Filtering

[knitterlady13]

When I click the New Topics link I get a list of threads in descending order by "last update". Is there any way to filter out posts OR filter for posts by a particular user? The list is getting long and I think there must be a lot of good, but less active, topics being hidden by more recently posted in topics.

Second question. I've noticed that after I post in a thread that it doesn't always show up at the beginning of that "new topics" page even if I've got the page set up to show threads by the last update. Shouldn't posting (not commenting, but making a new post) bump that thread to the top of the list?

[yarnforall]

I’d like to know the answer to this too. I like to keep up on the latest topics too, but a few posters are extra active, and I end up having to scroll by a whole lot of stuff I am not particularly interested in as a new topic. Good content, but stuff I can read on my own when I have the time.

[knitterlady13]

I agree. I really really appreciate all of the content being posted by our active posters, but it does sometimes make it difficult to find other topics. Plus, I should have mentioned that sometimes when I go from one page to another in that list of threads, I end up getting an error message telling me I'm not authorized to view the page. NOT trying to read in a group, just clicking to the next page of topics.

[yarnforall]

I agree!! I am glad they are posting the content; it is great to have as many resources available as possible. I just wish there was a better way than having to scroll, scroll, scroll.

[knitterlady13]

To add to my second inquiry above, here's a screenshot. I posted this thread at 1:20, but it doesn't show up on the list. It makes me wonder how many topics I'm completely missing because I'm looking at the thread view:

[yarnforall]

I have noticed that too and wonder if maybe it just doesn’t take awhile to show up.

[knitterlady13]

yarnforall I'm not sure. There are some topics that I have never seen in the list, so perhaps it's set up on a topic-by-topic list. I know when I requested that a "tools" category be added in the main forums that posts from there weren't showing up on the list, so Admin enabled that function.

[Admin]

It looks like a lot of the posts in the activity stream are actually coming from groups, I haven't found a way to filter that to ONLY forum posts yet. There is an "ignore" list in your account settings "User Settings" -> Account at the bottom that you can add users to that will hide their posts that might help for some cases.

I'll keep looking to see if I can find a better filter for that activity stream, it really SHOULDN'T include groups and I'm not sure why by default it does.

[knitterlady13]

Admin I still think that activity stream should show group posts. I think that's the best way you're going to get people to notice groups and participate in them right now since the site separates the two. Also probably the best way going forward unless the structure of the forums is going to change to a grid where we can see our groups and forums together and browse threads without having to click through to the group page. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I almost never visit the groups page because of all the searching and clicking-through that has to be done to see the posts. I think a lot of us do equate groups and forums as essentially the same in many respects - as the 'this is where we build our community" part of the site. Thus it makes sense to have all of that community activity in one place, but perhaps a different format than we currently have. I am guessing that the structure of the current site is due to the current platform, so I get that you're trying to work with the structure available.

Don't get me wrong...I'm loving this site and appreciate everything that is being done. Just thinking out loud again.

So that leads to the second question....why are some of the forums threads not showing up in the activity stream?

[Char]

I would sure like to be able to “unsee” a particular person’s posts so I could see other posts that would be more presently relevant to me as well. I hate to ignore or block a person because he/she posts a lot of new threads as I am sure that person isn’t aware of the hardship it is causing (where some organization might help the situation? IE combining threads instead of a new thread each time). I left a group because of the excessive topics hoping it would help and it didn’t.

[knitterlady13]

I agree. I don't really want to block anyone because I'm not annoyed or upset with the posts. It's just really difficult to fish through all of that to find other topics. I agree that it would be better to have a bunch of those threads combined.

[Cablegrrl]

Sorry to hear about this! Would it be helpful if the free patterns group started posting free pattern links just in the Forever Free topic, instead of making separate threads?

I think if we post pattern links exclusively in the Forever Free topic, the posts won't show up in OU's activity feed. The posts would only appear if they're new topics. Is that correct?

[Cablegrrl]

OK, very good!! We'll start posting the free knitting pattern links in the Knitting Patterns -- Forever Free topic,
and the free crochet pattern links in the Crochet Patterns -- Forever Free topic.

[plainjaneknitter]

I'm so glad I started reading this topic - I didn't know there was a Forever Free topic. Now I'm off to search...

[knitterlady13]

plainjaneknitter Yes! There are lots of fantastic free knit and crochet patterns listed!

[knitterlady13]

Cablegrrl It looks like many of those threads have cleared - maybe already moved? I think that will work better. Plus having them all in a single thread could help with searching for particular items.

[Cablegrrl]

Yes, it looks like it's already working better.