Ugh,

I'm in the middle of a forced remodel and had been lurking in Gardenweb absorbing all the incredible information posted by the generous members. This Houzz change totally threw me out of whack. Threads that I bookmarked are gone such as Metoo2 info on foot pedal for your trash etc... I can't find anything and searching in Houzz gives you the crappy unanswered questions that people post on pictures to non responsive designers.

I miss the days not long ago when I search google all the time with the Gardenweb caveat and get fantastic information.

I think that unless Houzz pay attention to the needs of GW forum members, people will slowly drift away.

I know that I have no problem moving to where GW people will migrate to. My hubby already said to ask where the GWers are moving to.

I have no issues with using pros but from my experience, the pros don't always tell you the truth or the entire truth. GW was where I went to get the full rainbow of opinions.

@ron I'm seeing your GardenWeb account successfully merged into the account you are currently posting from. Can you shoot us a message through support.houzz.com with more details?

@beachem - it's easy to search the Gardenweb Kitchen forums here on Houzz. Go to the main page of the Kitchen forum, go to the top and, in the search box, it will say "Search in Gardenweb", put your search term in there, then there will be a drop-down menu, select the top one. It should save "your search terms in Kitchens". This will take you directly to Gardenweb Kitchen discussions that match your search term. Hope this helps.

There was talk initially of starting another forum but it has been abandoned at this point as most of us like the forums here, at least as far as I know.

Regarding starting a new forum elsewhere - my personal opinion is that we should give it 6 months to see how things really end up. Yes, there are major issues right now, but hopefully they will be ironed out. (I know I have been VERY frustrated posting and updating the FAQs b/c of the inconsistencies of formatting as well as loss of functionality - but I'll give it a chance.)

In addition, there is a lot of information on this site that I would hate to have to replicate elsewhere, if we even could!

.

So, give it time (just like we recommend to those who have just bought a house and want to rip out the kitchen immediately).

Gardenweb is quite a big site with a considerable amount of traffic. Trying to replicate it would take more time, effort, and money than I think a lot of people realize. If it ever got even close to being as popular as the old one, the thing would crash and burn if the administrators weren't on their game. And it would need to be plastered with ads even worse than the old one was unless there were enough users that gave generous donations each month. I say all this from experience running a much, much smaller scale website.

Here's the equation as I see it, expanding on some ideas above.

1. Houzz is pretentious, superficial, Gen-y fashionista keeping-up-with-the-jones, hyper-consumerism twattle. Nothing of value/use actually in it.

2. Gardenweb is an earthy chat with your all-gens neighbours - resulting in several practical, grounded ideas for solutions from people with actual life experience to share.

So... if the Gen-Y bought out the All-gen neighbourhood (without understanding what was going down between the All-gens in the neighbourhood in the first place), they'd be hard-pressed to continue to provide the platform for the community enjoyed in the All-gen neighbourhood, wouldn't they?

The only way they could continue to provide the same platform is if they Changed Not Much At All. Ie if they butted right out.

But whoever buys a neighbourhood in order to butt right out? If it aint broke and you don't understand it, you're just buying it to fix something you think is broke bc you don't understand it, and you're buying it to "fix" (change) it into something you do understand: more of the same of what you're already doing.

So I don't like to be such a pessimist, but I don't hold much faith that Houzz understood Gardenweb, nor that it worked, nor WHY it worked. So on that I'm expecting Gardenweb will be lost to us.

Which, clearly, I'm gutted about. I don't want to dance with these silly self-promoters on Houzz. I worked in magazines for 19 years. I speak from experience when I say it's silly and superficial. And self-promoting reigns supreme. I don't want to be forced back into that 'sooo faaabulous, sooo amaaaaaazing' arena of smalltalk. I want to chat to the salt-of-the-earth, everyday, normal, "real", individual, natural people (usually my elders - I'm gen-x), who can give me some straight talking (yet often humorous), real-life direction about how not to stuff up my rose trimming for the third year in a row... or whatever mini-crisis I'm having in my garden. I want to be able to continue to hang out with these people I've come to know and respect over the last 5 years without having to be subjected to interior-decorator porn, obscene self-promotion and commercialism-gone-mad nonsense as I do so.

I'm not sure my wish is doable. Not particularly likely by the looks of things already...

We pro-gardenwebbers need to find ourselves a new home. Houzz aint it. - ie we need to establish our own home again, our own website and forum...Why not?

A little Gardenweb history. I was thrown off with my first post. I had written an article about how improperly rodded countertops can cause tops to self destruct. I thought it would be a perfect fit, the mods called it spam. I groveled sufficiently and they forgave me.

I remember when folks had to grovel to Spike to be let back in - after being banned for letting politics or religion creep into conversation. Also, some half a dozen (or was it more like a dozen?) people got kicked of the Soil, Compost & Mulch forum & quite a few would not be let back no matter how much groveling & then a whole bunch of other people quit in protest. They formed another site, which still exists, and GardenWeb is referred to over there YKW (You Know Where.)

Oh, those Soil, Compost, and Mulchers. You can't take your eye off those types for a moment.

Joseph - you have no idea.

For those posting about read-out... if you're using chrome, this link offers a fantastic solution:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2854079/installing-stylish-to-change-houzz-background#14392444

beachem, I don't know if this is the thread you had bookmarked, but it has several posts by metoo2 about trash pull out foot pedals.

Pull Out Trash by coldtropics July 2007

Unfortunately the photos posted by metoo2 were posted in the home photo galleries, which I think are no longer available. Maybe some of metoo2's text info will still be helpful to you.

I have some of MeToo2's photos saved! Beachem, do you need them? If so, could you please start a new thread asking for "Pullout Trash Foot Pedal Help Needed" or some such? Then, I'll post all the info in that thread. (I hesitate to resurrect an old thread now that I just blasted someone who I think is a pro about doing it for self-serving reasons - no help, just repeating what others said two years ago! :-) )

I was looking for the instructions on the trash pedal because I had read months ago that she customized it from the Hafaele for a different drawer. I marked the page but after the Houzz takeover, that page doesn't show anymore. In fact her pages didn't show even with clicking over from Google search. I do have the coldtropic page marked.

Let me reread through again all my saved GW pages on the trash pedal and then start a new thread for exactly what I need.

I just noticed that under the "GW has joined Houzz" box, you can click to see what functionality has been added and when!

Okay...I have to say, it is a LOT easier to post photos, now. Maybe it was just me, but I had to use Picasa on GW....and now I can just insert photo :)

Rexedwardfairy, I just looked at my inbox in my email. There was a post from you, at 2:23pm yesterday, but when I went to look at the long text within the Houzz environment, it was not there. Did you remove it or is Houzz removing your posts?

As far as I'm concerned this move was a horrible mistake. Gardenweb used to be one of my "go-to" sites. Now? Not so much any more. Back to other sites for me... (Even trying to find a profile picture that they would accept was infuriating to the point where I quit even trying.)

@MGPinSavannah What sort of issues were you having with your profile photo?

It kept insisting on either a photo that would "fit," or a photo that was larger format than I usually save the photos I use for profile pix (which generally insist on SMALLER photos).

MGPinSavannah, I had the same problem, but then I realized there are two photos you can set up. They want the large format photo for the wide band across your profile page (I just picked one of their options, as my photos aren't stored in that large a size, either.)

To make your avatar, mouse over the gray silhouette guy, and a separate camera icon will appear for that photo choice. This one does not have to be a large format.

Yeah, it sounds like it may have been the cover photo upload rather than the profile that was the issue? If not, please shoot us an email at gardenweb(at)houzz.com and attach the photo and we can help you get it uploaded.

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

EUREKA! It worked!

Hooray! (Such a cute photo, too.)

I hope you don't give up. The unique people here are what make this place work (or not) and I hate to lose anyone. I agree it feels different, but it seems like we should at least try to make it work, and try to keep the community intact. Hang in there!

FYI...they've added "bold" and "italic" to the text editing. While italic works well, bold does not - oh well.

Bold
Italic
Both bold and italic
Mix of bold and italic so you can see how they look interspersed with regular text.
Oh, and the keyboard shortcuts work as well (bold using <Ctrl-B> and italic using <Ctrl-I> on PCs)

Bold is showing VERY bold on my screen. Love this new capability.

I wanna try!

Boldly going where this GWer has never gone before.

Now, all we need is the strike-through option, so CEFreeman can return to her patented writing style. I never understood what strike-through was for, until I started reading her posts.

Now that the dust has mostly settled, I need to combine my GW and Houzz accounts. My ideabooks are being held captive under my Houzz name, which I'd like to get rid of. I want to access them as may_flowers. Can I fix that on my own or do I need admin help?

may_flowers, I'm not sure, but I'm in the same boat. I had a houzz account with the same user name, so now I need to get them merged. I think we need to email houzz support to get this done. Maybe Emily will see our posts and verify the right way to have accounts merged.

My GW and Houzz accounts had the same user names. Same email and passwords, too. So they merged without me doing anything. Totally automatic.

Ah, so I'll bet mine did not merge because I used different emails and passwords on the two sites. Only the user name was the same, so they imported me over here as mudhouse_gw, and that's where all my older GW comments and history are stuck.

My email and passwords were the same but I have two accounts.

may_flowers, your accounts are merged. If you click on your name, you can see your posting history goes back to the old GW, as well as the Houzz era. If you are having trouble accessing your clippings, etc., Tamara has been really helpful at restoring that "lost" information.

Do you mean the two Ideabooks? Those are newly added. I have several more in my Houzz account. I think I will email Tamara. Thanks!

Old Gardenweber from way back, kitchen mostly done, new user name....I hate to ask this question as the 350th or something post on this question but...is it no longer possible to conduct a search in a particular chosen gardenweb forum, other than the one that the computer program selects which forums it will search?

If so, can I add my name to whatever chorus is singing out to Houzz that that really stinks.

The GW search option was terrible it was always better to search a search engine like google. I think google is still the best option.

plants4, I've been able to search within a particular gardenweb forum, but I think it's fiddly (you have to be careful and really pay attention where you click.)

For example, say you want to research Meyer lemon trees in the Citrus forum. Go to Advice, then go to Gardenweb Garden Forums, then go to the Citrus forum. Once you're in the Citrus forum, type Meyer lemon in the search box. As you do, a drop down box will appear, for you to choose where you want to search. The first option will be to search within the Citrus Forum, because that is where you are reading. So, be sure to choose Citrus from the drop down box, and you're searching just in Citrus.

If I forget, and just do a search without carefully choosing the forum I want in the drop down box, I find myself bobbing like a cork in the vast ocean of general Houzz results. And saying bad words. Takes some getting used to.

A little help here.. Do we have two Tamara, community managers or are they the same person?

Tamara vs gwtamara

phylis, I think gwtamara was her user name when we were all at GardenWeb. When I've seen her pop in to threads to help people since the transition to houzz, she seems to be using the user name Tamara. Same helpful person, I believe. :-)

I have been off GW for nearly a year. We completed our kitchen except for a few things like window coverings and chairs, last summer when I was diagnosed with cancer. So recovering well, I came back to the site and was amazed to see the changes. I don't know if I will like it or not. I hope Houzz will not make this a glossy magazine type web site. I hardly ever look at Houzz any more because it is so impossibly out of this world for me. However, I hope to see some of the same people on GW as were here when I left it. Thanks to all who helped me with my kitchen reno. We love it and are now looking into building a deck from our new kitchen French doors.

Oh dear, driftwoodandmarble, are we supposed to have a five year plan? I'm in trouble then. Lucky you...you missed all the trauma and uproar of the transition to Houzz!

Chickadee, so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I'm so happy to hear that you are recovering well, and enjoying your new kitchen. I hope you'll give the new forums some time, and I think you'll see that many of the same GW folks are here posting. Good luck with the new deck!

don't like the merge much. I always found GW folks very helpful while Houzz is full of designers and builders modeling their wares (eye candy) and who often have no data on the items in the photos - you see lots of remarks such as "the owners bought it, I didn't keep the file, I don't recall but you could look at color X which is similar, we built that custom so contact us and we'll tell you how many thousands it will cost to have one just like it - - etc" or in most cases don't even bother to answer. I think if they post a photo to advertise themselves they should be required to list the appliances, main fixtures, paint color, and things like countertops that were used. That would reduce a lot of questions on Houzz and make the photos more useful.

I depend on the knowledgeable people on GW who actually have experience with these things for reviews and opinions. A bunch of user names got changed in the merge which was not helpful. I'm attempting to use the forums again and I hope it improves.

Chickadee I hope your health continues to improve. Welcome back!

I see I have a new name - I am the former renov8r. Thanks for your kind wishes.

I like houzz but it is very frustrating that you can't save photos to your computer or pin them on Pinterest!

^^ yes, you can! I right click the photo, and in the pop-up that appears, highlight the image address and use the keyboard (while still highlighted) to copy to clipboard (mouse-clicking to copy won't work -- has to be the keyboard). Then open a new tab and paste the address. At least, this works on my Mac. Not sure about Windows.

Changing course, at bit: Should I assume that the capacity to make one's email address known to other gardenweb users without bruiting it about in the middle of a thread has been discontinued on Houzz? 0r are the user profiles -- with gardening zone, etc -- still accessible? Thanks.

Houzz is for selling you home improvements. Hard to even log in, can't fine rhe usual forums. It used to be my favorite, now it's a waste of my time. Hard to fine what you need so far as forums are concerned.

Here's the link to the here's the link to the home site forums:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums

here is the link to GW main page:

http://www.gardenweb.com/