What's happening about recs?

[NomoneyNohoney]

Interested to know an update on the situation. Could we have some feedback on what's happening please?
Thanks

[melonfool]

Yes, 'rec this' for an answer!



Mel

[stooz]

I have a system of sorts. What I am trying to do is minimise the best of options to a limited period and also give users the ability to turn off all visibility through your user control panel.

You can see this now here;
ucp.php
under profile - Show or hide any signs of the recs system

[NomoneyNohoney]

I have a system of sorts. What I am trying to do is minimise the best of options to a limited period and also give users the ability to turn off all visibility through your user control panel.

You can see this now here;
ucp.php
under profile - Show or hide any signs of the recs system

Excellent news! Do make sure to announce when it's available, in the meantime - 'thank you!'

[supremetwo]

I have a system of sorts. What I am trying to do is minimise the best of options to a limited period and also give users the ability to turn off all visibility through your user control panel.You can see this now here;http://www.lemonfool.co.uk/ucp.php
under profile - Show or hide any signs of the recs system

A recs system should reduce the numbers of posts - It's a succinct way of indicating agreement.

[zico]

I've changed my profile to "Show recs system" but I can't see anything anywhere. How should it appear?

P.S. I've been missing the "recs" system as I don't look through each & every board to see what's worth looking at, so the recs system will be really handy for me (and others) in quickly and easily homing in on useful contributions from folks.

[Raptor]

I've changed my profile to "Show recs system" but I can't see anything anywhere. How should it appear?

P.S. I've been missing the "recs" system as I don't look through each & every board to see what's worth looking at, so the recs system will be really handy for me (and others) in quickly and easily homing in on useful contributions from folks.

What you have found is the first part of the system. The rest is "under development" I believe.

Raptor.

[NomoneyNohoney]

I have a system of sorts. What I am trying to do is minimise the best of options to a limited period and also give users the ability to turn off all visibility through your user control panel.

You can see this now here;
http://www.lemonfool.co.uk/ucp.php
under profile - Show or hide any signs of the recs system

Anything interesting to report yet, please?

[Clitheroekid]

Anything interesting to report yet, please?

Ditto.

I've read some extremely good posts recently that really do deserve wider readership than they'll receive, particularly if they're on a low traffic board.

Even if it's too difficult to copy the recs system on TMF a `Best of'' feature would be very welcome (though I'm not sure if this would be technically possible without some form of a recs system anyway).

[Slarti]

I've seen discussion boards similar to theis one with 'upvotes' and 'downvotes'.

I think the concept of down votes was rejected many times on the OldFool though

I thought that down votes was rejected by OldFool for technical reasons?

Seems to work well enough in places like the comments of http://www.theregister.co.uk/

Slarti

[Bink333]

I have a system of sorts. What I am trying to do is minimise the best of options to a limited period and also give users the ability to turn off all visibility through your user control panel.You can see this now here;http://www.lemonfool.co.uk/ucp.php
under profile - Show or hide any signs of the recs system

A recs system should reduce the numbers of posts - It's a succinct way of indicating agreement.

I agree with this.

[melonfool]

Here is Lootman arguing the case for 'negative recs' to reduce reporting. I am sure the mods would be happy if there was less reporting. He also prefers the recs to be transparent, so you can see who has recced or neg-recced you:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/you-said-that- ... sort=whole

Mel

[Clariman]

Stooz has been looking at other discussion board software which includes recs as standard. It is possible to migrate content from this board software to the alternative, but is it worth the effort given that everything else is working well here? (rhetorical question).

Clariman

[NomoneyNohoney]

As you know, I have been banging on a about a recs system since day one. I assume its like many things though: some like: some don't.
For me, it provides a valuable measure of feedback, knowing if you are in tune with what others appreciate. The system worked fine in the Other Place, so we have the benefit of knowing what it could be like: it's not a leap into the dark.

Is migrating to other software a problem? I'm no expert, but I'd have thought it would be pretty easy to migrate - user numbers on LF are lower than previously, and the post count isn't that enormous either. Technically then, I'd think it should be reasonably easy, but Stooz knows if that is correct or not.

Is it worth it? If the alternative software is already used elsewhere and is known to be robust, then I can see no reason why using it on LF should be a problem.

+
I note Mel's comments about someone arguing the case for 'negative recs', apparently to reduce the reporting of posts. That seems clumsy to me - if a post needs reporting for infringement, that's black and white. Negative recs could allow for unintended consequences, as indicated by the same poster later in the thread: "...Personally I'd love to see stats on who the pettiest Fools are. " The mods know how much "mischievous" reporting of posts there is, and being able to see stats for personal gratification is unnecessarily provocative, and more likely to be the cause of friction. Same as knowing who recs a post - it again could have fractious consequences.

Clariman said that his question was rhetorical.
"A rhetorical question is a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected."
Is my answer unexpected and wasted?

[swill453]

Is it worth it? If the alternative software is already used elsewhere and is known to be robust, then I can see no reason why using it on LF should be a problem.

I took stooz's comment as potentially moving away from phpbb and into some entirely different message board system.

I think there'd be a huge risk of annoying users to the point that some would leave. We've only just got used to how this works, and how to make it usable.

To take another leap in the dark, just to get a rec facility, might be a step too far.

(I guess adding recs here is proving hard to do.)

Scott.

[Clariman]

Comments are welcome. I was just answering the OP's question as best I could, which was why I said it was "rhetorical"

[mc2fool]

Is migrating to other software a problem? I'm no expert, but I'd have thought it would be pretty easy to migrate - user numbers on LF are lower than previously, and the post count isn't that enormous either. Technically then, I'd think it should be reasonably easy...

User numbers and post count are irrelevant. What matters is how similar - or not - the conceptual models are along with the structural form and organisation of the underlying data. That will determine how easy it is (or not) to write the migration tool (if there isn't one already), and what might be lost in the process.

However, Scott is right to point out that there is more to a changing to a new system than simply the technical aspects of redoing the website and migrating the existing content & data; there's also the users, and their learning investment into the current setup, to consider.

[Lootman]

I took stooz's comment as potentially moving away from phpbb and into some entirely different message board system.

I think there'd be a huge risk of annoying users to the point that some would leave. We've only just got used to how this works, and how to make it usable.

To take another leap in the dark, just to get a rec facility, might be a step too far. (I guess adding recs here is proving hard to do.)

Yes, that's my view as well. After more than 4 months, we've invested effort into ways to use and navigate the existing system. I really don't want to learn new methods and techniques, nor do I want the generous sponsors of this site lumbered with the job of doing a software migration, testing it and rolling it out, if there is not a compelling reason to do it.

And recs, while nice in some circumstances, are not a compelling reason to undergo the trauma of a migration.

[Clitheroekid]

Stooz has been looking at other discussion board software which includes recs as standard. It is possible to migrate content from this board software to the alternative, but is it worth the effort given that everything else is working well here? (rhetorical question).

Maybe not. But it would be helpful to have a definitive answer - is it feasible to have a recs system on the existing board or not, and if it is will we be getting one?

At least if the answer's no it will stop people like me nagging you both!

[foundone]

Assuming recs are possible I don't want to see negative recs affecting the positive count. This is not really a technical board, if you had posed the question "how do I do this in Excel" the top recced post would be useful, but a vote on brexit would not be helped.

As a quick comment, Quick Links has an option of Active Posts