The Magic Man wrote:
If by "front" you mean http://www.byond.com/members/ then I am going to give this the biggest nay possible. I'm inclined to agree. The front page as it is is fine. I read the posts that grab my attention, ignore the posts from people I don't like (italic, because a lot of people seem to think this isn't a viable option, no one is forcing you read blog posts) and read a few random posts when I'm bored. The front page as it is, suits peoples needs perfectly. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. | |
Tiberath wrote:
The front page as it is is fine. I read the posts that grab my attention, ignore the posts from people I don't like (italic, because a lot of people seem to think this isn't a viable option, no one is forcing you read blog posts) and read a few random posts when I'm bored. You've noted a problem without realizing it- there is crap from people you don't like, crap from people you don't know, and probably crap from people you do like and know. Sure, ignoring it is one option, but what you don't realize, or perhaps just won't admit, is that this bullcrap pushes out important, relevant, interesting posts, in addition to the fact that it looks like crap to new comers. Posts about your 21st birthday aren't the most relevant to a gaming website. | |
Airjoe wrote:
You've noted a problem without realizing it- there is crap from people you don't like And I ignore it. A shocking concept I know. crap from people you don't know And if it looks interesting, I'll read it. Then I might just want to get to know this person. Creating another friendship which helps improve the community via social gaming. Okay, so the chances of me, personally reading someones blog and then joining their game is slim, but on the other hand, I reckon a fair few people do this already. You want to improve the site by removing a huge part of the social aspect of it? Fantastic idea, I just can't support this enough. *facepalm* and probably crap from people you do like and know. And I'll read it, because I find the crap from people I do like and know to be interesting. Sure, ignoring it is one option A rather good option, actually. As it allows people to read what they want to read. but what you don't realize, or perhaps just won't admit, is that this bullcrap pushes out important, relevant, interesting posts Oh, but, if they're interested in those posts, surely they'd be subscribed to those blogs. I mean, if they aren't, how will every other suggested system based on public opinion work? Seriously, if you're that concerned. Add another filter to the top of the page that says "Official Blogs" or "Official Guilds" or "Information of an important and relevant nature". That way, the only things that can push those posts off the front page are other posts of the same nature. in addition to the fact that it looks like crap to new comers. Looks to me like a community posting about things they want to post about. Things they enjoy and whatnot. You know, the thing they paid to do? I can see the new fantastic selling point now: Hey Newcomers! Buy a membership! We'll give you a blog no one can access because no one actually knows who you are or what you do! We used to have an avenue where you could introduce yourself to the members, talk about anything you wanted and people of like minds would flock to you, get to know you, and you'd totally make new friends. But, we kinda killed that because some users who didn't like the content of posts previous to yours that were somewhat similar, didn't want to read them. So they decided to ruin it for everybody! Somehow, that selling point just screams to me "yes! I want a membership!" Posts about your 21st birthday aren't the most relevant to a gaming website. Yes, that's true. But then again, neither are posts about ebay, rants about Internet Explorer or updates on France. Yet you still made those posts. You want to know what the real difference between the way I (and many, many others) use my blog and the way Joe Fanboy uses his blog? I take the time to spell check and at least attempt to use good grammar. That's it. -- How many times are we going to have this argument? You and I both know we're not going to convince each other to join our respective sides. | |
As a related argument, many of us are already pushing the limits of our "free" (more like "I post here when I should be doing something else but can get away with it") time by participating at all, and junk posts/blogs do make that worse.
I try to keep up with the forum by continually, quickly clicking a few of the boards and browsing down the first page of posts. When there's more junk than stuff I care about, it takes at least 3-4 times longer to scan over it, and then the fact that some things that look decent on the outside but aren't on the inside means that my actual post-reading time takes as much longer as well. This is one reason I simply don't even bother keeping up with everything at the moment, not even the entire forum. I usually hit only developer how-to, code problems and design philosophy, then a few others only if I can spare the extra 30 seconds. A system such as what's presented would likely make keeping up more easy and efficient. | |
The compromise Airjoe and I kinda agreed on was putting the official guild posts into their own filter, and making that be the default display.
Something like: News | Polls | Reviews | All | |
The most reasonable thing I can think of is hiding posts from the people who have nayed them. Then after they have nayed a bunch of someones posts just stop showing them that user.
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In the very least it would be interesting to see a yea/nay scale directly on the members page (http://www.byond.com/members/) listings.
"Along The Tech Tree: 136" (+1) | |
Smoko wrote:
The most reasonable thing I can think of is hiding posts from the people who have nayed them. Then after they have nayed a bunch of someones posts just stop showing them that user. The whole point of yea/nay is to tell other people whether the post was any good or not. The user can just as easily not visit that post again. But considering they'd have to visit and perhaps read the post to begin with in order to give it a proper yea or nay, there's really no point in hiding it from them after that. But if that user read it, regretted reading it, and decides to give it a nay, that informs everyone else that its a waste of their time. On the other hand, giving it a yay because it was a good post would inform people that its worth reading. It would just be nice if the posts would reflect their ratings a little better, as in, more attention to the posts worth reading and less attention to the garbage. | |
Foomer wrote:
The whole point of yea/nay is to tell other people whether the post was any good or not. The user can just as easily not visit that post again. But considering they'd have to visit and perhaps read the post to begin with in order to give it a proper yea or nay, there's really no point in hiding it from them after that. But if that user read it, regretted reading it, and decides to give it a nay, that informs everyone else that its a waste of their time. On the other hand, giving it a yay because it was a good post would inform people that its worth reading. It would just be nice if the posts would reflect their ratings a little better, as in, more attention to the posts worth reading and less attention to the garbage. The problem with that sort of system is it can be abused to get someone hidden from view if someone else doesn't like them. Perhaps something like Netflix's rental suggestions would work, hiding and promoting people based on other people who yay/ney similar to you? | |
Smoko wrote:
The problem with that sort of system is it can be abused to get someone hidden from view if someone else doesn't like them. Which stems from the root problem, which is the fact that people don't quite use yay/nay to vote whether the post was interesting/well-made/raised good points (etc) or was a waste of time. I know/like this person - yay! It's about a game/something I like? yay! It's about an anime game? yay! The post title sounds kool? yay! Hey, this post is flaming another person, yay!... Hey, I dislike this person, nay! What the, this post isn't about DBZ - how boring, nay! Hey, I disagree with this person's personal opinion, nay! Yo, this post is too long and I can't handle that, tl;dr, nay! . . . This is another reason why you shouldn't show only posts that get enough yays and as such, other than that posts won't get as many yays and nays anyway if they're not on the front page, since not everybody advertises their blog, and that would've been stupid anyway. | |
Kaioken wrote:
I know/like this person - yay! It's about a game/something I like? yay! It's about an anime game? yay! The post title sounds kool? yay! Hey, this post is flaming another person, yay!... Can you show me any posts where this is actually the case? Because that's not what I've been seeing. People yay or nay based on whether they liked the post - which is good, because if everyone dislikes a post, then it probably doesn't belong on the front page, regardless of its quality. | |
Foomer wrote:
People yay or nay based on whether they liked the post - which is good, because if everyone dislikes a post, then it probably doesn't belong on the front page, regardless of its quality. If this system ends up being implemented, I will personally lead a movement to nay every single post you make from the front page. Not to be mean, but just to prove to you how wacky of an idea this is. ...After all, if a post is getting nayed, it's not worthy of the "high standards" of the Members front page.... right? Good grief. | |
SilkWizard wrote:
I will personally lead a movement to nay every single post you make from the front page. Just a quick question here, Silk: Where are you going to get people to follow you? | |
Foomer wrote:
Can you show me any posts where this is actually the case? Don't know of any examples to give at the moment since I don't browse blogs too often, I've simply noted that yea and nays can be pretty arbitrarily given from a few examples (it's common sense for it to be this way, at any case). It doesn't always occur, of course, and you'd see it less if you only browse blogs of oldbies or as such. People yay or nay based on whether they liked the post - which is good, Um, funny that you say that in reply, since whether a person likes a post or not directly relates to <small>"I know/like this person - yay! It's about a game/something I like? yay! It's about an anime game? yay! The post title sounds kool? yay! Hey, this post is flaming another person, yay!... Hey, I dislike this person, nay! What the, this post isn't about DBZ - how boring, nay! Hey, I disagree with this person's personal opinion, nay! Yo, this post is too long and I can't handle that, tl;dr, nay! . . ."</small> Whether you like the post or whether you think it's an interesting/very/good post are 2 different questions. If people rate according to whether they like the post or not, they don't necessarily rate according to its quality, like I've demonstrated. "I don't like this post because I disagree with the opinion in it or I don't like the game it's about, or I don't like the author, etc". Since, again, they're 2 separate aspects, you could even, for example, dislike a post but find it highly interesting. In which case, hiding it due to nays would be particularly bad. because if everyone dislikes a post, then it probably doesn't belong on the front page, regardless of its quality. Not necessarily at all. | |
Popisfizzy wrote:
Just a quick question here, Silk: Where are you going to get people to follow you? You honestly think the trolls of BYOND wouldn't get behind something like that simply for the 'lulz'? Silkwizard wrote: Good grief. Add a facepalm to that and it just about sums up my feelings to this entire idea. Limiting blog posts is a bad idea and will result in complaints until whatever was done is undone. The only working solution that doesn't make my stomach climb it way up my throat and punch me in the brain is the aforementioned compromise Airjoe and I worked out. You get your "only intelligent" posts on the front page, and everyone else still gets the benefit of actually having a shot of being noticed. | |
I think someone else suggested something similar, too, but:
Perhaps whenever someone makes a blog posts, they have a drop down menu to specify what kind of post it is, for example, Personal, Game, Design, Political, Anime, etc... Then, in people's settings pages, they can specify via checkboxes which of those categories they want displayed. That way people are only presented with the categories of information that they're interested in. | |
On the other hand, if someone's blog tends to offend people, its probably best to not have it on the front page. That's why Propaganda and the Bandwagon never showed up.
I took the liberty of looking through all the posts on the front page currently and looking at their ratings, and, assuming an you have all the yays minus all the nays, and the minimum score requirement was +1, we'd have this:
My favorite SNL skit, ever (+3)
Very contented (+1)
To all trolls and spammers: (+1)
Plans For Retro RPG Part 2 (+5)
King Karas Presents........a Poll (+2)
Your First Isometric World (+6)
Avoid the asteroids (+1)
Submerged early gameplay video (+3)
Front the looks of it, most of the anime-related posts get nayed pretty bad. I don't think we'd be seeing much of them except perhaps for the fact that anime fans are so abundant that they're more likely to yea/nay anything.