Number of views... important?

Jeff, are you keeping the feature where you can click to see a list of the most recent topics in all categories that have been added to? I really liked that...

I have to agree with Walt.. Can't STAND ranking systems. Someone wants to know how many posts someone has.. they can always click on their INFO.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82 Farewell my good friend..
*** This post was edited by Red Garter Rob 4/23/2002 12:33:54 PM ***

Yes, recent topics will appear before it's all done.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

I think it would be nice to see who the moderators are. Maybe make their usernames bold or something.

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Virtual Midway
http://www.virtualmidway.com

Yeah... easier to keep them in your sights right??? I mean.. Yeah.. so we can praise them ;)

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82 Farewell my good friend..

I don't like rankings either. They kind of annoy me. Although I do like the idea of highlighting Moderators in someway. I myself like avatars just because if you are referencing to someones post in anotehr topic you can easily find what you are looking for by looking for a specific avatar to find the post you are looking for. It may not be for GTTP but IMO it would definitly be worth looking into including as a optional feature for Pop-forum users.

The only feature I really really like in other forums is the ability to view all the members on a member list page. That way you can look for a specific person, or look up information about them, withoug having to find a post of theirs before you can do that. It's also interesting to know how popular a forum site is. I joined a few for information after viewing the members lists and seeing 1000 members and I figured one of those 1000 members would be able to answer my questions as opposed to 10.

The # of visits to a topic is not only useless - I think it is harmful. People will tend to go to topics with lots of visits, thus creating a snowball effect that has no bearing on the quality of the thread of discussion.

Most of the other forums that I've seen have pages that are full of weird little incomprehensible icons that make the whole thing ugly. I like the simple, clean look of Pop Forums.

-- Harley

This is great feedback guys... I've always wondered if I should add some of the "cute" features, but the more you talk about them the more that seems like a really bad idea.

Wow I suck, I'm the only one who would actually LIKE to see the number of views a thread has gotten I guess?

Of course, I'm also ALL FOR avatars and such, not dumb lame ones but good ones anyway...

-Natalie
Who misses the plain text option now. :o(

So I started out reading Usenet more than 15 years ago when I was in college. I like Usenet (the concept more than the individuals who participate, especially now). My favorite Usenet reader was always Emacs. It presents the maximum amount of useful information in the least space with the fewest distractions and the bells & whistles are all there, but hidden under the covers and not annoying. That is my paradigm for good forum software.

The one thing that good Usenet readers have that all Web-based forum software is missing (AFAIK) is a tree-oriented view of threading. There are topics, but within a topic you can't tell who is replying to whom. To my mind this would be probably the most useful enhancement to Pop Forums. The trick is doing it in a way that is light from a UI perspective (give the limitations of cross-browser HTML) and doesn't use up too much screen real estate. But if Jeff can figure it out, it would be a real coup and would add a lot of value for the readers.

-- Harley

I philisophically oppose that, actually. The reason is that it isn't how humans converse on a single subject. I find Usenet hard to read for that reason. It's like everyone gets together then goes off on their own, and in the process requoting everything they said.

Sorry, that one won't make it. ;)

Me too Jeff, Me too. As much as I like Usenet I really don't like the tree branching stuff. To me it clutters the screen and diverts the topics more.

Hmmm, well, to each his own & it's your system... I've always found it useful but maybe it's because I tend to read technical newsgroups where it is difficult to retain context without the tree structure for more complicated issues. Might be a different situation for more social forums like this one.

-- Harley

Oh, I also wanted to compliment you on simplifying the "Mark Posts Read" thing - I never really got the difference between the two options there were before.

-- Harley

I guess that's why I like using rtin for Usenet. It presents the current threads in order (except when people screw up the References: header) and I go in and read the thread. There is no tree branching, and it works fine for me.

Actually, of the various Web discussion forum software I have seen, POP Forums is the most rtin-like of the bunch (particularly if you use the "next topic" button).

And until v6, it was the only one that was mostly compliant with W3C standards....... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It sounds like we could use a tech forum or website. What's the possibility of one by you Jeff?
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- Chris -
http://www.thepointol.com/~simplycp

heh, I doubt that one... We're all here for Cedar Point, remember? :)

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Tommy Penner - Variable X
"My mom said that there would be days like this, she just never said that there would be so many of them, or that they would all come in a row."

I have found that views is almost porportionate to the number of replies. At least, that is what I have found out in four plus years around message boards. I'd leave them off IMO

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Back from lurking
New account, same name
KW 2002

Here's a feature I thought of, which may or may not be practical to implement. I'd like to have the system keep track of the last message in each topic, which I believe it already does. The next time I go to that topic, such as when new posts are added, I would be automatically sent to the message that was last from my previous visit. That would make it very easy to read new messages, since I wouldn't have to scroll through a bunch of messages to find the ones I didn't read. There should probably be a switch to allow users to turn this on or off.

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It's very hard to drink all day...
Unless you start first thing in the morning.

Well, we're almost there, in that when you select the topic or go there via the next newest/oldest, the "scroll to newest" at the top of the thread will get you there regardless of page.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"