User Polls and other Gripes

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Socoder -> Site & Server -> User Polls and other Gripes
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 04:43
Jayenkai	User Polls and other Gripes My thoughts : Discuss and add your own thoughts -=-=- If Steve's Animated Score Boards was just a poll, there wouldn't be anywhere near as much discussion on that thread. The thread is lively, thoughts are being suggested. If you just went there, clicked a button and left, that'd be the death of that thread. Discussion is 9/10ths of this site. Speak : Don't hide behind a button. Steve's thread is a good example of a possible purpose for a poll. But it's also a good example of why letting people just vote and move on, is detrimental to the point of a discussion forum. -=-=- "But you're being a fucking hypocrite, Jay, after just adding Thumb Up/Down buttons" The Thumbs Up was added because the functionality was literally already there. Having coded it back in 2019, I couldn't figure out a nice subtle place to put the button, and ultimately gave up, again considering the reasons listed above. The Thumbs Down wasn't previously coded, but was sparked by the sheer insanity of trying to decide what posts should or shouldn't be removed, with the recent influx of "It's not political, honest.." threads that were appearing. I opted to make a "Report" button, but decided that calling it "Report" would look a bit "doom and gloom", so instead called it Thumbs Down, and finally popped that Thumbs Up button up, close to it. Their positioning is based on not wanting to clutter the post itself. Since the "Garden Bar" (Been a long time since I called it that!) is already on the bottom left of a post, and the Edit Delete are on the bottom right, adding two extra buttons in the middle, each with numerical data, it just clutters things up a little more than I'd've liked. Instead, then, I used the Post-Info panel, shrank the "Posted : Date" down to a shorter "Date", and crammed the two icons up there. That's where the rest of the "Data for this post" is, so it suits being up there better than adding yet another little area on the page, cluttering it up any further. I know it's not "The same as how Facebook does it", but this isn't Facebook. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 05:36
Dan	The like and dislike buttons are freely clickable ... i've just placed 5 likes and 1 disspike ... It would be nice to be able to remove the own TumbUp/Down from a post. You know, sometime missclicks happen ... At least, the thumbs are visible for registered users only, so that's a IMHO: The thing with is that, sometime i just do not want to write anything, so in that case the thumbs are useful.
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 05:47
Jayenkai	Yes, that would be nice. The main forum remembers what threads you've visited by using a giant string of text, crammed into the database. I was worried that adding the same thing for every clicked thumb might end up breaking things a little. It's currently being tested behind the scenes, but I don't think it's a good idea. (You might've noticed the server cpu load number on the bottom right of the page has become a LOT more erratic lately!) .. as for clicking your own thumbs.. it shouldn't be logging those. Though I might've buggered that up whilst doing the "remember clicks" testing. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 05:51
Dan	The other thing with is that there can be 2 meanings to it. If someone is writing about for e.g. politics then a TD can be interpreted as if what was written about. is disagreeable or unlikeable. The second meaning is on the whole post ... that this post would/should/could not be here at all. In these cases it is better to write something or to ignore it completely
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 06:06
Jayenkai	Yes, but .. and here's the thing.. it's still being analysed by a human. I'll typically be able to understand if someone posts "my dentist accidentally ripped my tongue out" and that post gets a Million down-votes, that people aren't suggesting "get this off my forum" -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 07:09
Kuron	Polls are just that -- polls. They want a vote or quick comment, not a dissertation or opinions. When I ask a question, like with Pluto, I specified a yes or no and that I really didn't want explanations of the answer. If I want opinions when I ask a simple question I always try and specify and look forward to anybody taking the time to contribute to the discussion. But often a yes/no or multiple choice response (like Steve's recent one) is all that is needed or wanted. Speaking to my post, I was ordering a display of our planets and it came in a Pluto and non-Pluto version. I am biased as I was raised by my grandparents and my grandfather played a part in the space race. I was raised with Pluto. I was curious what others thought as I may offer something similar in the future.
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 07:22
Kuron	Thumbing detracts from Socoder, and creates negativity. Lately TPB at Socoder seems to be dealing with a lot of consternation when it pertains to Socoder. If it is causing grief to the owner, perhaps it is time to pull the plug and consider Socoder as having had a good run. Better than seeing what often happens where the owner of the Sandbox is left playing by himself as everybody else has walked away. Socoder has been running fine for years, suddenly everything is wrong (posts or functionality) or needs fixing according to TPB.
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 07:25
Jayenkai	Yeah, I'll close the site on New Year then, bye. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 14:11
steve_ancell	I wish I hadn't mentioned user polls now, seems like I've I inadvertently trod on a land mine. Gawd I feel like a complete wanker right now! Sorry Jay.
Wed, 28 Dec 2022, 16:32
Kuron	Steve, I mentioned polls a week before you did with my poll about Pluto. It is my fault.
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 01:39
Jayenkai	Lately TPB at Socoder seems to be dealing with a lot of consternation when it pertains to Socoder. If it is causing grief to the owner, perhaps it is time to pull the plug and consider Socoder as having had a good run. Better than seeing what often happens where the owner of the Sandbox is left playing by himself as everybody else has walked away. This is so much a dig at me, I'm damned if I'm letting you get away with it. If you think "Jay is stuck in a box on his own, and is becoming a grumpy old fuck" is the way that this is going, then you sure as hell don't have any fucking idea what happens when Jay gets stuck in a box on his own. You know what happens, then? Creativity Happens Creativity Happens Creativity Happens Creativity Happens Creativity Happens Creativity Happens Creativity Happens That's what goes on in my head when it's left to fester alone in a stew. It doesn't get mopey, it doesn't get depressed and ranty. The ranting only comes when things actually piss me off. Hell, I've been stuck in a fucking hospital for months without getting depressed. Me alone = Not me being miserable and ranty and "Old man shouting at clouds" And this whole damn forum is supposed to be about Creativity. When I made that comment on Steve's post, it wasn't in the vein of "I'm not doing polls for this.. Grr.. Bah humbug.. Ranty Man." It was "Here's a couple of honest issues that would make a poll hard on this particular thread, it's not as easy as you're imagining." When I don't add polls throughout the rest of the site, it's because we already have a daily poll, and everyone else on the site has been 100% fine with the idea of submitting those polls to add to the daily poll on the front of the site. This is Ranty Man Jay. And this isn't because I'm sad and alone in my box. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 02:29
Kuron	When I don't add polls throughout the rest of the site, it's because we already have a daily poll, and everyone else on the site has been 100% fine with the idea of submitting those polls to add to the daily poll on the front of the site. Nobody has an issue with Socoder not having polls, you are the only one ranting about it. One does not need a poll feature to create a poll in a thread, it is truly a non-issue. Socoder has existed and worked fine for years with the feature set it has. Out of the blue, you are seeing shortcomings and changing/adding things and ranting about political threads when the threads in question are not remotely political, and you have been going on for near a week about polls not being a feature.
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 03:32
Dan	Nobody has an issue without it. But it would be an improvement of the user experience, with it. The only question for/against an individual user poll is: How often would it be used ? The daily poll is fine, but it is more like a game. A game which no one is obligated to play. It is one more reason to visit the forum and to do, if currently there is nothing else.
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 04:39
AndyH	Daily polls are a bit of fun. They are a game. I like that, something different. If you are going to open polls for us to use, wouldn't it just need to work as part of the forum and operate like Facebook polls? Eg: first post is the poll showing options, or the results once you've voted, and then just replies follow beneath as regular forum posts do, so you can have discussions when needed? Btw, please don't close socoder. It's a nice place. I get the politics thing. Its a balance, sometimes you want to rant or rebel for various reasons. But social media, and Twitter is a prime example, can either be a nice place with anonymous friends or a rancid pit of despair and evil. I guess no-one wants the latter to creep in here. -=-=- Andy H 8-bit games at www.hewco.uk Cartoons at awful.ovine.net Ovine at ovine.net
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 04:59
AndyH	And I've only just seen the thumbs. They don't appear on my phone so hadn't seen them (while on my laptop). Was wondering what all that was about. -=-=- Andy H 8-bit games at www.hewco.uk Cartoons at awful.ovine.net Ovine at ovine.net
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 05:16
steve_ancell	I don't mind not having user defined polls, it was just one of my brain fart ideas jumping the gun. I ain't got any issues with Jay and I didn't realise how hard it would be to integrate UDPs into the forum. @Jay: Go with what you decide is best mate, I'll go with the flow, no UDPs isn't the end of the world.
Thu, 29 Dec 2022, 12:57
Kuron	Daily polls are a bit of fun. They are a game. I like that, something different. Indeed. Hell, sometimes you are too afraid to answer either choice. LOL User Polls, like Steve's example was a multiple choice, not an either or. Different format than the daily poll. Personally, I am usually not fond of user polls on most forums and avoid those threads... Even on my own forums in the past, I have kept polls disabled except for staff. This is not most forums, sometimes we need a quick research answer like in my Pluto poll or Steve's and although a poll feature would be useful, it is not remotely necessary. I generally avoid poll threads on any forum due to life being shades of grey, not black and white. No matter how many predefined choices a poll may have, the answers are still black and white and do not reflect the shades of grey where my thoughts usually are. shrugs For the record, I have ZERO issue with Jay and never have. Hell, in 2017 when my wife almost died from a botched surgery he was the only friend I had to rely on for support. Jay just seems a tad edgy lately and I have tried to whack him a tad to get him to look and see if Socoder stuff is truly what has him edgy and perhaps it may be something else. Socoder has been really tame, unlike the world around us...