New Forum Changes - What Do You Think?

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The recent changes to the forum have sparked dissatisfaction among users, particularly regarding the inability to see who replied to threads and the number of views and replies unless logged in. Many users prefer to know the last poster's name and the number of replies to gauge a thread's activity before engaging. While some adjustments aim to enhance mobile usability, they have led to confusion and frustration, especially with features like the page number list and notifications being altered or removed. Users have suggested alternatives like using Tapatalk for better notifications, but the core issue remains the lack of visibility for key interaction metrics. Overall, there is a strong desire for the return of previously available features to improve user experience.
  • #31
tionis said:
Anyways, do to the current changes, there is no way to know if, for example, the ''what is a photon'' thread has received any new replies just by looking at it. It could have very well received a thousand more replies, but you wouldn't know it because all you see is the title and nothing else. This is not cool. At least let us see the name of the last poster who chimed in. Thanks.
The number of replies for the latest post has never been shown on the front page. The reason for dropping the last poster information when logged out is that for 95% of logged out (non member guests) that information is not useful and thus clutter.
 
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  • #32
Greg Bernhardt said:
The number of replies for the latest post has never been shown on the front page.

Yes, I'm aware of that. That is not what I'm asking for.

Greg Bernhardt said:
The reason for dropping the last poster information when logged out is that for 95% of logged out (non member guests) that information is not useful and thus clutter.

Was there a poll about this? I think it's rather useful to see the name of the last person replying to a thread so you don't have to keep on clicking threads just to see if there is a new reply. It would save people the trouble of having to guess whether there is something worth reading. Hey, thanks for replying BTW. I'm sorry if it appears as if I'm making demands. I know people like me just add noise, but I'm trying to remedy that by going to school.
 
  • #33
tionis said:
Was there a poll about this?

No poll was created

tionis said:
I think it's rather useful to see the name of the last person replying to a thread so you don't have to keep on clicking threads just to see if there is a new reply. It would save people the trouble of having to guess whether there is something worth reading.

Guests don't know members or have relationships with them yet. To me all they care about is the content. Once they read the content, sign up and contribute, then they care and know about other members. When they are logged in that member information is then displayed.

tionis said:
I'm sorry if it appears as if I'm making demands. I know people like me just add noise

Feedback is never noise to me. It is absolutely vital. I appreciate your opinion and it is important to me. Sincerely.
 
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  • #34
Greg Bernhardt said:
Feedback is never noise to me. It is absolutely vital. I appreciate your opinion and it is important to me. Sincerely.

Thanks! ''Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.''
 
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  • #35
Greg Bernhardt said:
Feedback is never noise to me. It is absolutely vital. I appreciate your opinion and it is important to me. Sincerely.
Okay. A removed, useful feature for me was bolding the user name in a forum's thread list for new or unread threads. It made for a way to do a fast scan for threads of interest to me. Here's a screenshot.

useful.jpg


Edit: Never mind. I see that the thread title is bolded which gives the same information I was using. Thanks.
 
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  • #36
Greg Bernhardt said:
I still need to play with some things...
Yeah, I just knew you'd been playing with yourself again.
 
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  • #37
As I mentioned in post #25, I did like being able to see on my PC how many views a posting has. This was previously found in the listing of all the posts for a section. I think it is now absent completely in the new format.
 
  • #38
Charles Link said:
I think it is now absent completely in the new format.
Indeed as I thought total likes was a more important metric than views. One is a value stat the other is neutral stat.
 
  • #39
Greg Bernhardt said:
Indeed as I thought total likes was a more important ...
Knowing how much time you spend in front of a computer monitor, I know PF will always be at the peak of social forum's trends. :bow:
 
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  • #40
phinds said:
Yeah, I just knew you'd been playing with yourself again.
Well, that explains the glasses ! ...:oldlaugh:

1.jpg
 
  • #41
Greg, I really like the new format in each of the forums but I am deeply distressed that it does not show up when you click on "New Posts". That's my automatic way of looking at the forum so now I never see the number of responses and I do not at all like having that gone.

I don't care that much one way or the other about the # of likes but I do appreciate your adding it. I also don't care at all about the number of views. BUT ... I care a lot about the number of responses (maybe it's a personal quirk) and since the "New Posts" is my default way of looking at the forum and since it is now gone from there, I'm not a happy camper.
 
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  • #43
Greg Bernhardt said:
I can fix it on Sunday
Excellent. Thank you. It's nice to see the forum god working on a Sunday :smile:
 
  • #44
Just to add my vote, I do like to know the number of replies. If I don't notice a thread before it's got a lot ('lot' varies with my mood, say 20+) of replies, I'm not going to join in unless I'm really interested in the topic because I'd have to read through all of them if I wanted to comment. Maybe just an indication of when it gets onto the second page would be enough? So long as I can scroll back to check what people are talking about I'm OK. When it gets to the third page and I'm not sure whether to skip back to p.1 or 2 to check a comment, then I need a bit of motivation to keep at it.

And I have a (maybe totally wrong) feeling that for many threads by 20 posts, either the thread has gone off topic, or the OP was so unclear that no one actually knows what it's about.
 
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  • #45
Merlin3189 said:
And I have a (maybe totally wrong) feeling that for many threads by 20 posts, either the thread has gone off topic, or the OP was so unclear that no one actually knows what it's about.
I used to think that and I do find it true sometimes but other times, it turns out it's a long interesting discussion (for me anyway).
 
  • #46
You're right, of course. But it is probably more so for you clever guys. There aren't many topics, that I understand, which could sensibly go on for very long!
I did once try to follow one of Jim's on transformers that went on past 300 posts. But I think they had lost me even before they scored the first century.
 
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  • #47
More often than not, threads with a high number of replies are awesome. The same could be said for a high number of views. Don't know how this new thumbs up system works, though. When I go to the list and try to click on the green thumb up icon, it does nothing. My guess is that it counts the number of likes individual posts received.
 
  • #48
tionis said:
My guess is that it counts the number of likes individual posts received.
That is exactly what it does, the sum of likes received for all posts.
 
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  • #49
This has been fixed but I need to correct some column issues.
 
  • #50
Greg Bernhardt said:
This has been fixed but I need to correct some column issues.
You are a man of your word. It's starting to look good. Thanks
 
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  • #51
I'm not sure what all you did, but my issue of not being able to scroll in the edit box has gone away.
 
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