A modest feature request
4Apropos of nothing in particular: I have seen before a feature where it’s possible to optionally reply publicly to a forum thread without bumping it. It’d be neat if we had that option here. For some of us in some of the threads.
Or maybe a mod could also have the option of setting that as a per-thread setting. I trust the mods’ judgement. It wouldn’t prevent conversations continuing, in those threads, for the people who like it there.
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If you whisper, it doesn’t bump the thread.
@RiotDemon Whispers are very personal though. I usually don’t want to reply to only one person, but to a thread. I still think the mod feature would be cool, too.
@InnocuousFarmer you can whisper at multiple people.
I’m not sure if this can be done, or if they would have time to do it… But it seems a draw back to not bump threads that people are talking in.
The only way that I would agree with this, is if you personally can block threads you don’t want to see.
@InnocuousFarmer @RiotDemon If you could block threads you don’t want to see then it seems to me a moderator feature not to bump threads wouldn’t be needed. If you can personally keep your comment from bumping a thread then that is a personal decision and is different.
@InnocuousFarmer @RiotDemon I like the idea of personally blocking threads.
/giphy good idea
@RiotDemon Oh, interesting… I didn’t think it was likely to be implemented, but I wasn’t expecting anyone would dislike the concept.
Any of the political threads, I’m always torn between wanting to reply, in some corner of the thread, and not wanting to keep the threads popping up all the time for people who are bothered by them. I’d probably be more active on those if I could reply without bumping them. I imagine even the raving people would be willing to voluntarily corral their posts in a way that was less hostile to bystanders.
Whispers are sort of like pulling emails or IMs into the forum. It’s hard for me to imagine getting comfortable with them. I see the point of a forum thread as having an open discussion available to anyone who happens by.
Then on the other hand, I generally don’t like blocking things… comes from some notion that bubbles are bad, even self-inflicted ones. I could see it helping in extreme cases.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@InnocuousFarmer @RiotDemon I may have mentioned the addition of a “hide thread” option in the team meeting today, but I’ve been with the company for 3 days so I’m not easy to hear (small voice in a big room). I would love the option as well, for obvious reasons. Keep asking. Squeaky wheels and all that stuff…
@ExtraMedium @InnocuousFarmer are y’all actually in the office? Or online meeting?
/giphy squeak
@RiotDemon Online. Big room = multi-million dollar company. Small voice = literally the newest employee at said company.
Maybe, but would have to be clearly marked as a stealth post to avoid abuse.
@walarney I’m probably not being creative enough. What abuse?
I would like politics topics to be visibly identifiable.
Diff font or typeface color or whatever.
Then, if politics got into a regular topic, the volmods could /del or /move.
What would be really cool is this plus
an option not to see political topics.
@f00l That’s not a bad idea. Just like when someone starts a new thread, they can select a background/banner/avatar image, they could also select a “genre” for the topic. Meh Deals, Last 30 days of Deals, My Deals (purchased), Mediocre sibling site deals, VMP, Mehrathons, IRKs, Goat, RIP, Meh Culture, Candy Corn Recipes, and everyone’s favorite, Politics, etc.
Mods could adjust the genre, just like they can the title or background image.
That would enable profiles to have a feature to filter those threads from their feeds.
Everyone wins?
@f00l @mike808 This is a golden idea.
@f00l Maybe this font?
@blaineg @f00l @mike808 I like where your head’s at, but “what’s political?” changes daily. I mean, I never would have said “USPS” was a political topic before 2020, yet here we are. That plan is a nonstarter.
@blaineg @ExtraMedium @f00l
You’re not understanding the purpose or “good enough” goal.
It isn’t to accurately categorize topics. It isn’t an archive search engine for posterity.
The purpose is for folks to filter noise from their feeds. It only has to be good enough. As in better than nothing, which us what we have now. That’s not exactly a high bar to hit.
And if folks inadvertently tag their topic incorrectly (because nobody would do so purposely - that would be trolling, right?) or the topic itself goes sideways after it starts, then nothing is stopping a mod from recategorizing the topic appropriately.
Heck, it really only needs to filter the first 50 topic if that many.
@blaineg @ExtraMedium @f00l @mike808 You are expecting people to remember or read through 50 topic choices? Or am I misunderstanding?
@blaineg @f00l @mike808 I hear you. Don’t doubt that. I just know it’s going to take an extremely simple solution that is also insanely effective in order for it to have a chance to reach the design team.
@blaineg @ExtraMedium @f00l @mike808 I would also imagine it needs to be pretty self running since employees and volunteer moderators don’t have the time to micromanage this.
@blaineg @f00l @Kidsandliz @mike808
@blaineg @ExtraMedium @f00l
.
@Kidsandliz Yes, you’re misunderstanding.
When someone creates a new topic, just like they create a “title”, and optionally a banner image, this would add a “genre” or “category” field. Radio style, pick one is good enough.
The list can be pre-made by Meh. I was just suggesting possible useful ones: Meh Deals, Sibling Site Deals, Goat, IRKs, Mediocrebot/Polls, Mehrathons, Humor, and everyone’s favorite, Politics, etc.
You pick one for your post. Its pretty much invisible. Meh can decide where/how to display this new field, just like it does now for the title, creator, the last post, and the icon/image/avatar. Or not.
The usefulness is in your profile, where you can filter out categories or genres you don’t want to see. That’s a checkbox multi-pick feature (except maybe you can’t exclude Meh Deals because well, it should be obvious).
Don’t want to see IRK topics, check IRK in your profile and poof, no topics in the IRK genre/category show up on your forum feed. Repeat if you don’t want to see Politics topics. Repeat for polls, humor, etc. Whatever you don’t want to see on your forum feed page.
I don’t know how much more simple that can be explained. That’s more for the flask team to get what I’m proposing.
There’s no micro managing. You get everything by default, manage your own feed. If someone tags their topic humor and it goes sideways and turns into politics, a mod can reassign the genre/category for that topic and then everyone’s filters do their thing.
What we need to do is publicly corral all these posters and segregate them from us decent people. Maybe put them in a camp or something.
@therealjrn Maybe make them wear pink stars on their posts so everyone knows who they are.
Do you even hear yourself say out loud the shit you post?
@mike808 @therealjrn
I think @therealjrn’s comment contained an intended “satiric” component.
@f00l @therealjrn Ok. So did mine then.
@mike808 @therealjrn
Ok then.
@f00l @mike808 @therealjrn
@mike808
Pot, meet Kettle. HAHAHAHAHA
@mike808 @RiotDemon @therealjrn
/giphy stare of death
@f00l @mike808 @therealjrn So, a sarcasm font too?
@blaineg @f00l @therealjrn
Surely, you’re not saying Mehtizens require the intellectual crutch of a special font?
@blaineg @mike808 @therealjrn
I’ll take any and all intellectuall crutches, wheelchairs, and trained assistance animals, if that will make things more pleasant for those who want to avoid the flame throwing.
@blaineg @f00l @therealjrn
Your anti-Darwinian sentiment is just endearing.
Floaties for those who can’t swim in the deep end of the gene pool. It’s touching. Really.