Improvement suggestion: sorting of posts in participated section - About xda-developers.com

Hi,
Got an improvement suggestion for the desktop site under Participated threads section:
This section shows 15 threads I participated in. It could have been OK, if not for the following:
1. Threads are sorted by their creation date. This means that if there are new posts in "veteran threads" (and there are lots of mega threads like these), they will soon be out of the list.
2. There's no way to see the next threads in the list (next 15 or so).
This means that if there are new posts in such threads in which I participated, I will not see them at all. Of course I can subscribe to all these threads, but why do so if there's a section for it?
Just to compare, if I browse the forum via the Tapatalk app, I'm able to see new posts in this section sorted by the date of the last post. I believe this should be the right way to go.
I think this is a small and necessary change that should be quite easy to implement.
Cheers.

Anybody home? Maybe this is not the right forum to raise such a suggestion?

Thanks for the suggestion, but we recommend subscribing to a thread if you want to be kept up to date on progress. The "Participated Threads" tab sorts in order of last update.

bitpushr said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but we recommend subscribing to a thread if you want to be kept up to date on progress. The "Participated Threads" tab sorts in order of last update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer. However, it seems that at least on the desktop site, the "participated threads" section is not sorted by last update (as it should), but by thread creation order.

Kindly would like to bump this:
The participated section should have the exact effect as performing an advanced search with myself as the posting user. In this case, I'll get a list of the threads I have posted in, ordered by post date (threads with newer posts are shown first). If number of threads exceeds a page, then I can select the page for previous posts.
However, the participated section button shows only one page, where this page holds threads ordered by thread creation date.
What I think that should be done is that the participated button will simply imitate the search action described above. This is exactly what Tapatalk does, but unfortunately not what happens here. Of course I can always perform this advanced search to see what happens in the threads I participate in, but this is very cumbersome.

Related

[Request] allow original poster to close his own thread and delete double posts...NOW

Please allow posters to close their own threads and delete double posts. It's ridiculous not to have this feature!!!
What is so harmful about us closing our own threads?
I think it is beneficial, for example:
1) OP feels harassed: closes thread
2) OP learns that there was already another, more prominent thread of the same issue: closes thread
3) OP wants too closes his upcoming software update but doesn't want to read other's post issues that he has fixed on the next version.
etc...
Why can't we close our own threads? Delete our own posts?
For ***sakes look at these threads:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4120834#post4120834
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=535393&highlight=deleted
If you aren't going to implement this then atleast tell us why in the world we can't delete our posts!
Here is my previous thread posted at the wrong forum:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=535157
After reading Mike´s post it is clear that the best and easyest way is to click on the red button asking an experienced Mod to do the action, otherwise it can be a democratic chaos...
Just my opinion.
mikechannon said:
It sounds obvious that you should be able to delete your own posts. However, it can cause chaos! Once you create a thread you do not own it, particularly if other users have contributed posts to the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, Just because you posted a thread, doesn't mean it's your thread. This is a community with no personal ownership of posts or threads.
mikechannon said:
Deleting the first post in a thread deletes the whole thread. This could be a long running thread with many posts and pages. To allow this thread to suddenly vanish because the OP deletes the first post can upset many contributing users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mike Speaks from Experience here.
mikechannon said:
However, it's relatively easy to have the odd post removed by clicking on the report post (red triangle) that appears on all posts. All you need do is say something like "please delete my double post" or "delete my post it's in the wrong forum" etc etc
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Click to collapse
Once again I reinforce Mike's statement. The Mods are here to assist you, please make use of our services.
mikechannon said:
There are also a couple of other fiddly reasons why it's best for a Mod to delete posts - one is that a Mod can also move the post to Trash. You may not know that deleted posts are still visible to Mods and leaving them kicking around forums makes things look very messy to Mods even if other users see a nice tidy board. Another reason not to allow user delete is that a very few users could use this to cover up "provocative posting" or just to cause trouble with other members. (You can imagine for example, that a ROM thread suddenly disappearing because the cook is bored with it could lead to lots of frustration amongst users and extra work for Admin and Mods.)
Just use the report icon or contact a Mod - quick and easy
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just basically report to mods is the summation here.
Got a question about deleting a post:
Once a post is deleted, then all posts after it in the same thread will be changed a post#. E.g, if post#2 is deleted, then post#3 became #2, #4 become #3 etc. But if the original post#3 is cross-linked to another thread using the 'view single post' function. In such a case, will the cross-link url address be updated accordingly?
The link will be to the deleted post, no re-shuffle will occur.
The URL is showpost.php and p=4153097 ("p" is the post number, not the thread number, that will be "t").
Here is one I deleted from this thread : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4153097&postcount=6
As a moderator, I can see deleted posts. Try that URL above
Dave
In the above case, seems you deleted the whole thread.This is the url you pointed:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4153097&postcount=6,
And I can not access these:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4153097&postcount=5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4153097&postcount=7
My question is for example in this thread we are talking in,
if you deleted this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4121794&postcount=3.
But I already crosslinked this post (next one to the deleted) with this url: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4132664&postcount=4.
So my above url will become this post, is that right?
BTW, sometimes I can see the contents of deleted post from a google search result.
Edit: Ok, seems I got it, you said no re-shuffle. That means if #3 deleted, , #5 is still #5, so there is no influance on crosslink address of posts. Thanks.

[Q] Viewing new posts in which you have participated

Hello, this is the only vBulletin forum that I browse(I'm more of a SMF guy, I use it and develop for it) and I can't find the place where I can see new topics in which I have participated(Tapatalk does this for this forum). Is there a link where I can see the new topics?
Dragooon123 said:
Hello, this is the only vBulletin forum that I browse(I'm more of a SMF guy, I use it and develop for it) and I can't find the place where I can see new topics in which I have participated(Tapatalk does this for this forum). Is there a link where I can see the new topics?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A couple of things you can do:
1
Subscribe to threads you are interested in and receive email notification of new posts being added.
2
Bookmark your profile page http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=1153710 and in there go to the statistics tab>Find all posts by. Then by clicking on your posts you can see if there have been any replies.
Not sure if these links might work also:
Find all posts by Dragooon123
Find all threads started by Dragooon123
Mike
im using subscription witout email, means i can go to my user cp and i see all threads i subscripted that have new posts
so i dont get too many emails but see all new replys..
The question is,
why does the XDA app offer this feature,
but the full version of the board does not?
I could theoretically run an emulator, run the XDA android app, and use this forum MORE efficiently than actually turning on a laptop. I use the 'participated' area every single day.
That seems backward. There has to be a way to pull this data to a web browser, if it can be pulled to an Android phone.
pkopalek said:
The question is,
why does the XDA app offer this feature,
but the full version of the board does not?
I could theoretically run an emulator, run the XDA android app, and use this forum MORE efficiently than actually turning on a laptop. I use the 'participated' area every single day.
That seems backward. There has to be a way to pull this data to a web browser, if it can be pulled to an Android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should set your usercp so that it will automatically subscribe to threads you reply to (without notification)
Then go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/subscription.php?do=viewsubscription&folderid=all to view them.
MikeChannon said:
A couple of things you can do:
1
Subscribe to threads you are interested in and receive email notification of new posts being added.
2
Bookmark your profile page http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=1153710 and in there go to the statistics tab>Find all posts by. Then by clicking on your posts you can see if there have been any replies.
Not sure if these links might work also:
Find all posts by Dragooon123
Find all threads started by Dragooon123
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but I haven't found an answer to the same question, and this is the only time I have seen it have replies. Finding threads posted by a user will not do the same thing, the participated thread button in the tapatalk or xda app does. One should not have to subscribe to every thread either, that would be pointless considering that is for threads you REALLY want to follow.
The information is accessible to the app, which means ultimately it would be easy to implement on the website, and it is counter productive you can only find it in app. The best answer I have is find the posts in the app, but if I have to post something longer, or with links, I have to find the thread on the website.
As popular as this site is, this feature would improve quite a bit.. people(maybe more noobs) would actually follow threads they've posted questions on, so the replies aren't a waste of time. How many threads have multiple people asked for more details and the OP never replies.. Subscribing to threads would only work on any new posts, and some of my oldest ones I would still want to know activity for. This all seems obvious.

[Suggestion] Thread wiki

It is possible to add a "thread wiki" post below the original post?
Eg in slickdeals, you have a common wiki below the OP that people can add stuff
I feel like threads should have things like that...
OP might not have time to update his/her post with relevant info that an another user can add
It might be difficult trying to look through 100 pages of posts to figure out if someone has a similar problem(or through search), while it is easy for multiple people to maintain a common wiki that they can all edit
EG: http://slickdeals.net/f/4803408-Thi...ted-by-users-like-you?p=51265310#edit51265310
paperWastage said:
It is possible to add a "thread wiki" post below the original post?
Eg in slickdeals, you have a common wiki below the OP that people can add stuff
I feel like threads should have things like that...
OP might not have time to update his/her post with relevant info that an another user can add
It might be difficult trying to look through 100 pages of posts to figure out if someone has a similar problem(or through search), while it is easy for multiple people to maintain a common wiki that they can all edit
EG: http://slickdeals.net/f/4803408-Thi...ted-by-users-like-you?p=51265310#edit51265310
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting idea, not sure how adaptable it would be with the VBulletin software though. It might also be similar in effect to something I hear is going to be rolled out sometime soon, a post rating system so posts with more positive ratings will move to the top, and posts with enough negative ratings will be hidden.
I think though that the OP should either ask the mods to close the thread or hand it over to another user by contacting the forum admin if they don't have time to maintain their thread with important new information.
mf2112 said:
Interesting idea, not sure how adaptable it would be with the VBulletin software though. It might also be similar in effect to something I hear is going to be rolled out sometime soon, a post rating system so posts with more positive ratings will move to the top, and posts with enough negative ratings will be hidden.
I think though that the OP should either ask the mods to close the thread or hand it over to another user by contacting the forum admin if they don't have time to maintain their thread with important new information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean small details: like "most commonly encountered problems and solutions", that the OP might have time to add or not
For a dev thread, I rather have the dev (most likely the OP) focus on developing and other people helping out in figuring out problems by common users... users can update the wiki on the un-resolved problems so that the dev can see, without having the dev to read the last 3 pages that were newly posted
you can see in the Slickdeals thread... 179 pages of posts... some of them are "useless" in saying "thanks for the deal", while some people have legitimate questions (like "is this phone quad band") that other users answered 10 pages after their post... having a wiki means common info will be presented clearly without having to dig through the thread, and anyone can update that, not just the OP <--- most important point
EDIT: Slickdeals uses vBulletin too, but customized plugins... there are probably open source plugins out there, just trying to dig through
EDIT2: i guess SD doesn't use pure vBulletin plugins for that... maybe some CMS system
paperWastage said:
I mean small details: like "most commonly encountered problems and solutions", that the OP might have time to add or not
For a dev thread, I rather have the dev (most likely the OP) focus on developing and other people helping out in figuring out problems by common users... users can update the wiki on the un-resolved problems so that the dev can see, without having the dev to read the last 3 pages that were newly posted
you can see in the Slickdeals thread... 179 pages of posts... some of them are "useless" in saying "thanks for the deal", while some people have legitimate questions (like "is this phone quad band") that other users answered 10 pages after their post... having a wiki means common info will be presented clearly without having to dig through the thread, and anyone can update that, not just the OP <--- most important point
EDIT: Slickdeals uses vBulletin too, but customized plugins... there are probably open source plugins out there, just trying to dig through
EDIT2: i guess SD doesn't use pure vBulletin plugins for that... maybe some CMS system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the problem really is that the dev thread should not be used for support, but people insist on treating them that way. I think that there should be a "ROM XXXXX Support Thread" in the device Q&A forums and that is where such questions should go instead. Then there would be no problems with the restrictions since user support questions or bug reports without proper logging, details, attempted fixes, etc. would be moved from the dev thread into the support thread if they were able to post them there.
mf2112 said:
I guess the problem really is that the dev thread should not be used for support, but people insist on treating them that way. I think that there should be a "ROM XXXXX Support Thread" in the device Q&A forums and that is where such questions should go instead. Then there would be no problems with the restrictions since user support questions or bug reports without proper logging, details, attempted fixes, etc. would be moved from the dev thread into the support thread if they were able to post them there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even in support threads... who would maintain the massive throve of info that many people would ask? the OP(most likely the dev himself who made the thread), or every user who wants to?
example.... if a lot of people post below us, makes it go into 5 pages... someone on page 3 found a plugin that does what it works.... does it make sense for that info to be posted just below my first post by anyone, or is it on me(the OP) to edit my first post "someone on page 3 found this info"?
This is actually an interesting idea. We are busy adding other new features but definitely will keep this in mind. Right now, we do already have a wiki and there is nothing stopping someone from creating a wiki page while adding their thread, and linking to it, but it would be nice to integrate that directly into the page.
bitpushr said:
This is actually an interesting idea. We are busy adding other new features but definitely will keep this in mind. Right now, we do already have a wiki and there is nothing stopping someone from creating a wiki page while adding their thread, and linking to it, but it would be nice to integrate that directly into the page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, but it's definitely not as seamless as having it right below the original post
lemme see if there are any plugins to "stream" that wiki page into a post...
Came here to request this too. And precisely for the same reasons as the OP.
This would be immediately embraced.
I don't understand the "I'm not sure this would be adaptable with vBulletin" comment since slickdeals uses vBulletin.
http://www.qapla.com/mods/showthread.php/309-Wiki-Posts-for-VB4-by-BOP5-BETA
another vote for this.
i have been following a thread about about the development of 4.4 for the hisense sero 7 pro (randomblame, davepmer and others are awesome)
anyway it has a post count of nearly 1,000 and people come in and try the latest build, or just wanting to ask a question about the latest builds. the same questions get asked over and over. i don't really think its the fault of the person asking since who is going to read 1,000 posts just to see if his/her problem has been discussed.

Previous Thread/Next Thread buttons broken

Hopefully this is the right way to report this problem with the forums.
I'm used to navigating the site by reading a thread, clicking on the "View First Unread" button to see new posts, then using the "Previous Thread" link at the bottom to read the next older post.
For the last couple of weeks, clicking on "Previous Thread" changes the title displayed to the proper target, but what you get displayed for thread content is the beginning of the thread you just read. This means that the only way to read a forum is to keep going back to the table of contents for that forum and click a thread with new posts. This gets to be a major pain once you're off the first page of threads.
"Next Thread" is equally broken.
I can't see any value to this behavior. It would be nice to have it working as it used to.
Thanks.
k1mu said:
Hopefully this is the right way to report this problem with the forums.
I'm used to navigating the site by reading a thread, clicking on the "View First Unread" button to see new posts, then using the "Previous Thread" link at the bottom to read the next older post.
For the last couple of weeks, clicking on "Previous Thread" changes the title displayed to the proper target, but what you get displayed for thread content is the beginning of the thread you just read. This means that the only way to read a forum is to keep going back to the table of contents for that forum and click a thread with new posts. This gets to be a major pain once you're off the first page of threads.
"Next Thread" is equally broken.
I can't see any value to this behavior. It would be nice to have it working as it used to.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right - this is the place to report. I don't think anything has changed with this functionality but I have definitely recreated this error. We'll take a look and figure out a fix.
Found and fixed this bug, will take a few minutes to show up on all the servers.
Thanks again for reporting it!
bitpushr said:
Found and fixed this bug, will take a few minutes to show up on all the servers.
Thanks again for reporting it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for fixing it!

[Q] Question re forum vs. subforum, subscribed vs. participated

I am not sure if the android app (I am using the premium app) is taking a different path than the XDA website... but there are things that are different between them and it is making it very difficult and confusing to seamlessly move from the app to the website, or back.
On the app, there is a sidebar with, among other items, a line that says "Subscriptions" followed by number in parentheses. Above that line there is a line/option for "Participated" .
If you select "Subscriptions", and you will get a list of Forums and Subforums you have subscribed to. It is easy to "Subscribe" to a forum (or subforum), as the dropdown menu has an option to Subscribe.
Before continuing, this is how I see the logical breakdown of forums, subforums and threads:
Forum (example HTC ONE (or VERIZON HTC ONE if it exists)) ==>
Subforum(example: HTC ONE Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting) ==>​Thread(example: Help! I bricked my phone!!!).​
In the app, when you select "Participated" you are presented with every thread in which you have added a comment.
However, on the website, when I navigate to the forum (not a subforum) and I want to "Subscribe" to it, I cannot find any way to do so on that page (the main forum page). I notice however, that if you go to one a subforums (see example above), you have the option there to subscribe to that subforum. However, like the app, I would like to have quick access to all subforums for a particular device.
I have "subscribed" to them from the mobile app, but they are not showing up once I am at my laptop... the only subscriptions that appear anywhere (without having to go to a dedicated page with subscibed threads, etc.) is in the right sidebar under the three tabs entitled "MESSAGES THREADS FORUMS." Here (for me) it shows I am subscribed to one subforum that I accidentally subscribed to 3 years ago (from the app I believe). The app too, correctly shows I am subscribed to this subforum. But there is no where on the website that shows the Forums I am subscribed—which the app does (as described above).
With the number of forums for devices growing to several hundred why is there not just a way to create a bookmark to go directly to the forum that you have already added as a subscribed forum/a favorite??? I swear I think every time I have come to this webpage I have to navigate down past 90 devices to find the forum I want (google XDA XYZ Device works, but there should be a way on the forum landing page). A way to find "bookmarked' forums. I use the work bookmark" because using the word "subscribe" with "forum" is actually confusing. You already have an option to subscribe to a thread on the website (and the app). And further, a subscription to a thread will send you email updates when there have been new comments to that thread. However, you do not need email notifications to a forum, nor even a subforum... you just need a quick way to navigate to them.
Further confusing the "thread subscription" component of "subscribing" is that now the app has "Participated" (as mentioned above) which I find helpful as no action is required; it automatically allows you to quickly find a thread where you have contributed or asked a question. But this is not available (or easily locatable) on the website....
Can we get the ability to create a favorite or a bookmark to a Forum or Subforum?
I understand that subscribing to threads still makes sense as people may want to be notified or have quick access to a thread which is being updated, but in which they have not made a comment. I think we just need to add a new category to "favorite" or "bookmark" a forum or subforum, and then have threads subscribed to, and threads in which we have participated.
I think in the past few years (and you guys would know!) more people use the app than before... So I think by modifying things as set forth above, it will allow increased usability of XDA overall. XDA has always had to manage and structure/organize a huge amount of information... and I have always found it quite difficult.. Only recently with the options have I noticed more productivity (although I cannot say for certain how "recent" these changes are....
Either way, I hope you can make the app and the site consistent... and preferably let the app's above-mentioned features lead the way.
Thank you...
syntropic said:
[…]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that's a lot of questions!
I definitely won't be able to answer them all at once, so I will just answer the ones I can.
1. In answer to the question "Where are the Participated threads on the website?", just do [your_username's_profile] > Statistics > See all posts by [your_username]. It does essentially the same thing as Participated does in the app.
EDIT- More answers to come... when and if I have time!

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