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Special Icon for Old Threads

by kilgore
19 replies
It seems that the earlier idea (suggested by me and several others) to automatically lock threads older than a certain age isn't going anywhere. But I still see people digging up old threads as an annoyance (as is apparent by looking at the forums today).

So here's my new idea:

Create an icon (similar to: , or , but perhaps with a different color) that is automatically assigned to threads that are either (a) above a certain age or (b) have (or have had) a significant gap between posts. People could still post to them if they wanted to, but at least it would be obvious that the OP is probably no longer interested in the topic so any current discussion is likely just a vehicle for signature masturbation by people who don't know anything about driving traffic the right way.
#icon #special #threads
  • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
    Banned
    Good idea.
    But I don't think anyone is interested in making this forum worth reading again.
    Something really does need doing about it.
    But I won't hold my breath.
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    • Profile picture of the author swiftpantha
      I like your thinking behind differentiating the old threads from the new with an icon. We're taking a slightly different approach, but hopefully it'll achieve the same thing.

      Originally Posted by lgibbon View Post

      Good idea.
      I don't think anyone is interested in making this forum worth reading again.
      This is one of our primary focuses! More then happy to discuss this with you further if you want @lgibbon.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        One thing that could help is to allow signatures ONLY for War Room Members and those posting paid ads here (maybe at least a $20 ad spend). Would cut out a lot of spammers who wouldn't post if they couldn't blanket the forum with their sig for free.

        The numbers might take a hit - but I think it would be temporary and a first step toward getting back to "worth reading".
        Signature
        Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
        ***
        Sometimes I just want someone to hug me and say...
        "It's going to be OK - here's a horse and two million dollars."
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        • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          Would cut out a lot of spammers who wouldn't post if they couldn't blanket the forum with their sig for free.
          It's not just the spammers blanketing the forum with their sig files.
          There really needs to be a daily posting limit here.
          Then they would have to use them wisely, instead of answering
          every thread for the sake of it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
        Originally Posted by swiftpantha View Post

        This is one of our primary focuses! More then happy to discuss this with you further if you want @lgibbon.
        Why not discuss it publicly and get some user feedback before you actually implement something?

        There are a lot of people here who would happily offer constructive input.
        Signature
        Fifteen Lessons I have learned over 15 years and six businesses (or, My 1000th-Post Manifesto)
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        • Profile picture of the author swiftpantha
          At the moment we're focusing on two key elements.

          We've taken into consideration feedback surrounding the feed view. This was partially rolled out to a select few at the end of last year. These changes will start to go live as of this week and continue through till the end of this month.

          We're also focusing on trying to better educate new users about the forum. This will take the form of a series of on boarding emails. With aim to get new users familiar with different components of the forum. They will also link to content which we think is valuable at helping answer some of the standard new user questions. The aim of this is to help bring new users up to speed quickly.

          We've also got new designs for the market place which I'll share over the following few days. These will allow people who take the time to really construct a polished product shine.
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          • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
            Originally Posted by swiftpantha View Post

            We're also focusing on trying to better educate new users about the forum. This will take the form of a series of on boarding emails. With aim to get new users familiar with different components of the forum. They will also link to content which we think is valuable at helping answer some of the standard new user questions. The aim of this is to help bring new users up to speed quickly.
            I'm all for education... but I doubt you'll succeed on that as a primary approach.

            Better to regulate the ability of users (particularly new users) to do the kinds of things that are not in the interest of the community.
            Signature
            Fifteen Lessons I have learned over 15 years and six businesses (or, My 1000th-Post Manifesto)
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            • Profile picture of the author Kay King
              I wrote out a thoughtful reply and then deleted it. What's the point?

              For someone not interested in reading the rules - expecting better behavior with a series of emails doesn't seem logical.

              I doubt design changes will improve content quality as that hasn't been the result so far.

              Only FL can decide to make needed changes or raise the standard of participation.
              Signature
              Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
              ***
              Sometimes I just want someone to hug me and say...
              "It's going to be OK - here's a horse and two million dollars."
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          • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
            Originally Posted by swiftpantha View Post

            We've taken into consideration feedback surrounding the feed view. This was partially rolled out to a select few at the end of last year. These changes will start to go live as of this week and continue through till the end of this month.
            Have the changes that I and perhaps others recommended already been implemented? It appears not because as one example there are threads that have no upvotes in the top votes tab.

            Most of the changes that have been made, sorry to say, are only halfway done. For example, the new notification emails are useless without putting spacing in the email. It's one big wall of unreadable text without the spacing. That and other things have been reported but not fixed yet.

            Mark
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      • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by swiftpantha View Post

        I like your thinking behind differentiating the old threads from the new with an icon. We're taking a slightly different approach, but hopefully it'll achieve the same thing.



        This is one of our primary focuses! More then happy to discuss this with you further if you want @lgibbon.
        Well another 2 weeks has passed and still nothing has been done,
        especially about the bumping of old threads.
        There are people bumping old threads on a daily basis
        but despite reporting this, nothing is being done.
        If no one from the mods or admin are interested,
        please let us know and we can stop wasting our time trying
        to make an improvement here.
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        • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
          [QUOTE=lgibbon;10506934
          If no one from the mods or admin are interested,
          please let us know and we can stop wasting our time trying
          to make an improvement here.[/QUOTE]

          100 percent agree with above posts

          I posted 2 suggestions awhile back in other threads. The last one was asking for a paid membership... Even if they implement something like a 25 cent charge it would get rid of half the spammers. Seems like management is interested in numbers, while any day google is going to really knock this place down. The offline section has really been quite the past few weeks. Seeing it in other sections also.

          Spammers and bots do not read emails. Trying to teach spammers thru e-mails is not going to work ! Only a few newer members may benefit from e-mails, most don't even use the search button of read the stickies.

          Yet a post that was flagged the other day, because the poster thought the OP should give a refund to someone who stole her content. Speaks volume of the quality here !

          It is a shame because the people that can teach or help here won't anymore and the half still here are in the off topic forum because that is one of the few sections worth while anymore.
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          • Profile picture of the author Kay King
            LOL - I was just called an idiot by someone who was angry I pointed out he was quoting and commenting on a 5 year old thread.

            He seemed to think it was quality participation.

            I have a feeling of "whatever" - not my forum, not my problem.
            Signature
            Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
            ***
            Sometimes I just want someone to hug me and say...
            "It's going to be OK - here's a horse and two million dollars."
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      • Profile picture of the author kilgore
        Originally Posted by swiftpantha View Post

        I like your thinking behind differentiating the old threads from the new with an icon. We're taking a slightly different approach, but hopefully it'll achieve the same thing.
        Since it's been almost eight months since you started your "slightly different approach", I wonder if there has been any progress on this issue.

        I honestly don't care if this problem is solved with icons, locking old threads or sticking pins in voodoo dolls representing people who uselessly resurrect old threads. But as much as I like cats (OK, I don't like them all that much, but that's another issue), it should be clear from recent events that this problem has yet to go away.

        P.S. See how I just resurrected an old thread about resurrecting old threads? Ain't I the hypocrite?
        Signature
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        • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
          Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

          Since it's been almost eight months since you started your "slightly different approach", I wonder if there has been any progress on this issue.

          I honestly don't care if this problem is solved with icons, locking old threads or sticking pins in voodoo dolls representing people who uselessly resurrect old threads. But as much as I like cats (OK, I don't like them all that much, but that's another issue), it should be clear from recent events that this problem has yet to go away.

          P.S. See how I just resurrected an old thread about resurrecting old threads? Ain't I the hypocrite?
          The mod has long gone not been on here since April hence nothing getting done , shame was the only one back then that cared

          Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author swiftpantha
    @Jack Gordon the wording on my post might have been misleading. This is not the only thing we're doing it's simply one of the components. What are the specifics that you think should be regulated? Primarily the signature modifications?

    @Kay King who's to say that the rules aren't part of the on boarding? They aren't currently, but I'll find a way to fit the relevant parts in.

    @Mark Singletary I'll take a look at the email spacing today. We had a bit of a break over the xmas period so there's been some slower then usual changes.

    1) We're looking at the notification side of things today.

    2) Most Recent Wording will be changed on the new design

    3) We've been playing around limiting the number of tags on the thread entries and have settled for displaying 3. When we roll out the new style for posting we'll make it clear that only the first three tags will be displayed on the main page. The other tags will only be displayed when looking at that specific thread. Limiting the displaying tags hopefully will encourage more thought to be put into the tagging.

    4) Due to the fact this is not fully released there is limited voting happening on it. If you look at top of the day then it might show some threads with no votes.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
      Originally Posted by swiftpantha View Post

      What are the specifics that you think should be regulated? Primarily the signature modifications?
      I would buy Kay King flowers and ask her to spend some time unloading her thoughts on you. That would certainly be much more useful than my feedback as I believe she has put infinitely more thought into this subject than I have.

      However, it would be a good start to remove sig exposure from new members until either they pay for it or earn it in some way that proves they are not here to spam the rest of us.

      I would also suggest letting members with x number of posts report spam posts in a way that doesn't have the page redirect and message send timeout. Maybe a system where if a spam post is reported similar to a thanks (but invisible), and if three members report it then it is automatically pulled from the board and dropped into a review queue.

      Of course, if you follow suggestion #1, suggestion #2 might become a moot point.

      I think you would also endear yourself to many old timers if you began actively merging many of the newbie posts asking the same questions over and over into one big thread (for each subject) and into one section geared toward newbie information.
      Signature
      Fifteen Lessons I have learned over 15 years and six businesses (or, My 1000th-Post Manifesto)
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    There is plenty of room on the thread menu to tag the date of the original post alongside the OP's name.

    So this one would be:

    Special Icon For Old Threads
    Kilgore — 8th Jan 2016

    Then evryone could see when the post got started, an' use their brainpower to distinguish between an old post entitled Hi i am new Around Here from some of the excellent (and more evergreen) posts that receive a reboot from time to time — quality 1000th Post typea stuff, an' such.

    You could flag the date red after a month, or mebbe throw in a gravestone icon after 3 months.

    Anythin' older than a year earns a skull with a weeny maggot wrigglin' from an eye socket.
    Signature

    Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.

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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Another way would be that if someone responds to an old thread, let the admins decide the threshold, it goes into a que for admin approval. If it warrants being brought back to the forefront, then so be it as there are many older threads that are quite useful today. And, if it does not serve the good of the forum then the post can be deleted and the thread closed.

    al
    Signature

    "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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    • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
      Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

      Another way would be that if someone responds to an old thread, let the admins decide the threshold, it goes into a que for admin approval. If it warrants being brought back to the forefront, then so be it as there are many older threads that are quite useful today. And, if it does not serve the good of the forum then the post can be deleted and the thread closed.

      al
      The offline forum is full of them. A few months ago quite a few useful, relevant
      old threads were locked... not sure why. I do suggest if old threads are going
      to get locked...the one who locks them should at least read them first - not
      just lock them because of the original post date.
      Signature

      Selling Ain't for Sissies!
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