Please allow reverse post order in threads

[DesignzShop]

1 hour ago, DawPi said:

I admire people who have enough time to think of ways to sort posts in many ways.

😉

I wish I could take the cred for this but I have to give that to the thinkers at Breitbart..

 

46 minutes ago, bfarber said:

Here's a cake for making the post of the day

Unfortunately Brandon, a post is just not a post and unfortunately on top of that, not all posts are as valuable as others which makes encouraging members to post more intelligently a necessity. 🙂 It's also necessity to not bury the best comments in some down the line page to be ignored. This is one of the areas forum software is failing.

[Woodsman]

44 minutes ago, bfarber said:

Here's a cake for making the post of the day

Sorry I don't have the time in any one given day to take the time to waste getting back and forth through a topic. Even now I get sent back to the beginning of this topic just to look at the last post on the last page....

[Ramsesx]

Regardless of all made arguments here if it is useful or not, there seems to be a demand for it. Even vBulletin 3 & 4 had this option.

On 1/16/2020 at 12:40 AM, sunset said:

Post Sorting in Topics [plugin] <- This plugin still works (except it breaks the API in 4.2+).  Try this out.

This file is not currently available for purchase.

 

 

[Joel R]

There are some great points of discussion.  I really liked the design examples of Disqus and Breitbart. 

Discussing and improving forums is the point of these forums (very meta!).  How we deliver and nurture discussion matters just as much as what we discuss, and there should be substantive conversation on how to support and nurture higher quality conversation.  

How does reversing sort order support higher quality conversation? (Or, how do we get users to unread content faster?)

What signals intelligence can we use on posts to incentivize and promote quality posts? 

How do we encourage users to read long posts? (Or, how do we synthesize long topics into summaries?) 

 

There are some real problems with the traditional format, many of which are listed above: 

- All posts are treated equal, even though some posts are better: they offer better insight, better information, more reactions and controversy, more information, more discussions to be spun-off.  How do we elevate and highlight those posts? 

- We preach the praise of long-form and in-depth discussion, but the Editor doesn't match long form.  Anyone tried to type anything more than one page? What happens to the Editor? How do we modify and improve the Editor to be inserted at the point of typing? 

- We create these monster multi-page topics. How do we encourage on-topic participation --  and how do we encourage substantive diversions to be spun out but still tied to the original topic? How do we prevent these multi-page topics from devolving into general chat? You know, like a gif of cake in the middle of one of the most compelling topics of the year. 

- How do we emphasize the immediacy of fast moving and active topics? How do we reflect that activity and movement into the platform to excite human psychology? 

- How do we get users to explore and learn about new topics? How do we not just allow users to passively browse, but to proactively push active and exciting topics to build a "stickier" relationship? 

 

As clients, you should be thinking of these design questions.  And even though you may not have answer, you're on the right path.  

Now, time for a gratuitous cake photo: 

[kmk]

2 hours ago, Joel R said:

There are some great points of discussion.  I really liked the design examples of Disqus and Breitbart. 

Discussing and improving forums is the point of these forums (very meta!).  How we deliver and nurture discussion matters just as much as what we discuss, and there should be substantive conversation on how to support and nurture higher quality conversation.  

How does reversing sort order support higher quality conversation? (Or, how do we get users to unread content faster?)

What signals intelligence can we use on posts to incentivize and promote quality posts? 

How do we encourage users to read long posts? (Or, how do we synthesize long topics into summaries?) 

 

There are some real problems with the traditional format, many of which are listed above: 

- All posts are treated equal, even though some posts are better: they offer better insight, better information, more reactions and controversy, more information, more discussions to be spun-off.  How do we elevate and highlight those posts? 

- We preach the praise of long-form and in-depth discussion, but the Editor doesn't match long form.  Anyone tried to type anything more than one page? What happens to the Editor? How do we modify and improve the Editor to be inserted at the point of typing? 

- We create these monster multi-page topics. How do we encourage on-topic participation --  and how do we encourage substantive diversions to be spun out but still tied to the original topic? How do we prevent these multi-page topics from devolving into general chat? You know, like a gif of cake in the middle of one of the most compelling topics of the year. 

- How do we emphasize the immediacy of fast moving and active topics? How do we reflect that activity and movement into the platform to excite human psychology? 

- How do we get users to explore and learn about new topics? How do we not just allow users to passively browse, but to proactively push active and exciting topics to build a "stickier" relationship? 

 

As clients, you should be thinking of these design questions.  And even though you may not have answer, you're on the right path.  

Now, time for a gratuitous cake photo: 

That's the correct way and mentality, we are so lucky 🍀 

[DesignzShop]

17 hours ago, Joel R said:

You know, like a gif of cake in the middle of one of the most compelling topics of the year. 

In all honesty I had serious reservations getting into this thread as far as I did knowing the outcome. It was very predictable unfortunately due to the nature of the subject. This is certainly one of those areas of change that will be fought to the end because traditional style users are set in their ways and refuse to see it from looking outside the box. The angst I knew it would bring kept me from coming right out with any suggestions at all.

This could be one of the most compelling topics of the year to come, but I think the nature of the topic will keep it from the justice it deserves. Very unfortunate. I do feel grateful I could contribute something to this however that gave a different perspective. We can only hope some consideration will be given as far as looking into this but I certainly wont hold my breath.

I hope developers at some point at least take note, if not, they may be relying on other applications to keep them a float as one continues to sink further into the abyss to keep up with what's goes on around them. This is truly an area IPB could step into rather quickly and make a change that leads instead of follows as they have in other areas.

[bfarber]

This is just my personal opinion mind you, but

• Yes, us developers here at Invision are aware of the request. It pops up now and then.
• Personally, I do not think the request sits well with discussion topics. Discussion topics by their nature are linear (perhaps with a handful of offshoots where you might implement threaded conversations ala Facebook comments), but are not generally an area where the "best posts" can just bubble up to the top and everything else be ignored. That;s not how a conversation works.
• That said, I have had use for this type of functionality in Pages databases in the past where the comments were not intended to be linear but more of a work log-type of situation, and showing the most recent comments at the top would have worked well there.
• Given how our framework works, if we implement it in one area because it has value there, it would be available Suite-wide (at least at the code level).

 

[tonyv]

8 hours ago, bfarber said:

Personally, I do not think the request sits well with discussion topics. Discussion topics by their nature are linear (perhaps with a handful of offshoots where you might implement threaded conversations ala Facebook comments), but are not generally an area where the "best posts" can just bubble up to the top and everything else be ignored. That;s not how a conversation works.

I agree. I hate the Breitbart model. Just because a million idiots (and bots) high-five each other with likes doesn't mean that the post brought to the top to be showcased is the most intelligent post that somehow defines the topic. That's akin to the delusion many people suffer from when it comes to voting: they think the mere act of voting makes a difference when they cast a vote for either Bad Candidate A or Bad Candidate B. Sad and pathetic.

[Makoto]

Even for topics where there are posts you want to feature/highlight, we can already do this as moderators by recommending the posts.

They display at the top and users can pop down to that point of the topic from a link there, and I absolutely love this feature.

Outside of the that, highly rated posts can get highlighted making them stand out. Another feature I use and love.

If you want something more user controlled, maybe a "most popular posts" widget block would be a nice addition for content items?

As for reverse post order.. I can kinda see the mindset here, but also not. There are topics where I can see this being useful, but for a majority I'd say probably not.

You can kind of use the activity feed as a means of following most recent posts in really large/very active forums if you want.

[Victoria Hopkins]

Thank you for the suggestions.

[PatrickRQ]

Best option would be to improve question / answer forums and make them work like Stack Overflow, so each post may actually be discussed without extending the entire topic.