Forum layout suggestion

1. 85

   TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years ago

   I am really tired of reading forums that have interesting titles but were written some time ago.  I posted about this last week, but now have a suggestion that will help people decide whether they want to read and/or respond to such posts:  PUT THE DATE BESIDE OR DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH THE POST'S TITLE.

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      WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Agreed. Or ANYTHING that will stop people bumping them. It doesn't help that the "related discussions" at the bottom of posts are all years old.

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      SheilaMilneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The date is directly underneath the title, beside the author's name, or at least it is on my PC. It could be missing on mobile view, I suppose.

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      1. 85

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I don't know what you are looking at, but I have none of this on my PC and apparently others don't either...I am not looking via a mobile device.  I am talking about the forum topics here.  When you click on a forum, titles appear as well as authors' names...but no dates.  What are you looking at?

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         1. 89

            WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I'm guessing this?
            
            

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         2. 92

            SheilaMilneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            This is what I'm seeing (under the heading Related Discussions):
            
            
            
            
            
            Phyllis Doyle obviously sees the same as I do

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            1. 85

               TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

               We are talking about two different things. When I click on "Explore" and then "Forums" what comes up is a list of forum titles followed by the name of the author.  There is no date, and there is no warning.  I guess it depends on how you are accessing the forum topics, but those warnings should be everywhere, otherwise, people will keep responding to the old ones, and this causes confusion.

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               1. 92

                  Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  When I click on Explore then forums, this is what I see:
                  
                  Discussion    Replies    Most Recent    When
                  Post-a-factposted by Sed-me in HubPages Tutorials and Community    628    NateB11    43 hours ago
                  
                  The further down the list you go the older the forum is.
                  
                  Edit: Well, actually it is how old the latest post - but that gives a pretty good idea of how old the forum thread is.

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                  1. 91

                     Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     That's the problem. Since someone recently commented on it, the time looks like it is a recent forum. So you start reading the posts and writing comments only to come to the realization that it is an old thread.
                     
                     Maybe putting the first post's date as well as the last post's date/time would help.

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                     1. 93

                        Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        People reply to old threads because they see them in the related posts section. When they reply to them, they become active again. That's why you're seeing old posts on the forums.

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                  2. 85

                     TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     But when you look at the initial list, there is nothing to indicate the original post date.  This is where I think it should be shown, not later.

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                     1. 92

                        Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Maybe the date could be automatic and at the beginning of the title of the forum with a : or -  after the date. That would solve the problem.

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                  calculus-geometryposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  The date created may not show on the forum main page, but once you open a thread, you can just look at the first post and see if the thread was created 5 years ago or 5 hours ago. 
                  
                  The only people who don't do this are spammers and new users.  There's not much excuse for long-time users who reply to years old threads, even if spammers are the culprit for reviving them.

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                     TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     ...and yet, they continue to do it!

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      2. 84

         Venkatachari Mposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You might be seeing the date on hubs, not on forums and questions.

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   3. 92

      Phyllis Doyleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Look at all the 'Related Discussions' below. On all of them it says "4 years ago" "5 years ago" or other 'years ago' right after the OP's name.  By hubber 2 years ago, etc.
      
      I always pay attention to that so I don't go and read old stuff.

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2. 93

   Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years ago

   I think any forum post that gives the "This Forum Thread is Inactive" warning should not be included in the Related Posts section. It is their appearance there that is causing people to answer them, thereby putting them back to the top of the forum feed.

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      WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It already has a warning at the top saying:
      
      The post you are replying to is over two months old. Please DO NOT reply UNLESS you have truly new information to add to this conversation. Consider creating a new forum discussion instead.
      
      Maybe people don't read it?

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         SheilaMilneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         And it's in bright red!

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            ChristinSposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            People obviously don't read it.  When I brought this up before I believe it was Matthew who responded saying that the warning should deter people from replying to old threads.  I honestly don't see why it's such a big deal to make posts over a year old or so read only.  It would keep others able to read older posts and keep the more relevant and timely stuff active.  Seems simple and pretty common sense to me.

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3. 70

   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   The "New Feature Discussions Forum" is where they read the threads and the suggestions made  Nobody from HQ will be reading this one.
   
   So....
   * Instead of starting a thread to discuss this in "freeform discussion" (where every comment is redundant from the perspective of trying to change things)
   * it's much better to post such requests for change  in the "New Feature Suggestions Discussions" http://hubpages.com/forum/category/6634 
   * (properly configured as per the notes in "New HubPages Feature Suggestions FAQ - Please read before posting! http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/119282#post2523082 )
   
   If you did start a thread in the appropriate forum you'd see that
   1) I've aready started one - the suggestion being "Close threads if no new posts for a specified period" http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/133233 - which means (according to the forum instructions) that you should not start another. Rather it's better to add comments to the existing one
   2) However only two people responded to it!
   
   Now if a few more people responded to this thread - http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/133233 - then maybe we might get somewhere........
   
   How about it?

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   1. 91

      Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      This is a different suggestion - instead of closing the thread, we are asking for the start date to be more prominent.  That way, everyone knows they are looking at an old thread before they even open it. 
      
      I noticed that it was in the discussions thread instead of new feature suggestions when I first saw it.  I figured it was because the OP was making sure it was something people wanted it before suggesting it.  I have now reported it as being in the wrong forum, so hopefully the moderator will move it to the new feature forum without having to start all over again.

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         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         even so -  this suggestions is NEVER going to be looked at simply because it's not been posted in the right section of the forum.
         
         If you've got a good suggestion, make sure you post it in the "New Feature Suggestions Discussions" http://hubpages.com/forum/category/6634

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         1. 91

            Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            This post is now in the New Feature Suggestions forum.  When I see that a post is in the wrong forum, I just report the original post as being in the wrong forum, and it is usually changed without any issue.

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      2. 85

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Millionaire Tips:  You are correct.  This was just meant as a matter for open discussion to see what people think.  When I want something specifically addressed, I don't wait for the team to look at the forums...I send them an email.
         
         It's a pretty simple thing, really.  There is no reason why Hubbers should have to play guessing games when it comes to seeing the recency of a post.
         
         Thanks for your help on this.  Help is always nicer than complaint and criticism.

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4. 81

   Mark Ewbieposted 8 years ago

   Sheesh.  This post is three days old.  Come on people - move on.

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5. 92

   Chriswillman90posted 8 years ago

   I think there were postings on 7 year old threads which is crazy to me. I wouldn't want a thread longer than a year to exist because it's likely not relevant anymore. When I was looking through threads, I read informative postings only to note they didn't make sense because they were outdated.
   
   It reminded me of those old history books that still thought Reagon was the current president. Come on peeps let's get this show on the road.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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   2. 91

      Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Some old forum posts are interesting and relevant.  I would prefer to allow them to be revived. 
      
      The problem is that when they are listed as related forums in current threads, newbies and spammers revive them without good reason.  There is plenty of warning for them to not revive them, but they are too easy to pick up since they are in the related threads section.  My fix would be to take them out of the related threads section.  That way, the only people who are reviving threads are people who are looking for a particular answer.  And, of course, put the date of the original post on the listing page (in addition to date/time of the latest post), so that people know how old it is before getting all excited about answering.

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