The forums in Weavolution are organized so the responses are threaded. If you reply to someone it goes directly under, and slightly indented, their original comment.
Some social networking sites have their comments listed in straight chronological order. You can read top to bottom and see who responded when. You will not be able to see who responded to whom. So, if 4 comments are made and I want to respond to the second one, I hit reply under the second comment and my reply appears 2 comments below because I made my reply following two others.
Do you like the threaded version like we have on Weavolution or the straight chronological order?
Claudia, co-founder Weavolution
hi Claudia, I can see what you are trying to achieve with this style of threading, but to be honest its a mess. Quite often, when I am checking a thread that is not on the front page, when I get into the group forum and click on new, it doesn't take me to the new reply but dumps me at the top of the thread. This is particularly annoying and frustrating in the back-strap weaving group which is very active, and having to scroll down through our long threads is so time-consuming you are liable to have forgotten what thread it is once you find the new post - if you find it that is. Thats not a given at the moment.
I think most of us are used to the yahoo format where each posting into the forum goes in chronological order. Its also possible there to read a thread in chronological order too, and it makes life soooooo much more user friendly, because its easy to back-track if you need to, and quick to find the latest posting. It might not be innovative, but I cannot think of a better example of a forum that works. This one doesn't, and its likely to kill this site before it gets off the ground properly because people are getting frustrated. I realise that this site is still in beta, but the forums are the heart of everything, and if you blow this, the rest won't matter.
Claudia,
The threaded format has been abandoned by most, if not all, forum sites I am familiar with. As a result those who frequent forums are accustomed to the straight through format. On other sites there is an option to quote a previous post, so honestly it is not that difficult to follow the conversations.
IMO the most confusing part of the forum format here is that the main posts have the newest posts at the top, yet the replies -- when going to a specific post -- are in the reverse order.
Since forums started allowing people to use avatars, it was amazing to me how quickly I came to identify a post with that person's avatar rather than their screen name. Here, the lack of an avatar on the beginning post of a thread is disconcerting to me. Yes, it is true that I should not let a little thing like that cause me a moment's disruption, but it does.
Caroline has made some excellent points too.
I hope others will provide some feedback as well.
Hi Claudia
I'm going to have to agree with Deborah and Caroline. I find the threaded system much more difficult to deal with than the chronological entries on other forum sites.
Lois S
The whole reading bottom to top is uncomfortable too. We naturally read top down.
If there is a way for individuals to change the way posts are sorted I have not found it.
I'm really just posting this to see where it lands.
Now, see what I mean about the confusing sort order?
Just checking to see if this falls right below Caroline's post.
I whole-heartedly vote for the chronological order! These threaded responses have me going up and down and all around and still not quite getting it. Most of the time I just abandon even trying and stop reading the threads completely.
The forums I have used let you hit a reply button on the post you wish to reply to. Then in your post there is a little blurb at the top such as "in reply to Suzie's post #123" and/or the ability to insert a quote from the post your are replying to.
I think most people want it to be totally easy to read the forums and top to bottom is the way our eyes read and the way we are used to reading everything in our lives.
And I am checking to see where this ends up. I did not hit reply but instead just started writing in the box provided.
Thank you all for your comments. I hope to start working with our developers today and tomorrow at the latest (I think they are closed on Sunday) to look at alternatives. I cannot make any promises. I agree with Caroline's assessment and it's a mess which we need to get fixed immediately. I will do that. I promise to do everything possible to have this fixed before August 20th.
Claudia
I would like to see the chronological order. I find the current order difficult to deal with.
I don't mind threaded, it's the latest post on top that is the problem. Think of it sort of like an outline for a book report you did in school
Original Post
Response 1
Response 2
Response 2a (which is a direct response to 2)
Response 2a2 (which is a response to 2a)
Response 2b (response to 2, not 2a)
Response 3
and so on. You can still have the pink envelopes to show new posts., and I would most definitely recommend that.
Actually it is just the reverse of that. Response 3 would be on top with response 1 at the bottom. If you are viewing a thread for the first time you have to scroll to the bottom to begin the conversation and work your way back to the top.
Maybe it is just what I am used to on other boards, but putting the posts in chronological order seems easier to browse through. Also the order of the threads, put, not in the order that the threads were posted, but in the order of the latest comments, puts all the threads with new posts at the top of the list. It is easy to find, and perhaps respond to new comments. Some boards have a button that shows "active threads" only. I have found that to speed up the sorting of what is new.
chrono rules, threads drool
I believe that Dragonfly wrote the outline the way she would like to see it, not the way it is.
Cronological order is a must - IMO.
If they could just present it the way Dragonfly suggests, rather than the mixed up way it is now, I think it would be an improvement.
I prefer chrono.
It's the most intuitive for me to use.
Have a good day!
The current format is confusing. Chronological is easier to follow. I want to see the original post first and look at the replies later. Some forums keep track of what a person has read and can mark those so that you can quickly go to what you haven't read. But if you haven't read any, then its confusing to figure out what the original post was. The indentations from the threaded posts are too small to clearly see what they go with. Numbers would be better. I like Dragonfly's threaded approach and I have seen this on many forums.
And for those of us who are trying to forget about all those book reports we had to do...? Just kidding. I find chrono more straightforward. I understand the threaded sequence, but it can get complex, especially with a talked-about topic. I am used to chrono from the other discussion groups I am on, too.
Now, I think this here reply is going to Dragonfly's comment "I don't mind threaded", but I am not sure. See, confusion! Sigh.
I vote for chrono.
Nina M in Indy
And call it SEND button instead of SAVE.
Caroling has said here what I have been thinking. I have experienced being dumped at hte top of the thread rather than the new reply. I thought that was so confusing when it happened. I am on several Yahoo discussions and am used to that format which I find is very easy to use.
Sometimes innovation misses the mark, and the first hting tried works, 'cause it is simple and logical.
Pressing the red SAVE button and wondering again if it will SEND,
Nina M
Replying to Dragonfly's post to see where it lands. I thought it would be below the last reply to her, but it might be put at the top. ??????
.... they are in reverse order under the replies too... this post is a reply to my "Replying to Dragonfly's" post.
I agree, SEND or even POST, is more in line with other forums. The word Save usually implies a draft that can be accessed and completed later.
This post is a reply to Russina Princess.
What Deborah said is right. It's not as it is, it's what I'd rather see IF they are going to keep it threaded. If they aren't going to keep threaded, then chronological is the way to go.
ETA: I posted after Deborah, but it's showing up before hers. That makes it appear that she is replying AFTER me.
Exactly -- regarding your ETA comment.
I think this thread demonstrates how confusing the current format can be.
I clicked on "reply" under your "What Deborah said.." post. This one should be under yours. We shall see.
OK, that one went under your post.... let's see if this one goes above or below my first response.
It went above... it looks like every level of the thread is doing that reverse order.
If they can just switch the sort -- as a quick fix -- it will help.
OK, another reply to a reply, I want to see what happens to the page as the threads get deeper.
hmmm another reply to a reply..... so far the page is holding up
DragonFly, I did misread your post. I think we are on the same page on this issue. Just not sure where that page is?? :-)
I am letting as many people know as possible. As soon as I have a date, I will put it on the News. For now, just to let you know we are working on changing from the threaded forum system to the straight chronological.
Both types of forum comments have their pitfalls. You have been clear about disliking this and I think a link is broken in the programming. However, we are changing and it should be soon.
Here's how our process works. We put together the specific details of how we want the comments/forums to look and give it to our developers. They give us an estimate (price) and then we say yes or no and then they create the code, put it up on the test site and we test it for a few days. Then, we move it to the production site on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in case something goes wrong our developers are available to fix it right away.
It may take us more than a week. I promise you it will be improved as quickly as we possibly can.
Thanks for your patience and for the feedback to help us improve.
Claudia, co-founder Weavolution
Thank you Claudia! I am very much looking forward to the changes. Thanks for listening!
OK, this is part one of the fixes. We added an avatar to the first comment and put things in the chronological order suggested.
We are looking to make a larger change soon. This is just a start.
Claudia
Hmmmmm, its still all over the place, this is halfway down the first page and we have older posts before and after it, so its not in chronological order.
There were 2 posts I hadn't read. This one, and one down the bottom of the page, so I'm still having to scroll and watch the date and time of every posting, grrrrr!
" its still all over the place, this is halfway down the first page "
That will continue as long as the threaded format is in place. The posts will go where the person replies. So, this one will be right under yours, but still in the middle of the page.
OK, we'll look forward to a new format in the next 7-10 days. I want to be certain that the posts that have already been made will remain and not get deleted. We have a couple groups doing weave alongs and it's important they not disappear in the course of our improvements.
Claudia
Yes, thank you for addressing the concern. I'm looking forward to the change.
Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Where are we at for this issue? I have to say, without nesting too deep (scary thought, isn't it?) that the posts (at least those from this last week) SEEM to be working as Dragonfly had suggested, which I would agree is a correct layout...
we shall see where THIS one ends up... I hit reply on Claudia's original post.
Kay
We now have chronological order for the posts. Since there was overwhelming support for this, I hope that it helps with keeping track of what's going on.
If you have any additional feedback, or need to report a problem with the new Forums functionality, please add it to this thread: http://www.weavolut ion.com/node/ 6806
