Introducing: Broadcasts
22Background
Occasionally we've been wanting a way to highlight specific forum topics. From time to time we'd like to announce a new feature, or admit when we screwed up, or inform our customer's about a shipping delay and sometimes it's hard to break through all the noise of llamas on the run or what color that white and gold dress actually is.
The traditional way that clunky, old forum software has tried to solve for this problem is with a feature called "stickying". You've probably seen this before, where sticky threads always show up in front of other threads.
I think this is a terrible user experience. Every one of the forums I've been on that use the sticky feature basically end up looking like the internet equivialent of a bunch of flyers you'd find on a college campus student activity board or a bus stop.
These sticky threads are usually filled with a bunch of unwelcoming, meta garbage about "THE RULES OF THIS DISCUSSION FORUM" or "YOU MUST READ THIS BEFORE YOU POST". Nothing says, "here's a community with a bunch of assholes" quite like 5 sticky posts in bold, ALL CAPS text warning me to be on my best behavior seconds after I visit the site for the first time.
What's worse is that as a normal user, in most forum systems, I'm not able to make these sticky posts go away. I could have read every word in each of the sticky threads a hundred times, yet each time I look over a list of threads I have to skip over the same set of sticky posts I've seen dozens of times.
Introducing: Broadcasts (a friendlier sticky)
Broadcasts look like this:
Available on mobile too:
It works like this:
- We'll occasionally "broadcast" forum topics from time to time.
- Broadcasts are promoted to the top of the topic list page (https://meh.com/forum) for any users who have not viewed that topic before.
- If you're signed in and view a broadcasted forum topic it's removed from the top of your forum list and returned to the normal sort order of the forums.
We're going to try this out for a bit to see if this is a friendlier sticky.
- 22 comments, 35 replies
- Comment
so what you're saying is... it's a less-sticky sticky
@Lotsofgoats it's only sticky until you read it.
@JonT so you're saying it's made of magic
@Lotsofgoats all our stuff is made of magic.
@JonT that's what she... oh, never mind
@katylava tbh sometimes I look at code and understand deep down that it works because magic. it's the logical explanation.
@Lotsofgoats ditto.
@Lotsofgoats @katylava Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
@Lotsofgoats It's a greasy sticky. Made from 3M's latest innovative adhesive.
Cool -- it looks clean and tidy. I especially like that they will disappear to the normal order once I've checked it out.
p.s. What exactly is the normal sort order? Most recently commented? I still find it a bit odd.
@luvche21 you can choose the normal sort order in the upper right
@nadroj Thanks, I actually haven't used those to sort yet. I guess I should have clarified--I normally get to the forum by going to the main page (meh.com), and I was wondering which forum topics were sorted there.
@luvche21 they're sorted by "most recent activity" by default
Such a solid idea. Well done!
Wait, I mean, change? Boo! Why are you trying to control us and what we read?
You're as amazing as electricity!
I rate this as: Good
@Bingo . . . you're just happy to be alive after the ER - wait a day or two and the cynicism will kick in again.
I like almost everything about this.
Still waiting for my tits-up goat icon. Priorities, man, priorities.
I don't know about this idea. It seems like you all are trying to go above and beyond the below standard meh. The meh I love... .. .
It's the Post-It Note of sticky posts. No, it's less sticky than that...more like the cheap knock-off sticky notes that stick to your monitor for a while and then fall off.
Gross
Very cool. Is there anything implemented that will re-stick a broadcast (mark as unread) if there are any important updates from staff from the original broadcast?
First.
I'd love to see permanent broadcasts for threads that need it, like the markdown style guide. But for blipverts, this is cool.
@editorkid What you said. All of it. Please, @shawn. do this.
@editorkid @JonT @shawn What I'd also like to see is threads like the FAQ, tips, etc. curated and the more meaningful content prioritized (and organized with ongoing edits), with maybe the comments and trivial stuff available (maybe), but not in the way.
@joelmw the FAQ is due for a revamp and is getting one soon.
@joelmw @JonT i'd like to see a universal ban on the use of the word "curated," except in usage regarding an actual museum. Also "house-made" and "chef-inspired," but more because those are insipid rather than overextended. Also, kids, get off of my lawn!
@pmulry "Curated" is a lovely word, damnit. Don't you fucking curmudgeon me or I'll say something you'll really regret. I'm with you on those pretentious hyphen jobs though. :-) Seriously though, it's concise and evocative. I'm not sure I can think of a single word that means just what I meant with it there.
Yea! A new forum feature which will undoubtedly eventually be used to push us to the "second" sale of the day . . .
@Pavlov i doubt it
@katylava . . . funny that ephemeral messaging was a hot topic and now we have quasi-ephemeral posts. If not through this specific mechanism, then another - and sooner than later I would suppose. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. (Karl Marx) - We've started a pool here on when successive deals arrive on Meh. When the number of active "users" is great enough that the rumblings of the K badges will go unnoticed, it'll be woot! rebooted, no matter how altruistic the intentions may be presently. Of course, opinions are like assholes, and I've been known to be one often, so there's that too.
@Pavlov The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.
@Pavlov although i don't think we'll have multiple products on meh.com, i totally get why it seems to many like that would happen. my "i doubt it" was just word play to the unequivocal "undoubtedly", not an attempt to convince you otherwise.
@katylava It's all good. Don't think for a second I feel that (some type of) multiplicity in daily offerings would be a bad thing. The point of Project Pavlov is to ascertain if the model can survive in the present market space. Just a matter of time and I win that pool . . .
@Pavlov I understand your trepidation, but I hope we surprise you.
So broadcasts about fukus? Cool.
@Boomdabah The site will crash by then... so you won't see the broadcasts.
Broadcasting stickiness: it's like being sneezed on!
Nice!
Perfect! Question though - if you have say, more than one thread in Broadcast mode at a time, will all of them appear at the top until read?
@Thumperchick only one thread can be broadcast at a time.
@JonT @Thumperchick Obligatory.
@JonT What happens if somebody does not read the broadcast?
@speediedelivery Reading the broadcast is not optional. You will comply.
@speediedelivery @SSteve they'll have the broadcast at the top of their forum FOR ALL TIME!!!! or until that post isn't broadcast anymore, which will probably be a lot shorter.
BAM!!! Let 'em know!
I still REALLY miss the old podcasts........
Know how to start taking a topic in an NSFW direction? Highlight the phrase "friendlier sticky" and just let people think about that...
@wilstev google image search results are disappointing. i was expecting something more explicit.
@shawn It's the first search term I've found that when searching and including quotes results in no pictures other than a small 42x42 avatar
I say once you read it, it should then become a 'stucky'..
@unkabob
@nadroj Pecan logs. Yum!
@nadroj ... Yeah! THAT'S what I'm talkin' about.. (but I'd also prefer hash browns and a couple sausage links with that).
@nadroj Is that a STATE .gif?