Read / Answer / Ask

[Dani]

In light of the discussions going on lately about being a discussion community, what do you think about rewording the Read / Answer / Ask in the navigation menu to Read / Answer / Discuss? Would newbies be more likely to click on Ask versus Discuss? But Discuss makes more sense in terms of directing people to a page to not just ask a question but also start a discussion, post a code snippet, etc.

[Dani]

The other advantage, I'm thinking, is it gives people a call to action when they don't actively have a question to ask, by giving them a link to open a discussion to the community.

[JamesCherrill]

I'd say both, ask and discuss

[Dani]

There's not enough room in the top navigation menu for both at all but the largest screen sizes. Additionally, it's a little confusing as they would both go to the same page (although I could make the Ask one hide the Forum/CMS Type dropdown while Discuss would make them visible). But, again, there's not room for both.

[Dani]

Now that I think about it, I think it might be confusing newbies that I'm calling things "Articles". That seems a bit too formal for just an informal discussion thread. I'll change the wording tomorrow evening. Bedtime now.

[Dani]

Hmm, what's an alternative word that could encompass Discussion Threads, Questions, Code Snippets, Tutorials, Product Reviews, News Stories, Interviews, etc.

Right now we're using "Article" but it sounds a bit too formal on pages such as asking for "Article Title" or "Articles Tagged PHP" etc.

[Dani]

Oooh, I have an idea. What if I call everything a topic.

But then instead of all non-editorial content being a "discussion thread", we'll separate it into "Questions" and "Discussions".

[Dani]

Or ... maybe we can just call everything a topic and not confuse the newbies with having to then select whether they're starting a question or a discussion? ;)

[Dani]

Just thinking outloud here. We can also use the word Conversation to replace the word Article.

So, for example, on this page:

https://www.daniweb.com/tags/java

Would you prefer it to say:

"Conversations Tagged with java"
"Discussions Tagged with java"
"Topics Tagged with java"
"java Conversations"
"java Discussions"
"java Topics"

Or keep it the way it is, using the word Articles. (Which, IMHO, now that I think about it, could be confusing to newbies.)

The results are a mix of java discussion threads, java code snippets, tutorials, etc.

[Dani]

P.S. I'm leaning towards "Topics" because people are already familiar with Forum Topics being an alternative word for forum threads on some sites. Perhaps we can use it where topic is just more broad than "discussion thread" to also encompass our editorial discussions / conversations?

[cereal]

Between Ask and Discussion I prefer Submit as it fits both.

[JamesCherrill]

I like "topics" and "conversations"

PS anyone else using an IOS device - do you see messed up shift key behaviour in the daniweb editor?

[Traevel]

I like Submit as well. It suggests there is an upcoming choice regarding what you want to submit.

I'd prefer "Topics" and "Topics Tagged with java" because it's broad (which fits the result) and because it's actually tagged content. Subtily implying that you need to add tags to your submissions (assuming people look around a bit before submitting anything).

[Dani]

PS anyone else using an IOS device - do you see messed up shift key behaviour in the daniweb editor?

iOS devices aren't supposed to be using the editor because of that very problem. Will fix.

[Dani]

What do you think of the changes?!?! Friendlier sounding??!!

[JamesCherrill]

iOS devices aren't supposed to be using the editor because of that very problem.

then i guess this is my last post until i get home next week!!!

[Dani]

No, you misunderstood. I meant it was a bug and that iOS devices aren't supposed to be using the Markdown editor, but should be defaulting to a normal textarea, due to that problem. Should be fixed now.

[JamesCherrill]

Indeed it is. Works correctly now. Thanks.

[Dani]

Good good. So, now that that's settled, can you comment on the changes? Read / Respond / Contribute. The use of 'Topics' replacing 'Articles' throughout the site. Yay? Nay?

[JamesCherrill]

I think they are an improvement. But never stop looking for a better way!

[Traevel]

Somewhat related to reading/answering: locking old topics? Perhaps with an option for the OP to unlock it again. I'm not talking weeks, but 10 year old threads that get a reboot every now and then probably doesn't help anyone. Unless you would lose money on doing so, obviously. But sometimes people create an account just to respond to a dead thread with either a useless answer or a question of their own that will get ignored.

[Reverend Jim]

Just throwing out another idea here...

I'm trying to think of some way to discourage people from posting in old threads. Perhaps when a thread is over a certain age limit the edit box could be replaced with a large button with the text

This thread has been inactive for xxx months (or years). If you really want to post here then click this button, however, we strongly suggest you start a new thread if you want to ask a question.

Keep in mind that I've already had my one good idea for 2017 ^_^

[Dani]

We already have a big message above the editor for older threads saying to only respond if you have something valuable to add. But, if you do have something valuable to add, we encourage that. (Or, rather, I do, Davey does, and I am unsure of the specific opinions of others.)

[rproffitt]

@Dani. Just my opinion. One of the usual forum moderator tools is to lock old posts. This fixes the necropost issue over time as moderators can lock or close an old discussion.

It's rare but once in a while we'll have to pre-emptively lock what is a blatent shill post if not outright remove it.

[Dani]

You're falsely assuming I see necroposting as bad. :-p

[Traevel]

I'll give an example of why I think there should be a possibility of locking threads, and then I'll promise to shut up about it.

Someone replied to this post, saying he had the same problem. The post was obviously never seriously replied to in the first place. I think that makes people think no one knows the answer. I think that is why he replied, stating he still has that same problem. The framework used in the question was abandoned in 2006. Which should have been the answer to the original poster 5 years ago. So I think, that not only is it implying DaniWeb does not have knowledge on that topic, but also that it is encouraging the usage of outdated code.

I agree with you that there are posts that could have a rebirth. Topics that were once relevant can, for whatever reason, become relevant again. But I also think there are some posts worthy of a time constraint.

[rproffitt]

@Dani.

It's a tool, and we had to use it from time to time. I see an example given and another is a thread with 500+ posts about should I leave my PC on or off. After a decade, that's plenty of answers for folk to plow through. Since we actively eject spam, the only new posts were spam so it was time to lock the thread.

Without a locking feature, moderators would have more to check out.

[Dani]

We have always had a locking feature. We continue to have one. I'm just not the biggest proponent of its use unless it's a thread that continuously gets repeatedly hijacked or there's a flame war going on or something like that.

[rproffitt]

@Dani. Good to know it's there. The other forum uses it without much ado. That is, if the thread is years old and the post is spam, we call that a drop and lock. No notification is given to the spammer and the old thread (we try to keep the line of the lock to 2+ years old) is closed/locked.

Now if a member posts a new question in a new thread, we don't have a split feature so a mod might ask them to re-post or if it's a simple question in a short thread (one page or less) then an answer might be had. But if it takes going to page 8 to reply, their plea/question is effectively hidden as the plans were in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

But, Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.

Such a buried question is then treated with a reminder it's buried and asked to repost and the thread is locked.
This hasn't upset too many. Unlike... when the Universe was created. See The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Dani]

The other forum uses it without much ado. That is, if the thread is years old and the post is spam, we call that a drop and lock.

We will delete the spam post. When moderator action is taken, a PM is automatically sent to the poster informing them.

If it repeatedly happens in the same thread, and there's absolutely no potential for legitimate discussion to continue in the thread, then locking is fine to not cause a significant amount of additional moderation work constantly deleting from the same thread.

Now if a member posts a new question in a new thread, we don't have a split feature so a mod might ask them to re-post or if it's a simple question in a short thread (one page or less) then an answer might be had.

That's what we do here, although I'm hoping to add a split feature soon.

Such a buried question is then treated with a reminder it's buried and asked to repost and the thread is locked.

We don't lock under that condition. We ask them to repost as their own question. Again, only lock if it's repeatedly a problem and there's no potential for legitimate discussion.

We're really not big lockers around here.