February 28, 2011 Huddler Platform Update

[iacas]

My comments are in red.

What's new in this release?

• Filter and sort Forum content
• Superflagging: your anti-spam SWAT team
• Followers and Following: greater control

Filter and Sort Forum content

This release unveils powerful new ways to navigate forums:

New Sorts:

When you're looking at a single forum or a list of threads, you'll now be able to sort by:

• last post timestamp (status quo)
• # replies
• # views

Each of these sorts works in ascending and descending order. In a future release, members will be able to sort threads by the thread creation time, too.

New Filters:

By default, a forum displays threads with new posts. You'll now be able to slice a forum in a few new ways:

• New Posts: Threads with recent posts (status quo)
• Activity Feed : Recent forum activity in an activity-feed format
• New Threads : Created in the last week, with newest first
• Unanswered : Threads that have not yet received a reply
• I've posted: Threads where you have posted previously

These filters work on any single forum, and also at the top level of the forums. As a result, your "New Posts" page will display options to view all unanswered threads across the site, every thread you've posted in... etc.

Each of the sorting options described here work in conjunction with the filters. You can sort the "Unanswered" threads by number of views, or sort the "I've posted" threads by reply count, etc.

Superflagging (for spam)

Would you like some help keeping spam off the site? The new "Superflagging" feature lets you recruit help from your most trusted users without giving them the responsibility or power of actual moderators. On The Sand Trap, anyone in the "Forum Leaders" group will be able to "superflag."

A user with the power to "superflag" may set any post to "held for moderation" status just by flagging it with reason = "spam." Superflagged content is hidden from other members immediately and appears in the Mod Queue, marked "Urgent Attention." From there, a full moderator can then review the content and make a final decision.

With more spam-killers on patrol, spam will be buried faster and moderators will be freer to focus on other tasks. This is a potent tool, so only offer Superflagging privileges to members you trust. Obviously, abusing this would result in removal from the "Forum Leaders" group, but the odds of any abuse are hopefully about 0.01%. Remember, to hold content for moderation, they'll need to select "reason = spam" when they flag an item.

Followers and Following: greater control

Currently, when you add someone to your followed list, you'll receive updates about them, but it's a very solitary experience. Some would say even stalker-ish. After this release, you'll have additional options to open up this feature and make it a social, two-way experience.

Some of the different possibilities:

Joe can see who Joe is following:

This is the current implementation -- you can see who you're following, and that's all. If this is your preference, you can keep your site this way.

Joe can see who is following Joe:

Permit members to see who's following them.

Everyone can see who Joe is following and who's following Joe:

This is the option we'll likely choose.

Followers/followed information is exposed to everyone, creating a fully open and more social experience. It turns following into a social activity: "Hey, someone's following me. Maybe I'll follow him back!"

Private follow : In limited cases, it's appropriate to give users an ability to privately follow a member. For example, an administrator may choose to follow a member without alerting them. The ability to privately follow other members is a permission that can be associated with a specific usergroup. In fact, all of the above options are group-based. (I don't think we'll enable this option for any groups.)

Here's the complete list of settings you can configure for each user permissions group.

[Group] Can See Following:

• self: I can see who I am following (status quo)

• other : I can see who someone else is following

• none: no one can see who anyone is following, including themselves.

[Group] Can See Followers:

• self: I can see who is following me

• other: I can see other people's followers

• none: no one can see anyone's followers, including their own (status quo)

[Group] Can Private Follow:

• yes: I can follow someone without them seeing me in their follower list. They will also not show up in my following list for anyone but me.

• no: There's no special privacy granted if I follow someone. On a site where following is visible to others, all my follows will be visible.

Members may still use the "Block" feature to stop someone specific from following them, but they will not be able to completely opt out of all following (which is how it works now).

[Zeph]

The filters are very welcome, I love the "I've Posted" filter.

Superflagging is OK, don't think I've encountered spam or posts of such character that it would warrant an immediate flagging, but the feature doesn't hurt.

Haven't tried following before, exactly what do you get updates about? Lists, posts, wikis?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Zeph

The filters are very welcome, I love the "I've Posted" filter.

Cool.

Originally Posted by Zeph

Superflagging is OK, don't think I've encountered spam or posts of such character that it would warrant an immediate flagging, but the feature doesn't hurt.

You'll see them occasionally. Sometimes you'll see them before I or another mod or admin will see them, so it's helpful.

Originally Posted by Zeph

Haven't tried following before, exactly what do you get updates about? Lists, posts, wikis?

They show up in your activity feed and things - reviews they post, forum threads they post, etc.

But that's a lousy answer, so let me try to get a better one for you... I'll respond here again later.

[uttexas]

I got this message today while on my work computer--haven't changed my browser (Firefox 3.6.13) or browser settings (will have to check TST on home computer when I get home)

"Your mobile browser can only load the Basic editor. You may see some HTML source displayed. Any BBCode you enter will be converted to HTML when you save."

I noticed that I didn't have the upload video icon as an option.  I did have upload picture icon option.

I've never received this message before.

Update:  I clicked on "Full Page Editor" and was able to obtain the reply choices I'm familiar with.

[Kieran123]

Having major issues trying to get on the site today....

[iacas]

Originally Posted by uttexas

"Your mobile browser can only load the Basic editor. You may see some HTML source displayed. Any BBCode you enter will be converted to HTML when you save."

I noticed that I didn't have the upload video icon as an option.  I did have upload picture icon option.

That's a known issue. Thus far, half as many things seem to break again as the number of new features updated. It's disappointing.

Originally Posted by Kieran123

Having major issues trying to get on the site today....

I'm not (but I've been gone most of the day). What do you mean by "major issues"? Slow? Pages fail to load? Error messages?

[jamo]

Originally Posted by uttexas

I got this message today while on my work computer--haven't changed my browser (Firefox 3.6.13) or browser settings (will have to check TST on home computer when I get home)

"Your mobile browser can only load the Basic editor. You may see some HTML source displayed. Any BBCode you enter will be converted to HTML when you save."

I noticed that I didn't have the upload video icon as an option.  I did have upload picture icon option.

I've never received this message before.

Update:  I clicked on "Full Page Editor" and was able to obtain the reply choices I'm familiar with.

I got that message as well. To get rid of it I went to "Edit Account Details" under "My Profile" and switched the Preferred Editor Type from "Rich Text Editor" to "BB Code Editor." I hit save and waited for the page to load the new settings and then switched "BB Code Editor" back to "Rich Text Editor" and it seems to work fine now without having to click on "Full Page Editor" when I want to post.

[Kieran123]

TST will not load at all.

The only way I can get in here is searching in google for a thread ( ie. 'the sand trap whatd you shoot today' ), then clicking on the thread, then I can navigate the forum by changing the number at the end of the line in the address bar

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/list/ 4 <------  then i can click on the section for each forum.

.....firefox 3.6.13 xp pro

ok now its working again????

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Kieran123

TST will not load at all.

I had an issue like that earlier today but only on one specific sub-forum (11 or 13 or something). It seems to be working now though.

[Stretch]

Call me petty, but it seems kind of weird that clicking on "New Posts" now sends you to a drop-down menu instead of ... loading new posts. It's not a big deal on a desktop, where you can stay in http://thesandtrap.com/forum/newposts and just refresh, but it's a pain when accessing the forum from a mobile device.

[iacas]

Here you go Zeph:

What is Following?

Following is like subscribing to another member; you'll receive notifications of their activity in public areas.

How do I follow another member?

To follow a member, visit their profile page and click the "Follow Member" link under their avatar. You will be able to "unfollow" someone in the same place.

What will I be notified about?

When following another member, you'll be notified about many of the same things that appear in their activity feed: replying to threads, writing reviews, and other actions they take around the site.

Can I stop someone from following me?

If you're concerned about a member who's following you, visit their profile page and click "Block Member." This will also prevent them from sending you private messages and will collapse their posts when you view the forums, so use this carefully! Also note that you cannot block site administrators and moderators.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Call me petty, but it seems kind of weird that clicking on "New Posts" now sends you to a drop-down menu instead of ... loading new posts. It's not a big deal on a desktop, where you can stay in http://thesandtrap.com/forum/newposts and just refresh, but it's a pain when accessing the forum from a mobile device.

I see what you mean. I see how that could be annoying...

FWIW, my bookmark for the site is the /forum/newposts URL (this used to be forum.php?action=newposts BTW) so I don't have to use that menu much.