How to Improve the Forums
Craeft
Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭✭✭
I made a similar post regarding gameplay/app in the "App Feedback" but let's talk about the forums for a bit:
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• THREAD CONSOLIDATION
We need the mods to step up on consolidating the threads that are of the same topic (e.g. all the threads with friend code listings). To fail to consolidate and keep people focused clutters forums. Having been a forum mod multiple times in the past, I can tell you this was the bane of my existence. Not only does it clutter the forums, but it buries other topics.
•INTERFACE ISSUES
◘Make the notification that a post needs to be approved more visible - also, define the purpose for approval requirement. I've had MANY flagged for approval for no reason I could see (no vulgarity, no attack, etc)
◘Sometimes, a post just simply doesn't submit. It goes blank, no approval notification, nothing. This is extremely infuriating when you write out a lengthy, detailed post and then it just >>POOF< disappears.
◘User tags: When on desktop, the majority of the time when you hit [ENTER] to apply the user tag, the post disappears and then when you hit "Post Comment", your post shows up with just the user tag and you have to go in and edit and add what you want to say.
◘Severe lag in some instances. I've had it happen to me once and had to close and re-open the tab but I see a lot of people suffering the same thing - severe lag when trying to make a post.
◘Bold isn't, really. For example: This sentence is written in Bold. This sentence is not written in bold. All sub headings in this post are Bold.
◘Highlighting only works in one direction, apparently. Because of the afore mentioned issue with posts disappearing, I've gotten into the habit of copying my post in case it gets eaten so I can paste and try again. However, if I try to highlight from the bottom up, it stutters and doesn't highlight smoothly. It skips text, drops text, etc.
◘Thumbs Up needs an indicator that one has already liked that post. As someone else mentioned, if I "like" a post, then just fill in the hand/thumb so I know that I already liked it. Also, while not necessary, it would be nice to be able to hover over and see WHO liked a thread (especially if it's one's own).
•NAVIGATION
There should be a "Discussion" link on every page in this community since the entire community is literally based around these forums. There are some pages you go to ("Best of" for example) where you go in and you either have to hit [BACK] or go into a thread and then hit "Discussion". Just add a link on every page to automatically take us back to the forum home (not the SITE home).
•POLLS
◘Allow a timer for polls to be set to run Minutes, Hours, Days, Indefinitely so that we can say, "I want this poll to run for X days and Y hours (or indefinite).
◘If you're going to limit the poll choice options to 10, then don't make it look like you can add more. Once someone hits 10, the way it is right now, option 11 shows up, then 12, etc. and then when they go to submit, they get an error saying that only 10 are allowed. Just stop offering option slots at 10 (and maybe give a pre-emptive notice that 10 options are allowed).
•COMMUNITY
◘Allow "Friends" and "Friend Following". e.g. maybe I notice that someone on here really often has a lot of great insight so I want to follow them and be notified when they post something. To prevent abuse, you can require friend accept and verification.
◘Allow linking of our in-game profile to our community profile and allow it to auto-sync so that as we progress, it also shows up in our community profile. This should be toggleable so the user can decide their level of privacy.
◘House forums / House Common Rooms. It is as it sounds. A place for those of a given house to enter and have it graphically significant to the respective house (even if just house colors with a logo of the emblem). I would even go so far as to make it a "sub forum" set up where the users can create their own categories. For example, let's say I'm in the House Ravenclaw common room. I can set up a "Michigan" sub-forum and therein have sub-sub-forums such as Events, Meet up, Parseltongue (i.e. general discussion), etc. Alternative to allowing user run sub-forums, perhaps an assigned moderator to each house for that purpose? (Heck... I need a job. I'll do it. ;) )
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What does everyone think? Add your community ideas below as well.
Comments
I'm seriously considering starting to report threads as spam if they have the same topic as a thread still on page 1.
Being half-sarcastic... half not.
This is just a cosmetic thing, but if there's going to be an option for community "badges", what are they and how are they achieved? I'm level 3 in the community with top rank on activity (apart from an admin) and haven't achieved a badge. I'm not so much worried about it other than the fact I don't even know what they are. Can we have a "key" of badges, how they're obtained, and what, if anything, they unlock within the community?
I'm just hoping to get enough stars so I can post duplicate question see this thread links. 🤪
Can you not even see links when they're posted, @Osprey1 ?
@Craeft I can see links, but I hate how they have an image preview every time (on mobile.) I just don't have enough points yet to post links or images.
Some of these threads would be so much easier to answer (avatar walking vs avatar on broom, family this vs family that) if we could post a simple image.
Ah. Gotcha. I was wondering because when I catch a duplicate thread, I tend to just link to another thread that already covers a given topic. Exception, Friends List threads. There are way too many of those so I wouldn't be able to keep up if I tried.
EDIT: There is a way to make the link so it doesn't post an image. If the poster sends the link and then types text after it, (e.g. https://community.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/en/discussion/598/things-i-feel-should-be-reworked ) like this, then I believe it doesn't make the image. If the image is a hassle, moving forward I'll be sure to do this. I like the image link but I primarily use a desktop computer for the forums.
Just FYI search is hard to find. You have to go to the front page. Not obvious on mobile.
Ick! Yeah... that should be fixed. There's a search on every page on desktop, but it should surely be accessible on mobile as well. I just checked on my phone and you're right. That's a pain.
Activity based positioning of posts... How very 90s.
Bump
I really wish the mods would state what triggers requirement for approval. The way that's set up is horrible.
I'd also like to see a ranking chart.
1: How do you improve your forum rank (at what number do you go up)?
2: What does each rank mean?
3: Why does it skip from rank 1 to rank 3?
I must say I agree wholeheartedly with this, it almost seems as though they had a plan and a deadline to make a forum and then suddenly their deadline was pushed up and they just went online with what they had ready.
But I think I remember reading somewhere there would be another forum up later? Or something akin to that, which I thought seemed very weird at the time. Did I dream it?
Copied straight from the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Community Guidelines post (to which I can't post a link because of the above xD)
So, this indirectly answers and makes the star system more confusing, because I've seen people with three stars who've been members for less than a week.
I'm guessing this is mainly a problem for mobile users since I haven't seen anyone else mentioning it, but I noticed yesterday that I can't edit my comments. I tap the edit button and three loading dots appear but nothing else happens.
And I feel I should be able to view my profile by clicking my profile picture in the corner. Or is that just me? As it is now, I'll have to find one of my comments and click on my name to see my profile. If I click on my pic I just get a list of options, which doesn't include view profile.
@HPWUMicah - So what's up with forum badges? Is that something that's coming soon but isn't here yet... or is there a list of available badges?
Also... when on desktop, whenever I try to tag someone (@), I would say about 90% of the time, the comment auto submits when I hit <ENTER> which is apparently the only way to apply the tag - then I have to go in and edit the comment after the fact.
Hey there @Craeft, firstly let me say thank you for your thoughtful feedback. We're actively looking into how we can continue to improve the experience for everyone here and hearing directly from everyone is so helpful in that regard.
When it comes to badges, that's something that's on our roadmap to implement, but hasn't come around just yet.
Related to the comment box issue, that's a bug that we're working on fixing.
Thanks again!
Hi,
Please be able to remove old replies/posts. Thanx.
Greetz
@Weerwulf Totally agree! We should be able to delete at least our own post if we learn that our question has already been answered or just want to retract what we said. @HPWUMicah please consider giving users an option to delete only their own posts!
i agree that there needs to be better clarification of when / why certain comments need to be approved before being posted ... or is it just a glitch that comments go to saved drafts instead of getting posted straight away ?
@kiheikid sometimes in the bottom left you will see a little message that it needs to await moderator approval. No one really knows what triggers it. It seems like there is an over aggressive filter. I've just accepted that half my posts may end up out of sequence of the conversation as it will take several hours for anyone to see them. That they go in drafts is annoying as I have to clean out my drafts every so often.