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March 28, 2024, 09:13:46 pm

Author Topic: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?  (Read 4966 times)  Share 

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jamonwindeyer

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #15 on: June 23, 2017, 08:14:15 pm »
+1
Yeah though I wonder if a small scale experiment would be worth conducting with a simple interface etc. Might be good to experiment as AN is looking to possibly change it anyway. I understand to some degree how complicated it will be though.

Moving away from SMF is a big move - That means a complete redesign of the backbones of the forums, likely to be a very long term thing if that does happen :)

On sticky threads, my personal opinion is that what we have right now in the HSC works well - A resource thread and a question thread, both sticky (any sections that don't have this now I'll be tidying over the mid year break) :) despite being against the change, I'd be interested to see how the adjustment would be unsticking question threads though :)


patriciarose

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #16 on: June 23, 2017, 08:16:42 pm »
+1
It would be nice if you could remove stickied threads from the unread list. Maybe exclude certain posts or something? Stickied threads are amazing though, I like how it's always in that one place and is really useful.

I like the way it is atm :) I rarely use the last unread function anyway ( honestly I just realised it exists ): ) but I assume others do.

i try to use the unread list but the stickied threads are kind of annoying oops so i'm seconding/thirding/fourthing wales' suggestion haha. but they are really useful in the individual boards tbh, it's nice to have the reliable resources right there when you go looking. (: also, i feel like if you unsticky the question threads, you'll probably get an influx of new threads for small-scale questions? because if it's not up there under people's eyes straight away, they might just create something new instead. idk, i quite like those being stickied haha. so i've totally contradicted myself, oops.
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jamonwindeyer

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #17 on: June 23, 2017, 08:21:47 pm »
+2
i try to use the unread list but the stickied threads are kind of annoying oops so i'm seconding/thirding/fourthing wales' suggestion haha. but they are really useful in the individual boards tbh, it's nice to have the reliable resources right there when you go looking. (: also, i feel like if you unsticky the question threads, you'll probably get an influx of new threads for small-scale questions? because if it's not up there under people's eyes straight away, they might just create something new instead. idk, i quite like those being stickied haha. so i've totally contradicted myself, oops.

I feel like this summarises my thoughts exactly (and perhaps the thoughts of many). We want the emphasis on the Question Threads in the section itself, but they saturate the unread list :P

miguel_1

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #18 on: June 23, 2017, 10:35:10 pm »
+1
Moving away from SMF is a big move - That means a complete redesign of the backbones of the forums, likely to be a very long term thing if that does happen :)

What does SMF stand for? Tried googling, was not the answer I expected.
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jamonwindeyer

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #19 on: June 23, 2017, 10:37:15 pm »
+3
What does SMF stand for? Tried googling, was not the answer I expected.

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2017, 10:38:05 pm »
+1
What does SMF stand for? Tried googling, was not the answer I expected.
Simple Machines Forum, a web-based forum software
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brenden

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #21 on: June 24, 2017, 12:09:25 am »
+6
i try to use the unread list but the stickied threads are kind of annoying oops so i'm seconding/thirding/fourthing wales' suggestion haha. but they are really useful in the individual boards tbh, it's nice to have the reliable resources right there when you go looking. (: also, i feel like if you unsticky the question threads, you'll probably get an influx of new threads for small-scale questions? because if it's not up there under people's eyes straight away, they might just create something new instead. idk, i quite like those being stickied haha. so i've totally contradicted myself, oops.
Thanks heaps for your post patricia.

Personally, I don't think it's a massive deal if other threads crop up. It would be good for the forum, because new topics give something for Google to index and display to people who type similar questions in to the search engine. Back in my day, before question threads were OVERWHELMINGLY dominant, it was pretty common to ask questions in new topics. I don't think it was negative for the forum at all! If anything, imo, it was positive! I wouldn't mind seeing more of it personally but, the whole point of this thread is for the users to have the input, because at the end of the day, any changes we make are to benefit you all... Pls, anyone reading this,  just add your 2c :)
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keltingmeith

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #22 on: June 27, 2017, 11:57:19 am »
+2
-snip-

As cool as this is and so glad you went to all of the effort to type up the suggestion, I'm not sure how great this would be just in general. Like, the mod team spoke a few weeks ago, and most of us unanimously decided (not an oxymoron - nobody was against it, but not everyone responded to it, either) that the way question threads work currently isn't actually very beneficial long-term.

As is, question threads currently have a mentality of "I can't do question 7b can you show me how to do it so I can memorise it in case they give me that exact question in the exam?", as opposed to a, "how should I be trying to approach this question, so if I get something similar and don't know what to do I can still try and attempt it in the exam?" The latter leads to much better learning and development, but that's not currently how question threads work. The system you've designed works better for the first scenario, but the latter is aided much more by discussion. (furthermore, I feel in pretty much any board that isn't science or maths, the first scenario just wouldn't work outright)

But otherwise it's well-thought out, I like how thorough you were with the suggestion!

---

My actual contribution to the thread: Tbh, I don't quite see the point of making question threads to be something "special". At the end of the day, anybody new that comes in and isn't used to forums (oh boy, back in the day on gamefaqs :'( ) won't understand the significance of stickying a topic, so stickying it doesn't make it anything special to them. For us current users, we know that questions get asked in every thread anyway, so the question thread isn't special there, either. Really, they're just localised places for questions to concentrate, so people who like to give answers know where to focus. So, we should try to keep them at the top, and so stickying is special for that one reason. Except, those threads get posted in so much more than the rest of the threads anyway, that it's kind of redundant to sticky them? It's like if you walked up to a millionaire and said, "here's $50 to feed your family for the week". Like, they'll thank you, but you really haven't done a service - nobody's really benefitting from that exchange. Give that $50 to someone who's a paycheck away from being homeless (a resource thread), and they'll love you for it, and you've just changed somebody's life.

Tl;dr, not really any point to stickying threads, but it's also not hurting anyone. At this point, it's just about aesthetics, really.

Joseph41

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Re: We are probably going to 'un-sticky' a lot of threads - YOUR OPINION?
« Reply #23 on: October 04, 2017, 03:49:21 pm »
+3
Hey all!

Just a quick heads-up. We're going to go ahead and unsticky a bunch of threads to see how it affects things.

Keen to hear feedback in the coming days, weeks, whenever. :)

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