forum software: recent replies in account profile are redundant, sort oddly
Jun 05 2013 | 5:28 pm
Hi, I noticed very recently a new listing called "Recent Replies" was added to the account section. I do like the intention with that. :-)
I am experiencing some confusion with it. Reference attached screenshot
- I see multiple listings for the same topic. E.g. it is listed 5 times in the screenshot all with different freshnesses
- On these same replicate entry topics -or- other topics, the sorting is neither by Topic or Freshness. Yet those are the only two things to sort.
My preference would be to have this Recent Replies list de-duped and showing a freshness of the most recent post on that topic. And for the list to be sorted in ascending order of freshness (therefore one with the most recent post by anyone is listed first)
- Jun 07 2013 | 5:08 pmYup, that is a bug I'm working on. Thanks.
- Jun 07 2013 | 5:18 pmThis has been adjusted. The topics should now link to the specific user reply, instead of just the topic. The freshness value has also been corrected.
- Jun 07 2013 | 7:31 pmI still see all the dups. Screenshot attached.
- Jun 07 2013 | 7:38 pmIf you click on them, they should link to an individual post. They look like duplicates because they are different posts under the same topic. The freshness column will show the timestamps are different.For example, these two posts have one at 31 seconds, and the other at 4 minutes:
- Jun 08 2013 | 10:56 amTechnically, I understand what is occurring. Its more a user experience inquiry for me. And, I *am* only a focus group is 1. ;-)When looking at the historical recent replies summary, I want to know which topics have had recent replies. That is distinct from knowing a list of every individual reply on every topic. The latter is uninteresting to me. Why?The reason is it uninteresting is that I want to know what is the stream of activity...what are hot topics...what are topics in which people are engaging...what are topics in which I want to read all the replIES and to catch-up and perhaps engage again in the conversation.My guess, is that the forum software doesn't know which individual reply that I have read. Therefore, the software would list all individual replies even if I have read them already. I'm not interested in seeing that.Also, and this is more a generic UI thing, anytime a list is presented to me, I need to know what that list is and be able to have enough information so that I know what to click within the list. As is, this list doesn't have enough information for me. I don't know what to click. A see several duplicate things with only a freshness column that distinguishes them.Compare this to the main forum page. That page works for me. In its most simple form it could be only columns for Topic and Freshness. With those two pieces of info, I would know on what to click.In my mind, this Recent Replies list could be something like that yet filtered by topics in which I've engaged. That's the list that excites me.
- Jun 11 2013 | 4:32 pmHi Diablodale - I agree with you! A list of topics is more useful and less confusing than listing all the individual replies.Thanks again for your considered feedback.
