New Feature: Highlighted Threads!

Greg Bernhardt

Because PF is so active, many interesting threads become lost over the months or years. In order to mark and track these threads for later viewing we've developed the "Highlighted Threads" feature. It will also be useful for finding new interesting threads you may have missed. Over time it will serve as a sort of "Best of PF" reference.

These highlighted threads (which are public) will be displayed here:
http://www.physicsforums.com

On the homepage in the breadcrumb navbar there is a link toggle to switch back and forth between views. "Physics Forums - Switch to Forum view / Highlighted Threads".

The usergroups that can highlight a thread are: Staff, Science Advisors, Homework Helpers, Retired Staff, PF Contributors. You'll find a "Highlight Thread" link in the "Thread Tools" dropdown at the thread level.

So those with permission, if you come across a thread that is interesting and you'd like to share with others, go ahead and hit "Highlight Thread". A few new highlighted threads a day would be ideal, don't be shy!

lisab

Greg, is there a way to see who did the highlighting?

Evo

Will there be any weeding out of threads? I see some threads highlighted that have made me scratch my head. I'm hoping people don't use this feature as a way of just "tagging" a thread they're discussing.

Greg Bernhardt

No, not sure it's relevant.

Those who can highlight, can also unhighlight

Evo

I think the idea is great, there have been some awesome threads that really deserve a special place.

Thanks for setting this up Greg!

tiny-tim

Greg, nice feature, but it would be better if the link was to the thread itself, ie to the first post, rather than to the last one (as in Bowling ball rubber sheet analogy)

Bystander

Darwinism? To remain highlighted, a thread has to pass the "weeding" reflexes of the entire staff? For a net permanent highlight population of zero.

Evo

I don't think people are going to be making an effort to delete threads. If people use the feature wisely it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Ivan Seeking

Greg, I think this is an excellent new feature. Great work!

dlgoff

Nice.

Clicking on the thread link works okay but clicking on the forum link brings up the vBulletin Message "Invalid Forum specified".

Kurdt

Yes the forum links seem to have, p=forum ID# rather than f=forum ID# at the end of their link on the favourite threads view.

[Quadratic]

Excellent. I requested something like this a couple years ago and I'm sure I'm not the only one to bring it up.

Gokul43201

I remember that one. It was a New Year's request.

Found it:I don't think I've seen anyone else ask for something like this.

Andre

great tool but then I tried to fied that button in some thread, nada, niente, nowhere, So after ample research and consulting friends, there seems to be a thread tools menu in the bar above the first post of the thread, which I have never noticed before, probably because I choose to inverse the order of the thread a long time ago, new posts first, instead of old posts first.

For better monkey proof handling it might be an idea to intergrate all menu functions in a single menu bar always on top of the page.

Greg Bernhardt

hmmm it's on every post page for me.

Kurdt

It appears every 17 posts because the forum default # of posts per page is 16 (for reasons I can't fathom). If you change how many posts you display per page (I have mine set at 10) it still appears on every 17th post.

Greg Bernhardt

ha, I never noticed that before, hmmm