Usability Improvements Locked In
So this year I implemented a new policy: all donations not ticketed for site contributors or Phil Brabbs get tallied at the end of the year and then I go spend that money on improvements to the site. This year we've made some adjustments to the comment system:
- Comments have been re-themed to take up less space and hopefully cut down on the phenomenon where a series of replies ends up with comically thin content areas.
- Comments have been ajaxified: no need to reload the page to post a comment.
- The voting system has had a major hole closed: votes on items older than a week do not affect userpoints.
- Another system hole closed: it now costs a point to vote, whether it's up or down. This will prevent people from getting slightly over 20 points with a series of sock puppets and vote-spamming other people. Also, the ratio for posting new threads and diaries has been altered: it's now +1 for up, –1 for down. Comments remain +2 up, –1 down.
There are a couple bugs with the sidebar and placement of some of the new features that should get worked out in the next couple days.
UPDATE: The AJAX was not quite ready for prime time and has been temporarily pulled.
UPDATE II: A lot of users are issuing complaints, which I will address over the next few days. Bear with us.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:29 PM ^
the editor is still a bit wonky. and it seems like the new ajax commenting has been temporarily disabled.
The one sad thing about the new pay-to-vote system - it'll cut down on the neg/pos bangs (and consequentially, a lot of the off-season entertainment).IMHO, instead of charging people to vote, I'd rather have the threshold for voting increased to 100 or 500 points. Also institute a time limit between join and voting, so like a new user cannot vote until they've been a member for at least a week or a month or something.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
I agree with you. I know the points mean nothing, but that doesn't mean that people won't be stingy with them.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^
There definitely will be a lot less voting now as the cost will be too high for people like me that read every day but don't drop a comment on everything written. Personally, I find the change disappointing and I think it will greatly diminish my pleasure in reading the site knowing that I can't afford to vote on anything. Please reconsider.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:08 PM ^
i finally started taking the trouble to sign in and vote on things a few months ago. now i'll probably just stop.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:09 PM ^
While I don't care about points, the fact that I am an e-introvert means the new system will decrease my incentive for participation in the way of voting. While I am an avid reader and enjoy it very much, I don't tend to carry or accrue lots of points at any time and a bit of the community aspect that I appreciate will be less accessible to others like myself.
August 13th, 2010 at 9:04 AM ^
I believe that unveiling the cloak of anonymity would create a more desirable effect than having to pay to vote.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:59 PM ^
I don't like being charged for voting, nor do I like the new format.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^
Couldn't make a comment using Chrome but that may have been a temporary glitch. On Firefox and it looks better.
Nice job - looks great. Like the voting changes - a lot.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
I'm sure we'll all get used to it soon enough. In 23 days we'll forget this even happened.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
I am both scared and titillated.
Also, since I am greedy, I will never upvote anyone ever again. Sorry; without MGoPoints, I'm just another cigar-smokin', linebackin' avatar.
I hope you all understand...
August 12th, 2010 at 4:55 PM ^
No, not really. I would have, since I feel the same way as you but, since I feel the same way as you, I didn't
August 12th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^
In lieu of a '+1' I give you a mental 'thumbs up' and a 'good on ya mate.'
Oh brave new world!
August 12th, 2010 at 5:02 PM ^
"+1"
Because we've just shifted the way to get lots of MGoPoints from throwing up stuff people may find amusing, but inconsequential, to posting as many times as possible, no matter the content.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:30 PM ^
I did not think the old system was broken to be honest.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:51 PM ^
Or, why not have down votes cost and up votes not? That way it restrains people from needless negging when they disagree with something.
August 12th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^
August 12th, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
...how far we can whittle these comment progressions down to!
August 13th, 2010 at 12:26 AM ^
Well, the new layout does appear to work in some of the intended ways. This comment would have been completely unreadable in the old format due
to
being
squished
like
this.
And yes, I did post this primarily for the free point.* I know none of you will be willing to part with your mgopoint in order to neg me! Hahahaha, suckers.
* No, not really. I do like the layout change for extremely threaded comments. I suppose I did like it slightly better with the boxes, but I don't think it's a big difference. Also the RTE works for me in Chrome.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^
I always thought it was a neat tidbit while reading someone's comment.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
August 12th, 2010 at 4:39 PM ^
Well then, I will never posbang you again Brian. I hope you're happy.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:39 PM ^
it now costs a point to vote, whether it's up or down.
That is seriously going to put a wrench in my "Neg anything from Magnus" philosophy.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:40 PM ^
However, I do not agree with the pay to vote. The pos bangs and neg bangs are one of the best parts of the fourms, especially in the off season. I think that is the only thing that should be changed back. Everything else looks good and sounds good.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:44 PM ^
Maybe pay to down-vote only?
August 12th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^
Why should we have to pay to pimp slap the trolls?
August 12th, 2010 at 4:52 PM ^
but I can't make the commitment
Related, I've a feeling lame replies like this will become the new +1's
August 12th, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
But if people were to lazy to post a reason why they agreed, they'll just not post or vote all together. I think this is a positive. +1'ing somebody provided just as much value as writing "Agreed" - none. Hopefully this will encourage some meaningful conversation instead of browsing for comments to agree or disagree with.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:47 PM ^
but I don't agree. As some on this site are saying, part of the fun is to read comments and hit up the good and the bad. Having to reply to say +1 is kind of lame, when you're used to just +1'ing to +1
August 12th, 2010 at 5:54 PM ^
If you get to a board late and it's got 80 posts it's nice to skim and see whose posts had the most positive/negative/original response rather than reading every single comment and deciding for yourself. Who has time for that? I've got enough actual content to read without having to discern whether "ChuckyinAA" makes a valid point on something like it's some roundtable discussion.
August 12th, 2010 at 11:03 PM ^
I disagree.
But really, what I mean is, the plus one was an "I agree...but have nothing really to add to it that isn't filler....you said it perfectly". Some statements are just hard to add much to, and you may approve, but don't have a whole lot additionally to say about it.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:41 PM ^
My only question, and I'm on my work computer so I can't tell yet, does this destroy the Firefox Stylish script? At first glance, it appears as though the Stylish script may not actually be necessary with the new format.
UPDATE: It appears the Stylish script is still functioning!
August 12th, 2010 at 4:47 PM ^
I'm pretty sure Brian implimented this rule because of Magnus. Everytime we think Magnus is going to break 30,000, Brian finds a way to stop it from happening. All I have to say is,
Well played Brian, well played. You're move Magnus.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
He's jumped like 11,000 ahead of Magnus. He doesn't need the help.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:14 PM ^
I'm pretty sure Brian is now just increasing his lead to make himself look better for the MGoPoint Pollsters. This is why I hope we move to a MGoPoint playoff system.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:25 PM ^
FA said in another post that he gave Brian +10000 one night to assure his spot atop the MGoPoint mountain.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:32 PM ^
What did he do...say the opposite of the "S" word in one of his posts? ;-)
August 12th, 2010 at 5:57 PM ^
August 12th, 2010 at 11:07 PM ^
it only sends you back to the 5th dimension...
(Edit: And now the subject line is overlapped by the username....sigh...)
August 12th, 2010 at 11:24 PM ^
Why don't you just email Brian a list of suggestions? As someone else mentioned, some people are starting to come off like all those whiny highschool kids who bitched about facebook changing. I'm sure Brian is more likely to take your suggestions under advisement if you emailed them to him like a normal person instead of bitching up a storm.
EDIT: Your post towards the bottom of this thread makes this post unnecessary. You obviously get it.
August 13th, 2010 at 3:18 PM ^
A lot of it was just emphasizing what I thought, but people had already said, without the list duplicating a lot of things.
And I don't know...this is the post to complain about it. An email encourages everyone to do so, crams his mailbox unnecessarily, and really is giving myself an inflated sense of importance. I'm a user, I'm not a fan...but I'm not going to propose to dictate to him how it should be. Just voicing my problems/concerns for him to take under advisement. It think about or reject.
If I had really any substantial issue, I'd try to take it to email. Not looking to call him out on his own site. But that would be something more than "the white hurts my eyeeeeessss". You know, more, meltdown kill/fire/pitchfork whoever moments.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:22 PM ^
I'm not for sure, but I think the system is currently doubling the amount of points for up and down votes received. In addition to the points for the vote received on myuserpoints, it seems to be adding/deducting the same number points for "Vote cast on content:" and including a link to the post that received the vote.
EDIT: Or maybe not anymore, since it didn't show up on the last vote I received.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:51 PM ^
The new comments style has a very SBN feel to it. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
it now costs a point to vote, whether it's up or down.
I lost at least 3 valuable points before this was made public. If I go back and down vote those posts, do I:
a. Get my point back
b. Lose a second point
c. Experience neither
August 12th, 2010 at 5:06 PM ^
Make sure you click the right one. No more voting on the mobile, that's for sure.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:11 PM ^
Maybe we need a cancel button so we can pos or neg bang somebody but then get our points back later after they get the idea of how we feel about what was said. After all, I really have no interest in affecting people's point totals, but really only to give them feedback on how their comments were received.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
with the new point system is, now that the neg and pos bombs are less likely, I will be forced to read a post and determine the validity of it based on my own critical thinking, rather than relying on the consensus of the MGoBlog community masses. Is this what you want Brian? Is it?
August 12th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
And I just spent my first MgoPoint.
+1 to you sir
August 12th, 2010 at 6:28 PM ^
Are we some mindless rabble? I like to think we probably have similar interests and senses of humor rather than belonging to some corporate hive-mind when it comes to extremely high or low point scores. There are exceptions, but these standout totals generally help guide you to noteworthy posts as recommended by the rest of the community. Nobody said they had to determine opinion or impede thoughtful discussion.
August 12th, 2010 at 7:53 PM ^
I'm really not sure if you are trying to be humorous or if you are actually taking my rant seriously.
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