Rename a topic via mobile - say, how long you been an Admin?

[The Old Man]

A valued community member, let's call her Jane Doe, last night had the blatant, barefaced audacity to ask me to rename her popular topic, so I tried whilst using my iPad, after all it was my only device to hand at the time.

TL;DR - Okay, I geddit. Your time is valuable. So I'll get to the point. Please add a 'rename topic' option to the existing Moderator Actions button, for mobile moderation.

 

Huh? What's that? Oh, so you want me to continue the story, after all? 

1. Ok, I got this! I PM little Miss Cheeky Jane Doe back to tell her, no problem, it will be done in two shakes of a Matt Mecham's tail. Or quicker than the average loading time of an IPS community website owned by speed happy Adlago. Pretty obvious, I'm an Admin after all, and I've been using IPS/IPB since 2002, so this should be easy.
2. So after locating Ms Doe's said topic, I try the rather obvious sounding Moderation Actions buttons visible both at the top and bottom of the topic. Alas, despite every moderator option listed under the sun or that you can possibly think of, there is no simple Rename Topic or Edit Title option. Bizarre, where the hell is BFarber when I need him? I'm obviously having a moment. 
3. Oh, that's right, I remember. Was it way back in IPB 2 or 3, after Google invented AJAX and the future of mankind changed forever, editing the topic title received some cool AJAX attention. Wow, has it been so long? When looking at the topic, I recall that if you press on the title, it turns to a yellow background, indicating it can then be AJAX inline edited. Nifty. It's been so long since I renamed a topic, it must now be the preferred method. Perhaps, only except it seems, not when using a tablet. Epic Fail. Try as I might, I had to give up. Most embarrassing. 
4. Later whilst trying to sleep, tossing and turning in the sultry summer heat. **Silver mist, suffused, the deck of the ship.  "Go..." "Go into... " Wait, was it just the soothing whisper of IPS's Jennifer in my head? I heard the comforting voice again, like an irresistible Siren calling me to my watery doom against the rocks... "Go, go... into topic listing inside the forum, use the checkbox to select the topic, then rename it." Huh?
5. No, it wasn't Jennifer. It was IPS' Rhett, telling me, "Go... go... dumbass. Into the topic listing inside the forum, use the checkbox to select the topic, then rename it. WTF. Halfwit." I sat bolt upright. Boom! It hit me.
6. Quick, turn on that infernal iPad. Quickly boy, to the forum topic listing. Tick that checkbox. D'oh. No rename option. Oh well.
7. Ooh! Ooh! I remember, you can Ajax edit the topic title from the same forum topic listing! What, damn you to Hades. It highlights yellow, but you can't edit the title to rename it. Curse you Charles! A few failed attempts later, each one just simply opening the offending topic, I give up. Time for black coffee. ☕️
8. Coffee drank, I think to myself, if my IPS life coach Joel was here, he'd remind me that if I'd had a good donut with that coffee, the solution would of course had presented itself to me, thanks to the sugar. To the kitchen! 
9. Later, my half a donut devoured (I'm not allowed a full one, diabetic you see ?), I think over this brain rattling, enigma of a head bleeding conundrum once more, and behold! it occurs to me! Of course you useless half-wit, just try editing the first post of the topic. Success, there IS an option to rename the title!

True story. 

So, awful attempt to tale aside (no, I don't know why I broke Opentype's 21st Law of Principle Typography and used unnecessary bullet points, either), perhaps there could be an easier option for us moderating mobile device users? I'm thinking maybe... add a rename topic option to the Moderator Actions button. Good idea, right? Are we good?

Hello? Anyone still there? 

I guess I could remember to just edit the the first post next time.

 

* No CO2 was produced and wasted, or trees harmed in the composition of this post. One half of a stale donut may have been consumed. We don't know. But it's listed for GDPR compliance.

** Possibly stolen from The Jewels of Aptor, by Samuel R. Delany. You'd be wrong. I inserted two commas for extra emphatical effect.

[Joel R]

Edit the post, which allows you to change the topic title (as well as the content of the topic)

[Day_]

Read all that and found myself screaming halfway through “Just click edit on the first post”

Think it does highlight a problem with the software though, that somethings are just not user friendly, I knew how to do this, but how many others didn’t? Is it obvious? Obviously not.

I’ve been a long time failed campaigner of topics taking you to the first unread post, regardless of where you are on the forum, how would someone new to forums know to click that little dot if they are exclusive mobile/tablet users which many are.

To give us a fighting chance against the popular social media platforms out there, we need to make our sites easy to use, “obvious”, especially on mobile which feels like it’s an after thought in some areas.

This got brought up the other day in a topic, the forum post count bug, it’s been like this for weeks now, if not months. Had it shipped like this it would have been fixed in a patch as it would be reported.

So I ask myself, are IPS simply not bothered, or do they not even use their own site on mobile which is why it feels like it’s an after thought.

I actually think it’s a mistake that the customer forum uses it’s own custom skin and doesn’t showcase all the apps they try and sell. New customer may look and think this is great, these must be options and plugins I can use for the footer, no, it’s all custom.

Sorry to hijack the topic somewhat, just thought it was a great example of something that needs to be more obvious for the user, not the developers that have spent years working on their software and know it inside out.

Maybe it’s time to extend their research away from these forums and drag a few people in off the street, new to forums, and let them loose on the software, noting what is confusing as these are our potential users.

Still love you IPS, more than you will ever know, just some feedback that’s all from a customer ? 

[Joel R]

Nominating the OP for story of the week.  

[The Old Man]

Yeah, I agree it's a tad disappointing that they no longer choose to showcase the other IPS apps as much as they used to, even if they were limited to staff use only to maintain some degree of quality content control. I used to be perplexed that they opted to use Pages instead of Blogs for the news articles, but in the cold light of day, I've come to realise that both products can be used for news articles in their own unique ways whilst both offer much more depending upon what you need in your particular usage case.

I believe you can access demo versions upon request if you're new to the platform, but on the other hand, the main web pages are now so much more improved these days when it comes to highlighting the features and giving usage scenarios than they ever used to be. Screenshots of real world usage cases is a good thing. Multiply by two due to the new wave of articles and demo videos by Matt on how to get the best out of the software or get things done. More of that please! Even as old hands, we still learn something new or have cause to consider some feature we've overlooked for a while.

Re the mobile moderation, I don't think it would take much to just bring the UI back in line. We all know the trend to mobile first and increased usage of mobile devices. The misleading yellow background highlighting could be deactivated on mobile devices if it can't be used the same as per desktop due to the touch interface, and a simple rename topic tool adding to the list of moderating actions would kill anyone. 

 

1 minute ago, Joel R said:

 

Nominating the OP for story of the week.

 

Thanks, a quiet, pre-gravy, lazy Sunday afternoon seemed like a good time for a short story. I'm no Stephen King though.