What do you think about the recent changes to the Ask the Community section?
During the scheduled database maintenance on May 2nd we made a couple of small changes to the ask the community section.
- The fresh tab now holds the past 7 days of questions. We hope this change will provide a better sampling of deal-related questions for you to answer and vote up to the popular tab.
- We renamed "comments" to "answers". You've been phrasing your questions as actual questions, right? We hope this change will invite constructive and thoughtful answers to the original question.
- We changed the default sort on question pages to "most votes". We hope this change will inspire the community to vote for the best answers to the original question. Along those lines we've added a new metric to the leaderboard called "answers added". You'll earn reputation points in this category by providing answers that are voted by the community.
by
shawnmiller
asked a year ago
First change good, second change is a better choice of words in some respects, third change feels like being clubbed in the head while reading. Did any of you think this out?
There's no flow anymore
The first thing I noticed was the sort order. It makes it hard to follow replies between people IMO.
I think you should make "oldest" the default and we can select "votes" if we crave to see which comment has the most votes.
Please set back the sorting order. Everything makes no sense and is out of order. I wonder why you would even consider that a good idea... It makes sense when posting deals to want more votes, but that's just silly
At least allow a way to change the default for your account
I do like the fixed up fresh tab though
Def on the fence about it. Like some of it, don't like the new sorting default. I would like to be able to set my own preference.
I cannot see ANYTHING from the tab I normally use to browse. It appears as though I have commented on NOTHING (and as we know, this is VERY unlikely).
@shawnmiller @josefresno @jumbowoot
Yes, I know, you changed it all to Comments. I cannot imagine what it is that we did to you that you feel the need to work so hard to change it all around. Please point to the places where the community asked for this.
My god, you make it so very hard, and I cannot understand why.
In addition, these ARE NOT ANSWERS. They're just comments.
I also note that now the Deals and the Questions side are completely out of sync. Congratulations.
creepy when the first few comments now are replying to someone and the original post is lower down. i thought there were a bunch of deleted comments
imagine the confused looks behind our monitors, especially on the split-up comments where people take up all their characters and continue in another comment post
@shrdlu: by wooting your very last comment to hobbitss, i pushed that comment all the way up to 2nd place. teehee.
this will be.... fun?
btw, i have a joke i want to share with you all
so this family goes to see a talent agent and the agent asks what they can do. the father stands up and talks about some nasty stuff, then mentions some more nasty stuff. and he gets into more details with more disgusting stuff.
so the agent at this point is intrigued. he asks "well what do you call this act?"
"The Aristocrats!"
Sorting by votes is messy. That is all.
@shrdlu: lol you sound just like my grandma
The only problem I see is that it messes up the order of replies.
The devs should add some code that places a clickable link in the message when someone clicks reply.
Example, say I click reply on someones comment. It would then put a clickable link in my message to link to that person's message. So when someone clicks on the link, it brings to focus the post that was being replied to. Pretty easy and it could be fun. It could even be as simple as having the replied comment highlight in a different color.
I love chaos though, so I give you 2 thumbs up.
@everyone
To fix the order of questions back to the way they used to be .
I know all you black triangles know this but, for some that are trying to figure it out. If you press the oldest tab, it will resort the "answers" the way they used to be.
The button is between the question and the answer on the right side.
You will have to do this every time you post.
"You've been phrasing your questions as actual questions, right?"
No, I haven't. And I don't want to. But you all have been so kind to do it for me. I love it when my words are completely changed to reflect something that I didn't say.
everything of makes order feel it out
@shawnmiller I'm going to take a moment to point out a glitch caused by this update rather than complain about nonsense comments:
When I click on my username, you know how it shows my deals and then on the side it shows my questions, right? Well if I click on the "commented" subtab, the opposite side is blank. Likewise, if I am in the Answers subtab, the commented side is blank. Obviously this is because they only correspond when the wording is the same. You know what I'm saying?
This thing over here: http://deals.woot.com/questions/users/shawnmiller/answered Notice how Community Deals is blank?
And here: http://deals.woot.com/deals/users/shawnmiller/commented Now Ask the Community is blank
for! Three : entropy cheers @shawnmiller
@caffeine_dude: "You will have to do this every time you post. "
And that makes it a pain in the arse. (edit-- oh yeah, a MAJOR PITA!!!!)
The changes to Deals is like a Sandra Lee recipe. Just when I think the recipe is shaping up rather nicely, you'll go add some corn nuts and cocoa powder-added canned frosting to an angel food cake and call it "Kwanzaa Cake."
I know you guys like adding new things and switching gears, but I don't think any one is looking at the long term results. Quit worrying about sprucing up the upholstery and fuzzy dice and concentrate on what's under the hood. Making it look different isn't necessarily gonna make the Deals engine run smoother.
If everything is a question, and all the responses are "answers" (which of course they aren't, hence the quotes), what in the world is the Chat tab there for?
There has got to be a few people on staff there that can see how this is illogical.
@shawnmiller @jumbowoot
1) not all questions come with a question mark. Inquiries can be made as statements. Quit rewriting user posts.
2) They are comments, not answers. The "answer" comes as a function of community interaction, and my span multiple "comments" by multiple "users". Breaking the flow of that conversation is idiotic. You intended for there to be flow, or there would not be a 'quote' option, nor would the default have been post order previously.
2a) unless your actual goal is to curtail said sense of community... then thumbs up.
3) how about fixing some of the stuff that's actually broken instead of breaking the stuff that actually works?
Now my head hurts and I hope 'it's not a tumor'. Please set the default display for answers back to chronological order. The prioritizing by votes reminds me of watching the movie Memento and I never want to see that movie again. All of the other changes make sense to me!
@jimmyd103: Oh, man! I had totally forgotten about that movie. Wait! I think there's an empty spot over there on the back of my knee. Got a pen?
The change I like is the fresh tab it's a good change. I do not like the default set at most votes, I think it's silly. I do not feel I need to know how many votes people are receiving.
While I am giving my opinion I do not like @wootbot I think he is about as likeable as any other spammer less so when you consider he is a Woot! creation.
Why spend so much time fixing what is not broken?
Suggestion programme @wootbot to deleat duplicate deals and retire expired deals and leave the deal posting to the community.
@shawnmiller What is th difference between comments added and answers added? Do we no longer receive rep. points for voting on comments or answers?
@shawnmiller: I'm confused about the Fresh tab. I was under the impression (you know, because you said it) that questions would stay on the Fresh tab for 7 days. Within half an hour, my brand new (not a)question was moved to Chat.
Also, it was edited to be a question. Only without a question mark. Not only are your people changing my stuff without informing me (sometimes even changing the meaning of what I say), but now you're making me look like a person with terrible writing skills. Please leave it up to the user to make themselves look bad.
@thepenrod: I think what he meant was that normally the fresh questions that are leftover are removed at the end of the day, so as opposed to being removed, they stay for 7 days. However if the staff deems your question as chatworthy, it will still be moved.
@abramokids: That is correct. Fresh questions will be available for answering for 7 days before being archived. If your question is deemed chatworthy, it will be moved from Fresh to Chat.
[wedit]
@jumbowoot: Of the many things that @abramokids said in this thread, which one of them is correct, please?
In addition, if this is all done to have the more interesting and useful people post less, it's a win.
The thread ordering is pretty moronic, you guys should know better than that.
A little late to the game as usual. The first thing I had to do was sort on oldest so that I could figure out what everyone was saying.
Keeping the fresh questions for 7 days, I think is a definite plus. If a question is asked on the weekend, it may not get an answer as the weekends are a little lite on community members.
Changing comments to answers is really no big deal. To quote the Bard, " What's in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet" OK, maybe not a rose but a fish is a fish is a fish (unless it is Jimmy the Fish)
Sorting Answers by votes - Have to quote Jack O'Neill on this one, " Following...still...you...not!" In this case, you were not looking for an answer, you were looking for opinions and in order for the conversation to flow the "answers" need to be read in order. Not all questions require a straight forward answer.
Where is my order? - requires a straight answer
What's your favorite messenger bag? - is a matter of opinions
I think if I want to see answers to questions in a user vote determined order, I will go to Yahoo answers. Those are Q&As. AtW has always been a discussion. Don't try to change it. It won't work. Promise!
HATE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just posted a comment and after posting it automatically defaulted back to sort by votes (I know it has been said before and yes, it really does suck). If you are going to leave it as sort on votes, can you change the fact that if you comment, it stays the way you sorted it before making the comment?
It's more than frustrating, it is totally aggravating.
Edit: At least when I edit, it stays sorted the way I want.
@theoneill555: "Changing comments to answers is really no big deal. To quote the Bard, " What's in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet"
Except that the information is populated by a database lookup by name, so if responses are called "comments" on deals side and "answers" on AtC side, you have a syncing problem when you look at "Deals Commented" and AtC shows up blank or "Questions Answered" and Deals side shows up blank.
The Rose may smell as sweet, perhaps, but acquisition is problematic if you're not calling it such.
Or, musically, "Pleased to meet you, won't you guess my name?"
So, in essence, this becomes a "popularity" contest? Sorry, I thought it really was a community of people who made their ideas known. I would vote for the natural order to be chronological rather than by number of votes. But, I guess it has been implemented as usual without regard to how the community might feel about it.
@caffeine_dude: i did not know this. i've seen it and forgotten about it just as quickly everytime. and have never clicked any til now, so thanks.
/still confused
@shrdlu: "...if this is all done to have the more interesting and useful people post less, it's a win."
Not sure who you mean by "more interesting and useful" though. There might be differing opinions on that one. Oh you were talking about yourself, of course.
@jumbowoot: In that case, there is some seriously prejudiced moderation going on. What kind of prejudice? Extreme prejudice. There's a question in Fresh that was posted 6 hours ago and is only one or two down from when mine were posted and it is obviously "Chat worthy." In the mean time, I've had two edited and moved to Chat.
@jumbowoot: "If your question is deemed chatworthy, it will be moved from Fresh to Chat."
"Deemed chatworthy" is still a euphamism for "exiled to the off-topic ghetto".
Which brings up a point I forgot earlier...
4) What's the point of Shawn's question, anyway? It's not like our opinion counted for anything WRT the chat/off-topic tab when THAT was foisted on us.
@dosquatch: I guess tracking people is not relevant for me. I come for the deals and have the added bonus of the AtC. I check out comments or answers only if they are posted on something that I an looking at whether it is a deal or a question.
As much as I trust shrdlu's and lavikinga's opinions, I really have no interest in following them to find out what they have to say on a wine glass set or what to do about renewing a lease.
@shawnmiller: How about calling them responses and not comments or answers?
@theoneill555: Thank you. I think if we want to be "followed" or stalked, we'd go play on twitter.
AtC isn't on the same plane as Short Attention Span Theater. People come here to Ask the Community to converse, and they are patient enough to carry threads through for days on end (when they can find where you've moved the questions). You don't need to wootify the comments by putting the most popular remarks at the head of the line. AtC really works better if you think of the questions and comments like conversations between friends and let them default to the order they are made.
Gah! I don't know why we're all commenting here on this any way. You Deals developers have made up your minds that change was necessary to cure whatever issue you were having with this current incarnation of the AtC. Some how I don't see you undoing what has already been done because we whine about it.
She thrusts her fists against the posts and still insists she sees the ghosts.
What they said. @everybody
So let me get this straight, TPTB decided to implement a change (again) that was neither asked for or well thought out. Then when people complain about this change, TPTB state what they did, but do not give any reasons for it and also leave it hoping that the users will eventually get used to it and stop complaining? FYI why most people have stopped complaining is that they know it will either be edited away to oblivion or ignored.
Here is a major flaw with the renaming and the resorting issue: Answers are given in a chronological order thusly: asked, answered, answer retorted, retort refuted by either someone else or the question asker etc. Peppered in that chain are other answers. There has to be a logical flow to the evolution of the answer(s). Sort by vote doesn't add anything but lessens
I get what you are trying to make things easier for the asker to find the most popular answer to their question, but it flushes the thread/evolution of the conversation down the crapper.
@lavikinga: I just figured it out...
" @caffeine_dude: "You will have to do this every time you post. "
And that makes it a pain in the arse. (edit-- oh yeah, a MAJOR PITA!!!!) "
BUT... it is more activity on the site artificially creating activity... Genius.
Evil Genius!!!
If we click 'oldest', does it stay our default setting? The other changes are good though.
Thank you!
Edit: It just reverted back to most votes when I posted, so I'll take that as a no. Is there anyway that we can make it so?
@armagedon: I think having customizable settings per user was shot down as being too complicated.
@rhoderickdhu: I never said I didn't like my grandma. I love my grandma. I said my grandma was fat, and boy is she ever. So what you're telling me is that shrdlu is fat too? I'm getting the vibe that you and shrdlu are e-lovers, or do you just like playing the part of knight?
I'm currently not job searching, I've got loads of cash to sit on while not collecting unemployment. Not to mention the trust fund. Thanks for caring though.
How's retirement going? Hopefully social security is still kickin.
Erin Go Bragh!
I'm sorry - it took me a second to formulate a logical answer based on previous answers because I had to read a couple of lines jumbled up before I realized what had happened and fixed this error.
So - no. I don't like number three and will just get into the routine of clicking "oldest" every time I join a discussion until it gets changed back.
@iggz: "Not sure who you mean by "more interesting and useful" though."
The people who are useful know who they are. The people who are interesting are known by others. If you're not sure on either count... well, that's that, then.
Stats
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- a year ago
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- shawnmiller
- Answered
- 81 times
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- Voted For
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