Forum Ideas

[Edge 540]

I think others will agree:

80% of new threads get some feedback in the first few days as they re-appear on the home page under "newest posts" but once they fail to appear on the list they die out faster than a one hit wonder on the billboard charts. Some see a spontaneous reemergence months later, but most have the same chance at a comeback as Britney Spears. I bet my routine isn't uncommon: A) check for interesting new topics on the home page B) check new videos/ swapshop posts C) check subscribed threads
THATS IT

A lot of threads with some potential simply get lost in the shuffle. This is un just!

Does every thread have to involve culinary prowess, unreleased 170cc products from Arizona, Max's pearly whites, or aquatic races in the middle of an arid desert in order to last longer than 5 posts? (I'm still trying to figure that last one out. They must of' put the wrong video cause all I saw was a bunch of old guys thinking they were still in college)

Any way back to my point -yes its in here somewhere. Here are a few ideas:

-let members customize what they want to see on their homepage
some days there will be 25% of topics -"Hey, I'm new". They should get air time too, but maybe like 1 run through or so.
- how bout' list 5 similar threads with matching keyword titles at the end of a thread? This could also prevent multiple copies of the same thing and give other threads more exposure
-Perhaps let us ignore a particular topic that keeps coming back.
(ok, theres this plane on a giant conveyor belt....)



So I probably just made the admins hate list but in defense I plead ignorance. My programming experience just barely encompasses endless do loops in Fortran 90. All my ideas are probably a nightmare to implement. Anyway, I was just thinking.

[madmax]

Yup, very aware of this edgy, and I never anticipated the rapid growth we've received over the past year! There's a ton of traffic here on FG, and we are now begining to regularly encounter 1000 post days. I've touched on this before, and a significant problem resides in that little section on the right column on the homepage - the latest posts.

The latest post column used to work well, but we've totally outgrown it. On our busiest days - Sunday thru Wednesday - topics that don't get a reply in 30 minutes can be completely wiped off the homepage. The bottom line is that probably about 50% of our visitors use that section solely to look at threads. If a thread isn't on there, it's not seen.

Why? It's a crutch. The base of members who use the homepage section do not "drill" into the forum homepage, then into the seperate forums to see what's going on. They rely solely on this section of 35 currently active threads.And it's all my fault. Bad inherent design that we outgrew over a year ago.

To mitigate this, I've added new ways to grab new posts (hucker, "new posts", RSS, and others) in various areas of the site, but the homepage new posts has quickly become a problem for browsing FG.

The fix is this - yank it all together, force members to drill into the individual forums. I'm working on some major site changes that we'll hopefully see in a few months, at that time, we'll have to have a funeral for the new post section. I have a feeling it's fragmenting our discussions as we speak.

And, thanks for the recomendation also dude, I turned on our "similar threads" section which you will see on the bottom of each thread from now on. I disabled this when we had server performance problems back in 06 and never flipped it back on. Ask and thy shall receive.

Thanks for bringing this up, it's motivating, and I'm on it. Hope this explanation makes sense.

best-- MD

[50%plane]

I'm guilty of using the latest forum post as well. Maybe a seperate page with threads that were posted in in the laste 24 hours would work.....

[jaguar bone]

I noticed how some recent posted threads never make it to the "new nosts" listings. (The line where :"threads below have not been updated....")
Are all threads treated equally in that respect? I can check "new threads" after being AWOL for three days and only have 1.5 pages of listings - I think we know better!?

[madmax]

Jag - The only forums that do not make it in the new post listing are the general manufacturer forum posts. Reasoning - reduce the temptation of unsolicited advertising in our forums. That's pretty much common knowledge, as a matter of fact, there is a post pinned in there that explains our reasoning.

Is that what you're talking about?

[prizzy]

Max, please don't do away with the new post section. Is it not similar to survival of the fitest (in a weird non-Freudian way)? I am not sure what could be different, pehaps enlarg the recent post section to it's own page to accomadate more? If a thread doesn't stay on that, then it is probably a little specialized for general viewing. Just my $.02. I love this site, the knowlege and comraederie is second to none.

[jaguar bone]

	Quote: Originally Posted by madmax
	Jag - The only forums that do not make it in the new post listing are the general manufacturer forum posts. Reasoning - reduce the temptation of unsolicited advertising in our forums. That's pretty much common knowledge, as a matter of fact, there is a post pinned in there that explains our reasoning. Is that what you're talking about?

No , other threads I have posted on that others started and also this fairly recent one I did start:. (no I'm not paranoid ) I have not seen it listed on New Posts.

I have added a test bump for a test 26 minutes ago- and still no show on NPL. on thread :
Santa's List From Flying Giants

[jaguar bone]

I added the test bump for a test + - 59 minutes ago- and still no show on NPL. on thread :
http://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/f...tml#post326582

New thread 15 mins ago- and No Show on new Posts.? ( maybe normal lag time for new threads ?)
So R you happy Great Planes bought out these two?

(just trying to help here Max - not to be read as being nasty! )

[selleri]

I think New Posts will be my new crutch

[madmax]

Jag, nah dude, every element of FG is based on input we get from users. BUT, I think you might have found a legit bug, but I'm not totally sure. I just bumped both of those threads, and they show up as expected on the NPL. On my end.

What browser are you using? Are you on a mac? Do me a favor... Go dump your cookies and cache. Bump the thread and see if it shows up. I think you might have a cached version. Remember, it takes about 20-60 seconds to update on the homepage. It's not supposed to cache posts.

Thanks man, let me know what happens.

[pitviper51]

man did yall open a big can of worms or what! all great ideas,, tho iv never had problems with with new stuff i posted coming up on new posts.. but i was understanding it wont show a thread you 'just posted' to untill its replyed to, like alot of folks i use the new post to see whats new,, but i also scavenge the forum home, being an avocate to the sailplane forum, we dont see much activity, how ever every time im there 2 -3+ are viewing. so i guess it comes down to how everyone searchs for the info they seek.. tho my idea would be to make a 'new thread list" that shows new threads added within 24 hours. not newest post that changes every minit. just my .02
mike

[madmax]

PV, you're talking about the "new posts" link under forum nav. If you post a new thread, and have read it (or posted it, thus read), it won't show up there. Homepage isn't that smart - it's all threads posted to regardless if it was you or not. This whole thing is a nightmare, trust me. I could do the new threads in past 24, but it essentially comes down to the same thing.

No can of words, I need your help and input to figure out how to make this better. If one thing keeps me up at night, it's the exact concern of Jag's. Stuff getting burried and the impression of being lost, or god forbid, nuked, is bad.

Thanks guys.

MD