107 replies to this topic

[Anna J]

Moderators: Have you figured out how to change topic titles? I can't seem to find it.

[Christian]

Anna J, on 25 April 2012 - 07:24 PM, said:

Moderators: Have you figured out how to change topic titles? I can't seem to find it.

At the top of this page, and all other forum pages (I think), you'll see a "Reply to this Topic" button to the right. Just to the left of that button is text that says "Topic Moderation" in light grey -- that's what the color looks like on my monitor.

Click on "Topic Moderation." The top option is "Edit Title." I haven't used it yet, but I'm guessing that'll do the trick.

Edited by Christian, 25 April 2012 - 07:44 PM.

[opus]

Christian, on 25 April 2012 - 07:44 PM, said:

Anna J, on 25 April 2012 - 07:24 PM, said:

Moderators: Have you figured out how to change topic titles? I can't seem to find it.

At the top of this page, and all other forum pages (I think), you'll see a "Reply to this Topic" button to the right. Just to the left of that button is text that says "Topic Moderation" in light grey -- that's what the color looks like on my monitor.

Click on "Topic Moderation." The top option is "Edit Title." I haven't used it yet, but I'm guessing that'll do the trick.

Yes, it does the trick. I've edited a couple of titles without any problem.

[Peter T Chattaway]

I can't count the number of times I have wanted to jump back into this thread over the past few weeks to reiterate how much I really enjoy the mobile version of the site redesign. It's missing a few things, like the ability to edit posts or a way to read text that has been highlighted in black, but those are minor quibbles.

The reason I'm jumping back into the thread NOW, though, is to sort of follow up on this exchange here:

Peter T Chattaway, on 18 April 2012 - 01:42 PM, said:

: : Is there any reason it was added in the first place?
:
: Not sure. My guess would be to give forum posters more "ownership" over their posts and give the forums a bit more personality. Which isn't really a problem in our case.

Well, ownership over our POSTS is what the avatars to the side of each post are for. Putting one person's avatar at the top of an entire THREAD is something else entirely -- and I'm not sure we necessarily want to give people any sense of "ownership" over entire threads. (I say this as one who has started more than his fair share of threads over the years.)

Just now, I was posting something in the Winnie the Pooh thread, and, after I had finished, I noticed that, at the top, where it says "Reply to this topic", there was another button that said "Topic Moderation". Curious to see what would happen, I clicked on that button, and up came a sort of mini-menu with a single option: "Delete".

"Does this mean that I can delete the thread?" I wondered. "Does this mean ANYONE can delete a thread?"

I thought about this a second, and then noticed that my avatar was next to the thread title, and it dawned on me that maybe I had the option of "moderating" the thread -- even if only to delete it -- because I had started the thread. So I went back to the main menu and opted to look at ANOTHER thread that someone ELSE had started -- and, sure enough, the only option I had there was to "Reply to this topic".

So it would seem that I can moderate/delete threads that I have started -- even really long threads with hundreds of posts and lots of active participants, like the Winnie the Pooh thread -- but not threads that were started by someone else. And I assume this is true for at least some of the other board members as well?

I emphasize that this is only what it SEEMS like to me, because I have not actually tried to delete anything. But, if that IS how the "Topic Moderation" button works, I am wondering if we really want to give non-staff the option of deleting threads that other people have participated in -- that other people have made their own, in a sense.

It would, at any rate, put a new spin on what "ownership" of a thread might mean.

[John Drew]

Yeah, I totally agree with you on this. There are still so many threads where conversations are difficult to follow because Alan deleted all of his input over the years. I would hate to see entire threads disappear over another similar falling out. Just imagine having to start The Hobbit threads all over again if I got peaved!

Edited by Baal_T'shuvah, 03 June 2012 - 04:23 PM.

[Darrel Manson]

I'm tempted to start a duplicate thread, get ahemmed and then delete it.

[opus]

Yeah, that does seem like a problem. I'll talk it over with Anna -- this seems like an editorial type decision that Image would need make, rather than a design decision.

[Christian]

...Some of us are still trying to figure out how to "Mark All Posts Read." I know we no longer have that function, but can't bear to think of how long it'll take to address each "unread" post/thread that's built up since the change.

[opus]

Christian, on 10 May 2012 - 09:59 AM, said:

...Some of us are still trying to figure out how to "Mark All Posts Read." I know we no longer have that function, but can't bear to think of how long it'll take to address each "unread" post/thread that's built up since the change.

As much as I like the new forum design, the lack of this functionality bothers me. Or rather, the lack of it in the "desktop" version of the forum, bothers me. There is a "Mark All Posts Read" function in the forum's "mobile" version.

[Anna J]

"Mark Community Read" is at the bottom of every forum page, on a grey bar with an RSS logo. Is that what you're looking for?

Will someone who is not an administrator create a fake thread and then try to delete it? I want to see what happens.

[Christian]

Anna J, on 10 May 2012 - 01:32 PM, said:

"Mark Community Read" is at the bottom of every forum page, on a grey bar with an RSS logo. Is that what you're looking for?

Never noticed it until you posted. Thanks! Not quite as nice as marking "all posts" as read (in one fell swoop), but I'll take it.

[opus]

Thanks, Anna. Now that I know where there's a link, maybe I can add a more prominent "Mark All Read" link to the forum.

[Anders]

Can't you just mark each forum as read at the top of each forum? I know that's not mark all posts, but there aren't that many forums...

[opus]

Anders, on 10 May 2012 - 02:59 PM, said:

Can't you just mark each forum as read at the top of each forum? I know that's not mark all posts, but there aren't that many forums...

Yes, you can. But the "Mark All Read" lets you do them all in one fell swoop. Fewer clicks = Always better.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Baal and Darrel: posts like yours make me wish we had a Facebook "like" button here.

Anna: if you do the test, I think whoever starts the thread should hold off on deleting it until after at least one other person has added to it. The "rules" might be different for people deleting others' posts than it is for deleting their own.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Oh, duh. Of course. If I need to use features that are not available in the mobile version of a page, I can click on the "Full Version" button at the bottom of the page and go from there. Awesomer and awesomer.

Thanks again, Jason, for your work on all this.

[opus]

I have recently made a few minor updates to the forum layout.

• I removed the avatar/photo of the thread starter from next to the thread title.
  
• Fixed a few potentially confusing layout & wording issues.
  
• Modified the width issues.
  
• Added a "Mark all as read" link next to the "View New Content" link so that marking all forum threads as "read" is easier and clearer.

Let me know if you have any questions/issues/concerns.

[Christian]

opus, on 21 May 2012 - 04:30 PM, said:

Added a "Mark all as read" link next to the "View New Content" link so that marking all forum threads as "read" is easier and clearer.

Thanks! I just learned about this when I accidentally clicked on it. I'm glad this option has been added.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Christian wrote::
: opus wrote:

: : Added a "Mark all as read" link next to the "View New Content" link so that marking all forum threads as "read" is easier and clearer.
:
: Thanks! I just learned about this when I accidentally clicked on it.

Indeed! After a month and a half of getting used to clicking "View New Content" at the edge of the screen, I now have to remind myself to move the pointer a little to the left, otherwise I'll accidentally mark all as read. I would have put the new button on the other side of "View New Content", but now that it's there -- and now that people might have gotten used to it being where it is -- it might make sense to just leave it there.

In any case, the mobile version still rocks.

[opus]

FWIW, I went back and forth re. the order of the "View New Content" and "Mark all as Read" links. And I totally understand why it's current placement might feel a bit odd. I even click on the wrong link from time to time. (That's muscle memory for you.)

But here was my reasoning for the current placement: I wanted the order of the links to reflect what I thought would be a typical browsing/reading process. When you come to A&F, you want to find new content first, browse through the threads you're interested in, and then, once you're done with everything, mark everything as read, thus resetting the forum to a clean slate for you.

It struck me as odd to place "Mark all as Read" first in the layout, before you've even had a chance, so to speak, of getting to the actual new content. While that might alleviate some accidental clicks for the time being, I think it would look odd in the long run.

In other words, marking everything as read is secondary to finding new content in the first place.