We've just installed an upvote/downvote system for Tailmaking Questions subforum

[malinghi]

I just installed a modification to the site that lets users upvote and downvote posts in the Tailmaking Questions subforum. The rest of the site will stay the same, but in that section, posts will now be ordered with the best answer at the top. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints, share them here.

[AniaR]

So long as the stickied stuff stays at the top sounds good. The tail making reference index should always stay at top :)

[malinghi]

It'll stay at the top. This modification should only reorder posts within threads. It shouldn't reorder the threads themselves.

[MarkF]

I wish we has a "Like" box to show support for a comment rather than have to add an entire comment box to the thread.

[malinghi]

I wish we has a "Like" box to show support for a comment rather than have to add an entire comment box to the thread.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. If you're saying you want a way to express approval for a post without having to make a comment, this modification can let you do that.

Although this is only for the Tailmaking Questions thread, and upvoting posts will cause them to be reordered. Would you like there to be a system for other parts of the forum that lets you upvote things just to say you like them, without reordering the thread? Because that could possibly be done.

[MarkF]

Malinghi, your change is redirecting comment priorities. I just want to show support for a comment.
This comment is not on topic with this subject UpVote/DownVote. It is a comment I support so I don't want it to be more important, only I so I can show support.
It would add another at least another Table, Query, at least 4 fields to the table and symbols in your symbol table for symbol images.
As I start thinking about the kettle of worms :(
Like Facebook, people can select LIKE.

[AniaR]

Reordering is a bit confusing. I don't mind seeing a vote count but it is hard to actually follow the thread.

[MerEmma]

That was my first thought too, if everything gets reordered then it's hard to keep track of what order everything goes in. If there were an option to switch between the two ("Sort by") that'd be more convenient but I understand that might be a little tougher than I realize. :P

[Winged Mermaid]

I'm also concerned about reordering becoming extremely confusing. Especially in really long and/or really complicated process threads.

In terms of being able to "like" threads- I've said it many times because people keep asking (which I understand, I would love that feature too) last I checked, all the reliable mods that have that particular function, cost money. ($100+)

[malinghi]

I agree that reordering the posts in a thread would make it impossible to have a conversation, but this isn't intended to be used in a place where people have conversations. I thought it might be useful to have a section of the forum that works like yahoo answers, and lets people choose which answer bests solves a question.

[MarkF]

so you're thinking on the forum homepage, inaddition addition to latest comments, a most popular comment.
Since you not effecting the threads, how could you do wrong.

[AniaR]

well sorry but since the entire time mernetwork has existed, every thread is a conversation. THat makes no sense to me. Look at most of those threads. You can't just decide the tail making area is now a place with no conversation. And as far as it being the place to test it out- I find that redundant because we've already got the tail making index that indexes all the tutorials. Upvotes or not, sometimes there's only a certain way to do something. Perhaps if you set it up from the very beginning as a space where people can ask questions ONLY that mght be different. But people post their own tutorials there. People post experiments and document them. People document their journey

Id rather we vote on it than have it just put in place. Maybe after people get a chance to use it a bit we could vote, but in every similar thing I've seen online it's just X amount of people like this post/answer but it doesn't change the order.

A lot of times people build upon another answer, or disagree and show proof. People might very well upvote permawet to make something shiny. But if you don't see the replies to the post- you don't see it doesn't bond on silicone.

Iona- I figured you'd have been consulted about this change, since you're always sure to consult about big changes before putting them in...

[MarkF]

malinghi, Is AniaR understanding right? You are changing the way the thread works?

[malinghi]

well sorry but since the entire time mernetwork has existed, every thread is a conversation.

I agree. The idea behind this was to have something in addition to a place where people can discuss things as a conversation. Right now people use Tailmaking and Tailmaking Questions for the same thing. By having a section where posts can be promoted, people will have two ways to have questions answered.


in every similar thing I've seen online it's just X amount of people like this post/answer but it doesn't change the order.

I can change the settings so that it just lets people "like" posts without reordering them. How would people feel about having this instead?


Iona- I figured you'd have been consulted about this change, since you're always sure to consult about big changes before putting them in...

I just did this to try out a new idea. Its just in one section and it can be changed or turned off completely so its not really a big change.


Based on some of the feedback people are giving I just made a new section of the forum named Tailmaking Questions Plus to test this feature out, and changed Tailmaking Questions back to how it was. I also added a poll to this thread.

[AniaR]

Yeah I think a separate section works best instead of the tail making section, and I think upvotes recorded instead of reordering. Even when you ask a question I think it can add extra confusion and take away context if the posts re-order. I mean, we had people on here for YEARS who didn't understand the drama thread was posts that were MOVED to the drama thread (often losing their context and sometimes ordering if multiple things were moved)lol

[Mermaid Galene]

I have to echo the sentiments about post order. Disrupting chronological order could make it very hard to follow the logic of a topic, especially in a section that would feature "do this, then do this next" kinds of answers. I do think the idea of tallying "helpful post" votes could be useful. I like the way reviews on Amazon are structured. The post voted most helpful favorable review is featured in a box at the top of reviews section along with the post voted most helpful negative review, then all reviews follow. We're not necessarily talking about reviews for this experiment on MN, but perhaps something similar could be achieved.

[Mermaid Kelda]

I mean, we had people on here for YEARS who didn't understand the drama thread was posts that were MOVED to the drama thread (often losing their context and sometimes ordering if multiple things were moved)lol


Yeah, I still get confused sometimes ;) open ten tabs and forget which one I'm replying to.

In terms of the reordering, isn't there a way to view a thread with replies to a single post descending? Though that means that people actually have to click the reply button on the post rather than the thread, and there's no way to enforce that.

[AniaR]

can we turn off the notifications please????

[AniaR]

the first thread you made is in quadruplet on the board

[AniaR]

and I can't seem to delete the notifications they just keep piling up

[malinghi]

the first thread you made is in quadruplet on the board

Yeah, I saw that too. I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I made a second post to see if it happens every time, or if there was something I did to that post that made the duplicates appear.


and I can't seem to delete the notifications they just keep piling up

Which notifications are you talking about? I haven't had that problem. If you message me on gchat of facebook I can work on the problem in real time.

[AniaR]

the mernetwork notifications. Top right of the website. You click on a link for the upvote notification and get a bunch of code everytime a new vote gets posted. It was doing it for me all day but seems to have stopped now. I'll screen grab it if I get it again.

[Echidna]

They vanish once you view them, but as soon as a new rating is given, they all pop up again.
I have 9 by now and there's no option to delete them or "mark as read".

Maybe it's supposed to be that way, so you can always tell what kind of ratings you got overall, but that's going to seriously pile up after a while.

[malinghi]

Sorry about the notifications, thanks for letting me know. I just fixed it so you shouldn't get notifications related to upvotes anymore.