Ideas For Reinvigorating The Forums - Your Feedback Please

[HAWK]

Thanks for your feedback cheesedude.

1) How about a "thank you" mod so people can be thanked for helpful posts?

Yup, love that concept. We are throwing around some ideas at the moment.

2) Allow people to edit their own posts! When you prevent people from editing their own posts, it makes them hesitant to say anything because if they make a mistake or misspeak, they can't undo what they wrote!

You have 30 minutes to edit a post. That gives you plenty of time to read and make changes. Any longer than that and we get spammers coming back and injecting links into their posts once they get past the moderation gate.

3) How about a more user-friendly and better-looking forum theme? I know Sitepoint has gotten plenty of complaints about it. But it has been operational for a few months now and is not becoming of a forum about web design!

Design is always polarising. Check out this post for instance. We are still making plenty of tweaks, but I'm actually quite fond of it now that it's grown on me.

[deathshadow60]

but I'm actually quite fond of it now that it's grown on me.

It's almost usable in the current form if not for the crappy px metric fonts still taking a dump all over it -- which is why I'm still using user CSS to make the site accessible.

Well, that and the hordes of javascript blocking needed to make the site load today and behave and a normal fashion, but that's just vBull 4 for you...

[paul_wilkins]

2) Allow people to edit their own posts! When you prevent people from editing their own posts, it makes them hesitant to say anything because if they make a mistake or misspeak, they can't undo what they wrote! This policy of Sitepoint's is doing much more harm than good.

The window of opportunity to edit posts has already been mentioned, but if that period expires and you want to make further changes to you post, you can use the flag button to let one of the support team here know about what you want to be changed, and they will get on to it promptly.

[Max Height]

1) How about a "thank you" mod so people can be thanked for helpful posts?

"In theory" I think this is a good idea, but how it is implemented will determine if it is meaningful or not.

The only other forum I have seen a "thank you" and "reputation" points system implemented is over at codingforums. But how they have implemented it doesn't mean much, imho of course

What they have done is this:

1) On each post there is a "Thank you" button and an "Increase reputation" (or words to that effect) button.

2) When either is clicked the post author's "thank you" count is incremented by 1 or their reputation points total is incremented by the number of points assigned to the member clicking the button based on the member's "reputation level". eg. a relative newbie member with only a small number of accumulated rep. points will increase the rep. points of the author of a post by only 1 point whereas a member with say 100 rep. points accumulated will increase the rep. points of a post author by say 3 points or whatever.

3) The home page of the website then displays a league table of the top 10 (or whatever) posters for thank you's and reps. based on their total points for each. This is where imo the system is flawed.

The league tables should take into account the number of posts made in ranking posters for thank you's or reputation.

eg...say you have poster-1 with 2000 posts and 500 thank you's (25%) and poster-2 with 500 posts and 150 thank you's (30%). Imo, poster-2 should be ranked higher than poster-1 because of the higher % of thank you's. If you use just accumulated totals, then someone who has posted on a forum for years has a distinct advantage over a potential much better and more knowledgeable newcomer who might never accumulate sufficient points to be ranked #1 or whatever by virtue of the head start long time members have in building points.

You would also have to have a min. number of posts before you can be ranked. Having someone ranked #1 with say just 5 posts and 5 thank you's (100%) is obviously meaningless as well, but a member can still accumulate points for thank you's or reps while under the min. number of posts but the member is not included in the ranking league table until the minimum posts is achieved.

Ranking members using %'s will also help normalise the skewing effect of friends of members thanking other members or boosting their rep's. by going around clicking their friends' posts, which is an obvious downside to the whole system.

[ServerStorm]

Please merge the PHP and PHP Application Design forums together. The PHP Application Design forum has become embarrassing as it is so infrequently used. Most advanced PHP that still remain at Site Point use the PHP forum now, and going back a number of years LastCraft and others thought that the fork between the PHP and the now PHP Application Design forum would end badly.

The PHP forum is not too intimidating for new or basic PHP users and having more advanced topics discussed could open the door for some of the procedural programmers to try/understand/consider/renounce PHP OOP code and Patterns?

Regards,
Steve

[bo5ton]

All new users must submit a photo with a shoe on their head...

[Max Height]

All new users must submit a photo with a shoe on their head...

I am taking the above as an example of a fluff post you said in your other thread should be stamped out

[bo5ton]

I am taking the above as an example of a fluff post you said in your other thread should be stamped out

Haha yeah. Or, it could be a useful process of initiation for those wanting to really contribute! If you put a shoe on your head I know you're in it for the long haul!

[Max Height]

Or, it could be a useful process of initiation for those wanting to really contribute!

somehow I don't think the concept will catch on

[bo5ton]

somehow I don't think the concept will catch on

Yeah probably. Ok I will keep trying. I like your version of the 'Thank You' mod tho. Could be good.

[bo5ton]

Overhaul the current incentive system - develop on the pips idea so that there are extra incentives for making high quality posts

Links and Sigs seem to be the problem. Could we possibly create a system that rewards people for high quality posts, but instead of over a long period of time, make it for a short period time, say 1-2 weeks. It would need to work 1 of 2 ways. Either reward for high quality or punishment for low quality. Each week your rep - different to pips - is evaluated. If you're in the positive, your sig and links are displayed. If you're in the negative, staff review the user and their posts and their sigs and links are not displayed should their posts be unproductive and fluffy.

I think whatever the overhaul is, it needs to be harsher. Sure the content may not be as constant, but it would surely be of a higher standard.

[ServerStorm]

PHP Forum Note: Now includes posts from the former PHP Application Design subforum.

Thanks HAWK and others involved in this decision! I think this will help and seems to have naturally happened before this join was done, so good choice!

Regards,
Steve

[HAWK]

Thanks HAWK and others involved in this decision! I think this will help and seems to have naturally happened before this join was done, so good choice!

All good. Thanks for bring it to my attention.

[mcd]

Links and Sigs seem to be the problem. Could we possibly create a system that rewards people for high quality posts, but instead of over a long period of time, make it for a short period time, say 1-2 weeks. It would need to work 1 of 2 ways. Either reward for high quality or punishment for low quality. Each week your rep - different to pips - is evaluated. If you're in the positive, your sig and links are displayed. If you're in the negative, staff review the user and their posts and their sigs and links are not displayed should their posts be unproductive and fluffy...

I like the intention here but the method would be tricky. It would potentially penalize folks like me who (I like to think) offer productive posts but not often, sometimes not even within a timeframe of a few weeks at a time. That plus the obvious time strain of having staff review users and posts and making determinations about quality.

[Sega]

Kill some of the dinosaur forums which are spam traps (SEO comes immediately to mind)

IMHO I've not experienced much of this here. People seam to report it within 15 minutes.

Start some short fun quizzes and graphics wars - competitions that could be done in a lunch hour, rather than the current ones which sometimes run for a week or more.

I want systematic updates, once every 2/3 months, so I can take part and improve my skill set, and have fun along the way.

A new forum called "News From Our Members" where you get to talk about what you're working on and blow your own horn a bit. It would be moderated so that it doesn't become a spam trap, but it would allow you to showcase new and exciting things.

You could possible put a portfolio page in here were we could list our portfolio pages.

Have a fun 'who are we?' section. Forum Staff/SPHQ staff/SP authors spotlight: Interviews, what they do, how they work, how they plan, how they interact.

You could include things like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ account and an email me option were an email would be sent without disclosing the email. Something similar was done with 99designs if I remember correctly.

One thing which I noticed and I was not completely a fan of, was this full page thing. I have a 24" monitor, and as you can imagine it's not the easiest thing to run 1 line with 20+ words on. It was much easier to read the forum postings when the screen size was reduced.

Sitepoint already have linked in many learning services. But maybe these need to be a bit more "in your face". You have to have more services on the right-hand side. More engagement. Personally I am still not completely used to the new design, but I must say I did prefer it back in the "good old days". The people who kept using sitepoint were the loyal readers and contributors. I like sitepoint, it's still what it was, and I am still doing to use it irrespective of any major changes, but maybe we have to sit back here and find out ways for people to find out their topics easier without the need of scrolling down.

For instance, I am not interested in .NET or Java or Ruby. I want to know topics on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SEO, SMO and Content Writing, all those other categories are irrelevant to me. Maybe we should think of a way to restructure the page a little and allow users to customize their topics rather than just displaying everything. This what's new tab says it all, just lists everything which is new. I can;t be doing with this either. I go there and see topics I don't want to see. Maybe you can have more tabs, call them "What's new in Web Design" "SEO" "SMO" and people can click on their topic of interest quickly without having to read things they are not concerned about.

The major flaw in the forum is the content and the way this content is laid out.

Sorry if I went on a bit, hopefully these comments will help you see things from my point of view.

[Shyflower]

@Sega ;

IMHO I've not experienced much of this here. People seam to report it within 15 minutes.

Yes they do report it. I spend about an hour a day moderating spam. We certainly don't need forums that are just spam/fluff traps.

I want systematic updates, once every 2/3 months, so I can take part and improve my skill set, and have fun along the way.

Subscribe to the community newsletter.

You could possible put a portfolio page in here were we could list our portfolio pages.

We certainly don't need any more "list your" anything here threads. SitePoint is meant to be a discussion forums. From experience with the recently closed List Your Blogs Here thread, such threads are just used to self-promote and ramp up post counts. Rarely is anything in a list discussed. In our Web Content Resources threads, the duplication is nauseating. Nobody bothers to read, everybody wants to post their list.

The News from Our Members forum was created so our members can share their accomplishments with the community.

One thing which I noticed and I was not completely a fan of, was this full page thing. I have a 24" monitor, and as you can imagine it's not the easiest thing to run 1 line with 20+ words on. It was much easier to read the forum postings when the screen size was reduced.
Sitepoint already have linked in many learning services. But maybe these need to be a bit more "in your face". You have to have more services on the right-hand side. More engagement. Personally I am still not completely used to the new design, but I must say I did prefer it back in the "good old days". The people who kept using sitepoint were the loyal readers and contributors. I like sitepoint, it's still what it was, and I am still doing to use it irrespective of any major changes, but maybe we have to sit back here and find out ways for people to find out their topics easier without the need of scrolling down.

There is a way to see only those forums that interest you. Simply go to the first page of any forum and at your right there is a drop down list of forum tools. Simply tick subscribe to this forum and it will appear in the dashboard of your profile.

[HAWK]

Subscribe to the community newsletter.

We actually killed the Community Crier off at the end of last year when we launched the new niche newsletters.

[bo5ton]

One thing which I noticed and I was not completely a fan of, was this full page thing. I have a 24" monitor, and as you can imagine it's not the easiest thing to run 1 line with 20+ words on. It was much easier to read the forum postings when the screen size was reduced.

For instance, I am not interested in .NET or Java or Ruby. I want to know topics on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SEO, SMO and Content Writing, all those other categories are irrelevant to me. Maybe we should think of a way to restructure the page a little and allow users to customize their topics rather than just displaying everything. This what's new tab says it all, just lists everything which is new. I can;t be doing with this either. I go there and see topics I don't want to see.

I agree with these two points here.
I know we can change our own window size, but as soon as we navigate to another site then we have to maximize again.

There are a few forums I am terrified of. If we could have a "Your Favourite Sub-Forums" option, where instead of the whole list, we see our favourites? Then we don't need to scroll through everything to get where we want.

[Shyflower]

We actually killed the Community Crier off at the end of last year when we launched the new niche newsletters.

Well that's too bad. How do you get the news out of the forum?

[HAWK]

Well that's too bad. How do you get the news out of the forum?

I know. I'm actually in the middle of developing a Community Roundup tab for our Facebook page which will deliver the same information.

[DanielMilstein]

HAWK, I haven't read all the comments. The one thing that is coming to my mind is that we should incorporate a cash system so that if an active poster reaches a mark, could be a target posts, or mentions or tags.. you should award the user some free eBooks or tools. If you decide on something like it there would be many writers, coders who will approach you with their ow products.. what do you think??

[Sega]

Thanks Shyflower, I will get to this.

[kohoutek]

HAWK, I haven't read all the comments. The one thing that is coming to my mind is that we should incorporate a cash system so that if an active poster reaches a mark, could be a target posts, or mentions or tags.. you should award the user some free eBooks or tools. If you decide on something like it there would be many writers, coders who will approach you with their ow products.. what do you think??

That's a nifty idea.

[bo5ton]

HAWK, I haven't read all the comments. The one thing that is coming to my mind is that we should incorporate a cash system so that if an active poster reaches a mark, could be a target posts, or mentions or tags.. you should award the user some free eBooks or tools. If you decide on something like it there would be many writers, coders who will approach you with their ow products.. what do you think??

Not a bad idea, however I think it would be just another attraction for spam. Even regulars will stretch to respond to every post to get something free. I think this kind of reward would have to be based on a voting system (like rep or the tags). Anything that encourages post numbers I don't think will attract quality. Plenty of people are making plenty of posts now. Less is More.

[Stevie D]

There are a few forums I am terrified of. If we could have a "Your Favourite Sub-Forums" option, where instead of the whole list, we see our favourites? Then we don't need to scroll through everything to get where we want.

You can hide sections of the forums from the main list, by clicking the little 'up' chevron on the blue category bar. So you could hide the whole of Program Your Site, for example.