All right… this is more of a vent, but hopefully it can change the way at least even one person sets up their forum or membership system.

Trying to keep on top of all things Virtual, I have a Google Alert set up for the term “Virtual Assistant” (as well as a few other terms, including my own name)…anyhow – today it popped up a discussion post regarding Virtual Assistants and some online support forums available to help VAs run their businesses.  It was a great post and I wanted to make a comment and add another choice to the options listed (my always favourite one, VANetworking) … and here is where the problem started.

I consider myself fairly net-savvy, especially with regards to joining online groups and asking or posting questions and answering them as well.  Sometimes you can just post a comment and sometimes you have to join the group.

I joined this group and then tried to post my comment. No Luck, couldn’t find the “reply” link.  I tried looking around elsewhere and checking the help file. Nothing.  I took a break and came back, still trying to find it. No dice. Very well hidden.  I sent an email to the “report a bug on our website” link and later received an answer. It pretty much told me what I already knew… but the reply spot is still not visible to me, nor to the other two sets of eyes I had looking for it as well.

I looked some more… but it just is not easily found.  Frustrating.  This is a major part of any online forum or group – the reply section.  If visitors or members have to look this hard – it was not set it up very well.

So, to the unnamed website that had my jaw grinding today, sorry, but I will probably cancel my membership or never visit again.  One should be able to click, click and click some more, and happily negotiate through any website or discussion forum.

Technorati Tags: on line forums, virtual assistant, virtual assistant organizations, website planning