META: Order of threads on the board

Submitted by SAMgO on

Looks like the threads are being ordered by recent post time, not when they were posted, which is a big departure from the previous iteration of the MGoBoard.

I think I preferred the old ordering, as now little spats and sidebar conversations will keep threads at the top of the board far too long, and fewer threads are now shown on the side of the front page so this could quickly bury new info that comes out (like Walker and Crawford transferring). 

Do you guys prefer it like this or the old way?

NashvilleBLUE

June 6th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^

I much prefer ordering by recent comments so that an older topic that is still generating ongoing discussion doesn't get lost and buried under a bunch of nonsense posts. 

Gentleman Squirrels

June 6th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^

Sorry to thread jack, but I think it would also be nice if the Board was placed above the diaries. Speaking as someone who doesn't look at diaries too often (since they aren't updated as much), it would be nice to glance quickly if there have been any new posts on the board without scrolling. At the very least if the diaries tab was collapsible, that would be really nice.

mGrowOld

June 6th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^

Old way.  But I really dont like the new layout at all so I'm probably not the guy to ask.  I'm guessing all you hep-cat youngsters are digging on all this fancy whatnot but man, I'm hard pressed to find anything about I can objectively say is "better" than the old one.

Help an old man out.  What's "better" about this one cause I am just not seeing it.

BlockM

June 6th, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^

There was definitely *some* UI design done, but I would wager a guess that the vast majority of the time and resources went toward getting it upgraded, functional, and stable. It looks fine, but I've got a bunch of minor visual gripes too. If I don't get any 404 or Drupal errors during a commitment, it's an upgrade.

Sam1863

June 6th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^

Agree completely. The font, point size, and type color on the main page are much more difficult to read - especially against the background of "Gee, lookit what I can do!" stars that increase and decrease in size.

And as long as I'm bitching - is this REALLY the new main page? When I first saw it, I thought it was the most clever trolling job I'd ever seen. I was ready to give Brian, Seth, & Co. and standing O for their great commitment to a fantastic con job. I mean, sparkly stars and falling stars and the growing/shrinking stars (somebody REALLY likes stars, huh?), along with the aforementioned comic sans and all the moving parts. It's only two hearts and a unicorn away from looking like a One Direction fangirl page. Brilliant!

Except now I think it's for real. And that's ... really disappointing.

Go ahead and cue the "Old Man Yells at Cloud" meme if you want. But this isn't good.

 

JWG Wolverine

June 6th, 2018 at 3:55 PM ^

Totally agree.

While this site looks a lot more modern and professional (which is what writers like these guys have deserved for a looong time), the lacking of many features the old site had is making it seem less like an upgrade.

Really the only big bonus here is that it's a more readable mobile site, that's about it.

However, Brian mentioned in his Welcome to 3.0 post that this site now gives him a lot more freedom when it comes to creating new features, so that is encouraging, as the old site limited ability to do such things.

Gr1mlock

June 6th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^

I think if you actually went to the board, not just the main page sidebar, it was always this way.  But then, that's why I used the mainpage sidebar, not the actual board.  Agree we need more board posts in the side bar, less posts in the diary bar (or maybe they auto expire after a week?), and a way to sort the board page by OP date, not most recent post.   So far, I'm with MGrowOld, the changes aren't really helping readability or user friendliness.  

Yeoman

June 6th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^

For years I've been entering the site from the tracker, which made it very easy to see what had happened since I was last here (new comments on existing threads, new threads, new mainpage content). "40 replies, 2 new" with the new comments clearly labeled was a lot more informative than "40 replies."

I don't know if this is a temporary loss or it's gone for good (or if it's here and I just don't know where to look), but I'm finding it hard to navigate the site without it. I could live with any sorting choice if I could just easily separate new stuff from what I've already seen.

jbibiza

June 6th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^

Old way much more user friendly and sensible.
HOW DO YOU GET FROM THE MAIN HOME PAGE TO THE MESSAGE BOARD
I realize that I am yelling  :)

JBM

June 6th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^

Definitely prefer the old side bar.  I want to know the latest news posted.  Would love to see this back.

bronxblue

June 6th, 2018 at 3:52 PM ^

I sort of like the recency ranking for the main page and then activity on the larger mgoboard.  I know that functionality existed earlier, but it feels cleaner here.

bluebyyou

June 6th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^

I like the most recent post pushes that thread to the top.  It keeps threads of high interest active and pushes threads of little interest out of sight.

Also, is there built in functionality that recognizes and formats common items like youtube videos?

maizenbluedevil

June 6th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^

Yes I prefer the old way. How is that even a question? THIS IS MICHIGAN, FERGODSAKES!! 

(In all seriousness though the old way was better for the reasons you stated)

maizenbluedevil

June 6th, 2018 at 6:13 PM ^

Yes I prefer the old way. How is that even a question? THIS IS MICHIGAN, FERGODSAKES!! 

(In all seriousness though the old way was better for the reasons you stated)

maizenbluedevil

June 6th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^

Yes I prefer the old way. How is that even a question? THIS IS MICHIGAN, FERGODSAKES!! 

(In all seriousness though the old way was better for the reasons you stated)

maizenbluedevil

June 6th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^

Yes I prefer the old way. How is that even a question? THIS IS MICHIGAN, FERGODSAKES!! 

(In all seriousness though the old way was better for the reasons you stated)

Qseverus

June 6th, 2018 at 7:10 PM ^

If I might be allowed some constructive criticism of board layout. Seems to me there is too much white space which makes for excessive scrolling. "Joined" and "MGoPoints" could be on the same line as that information seems to take up more space than many comments. Line feeds also seem too generous creating a lot of blank space. Also too much white space on right and left sides as well. All IMHO.

Brimley

June 7th, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^

One thing I'd like to see come back is the NEW notation on posts.  When we got a really good topic going, I'd revisit multiple times to see how the West Coast vote was coming in and so on.  I realize the timestamp makes it possible to track new posts, but it's better for us lazy guys to have NEW in big red letters.

Bo248

June 7th, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^

Good to have new technology, bad on the initial UI and feature match drop.

Was there any end user input provided?  Was this update done by the nerd up in "data processing"

I learned way back when computing at the U was done at NUBS or at the 300 baud keypunch machine in E Engin that you should gain concurrence of your user community on needed changes.

I'm all for new stuff, but not for the sake of new stuff alone.

Hopefully UI and feature matching will come out in MGB 3.1, 3.2, etc, and quickly

will

June 8th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^

Since 3.0 came out I've been asking myself whether MgoBoard is profitable for MGoBlog. If it is, understand I am not trying to cut into the site's profit margin.

Assuming it is not, and assuming it takes a non-insignificant amount of maintenance and upkeep to keep it working, I wonder whether the admins really want to keep it working. Brian, Seth, et all are talented, but responsive web design may not be their core competency or priority.

If all the assumptions above are true, I wonder if they have contemplated outsourcing it, or simply moving it to another hosted solution and farming out administration and moderation to interested / vested members.

It seems like basic forum functionality like private messaging, saved sort orders, reply notifications, etc are all built in to hosted solutions like ZetaBoards..

Anyone have any insight?