Reorganisation of ASF forum structure

[nulla nulla]

I'm sure that you have all noticed by now that I have made some fairly significant changes to the way the individual forums here at ASF are categorised and structured.

I have made these changes primarily because the old forum structure had remained essentially intact since ASF was first established back in 2004. After nine and a half years with very few changes, the time was ripe for a re-evaluation and a restructuring. I felt there needed to be a little more order in what was essentially a relatively random forum display order. I wanted to see the discussion of stocks at the top of the forum list to make it easier for newcomers, followed by other market related forums, and then non-market related forums at the bottom of the list.

I realize these changes might be a little disconcerting initially, but I am sure that it won't be long until everyone adapts to the new system.

I welcome any feedback on the changes.

G'day Joe

Does this mean there will be three clicks now on "new posts" instead of the recent two or are we reverting to one click and having to sift through the lot?

 

[Joe Blow]

Does this mean there will be three clicks now on "new posts" instead of the recent two or are we reverting to one click and having to sift through the lot?

I am working on a new system where people can choose whether or not to include General Chat threads in "New Posts". It will hopefully be a simple matter of checking a box and everyone's choice will be remembered.

The default setting will be to allow General Chat threads in "New Posts" but if you check a box that says to exclude them they will not show up. This way everyone gets to choose the option that suits them best and hopefully everyone will be happy.

 

[tech/a]

I am working on a new system where people can choose whether or not to include General Chat threads in "New Posts". It will hopefully be a simple matter of checking a box and everyone's choice will be remembered.

The default setting will be to allow General Chat threads in "New Posts" but if you check a box that says to exclude them they will not show up. This way everyone gets to choose the option that suits them best and hopefully everyone will be happy.

I feel a tick coming on.

Good work.

 

[pavilion103]

+ 1

Good idea

 

[pixel]

I feel a tick coming on.

Good work.

ditto.
Would it also be feasible to add a tick box to "Subscriptions"? Currently, I'll have to subscribe or unsubscribe to individual threads. And my adding to one can (does) automatically subscribe me for it. It would be useful to unsubscribe (or subscribe, for that matter) to entire Forums.
I would then unsubscribe from all General Chats, but ask to be notified whenever someone adds an opinion about a stock.

 

[Joe Blow]

ditto.
Would it also be feasible to add a tick box to "Subscriptions"? Currently, I'll have to subscribe or unsubscribe to individual threads. And my adding to one can (does) automatically subscribe me for it. It would be useful to unsubscribe (or subscribe, for that matter) to entire Forums.
I would then unsubscribe from all General Chats, but ask to be notified whenever someone adds an opinion about a stock.

This may be a little more complicated, and I'm not sure how feasible it is simply because it will require new functionality that currently doesn't exist. As a consequence there would be a lot of new coding required to make something like this work.

One problem I could see is that if you subscribed to an entire forum that gets a lot of posts you could suddenly end up with 50 or 60 new subscribed threads. Perhaps more.

However, I would be interested in finding out if this was something that a lot of members would use. To all members: Please let me know in this thread in you would use such a feature.

 

[MrBurns]

I am working on a new system where people can choose whether or not to include General Chat threads in "New Posts". It will hopefully be a simple matter of checking a box and everyone's choice will be remembered.

The default setting will be to allow General Chat threads in "New Posts" but if you check a box that says to exclude them they will not show up. This way everyone gets to choose the option that suits them best and hopefully everyone will be happy.

You mean recently updated posts ? New posts should only include stock talk..........by default and no other options should be available. Not site talk nothing but stock talk

 

[MrBurns]

Is it possible to make the general chat threads only visible to registered members ?
There's a case for that, though now you've moved it down the bottom it's looking much better, much better

 

[MrBurns]

Expand - Australian Stock Discussion

Show latest posts or links to threads , run it down half the page ,

Market Related Forums should come after that, Stock discussion is the main game and should get more real estate on the homepage.

 

[Joe Blow]

You mean recently updated posts ? New posts should only include stock talk..........by default and no other options should be available. Not site talk nothing but stock talk

What I am trying to do is give people more choice. The only controversy surrounding the "New Posts" link is whether or not it should include the General Chat threads. At the moment it doesn't. However, I'm sure there are many ASF members who would like it to include them.

It seems to me the best way to go about this is to give people a choice about whether or not "New Posts" includes General Chat threads, and if the solution is a simple check box, then that should surely satisfy everyone?

Is it possible to make the general chat threads only visible to registered members ?
There's a case for that, though now you've moved it down the bottom it's looking much better, much better

I would prefer if everyone can see everything, registered or unregistered. However, those who remain unregistered are missing out on a lot of features that make ASF far more useful, such as posting, searching the website, thread subscriptions, private messaging etc.

 

[Country Lad]

To all members: Please let me know in this thread in you would use such a feature.

I wouldn't Joe, this feature exists on other forums but I have never used it.

When thinking about General Chat, I think the issue is more around the inane political arguments, the religious topics and others like climate change where the exchanges consist much of expressing personal views over and over with good dose of personal abuse thrown in.

General Chat has some good topics as well, such as CanOz budgeting, "Lest We Forget", "Music", fishing and many more which will be lost as we increasingly push the whole "General Chat" further into the background.

I am not sure what the answer is as we can't take away the political threads as there are some members who would obviously be upset if they were no longer able to abuse one another there.

Maybe an additional General Chat titled something like "Political, Controversial and Other Rubbish Chats" and when arguments start in any of the normal General Chat topics transfer them into the Rubbish chats.

Can't find the "tongue in cheek" icon, but it is a suggestion.

It seems to me the best way to go about this is to give people a choice about whether or not "New Posts" includes General Chat threads, and if the solution is a simple check box, then that should surely satisfy everyone?

Joe, it includes General Chat now, just needs 2 clicks.

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[Joe Blow]

I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback, so please keep them coming.

At the moment I'm focused on small, incremental changes that enhance people's experience at ASF, and give them more choice.

There will be some more changes coming fairly soon, hopefully within the next couple of months, that are mostly related to the front page, which will be getting a minor rework. But if I get more good suggestions that will be fairly easy to implement I am more than happy to do what I can to integrate them into the website.

 

[MrBurns]

I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback, so please keep them coming.

At the moment I'm focused on small, incremental changes that enhance people's experience at ASF, and give them more choice.

There will be some more changes coming fairly soon, hopefully within the next couple of months, that are mostly related to the front page, which will be getting a minor rework. But if I get more good suggestions that will be fairly easy to implement I am more than happy to do what I can to integrate them into the website.

You don't need to encourage general chat, that comes as a by product, you need to get share holders and traders in and filling the home page with that as enticingly as possible is the best way to go about it.

 

[pixel]

Expand - Australian Stock Discussion

Show latest posts or links to threads , run it down half the page ,

Market Related Forums should come after that, Stock discussion is the main game and should get more real estate on the homepage.

Good idea, Burnsie.
That might do the trick.
and why stop at the home page. Why not also display all new stock-related threads on top of the Search results, chat topics below.
I could imagine that it requires only a small modification to the Search/ Sort script, sorting the results first by Forum, then by date/time descending.

 

[Julia]

I wouldn't Joe, this feature exists on other forums but I have never used it.

I wouldn't either. I'm quite happy with just going directly to "Quick Links" and then to "Today's Posts".
Plenty there I don't want to read but I don't find it difficult to just ignore them and read what interests me.

When thinking about General Chat, I think the issue is more around the inane political arguments, the religious topics and others like climate change where the exchanges consist much of expressing personal views over and over with good dose of personal abuse thrown in.

Agree about how inane most of the political threads have become. The discussion of politics in itself is not inane. It's about how our country is run and it matters. But, due to the absolute silliness of some of the content and the provocation and badgering by some people, most people wishing to engage in any objective discussion have just dropped out.

This goes for other topics which come under General Chat also. Religion and climate change also are not of themselves unworthy of discussion, but when they descend as they largely have here into repetitive and increasingly strident invective, people other than the regular combatants just don't want to be involved.

Years ago there were many really thoughtful and interesting threads in General Chat, but the better contributors have dropped out for the above reasons and mostly also left the forum because of the increasingly unpleasant milieu.

 

[McLovin]

Agree about how inane most of the political threads have become. The discussion of politics in itself is not inane. It's about how our country is run and it matters. But, due to the absolute silliness of some of the content and the provocation and badgering by some people, most people wishing to engage in any objective discussion have just dropped out.

This goes for other topics which come under General Chat also. Religion and climate change also are not of themselves unworthy of discussion, but when they descend as they largely have here into repetitive and increasingly strident invective, people other than the regular combatants just don't want to be involved.

+1

This is my issue. If I stumbled upon one of those threads and it was first visit here, I'd be unlikely to stay.

Case in point:

Methinks you need to change the water in your bowl as you are having trouble seeing through the murky waters of your own excrement.

How does that add to anything. And I'm not picking out a specific person, it just happened to be on the front page when I was there.

 

[MrBurns]

+1
This is my issue. If I stumbled upon one of those threads and it was first visit here, I'd be unlikely to stay.
Case in point:
How does that add to anything. And I'm not picking out a specific person, it just happened to be on the front page when I was there.

That's the nature of general chat, perhaps it should be only available to registered users.

 

[Joe Blow]

That's the nature of general chat, perhaps it should be only available to registered users.

It's not the nature of general chat, it's the nature of a few puerile individuals who would prefer to hurl insults and provoke others rather than engage in constructive, respectful debate.

Burnsie, you have this the wrong way around. Unregistered visitors shouldn't have be shielded from the sort of post that McLovin quoted, it shouldn't be posted here in the first place. There are a handful of very immature, disrespectful individuals that frequent ASF that need to grow up and stop acting like children. If they don't, I'm going to show them the door. Enough is enough.

 

[chrislp]

There are a handful of very immature, disrespectful individuals that frequent ASF that need to grow up and stop acting like children. If they don't, I'm going to show them the door. Enough is enough.

I'll admit to being more of a lurker than a contributor but I would like to chime in on this point.

The moderation on this forum is perfect as it is IMO. I can't stand heavy moderation & arguments (even if they degenerate to insults) are what make forums interesting (again IMO). I don't think I am the only one who doesn't like heavy moderation

I can recall the PEN thread being quite active until you made a post in that thread stating that a member, who's name I can't remember now, was "trolling" & had been warned by you. Yes he only presented bearish views on the stock but he created discussion & interest which brought the bulls out. Since then the activity of that thread has dropped substantially.

Other than that I think you run a great website.

 

[sails]

...The default setting will be to allow General Chat threads in "New Posts" but if you check a box that says to exclude them they will not show up. This way everyone gets to choose the option that suits them best and hopefully everyone will be happy.

I think that's a pretty good solution, Joe. You could have it off by default and then those who are interested in general chat can turn it on.

Unfortunately I no longer trade in any stocks as my trading now is primarily index options. The Aussie options market is much to small to be posting trades. If I had more time, I would do some option trades on the top Aussie stocks, but I simply don't have the time to give to do the additional analysis at this stage.

And just a thought on the comment posted by McLovin. So many of the political threads have been overtaken by one poster who pretty much spams and dominates day in and day out. I believe that comment posted by McLovin needs to be taken in context.