Over the past few years, it seems like Memrise has removed more than they’ve added.
First they got rid of course forums and auto-ignore, both of which were great features
Then they tried to get rid of user-created mems, the very namesake of the site. Fortunately the backlash was so strong that Memrise actually relented and put them back.
Now they’ve removed being able to easily see how many reviews you have for each course from your dashboard.
I say this as someone who really loves Memrise. I’ve stuck with it over the years because I really do think it’s still the best SRS system, and I subscribe to Pro out of not only a wish to support such a helpful website, but also because the Difficult words feature is really helpful. You guys have done some good things in recent times too. I like that Speed Reviews finally play audio on desktop, and that they now function more like mobile where the number goes down even if you get it wrong. But lately it feels like Memrise removes more good than it adds. I just want to make sure the User Created courses, which have been my bread and butter for the past few years are safe, so my time investment won’t go down the tube.
There aren’t any guarantees on this site anymore, unfortunately. They refuse to talk to us, and they refuse to give us a heads up on almost anything.
Many users have expressed concerns about them eventually removing user-created courses in the past. The response has always been ominous silence. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if it happened one day. Angry? You’d better believe it. I’ve put many, many hours into building my courses. But not surprised. It would no longer be a matter of “Can I put up with this change?” at that point; Memrise would be flat-out dead for me.
Just my admittedly dismal views. Honestly, I don’t see how anyone with any common sense would even consider bulldozing such a treasure trove of user-created material, but after watching the changes over the years, I don’t have a grain of trust in the direction that Memrise is going in anymore…
The only reason I subscribed to Pro is because of user created courses, they are user-friendly and much more helpful from learners’ point of views. PLEASE NEVER REMOVE USER CREATED COURSES.
Haha, I’ll be sure to do so. Memrise or no, I’m determined to find a home for my courses. I’ve still got several more I’m working on! Thank goodness the source material’s at least safe in my offline spreadsheets…
Also, you can find my email in the intro levels for my courses too, in case these forums also poof one day. (Just trying to plan ahead… )
finding a new home for our own courses is something that cannot be avoided anymore. The yesterday “improvement” is the umpteenth “anti-learning” measure Ed Cooke and the rest are taking.
well, with the help of 5 user scripts i’ll use them in here until the “bitter end” and take them all down shortly before they shut down the website (gee, I invested months in curating and creating), but I have already saved them for further usage in a “protected environment”.
well, all my courses are user created ones, some by myself, some by others, so getting rid of them gets rid of me, per default.
Plus, I have not been able to revise for several days now, so the website is essentially useless and dead anyway…
This is very peculiar threat. I mean, it’s not just about subscription, I feel that without User Created Courses there will be no point in staying here at all.
Well - not a very peculiar threat indeed. From the app it is already impossible to search for user generated content. Therefore I don’t think it unlikely they’ll get rid of the content some time in the future. I never thought they could be so stupid, but since yesterday I lost all faith in the product and especially the minds behind it.
How stupid can you be to want to get rid of high-quality content made for free for you by your users, that other people pay for, and that are the real good thing with your product?
I mean, they want to turn Memrise into a paying language-learning app, with only Memrise-made content? So, a kind of low-quality, not really effective, paying, Duolingo ?
LOL, good luck guys.
I really don’t like the last changes. You can’t see the number of words to revise anymore, you can’t even choose how to revise anymore ! (I have several difficult words in a course but the button is greyed out, I can’t work on my difficult words although I am a pro user !).
Also, for some arbitrary reason we can’t do speed reviews on user created course on mobile. They are really pushing their own courses, but those are horrible. They are not pedagogic at all, they don’t start from the beginning and in general, they are trying to teach you the language rather than sticking to vocabulary, which their system isn’t build for. I’m trying to seriously look for alternatives…
I just discovered that I cannot even pick up user created courses in the mobile app.
I didn’t update the Android app since months as I didn’t want to see all the Ziggy shit, and wanted to be a crowned Meminence when I reach 10 million points. Then, after collecting 9,8 million points the old app stopped working. So I had to update.
Ziggy appeared, and even more annoying than in the web version.
More space stuff instead of flowers.
Looks like the memrise team invested all their development effort into dumbass grammar bots. Thanks, but this is a feature you already had, in any courses with full sentences, you must tap on the words in the correct order.
They got rid of all user-created courses in the app. You can just pick up the official courses, in the officially supported languages, nothing more. THEY JUST WANT TO THROW OUT 90% OF THE CONTENT
Looks like what Memrise needs is a bunch of kids who download the app, purchase the pro then forget it ASAP, hopefully before finishing the last official course.
I highly doubt they would do that to be honest. It’s most probably the main pull of the website and getting rid if it would be suicide for the site, I mean. I get why you might be worried because of the mems, but they weren’t really that bug of a pull tbh, at least not from what I’ve seen. I came for the user made courses and so have many people, and the only site I’ve ever seen make such a drastic change was LiveMocha, but that was because they got bought by Rosetta Stone so basically became an advert.
As an app user, though it is quite annoying, I’m pretty sure it’s temporary based of the ominous text you get when you try and view them. It says “You just can’t see them yet” which makes me think they must be doing something with the app at the moment. Another thing that makes me think this is that it isn’t just user created courses, it’s some of the memrise ones too, for example, I thought I would do Dutch while I wait, then discovered that I can only do Dutch 1 and 2-7 are nowhere to be seen.
When it comes to user-created courses, I can firmly say that they won’t remove them, they CAN’T remove them. And no, that is not based off something they said, but simply my opinion. Moreover, if they do so, then I will have no more reason to visit this site, and I’m sure the majority of the forum’s community feels the same way.
To be honest, their own content is not even close to standing on it’s own if they got rid of user created courses. Simply adding gimmick features like grammar-bot does not do anything to entice a serious learner outside of grandma or a 10 year old kid. But I don’t care about that anyway. I like the ability to make my own course and learn my own way. Which Memrise does best. Not allowing other people to use your courses from the app is pretty telling where they want to go from here. So with that said… I suggest reading the next paragraph.
If you want to really send them a message. I suggest going to the app store on either apple or google and giving them a 1 star rating. Believe it or not, that hurts them more than cancelling your subscription. Even better, uninstall the app too. I say this as a developer myself. This really hurts. Your subscription fee which lets guess only less than 10% here pay, only pays for their electric bill maybe. Uninstalling the app and giving them a one star rating hurts their salaries.
Memrise or no, I’m determined to find a home for my courses. I’ve still got several more I’m working on! Thank goodness the source material’s at least safe in my offline spreadsheets…
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