Omnimaga
Omnimaga => Site Feedback and Questions => Topic started by: Jonius7 on November 10, 2010, 11:45:28 pm
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Hi everyone,
I've been thinking about this for a while and i've finally decided to post a topic about it. Many times i post something in a topic and then i realise that the original post in the topic is completely irrelevant to what i just said. This is just an idea, but, wouldn't it be great if you could view the first post in a topic from the top of every page? Like the polls that are visible? so that our posts would be possibly more relevant to the topic. also to make it not intruding, it could be hidden like the forum categories with a "-" button.
I understand that there are issues about page loading, bandwidth, and website modification, but i guess the first step is to discuss about it with the rest of the community to get a better idea of the general perception.
So hopefully there will be lots of good discussion on this...
jhgenius01
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Oh I thought about that before, but since all other calc forums doesn't have that, same for non calc boards, I worry that it might confuse some people since sometimes, the most up-to-date info isn't in the first post. So I decided against it. :(
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That would be quite cool, but DJ Omnimaga does present a valid point.
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Ya, I would advise against it since things can change drastically from when the first post is made to when you post. It's, in my opinion, easier to just read the posts I haven't or the whole topic so I know what's going on and then reply accordingly. It's not the fastest way but it's the most reliable, I think.
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Maybe there can be an option for the person who started the board...right next to "lock this topic" or nearby there could be another checkbox--"set as important post" or something like that?
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I would need to check the SMF site to see if there's such mod available. My worry is that I may have to manually edit the 4 templates, though...
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I would need to check the SMF site to see if there's such mod available. My worry is that I may have to manually edit the 4 templates, though...
Oh, so you would have to do something to the website's source or something to make the post change?
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Well I would need to edit the source or install a Mod that edits the source for me. However, we use custom templates so that might take a long while to edit.
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True, i also thought about how it might be different and confusing to some people, it might be better when it is hidden.
not sure, because outdated info is a good point....
whoah lots of posts already...
Maybe there can be an option for the person who started the board...right next to "lock this topic" or nearby there could be another checkbox--"set as important post" or something like that?
that's a nice idea... it would solve the outdated posts thing...
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Yeah I think if I can find a mod that lets someone setup an important post for his topic it would be nice. That way people won't re-ask questions 10 times about something or report the same bugs over and over.
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I almost always read through the entire topic. In the case of it being a massive topic *cough* Axe forum *cough* I at least look back a few pages until I see what is currently being discussed. In my humble opinion, it's really not that much work to look through a topic and see where discussion is at, especially if you are interested. It's also worth mentioning that if it is a larger or popular topic the first post may not be as much relevant at this stage of discussion. Except in the case of the first post being regularly updated in which case you can just look at the first post anyway. Just my two cents. =)
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I think that in topics that have evolved so much since their creation,seeing the first post might actually *encourage* off topic posting. For example in a help thread where the problem has already been resolved. In the "Is a NES emulator possible" thread, we already know it is :P And the Axe thread is another great example
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I also kinda worry about newbies who aren't used to our system: in less active parts of the forums, like C and the non-calc dev sections, and during Summer in the BASIC/ASM ones, they might open old threads in the middle of the list and when they'll see the first post, they'll not realize at first and try to reply to the question, necroposting in the process.
For other sections I think necroposting is not as bad since the first page usually has posts from the last month or two.
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Maybe only limited people can set as important (eg: topic creator, moderators and admin?) or u have to reach a certain level...?
well i guess it's good for some topics and not good for other ones...
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Setting as important sounds like a good idea (if it's possible). We definitely can't have anyone be able to set their posts as important, though. If a lot of people did, the topic would get cluttered.
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Maybe only limited people can set as important (eg: topic creator, moderators and admin?) or u have to reach a certain level...?
well i guess it's good for some topics and not good for other ones...
That could be an idea. Definitively only mods or topics owners, so random ppl won't pin their "CH3CK M3 N3W NUMB4R G3N3R473R 3ND 1053 73H 643M!1!1LULULUL11" post.
I'll check on SMF site to see if the mod that allowed the first post on every page had options.
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Worst-case scenario, people could just edit their first post, which by default limits it to the person who started the topic and staff.
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Worst-case scenario, people could just edit their first post, which by default limits it to the person who started the topic and staff.
Still gotta go back to the first page, though, so that was the original suggestion.
Maybe (if the mod works) label the first post as important by default?
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I like the important post idea. It'd be cool if the topic starter could chose (but only if they wanted to) an 'Important Post', which by default, gets shown at the top of the page or something.
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Worst-case scenario, people could just edit their first post, which by default limits it to the person who started the topic and staff.
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Maybe (if the mod works) label the first post as important by default?
I was implying that. What I meant was the people who could edit it would already be limited, no changes required.
It would be nice to be able to select which post to pin/labal/flag/whatever, though.
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It would be nice if it was possible to not have any important post for certain topics, though.
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looks like we have a good general idea of the public opinion... thanks guys!
And i know, DJ-Omni that it would be good for some topics but not good for others...
eg: most of the randomness topics wouldn't need one... but the calc game development topics would benefit becuz the author could note to everyone else the newest version of their program....
I have another idea... Possibly a subtitle or abstract of the topic?
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I have another idea... Possibly a subtitle or abstract of the topic?
Hmm, I know some boards (like Zetaboards) have that. It shows up under the topic title in the topics list... Would that be a possibility here, though? Does SMF support it?
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I would like that very much, but maybe it could be minimizable like the OmnIRC, so that we aren't forced to have a longer page :)
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looks like we have a good general idea of the public opinion... thanks guys!
And i know, DJ-Omni that it would be good for some topics but not good for others...
eg: most of the randomness topics wouldn't need one... but the calc game development topics would benefit becuz the author could note to everyone else the newest version of their program....
I have another idea... Possibly a subtitle or abstract of the topic?
Hmm topic descriptions might be good actually. Might be hard to implement, site-wide, but maybe I'll consider it in the future. I kinda like the important topic idea, though. Maybe someone with PHP knowledge in the Omnimaga staff or channel ops could eventually write a SMF mod that does it.
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looks like we have a good general idea of the public opinion... thanks guys!
And i know, DJ-Omni that it would be good for some topics but not good for others...
eg: most of the randomness topics wouldn't need one... but the calc game development topics would benefit becuz the author could note to everyone else the newest version of their program....
I have another idea... Possibly a subtitle or abstract of the topic?
Hmm topic descriptions might be good actually. Might be hard to implement, site-wide, but maybe I'll consider it in the future. I kinda like the important topic idea, though. Maybe someone with PHP knowledge in the Omnimaga staff or channel ops could eventually write a SMF mod that does it.
PHP, forums always need it, in forums usually you only have to change something in order for it to be available in the whole site :)
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Yeah but sometimes a forum system may not have the required feature. SMF, for example, has no support for topic descriptions. You need to install third-party modifications to add special features, like the website front page portal and the download section. Otherwise, you need to know PHP a lot and modify the forum code, which makes it harder to upgrade later, though.
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It could be something like OmnomIRC, minimiseable and stuff. I guess it would be hard to implement in some cases...
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To be able to minimize it would help. Especially if the posts are really long :P/me looks at the link in his sig
/me innocently walks off, whistling
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]PS: I guess my respect is still stagnant at +4
As a rule of thumb, such post typically gets rated down since it is seen as complaining about low respect. People don't like that.
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sorry,
i deleted that.
I guess at that time i was getting frustrated about the limitations of TI-nspire basic here http://ourl.ca/7009.new#new
Now that I'm over that I'm sorry
(I was meant to post this about a week ago..)