Seeker -
Thanks for sharing your feedback.
Your points are interesting, as they run counter to an analysis we've just completed of how the new site compares to the old CM.com experience of 2 years ago (before we expanded the team and Chris wrote 100% of the content on the site).
Let me attempt to address each as best I can:
Podcasts
Since launching the new site, we have continued to release a new podcast each week in our Featured Voices section, in addition to the weekly Off The Cuff premium podcast in our Insider section. In the past 2 weeks, we've featured 4 interviews that Chris has given (plus 2 other excellent inteviews of Chris by Capital Account and FinancialSense), including a discussion with a well-known former US Senator which took months to arrange.
How many of these podcast interviews with notable minds was Chris producing 2 years ago? Zero.
Frequency of Chris' articles
Over the past two years, the site has evolved to include quality content from others that complements Chris' writing. After all, as one person, there's a limit to what he can personally generate in one week.
An important goal of expanding our team and what this website offers was to give Chris the freedom to write *more* than he was doing while also offering *more* useful, original content from writers Chris respects.
So what was Chris' frequency for publishing posts 2 years ago? On average, 2 x per week (1 blog post and 1 Insider)
What his publishing frequency now? About twice that. (on average: 1 blog post per week, 1 Insider post, 1 Featured Voices interview, 1 Off The Cuff interview). Plus, he has more time to devote to participating in the Comments on this site.
And what about the weekly additional exclusive, orginal analysis from thinkers like Charles Hugh Smith, Gregor Macdonald, Alasdair Macleod? Or the What Should I Do? weekly series? Or the new Groups, Wikis, or Daily Prep? None of that was available 2 years ago.
Finding recent comments
You'll find recent comments from users right on this site's home page (beneath the Daily Digest & Today's Market module) In fact, we just doubled it's size a few days ago.
You'll also notice it's next to Popular comments - a new feature designed to surface the best comments on the site for you.
Recent comments are also displayed in most sidebars across the site.
There has been a bug where when clicking on a comment, you sometimes don't get dropped off on the right place in the comment stream. We've been clear we're aware of that and are working to fix. In most cases, it should be working properly now - but there are a few more left to fix.
Forums
Interesting to hear you find these confusing, as we've made no changes to the Forums from the old site to the new.
Perhaps you're referring to the comment linking bug mentioned above. If so, as mentioned, that will be fixed soon.
Guidance on how to use the new site
Perhaps you didn't visit the site in the weeks preceding or immediately following the switchover. We published a number of "here's what's coming" and "how to use" posts - including instructional videos - to help our readers prepare for the new site.
If you did miss those, I'd recomment starting here: http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/78943/introducing-peak-prosperity
Value
All the changes above made over the past 2 years have resulted in a price increase for members of exactly $0.
In fact, with the launch of the new site (which was quite expensive and paid for 100% out of Chris' and my pockets), we have removed much of our advertising in order to make the user experience better for all, so we are making *less* money per user.
But, whether to remain an enrolled user is a decision only you can make. Is there enough added value for you?
For our part, we will continue to listen hard to user feedback to improve and expand upon our free & enrolled offerings. Our new site represents a year's worth of work doing that as best we know how.
If there are other specific issues with the site you (or anyone else) would like to bring to our attention, please use the feedback form here. You're also welcome to PM me anytime.
There haven't been any good podcasts in a while. The content from Chris is always very good but there isn't much of that anymore. No easy way to see or find recent comments by subscribers and non-subscribers. The whole Forum thing is very confusing because there's no good way to see what track your post lands in. There's no help in translating features from the old site to the new site. In a word, Chris is missing from this new product and I don't think there is enough other momentum to justify the premium price. Thinking of terminating my subscription. Been relying a lot more on Carolyn Baker's Daily Digest. Maybe all good things must change and come to an end.