www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I see that some of the pics are back on the board. Some are pretty old. A lot are still among the missing.

But I don't see any way to use a SEARCH function to find a particular chica name or pic number.

I tried to help some newbies on the ground in SJ yesterday with pictures for identification, but I struck out trying to use names...or even recent pictures with no names. The old search function was easy and helpful.

Does anybody know how to search the gallery?

Maybe Alex will advise us on the status of the picture search function---whether it is gone forever, or will be up soon.

I'll be very disappointed if it's gone forever.

I'd be disappointed if the category selection disappears as well.

Rac send him a pm, it was one of the best things about the site,really helpfull if you are in san jose

I agree. The VIP photo area was a way to grasp in a photo format what was happening. This area was really more widely visited by the VIP members than the forum. I'm very dissapointed in how this website transition has taken place. It's been without any appreciation for what the long term members enjoyed about the old website - like the comments on the photos. I'm personally fairly web-hip having developed several myself as well as upgrading others. This was mishandled and in my opinion it is still being mishandled.

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Slut Puppy in Training

Is low self esteem a prerequisite for being a good Ho or is it a result? ;-)

Alex.......

Are you reading this thread?

I concur.

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"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

When CRT was sold, the forum was down for a couple of days......then came back up essentially unchanged. That is a GOOD thing, because the forum has worked well for many years, and it is the core of CRT. We like the forum and use it with very few complaints.

I can understand how new owners of ANYTHING want to make their investment to be in their own style, with improvements that they think are a benefit to the users. I have seen some changes on CRT that are a welcomed benefit, including some changes related to pictures, such as new categories and editing related to particular countries.

HOWEVER, in the wonderful world of high-tech wizardry, there should be a way to make changes (improvements??) to the picture functions of CRT while still retaining the old "New VIP Gallery" essentially unchanged.......just like the forum was left unchanged.

What we have now, are some minor additions and minor improvements accompanied by a SUBSTANTIAL loss of the VIP gallery and its search function. IMHO, that is a BIG step in the wrong direction.....and a substantial, net loss to our brotherhood.

When the dust settles, I hope that we will have the old "NEW VIP GALLERY" restored and unchanged and searchable.......with other new and improved functions on CRT. That approach would be a positive step in the RIGHT direction. If we talk it up enough, it might happen.

I guess the new owners never read "Who moved my cheese"...

mh

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mh

Dear CRT Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the CRT members who have provided feedback in this thread. I understand that recent changes present some challenges. In particular, photos are a key item of interest and we are committed to bringing you the best Costa Rica has to offer.

First, I am happy to announce that we now have two forums where VIP members can post photos.

VIP Trip Reports with Photos viewforum.php?f=23
VIP Lounge Girl Review with Photos and Comments viewforum.php?f=3

These forums are available only to VIP members, and you can upload photos directly in the forum. Over the years CRT had offered two photo gallery applications. These were the Original Gallery, and the New Gallery, which was introduced in 2008. These were accessed through the main site, and members could both view and upload photos.

As many of you have mentioned the forum was left almost untouched by the migration. However, we made the first substantial change last week when the Girl Review Forum was updated to allow photo uploads and restricted to just VIP members.

I think you will agree that being able to upload photos directly to the forum is much easier than having two separate systems, where members would have to search the forum to connect reports with photos. I know many of us are used to doing it this way, but it is quite difficult for new members to learn such a complicated system. Indeed, where else on the Internet would it be done this way? Most people expect to see the photos in the forum because that is where all the conversation is taking place.

The biggest problem with the old system is that it is not sustainable. It was custom developed software, written many years ago with little or no subsequent maintenance. It had become the source of repeated attempts to hack the site. Unfortunately some of this attempts were successful, and while no critical information has ever been compromised it caused considerable downtime and embarrassment.

Another problem with the gallery application is that it also used same database the PHPBB forum. Unfortunately this database has grown quite large because we have elected not to remove more than a decade of forum postings. The combination of an ever growing forum database with a vulnerable and unsupported gallery application is an unacceptable risk. Now that the migration is complete we have two software platforms that are routinely updated by a worldwide community of software developers.

Again, I know this change may be difficult for some of us to adapt. However, I hope the change will enhance the value of the forum for the members, and encourage more participation. I look forward to seeing some great photos in both the Trip Reports with Photos and VIP Girl Review Forums. Each month we will add the best photos to either an article or a gallery on the front page, and everyone who joins the email list will be notified.

As always we value the feedback of the CRT members, and are open to any suggestions.

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Alex
The Admin

First off, let me say that I am not against change. I know, people hate change, but I see no problem with positive change. Let me further say that having to login twice was a pain in the ass, and yes, it is helpful to be able to upload photos through the forum itself. I also understand that programming needs to keep up with technological advancements and platform changes.

Having said these things, and even with the new advantages, it is still a giant step backwards. Other boards do this, and while it's nice to see photos as they happen during comments in a post, the power and the dynamic of the old gallery was that everything was easily searchable. finding photos in this new type format is sketchy at best, doesn't classify the areas in which photos can be found, and requires jumping from thread to thread instead of having the centralized gallery. The new evolution is a giant step backwards in this respect, and maybe the old gallery programming, obsolete as it now is, was ahead of its time, because its uitlity is far greater than the "new and improved" version.

If it was just up to me I would modernize the old gallery rather than going and doing what every other board does. This kind of thinking is what will stop CRT from being a superior product to the other boards out there. The quality here has already been dropping, and that drop shouldn't be enabled by new management. It should be fought against every step of the way. We shouldn't be aspiring to be like everybody else. We should be aspiring to be better than that, and the easy utility of the gallery system was a big part of that, even if it was at the cost of having to use two locations.

My thoughts, exactly.

The picture search function has been important and useful.

Apparently, it's gone forever.

That's Not better.

fwiw Admin 1 still seems far more active then the new owner(s)

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im way deep into nothing special
riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of hollywood

I am a little confused. Does this mean that ALL of the Photos from the past are now gone forever? The whole visual history of the board is now gone?

Have a Great Day,

Dave

It seems to me that a VERY FEW of the OLDER pictures have been put back on the site.

But I still do not see any way to SEARCH the pictures by chica name or by Pic. number. And from what Alex posted, it seems like searching the old pictures will never be possible in the future. Bad for us ! Lo siento !

Personally, I thought the old VIP Gallery was one of the best things about this site. It had numerous categories to break down your search. And I always paid attention to the "Scammers/Con Artists" category, as well as the "Poor Performance" pics. And it was nice to be able to search the old gallery using a picture i.d. or a chica's name. It is EXTREMELY unfortunate that this new photo gallery is sub-par at best. Oh well... I guess all good things must come to an end.

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!