Feedback: Official Forums

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Really should see about fixing the Dev Carousel. I can't think of a worse time for it to be eating all the Dev posts.

[Randulf.7614]

Yeah the empty carousel is a bit annoying, although the positive is that no dev responses would be happening atm anyway since they aren't at work yet

[StinVec.3621]

I like the change (done in the last day or two I think) where clicking "Change Image" on your profile page will now display the avatar selections in a 'popup' window instead of directing to an entirely different page to select an avatar.

 

Just thought I would mention that the change was noticed and that I do like it.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

> @"StinVec.3621" said:

> I like the change (done in the last day or two I think) where clicking "Change Image" on your profile page will now display the avatar selections in a 'popup' window instead of directing to an entirely different page to select an avatar.

>

> Just thought I would mention that the change was noticed and that I do like it.

 

It's always done that pop-up page for me, since the launch of these forums. I would rather the full page, which is only accessible through the gear/Preferences.

[joneirikb.7506]

Would like a change to the notifications system. Whenever I bookmark a thread, or set to get notification for threads I've posted in etc, it bombards me with 1 notification per post. So a single thread going active can often leave you with 50+ notifications, basically removing the purpose of the notification in the first place.

 

Change to 1 notification per thread, period. Link to the first post or first quote etc.

 

(Also, thanks to StinVec for making a really nice darkmode for this forum so I can stand reading it at all!)

[Castigator.3470]

Can I make a feature request?

How about a no-bump option?

Sometimes I feel the urge to respond to old topics, but this will inadvertently put them back to first page's the top position. If there was a checkbox that allowed users to post without bumping, we could post without needlessly irritating other users.

The moderators could also get the option to disable bumping on a per thread basis, with the condition that the thread has reached a certain age threshold.

[JustTrogdor.7892]

The option to dismiss sticky threads, or announcements as they are called with Vanilla Forum, seems to have been removed recently or maybe it is a bug. Before there was a gear icon by sticky threads that would allow the forum member to dismiss it. What this did was remove it as a sticky and it only showed back up as a normal thread if more posts were made in it. I liked this feature as it allowed me to reduce sticky thread clutter on the forum once I had read the sticky. This was much better than the old forum that didn't have that option. So I hope it is a bug and the feature will return.

 

For those that may not know what I'm talking about here is the feature from Vanilla Forum which is the software Anet now uses.

 

https://blog.vanillaforums.com/product/dismiss-messages-top-25-features-for-users

[ProtoGunner.4953]

Return the thumbs down. People should notice when they post something that isn't appreciated. As of now this is one of the only forums I know where it got removed be cause people could get 'hurt' if someone disagrees. People have to learn that they aren't on the same page with everyone else. It's just natural and anet is so adamant to keep this illusion up which ultimately hurts a community.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"ProtoGunner.4953" said:

> Return the thumbs down. People should notice when they post something that isn't appreciated. As of now this is one of the only forums I know where it got removed be cause people could get 'hurt' if someone disagrees. People have to learn that they aren't on the same page with everyone else. It's just natural and anet is so adamant to keep this illusion up which ultimately hurts a community.

 

We've answered this many, many times. We will not be returning the Thumbs Down. Do be aware, however, that we did not remove it because it caused "hurt feelings" or because we wanted to maintain some sort of "illusion." The Thumbs Down proved to have a negative impact on the community, particularly (as I've expressed before), our non-English community. After reviewing the situation and discussing as a team, we determined that the removal was in the best interests of the community that we serve.

 

I totally **do** understand the desire for a thumbs down. It's fast, it's easy, and it can clearly express one's disagreement with the contents of a forum post. Heck, just yesterday I thought to myself "Boy, I sure wish I could just Thumbs Down this!" because I wanted to show that I disagreed with someone's statement but didn't want to have to respond to it. Yet the point is, **the Thumbs Down wasn't just being used to disagree with an opinion, it was being used to be disagreeable to other members**.

 

It's gone. It's not coming back. And I hope these comments help explain why, even if you disagree with the decision.

[hugo.4705]

Agree with gaile, the main reason is in Bold.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> The option to dismiss sticky threads, or announcements as they are called with Vanilla Forum, seems to have been removed recently or maybe it is a bug. Before there was a gear icon by sticky threads that would allow the forum member to dismiss it. What this did was remove it as a sticky and it only showed back up as a normal thread if more posts were made in it. I liked this feature as it allowed me to reduce sticky thread clutter on the forum once I had read the sticky. This was much better than the old forum that didn't have that option. So I hope it is a bug and the feature will return.

>

> For those that may not know what I'm talking about here is the feature from Vanilla Forum which is the software Anet now uses.

>

> https://blog.vanillaforums.com/product/dismiss-messages-top-25-features-for-users

 

I like the feature, too, but we learned that there was no ability to UNdismiss a thread, and that led to a few messes where someone believed a thread was gone, when it fact it was simply one that they had dismissed (and were not able to bring back). This also caused problems on the moderation front. Therefore, we had to disable "Dismiss" until Vanilla implements an "UN-Dismiss" feature. We forwarded the conundrum to Vanilla and I hope that they will implement the full Dismiss/Undismiss feature soon.

[Zedek.8932]

> @"ProtoGunner.4953" said:

> Return the thumbs down. People should notice when they post something that isn't appreciated.

 

As someone that was posting in favour for removal of thumbs down since the new forums were mandatory, I am strictly against that still.

 

Who is the thought police that decides what is appreciated? You? Me?

 

The problem has many facettes:

 

* I am often on the unpopluar opinion side of a fence. But that does not mean my posts are less worth.

* Also, there is a strange dynamics coming with that, where people are forced to quit a discussion/not joining them in order to keep their name in a good shape (something I do not really care about). So they do not post in a thread because it has -26 votes. But how to get "lively discussions" (front page quote) if you just do that?

* There is a reason downvoting on Disqus, Quora or Youtube/Google does nothing, and these huge companies have thinktanks - they know why and can far better explain that stuff than I could.

* A discussion ist mostly stalled when it turns into a quizz game: _Post 1, 2 or 3 to upvote? _You will get no discussion or exchange of opinions if you basically encourage people to like the opinion/post that vaguely goes into the direction. But why do you think X? Why would you do Z?

* Even the current thumbs _up_ vote casting is awful in many ways. In a certain thread were the two (condescending and close-to-be-reportable) posts had 15 upvotes. It was literally a famous guy of the boards saying "No, you are wrong" and a bunch of invisible supporters that never actually reason their own thoughts are behind him. As OP, this is the worst case, it's as bad as asking closed questions (that can be answered with "YES" or "NO". Avoid these if you want a conversation).

* People, I am also slightly guilty, pick comments based on their likes - and skip the blank ones. But why? This reddit nonsense of pre-sorting by popularity (and not by content) is again a killer of any discussion.

 

I'd also like to remove the thumbs up button. It can be shown in the profile (somehow I managed to get 850?!) but under the posts, there should not be an explicite number displayed. Maybe just the thumb getting more and more green. So the first upvotes do nothing to it (threshold of 5) and then it starts to get coloured. Because 1 upvote vs 0 upvote is still a tendency - but a too small sample to say opinion 1 is the right one.

 

Excelsior.

 

[JustTrogdor.7892]

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> > The option to dismiss sticky threads, or announcements as they are called with Vanilla Forum, seems to have been removed recently or maybe it is a bug. Before there was a gear icon by sticky threads that would allow the forum member to dismiss it. What this did was remove it as a sticky and it only showed back up as a normal thread if more posts were made in it. I liked this feature as it allowed me to reduce sticky thread clutter on the forum once I had read the sticky. This was much better than the old forum that didn't have that option. So I hope it is a bug and the feature will return.

> >

> > For those that may not know what I'm talking about here is the feature from Vanilla Forum which is the software Anet now uses.

> >

> > https://blog.vanillaforums.com/product/dismiss-messages-top-25-features-for-users

>

> I like the feature, too, but we learned that there was no ability to UNdismiss a thread, and that led to a few messes where someone believed a thread was gone, when it fact it was simply one that they had dismissed (and were not able to bring back). This also caused problems on the moderation front. Therefore, we had to disable "Dismiss" until Vanilla implements an "UN-Dismiss" feature. We forwarded the conundrum to Vanilla and I hope that they will implement the full Dismiss/Undismiss feature soon.

 

Thanks Gaile for letting us know what is going on with the dismiss feature. I thought maybe it was a bug since it suddenly disappeared. Hopefully Vanilla will find a way to make the feature work again without causing confusion or problems for moderators. If I may, in the future if a forum feature is disabled/limited for whatever reason, or even if a new feature is added, I think we would appreciate that being mentioned as an update. Thanks again.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > > @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> > > The option to dismiss sticky threads, or announcements as they are called with Vanilla Forum, seems to have been removed recently or maybe it is a bug. Before there was a gear icon by sticky threads that would allow the forum member to dismiss it. What this did was remove it as a sticky and it only showed back up as a normal thread if more posts were made in it. I liked this feature as it allowed me to reduce sticky thread clutter on the forum once I had read the sticky. This was much better than the old forum that didn't have that option. So I hope it is a bug and the feature will return.

> > >

> > > For those that may not know what I'm talking about here is the feature from Vanilla Forum which is the software Anet now uses.

> > >

> > > https://blog.vanillaforums.com/product/dismiss-messages-top-25-features-for-users

> >

> > I like the feature, too, but we learned that there was no ability to UNdismiss a thread, and that led to a few messes where someone believed a thread was gone, when it fact it was simply one that they had dismissed (and were not able to bring back). This also caused problems on the moderation front. Therefore, we had to disable "Dismiss" until Vanilla implements an "UN-Dismiss" feature. We forwarded the conundrum to Vanilla and I hope that they will implement the full Dismiss/Undismiss feature soon.

>

> Thanks Gaile for letting us know what is going on with the dismiss feature. I thought maybe it was a bug since it suddenly disappeared. Hopefully Vanilla will find a way to make the feature work again without causing confusion or problems for moderators. If I may, in the future if a forum feature is disabled/limited for whatever reason, or even if a new feature is added, I think we would appreciate that being mentioned as an update. Thanks again.

 

While it would be nice to have "update notes" for the forums, sometimes changes that we request get rolled in months later, so it's not always easy for us to state categorically what did or did not roll out on a given day, especially as the forums mature (we're heading into our one-year anniversary!) and fewer changes are needed. We get the chance to test changes, of course, but the test pass and the implementation may have a large delta.

 

I'll try to answer _questions_ from time to time, when I can and when they are posed. But I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide "build notes" for a product that is not our own. After all, we're just sorta renting this. ;)

 

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"Zedek.8932" said:

 

> I'd also like to remove the thumbs up button. It can be shown in the profile (somehow I managed to get 850?!) but under the posts, there should not be an explicite number displayed. Maybe just the thumb getting more and more green. So the first upvotes do nothing to it (threshold of 5) and then it starts to get coloured. Because 1 upvote vs 0 upvote is still a tendency - but a too small sample to say opinion 1 is the right one.

 

I appreciate your input. Changing to a graduated color would be a costly change -- in fact it may not be something that Vanilla could implement, no matter how much we might offer to pay.

 

At this point, Thumbs Up is a "use if you like / ignore if you wish" feature that seems, to my eye and based on general feedback, to be relatively benign and in some cases useful to noting a particular comment or thread. For instance, if someone makes a suggestion that gets a gazillion thumbs up, that's worth seeing!

 

 

[JustTrogdor.7892]

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> > > @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > > > @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> > > > The option to dismiss sticky threads, or announcements as they are called with Vanilla Forum, seems to have been removed recently or maybe it is a bug. Before there was a gear icon by sticky threads that would allow the forum member to dismiss it. What this did was remove it as a sticky and it only showed back up as a normal thread if more posts were made in it. I liked this feature as it allowed me to reduce sticky thread clutter on the forum once I had read the sticky. This was much better than the old forum that didn't have that option. So I hope it is a bug and the feature will return.

> > > >

> > > > For those that may not know what I'm talking about here is the feature from Vanilla Forum which is the software Anet now uses.

> > > >

> > > > https://blog.vanillaforums.com/product/dismiss-messages-top-25-features-for-users

> > >

> > > I like the feature, too, but we learned that there was no ability to UNdismiss a thread, and that led to a few messes where someone believed a thread was gone, when it fact it was simply one that they had dismissed (and were not able to bring back). This also caused problems on the moderation front. Therefore, we had to disable "Dismiss" until Vanilla implements an "UN-Dismiss" feature. We forwarded the conundrum to Vanilla and I hope that they will implement the full Dismiss/Undismiss feature soon.

> >

> > Thanks Gaile for letting us know what is going on with the dismiss feature. I thought maybe it was a bug since it suddenly disappeared. Hopefully Vanilla will find a way to make the feature work again without causing confusion or problems for moderators. If I may, in the future if a forum feature is disabled/limited for whatever reason, or even if a new feature is added, I think we would appreciate that being mentioned as an update. Thanks again.

>

> While it would be nice to have "update notes" for the forums, sometimes changes that we request get rolled in months later, so it's not always easy for us to state categorically what did or did not roll out on a given day, especially as the forums mature (we're heading into our one-year anniversary!) and fewer changes are needed. We get the chance to test changes, of course, but the test pass and the implementation may have a large delta.

>

> I'll try to answer _questions_ from time to time, when I can and when they are posed. But I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide "build notes" for a product that is not our own. After all, we're just sorta renting this. ;)

>

 

I guess I was trying to say it would have been nice in this case if someone posted, "Hey folks, we have decided to remove the dismiss sticky thread feature for now due to 'x' reasons," since it was a decision the forum team seems to have made and not really related to future forum features that might be rolled out later. Instead it just seemed it was of sort of stealth removed. In the future, I think if there is a feature added or removed on the Anet side a quick note about it would be appreciated. I know you are very busy. That's the last I will comment on this. Thanks again for your time.

[Danikat.8537]

Gaile - In the cookie jar topic you mentioned you were using it as an experiment on how we reacted to an off-topic post. I didn't reply or report it, but for me that was more to do with how vague the original post was, I wasn't sure how to take it and therefore didn't know what to say. But I did want to share some thoughts on the experiment.

 

I'd be in favour of allowing more discussions which aren't completely related to GW2 as I think it can be a good way for posters to get to know each other and to see each other as people and not just random names on the screen, which can help a sense of community and cooperation. But I also know from experience that off topic/general discussion sections can create more work for moderators and more rifts between posters than the rest of a forum put together. (Funny enough I've had both experiences even on the same forum - one of my worst experiences as a moderator was having to sort out a stupid argument between the man who is now my husband and two people who are still some of our best friends.)

 

Maybe there could be a middle ground somewhere? Like allowing us to discuss other games or allowing topics which blur the lines between GW2 discussion and real-life to continue down whatever path they take (within reason). I don't know exactly, but I do know that if I'd seen an off-topic discussion that wasn't quite so random allowed to continue I would have enjoyed participating in it.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Please ask Vanilla for a 'Report' PM feature. It would be nice if one did not have to create an email to report an inappropriate PM.

[Oglaf.1074]

@"Gaile Gray.6029"

 

The mobile version sorta has a problem with distinguishing links from regular ol’ text.

 

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/52230/anet-next-to-impossible-to-see-links-using-the-mobile-site

[SkyShroud.2865]

Is it me or the underline is not aligned for double-line text?

[Randulf.7614]

> @"SkyShroud.2865" said:

> Is it me or the underline is not aligned for double-line text?

 

It's not you. I noticed it just now - wasn't doing it earlier today

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I was going to ask if it was just me, as well. Forums borked, again. Sigh.

[nottsgman.8206]

also seeing this on posts, not sure if it's just me (also happens to options on my own posts)


 

[Donari.5237]

There are definitely odd lines cutting through the thread titles today. I thought it was an artifact of my tablet in Chrome, but it's doing it on my PC in FireFox too.

[hugo.4705]

same strange lines that cut the main page threads titles: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussions as example