurred once the new website went live. He also said that not too many people, whether within or Hobby or not, embrace change. He's right. It's human nature not to accept change right away, especially if we've been comfortable with what we've had for so long. But it is also human nature to be curious and try new things. We learn so much when we try and do something new.

That's why I'm willing to give the new version of Beckett.com a chance. It's been a few days, and yes, while it still is slow, I'm learning my way around the site. Already, my collections have been downloaded, and I find it will be easier for me to add stuff when I'm at home instead of at work (which I should be doing more of anyway). I can get to the message boards a lot faster now that I know where to go, and eventually, I'll get the hang of navigating the site (with the help of a few videos). I don't trade, so I don't care about the "pay to trade" thing that other people have been crying foul about. I too don't think that it's right, but it's not my website, I don't work for Beckett, and they can do whatever they want with it.

What those who've "left" don't understand is that it was never "OUR WEBSITE." We don't own it. We may have a say in what went into it, and unless we own stock in the company, or work for the company, we didn't have an ownership stake on any part of the site, especially the beloved message boards. In fact, I think many members of the esteemed boards only went onto the site just to use the boards (which isn't a bad thing), but there was more to the site than just speaking your mind and trading on a message board.

Now Beckett is giving their members more of a voice than ever before. I, for one, will be taking advantage of that opportunity when the time comes. And I will certainly stay the course on the site, not planning on leaving any time soon.

I read on the other board that the people who decide to stay no matter what are a bunch of sheep. For those who said that, here is my reply...

"BAAAAAA!"

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama