Two valid suggestions for the Anandtech forums

[MichaelD]

Hello there,

I have some suggestions, that IMO, would make the AT Forums a more efficient AND user-friendly place. I've decided to present them in a unique format, so that you may better understand the benefits to ALL involved.

IDEA NUMBER ONE
Allow the original poster of a thread to completely delete that thread, including all the replies.

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR THE USER
Allows the user to tactfully and quickly eliminate a redundant or possibly erroneous thread.

HOW IT BENEFITS ANANDTECH
That should be obvious; it saves bandwith (one less thread is "that much" less HD space taken up. Also, it might possibly save the time, energy and effort of a Moderator by keeping them from having to either lock, move or delete a "reposted" or "inappropriate" thread.



IDEA NUMBER TWO
On the "home page" for each forum (i.e. GH, FS/FT, Networking, OT) add an additional column that shows the number of views for each topic, in the chronological order that each topic was viewed. I know this is possible, since 99% of all IBB these days use Fusetalk, and this feature is implemented.

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR THE USER
Allows the poster of a topic to see if there are any new replies to his/her thread.

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR ANANDTECH
It saves bandwith. Duh. If I post a topic at 4:00PM, and log back in at 8:00PM, when I get to the AT Forums Forum list, I can see that my topic is down at the bottom, and nobody has replied since XXX o'clock. This prevents me from clicking again to scroll thru to see if someone has replied. Sounds like nothing, but multiply this scenario by what? 1K hits per hour? What you get is a substantial bandwith savings!!!!!



At least thing it over, OK there, "Powers That Be?"

 

[Paulson]

#1 is too easy to abuse, even with good intentions

#2 brings the server to it's knees.

 

[loup garou]

Good suggestions, although #1 could lead to serious abuse and #2 has already been used and caused slowdown.

One little thing that I would like to see implemented is when you click 'advanced search' on the top bar of a forum, that particular forum is checked off in the parameters on the advanced search page. FW has their search page set up that way, and I really like it.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Paulson
#1 is too easy to abuse, even with good intentions

I am unclear on how that could be abused?

 

[Buz2b]

Allows the poster of a topic to see if there are any new replies to his/her thread.

If you "subscribe" to your own thread, you would be notified by the "XX new Message(s)." at the top of the Forum each time you log on. It appears that this idea would be redundant except if you wanted to know specifically which thread has been replied to.

EDIT:

I am unclear on how that could be abused?

For starters, let's say you started a thread about something and it initiated an active and spirited discussion. However, you didn't like the opinions of some so you just delete it. That screws the others from continuing their dialog, just because you didn't like their opinions.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat[/b]
I am unclear on how that could be abused?

Originally posted by: Buz2b
For starters, let's say you started a thread about something and it initiated an active and spirited discussion. However, you didn't like the opinions of some so you just delete it. That screws the others from continuing their dialog, just because you didn't like their opinions.

OK, I can see how that might be a problem if someone posted the cure for cancer and then deleted it. But this is Anandtech. The really big discussions are about "babes" and pimple cream.

 

[Sluggo]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Paulson
#1 is too easy to abuse, even with good intentions

I am unclear on how that could be abused?

Its would gets most of its abuse in the FS/FT Forum. You dont ship the stuff, then delete the thread, who is to say the screwee didnt make it all up?

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Sluggo

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Paulson
#1 is too easy to abuse, even with good intentions

I am unclear on how that could be abused?

Its would gets most of its abuse in the FS/FT Forum. You dont ship the stuff, then delete the thread, who is to say the screwee didnt make it all up?

Thank you. Now that makes sense. No deletion of threads.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: werk
Good suggestions, although #1 could lead to serious abuse and #2 has already been used and caused slowdown.

One little thing that I would like to see implemented is when you click 'advanced search' on the top bar of a forum, that particular forum is checked off in the parameters on the advanced search page. FW has their search page set up that way, and I really like it.

This is the only worthwhile suggestion in the thread. If the advanced search option were better, MichaelD might not have started this thread

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Hello there,

I have some suggestions, that IMO, would make the AT Forums a more efficient AND user-friendly place. I've decided to present them in a unique format, so that you may better understand the benefits to ALL involved.

IDEA NUMBER ONE
Allow the original poster of a thread to completely delete that thread, including all the replies.

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR THE USER
Allows the user to tactfully and quickly eliminate a redundant or possibly erroneous thread.

HOW IT BENEFITS ANANDTECH
That should be obvious; it saves bandwith (one less thread is "that much" less HD space taken up. Also, it might possibly save the time, energy and effort of a Moderator by keeping them from having to either lock, move or delete a "reposted" or "inappropriate" thread.



IDEA NUMBER TWO
On the "home page" for each forum (i.e. GH, FS/FT, Networking, OT) add an additional column that shows the number of views for each topic, in the chronological order that each topic was viewed. I know this is possible, since 99% of all IBB these days use Fusetalk, and this feature is implemented.

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR THE USER
Allows the poster of a topic to see if there are any new replies to his/her thread.

WHY IT'S GOOD FOR ANANDTECH
It saves bandwith. Duh. If I post a topic at 4:00PM, and log back in at 8:00PM, when I get to the AT Forums Forum list, I can see that my topic is down at the bottom, and nobody has replied since XXX o'clock. This prevents me from clicking again to scroll thru to see if someone has replied. Sounds like nothing, but multiply this scenario by what? 1K hits per hour? What you get is a substantial bandwith savings!!!!!



At least thing it over, OK there, "Powers That Be?"

#1 would bring about a lot of flaming and quickly deleting threads. #2 has already been done and it does NOT save bandwith - like already stated it brings the server down to its knees

 

[fatbaby]

idea #1:

TOPIC: HOT! Free pr0n! This gets removed in 5 minutes

Posts: pr0n link #1, #2, etc

 

[Buz2b]

The really big discussions are about "babes" and pimple cream.

You've been hanging out in the OT Forum entirely too long!

 

[grunjee]

I for one would like to have some way to delete my old FS/FT threads. I have one that I need to delete.. I do not just want to edit it, etc. with my new stuff, I want to start a new one.

I couldn't care less about my old thread still being in the DB, but it does waste bandwidth and people bitch if they find out you have two or more.

Anyways, that's my rant.

Btw I definitely can see the abuse factor.

Edit: Maybe a possible solution would be to limit the delete power to people with, say, 400 posts or so.

 

[Buz2b]

Maybe a possible solution would be to limit the delete power to people with, say, 400 posts or so.

Not an option either. I've seen way too many posters with mega post history that were complete idiots. Of course, they may think the same of me too.
Besides, the plain fact is that it would be a nightmare waiting to happen if this were instituted. Not only tough on the servers but a logistical nightmare to monitor for abuse. I admit it is a nice thought, but there are many "nice thoughts" that just won't work unfortunately.

 

[Rand]

#2 has been done in the past, it was disabled because it caused a huge load on the server constantly calculating all the views for every topic and having to re-access and display for every page refreshed.

It was a massive drain on resources, that's why it was disabled in the first place. It won't be coming back any time soon.


#1 has been suggested in the past, the Moderators vetoed it due to the potential for mis-use.
Example- People may well be inclined to nef incessantly and/or post flaming messages against the moderators and other users then delete their message before they get in trouble.

In theory I'd love #1, but in a forum like this I suspect it would be quickly mis-used.

 

[Keego]

I'd love #2 but like everyone said, it was here before but taken off because of the server overhead.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Buz2b

Allows the poster of a topic to see if there are any new replies to his/her thread.

If you "subscribe" to your own thread, you would be notified by the "XX new Message(s)." at the top of the Forum each time you log on. It appears that this idea would be redundant except if you wanted to know specifically which thread has been replied to.

EDIT:

I am unclear on how that could be abused?

For starters, let's say you started a thread about something and it initiated an active and spirited discussion. However, you didn't like the opinions of some so you just delete it. That screws the others from continuing their dialog, just because you didn't like their opinions.

I didn't think of that. You're right...that would be a bad thing. Oh well...I guess this is the whole "two heads are better than one" thing.

 

[MichaelD]

Well, I guess in my almost two years here, I wasn't paying enough attention to the "Forum Issues" at hand. You folks listed valid rejections...er....RESPONSES to my suggestions....and they made sense. <---I hate it when that happens.

Oh well...back under my rock, I go. You're right though; in a forum full of sub-16-year olds, the "delete my onwn thread idea is a bad one.

 

[johnjohn320]

I don't get #2--There's a column that tells you how many replies you have....so you can tell if there are any new ones, and it also has the date/time that the most recent reply occured. What am I missing? It's already being done, man!

 

[cavingjan]

(Sorry I'm late on this but I haven't been over here in a while)

#1 If you could put some stipulations on the "to be deleted" thread, I think this would work. If the thread is less than so many hours, has say 6 or less replies and one or two of the first couple reponses contains "repost", I think it would be valid.

Or a variation on the same thing would be to add a delete button to the originator's screen that will allow you to send a quick easy and painless notice to the moderator for a quick kill of the thread and allow the moderator a chance to make sure that this thread should be deleted.

My two pesos worth.

 

[Paulson]

They should enable page views for subscribers..

It wouldn't be that much strain and would be another incentive to subscribe..

 

[zeruty]

Originally posted by: Paulson
They should enable page views for subscribers..

It wouldn't be that much strain and would be another incentive to subscribe..

even if only subscribers see the number of page views, EVERY view of the pages... by subscribers and non-subscribers would have to be counted.. thus putting strain on the servers

 

[Jason Clark]

zereuty is correct. Thus, it is not going to be turned on. Everything is running smooth and fast from a server/backend point of view, not interested in upsetting that mix.