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Agent0042 Creator - Laconic/24 from Dayton, Ohio Since: Apr, 2009
Creator - Laconic/24
#1: Jan 3rd 2011 at 10:40:18 PM

The current discussion system icon for trope / work pages isn't very good. All you see is a little discussion post icon and if you click on t, you may even get a page that says "No Remarks Yet" if there's only archived discussion. As such, a person could post a question about the specifics of a particular trope that could go unnoticed for months unless someone happened to decide to look in.

Proposal: When somebody posts a new message within one of the discussions - there should be a clear indicator of new activity - maybe a lampshade added to the icon or something. Furthermore (if there isn't already, and if there is I don't know of it), there should be a member to track responses to these discussion posts, or receive e-mail notice of replies.

“I just think that's really shady." "Shady?!" - Stephanie & Chad, The Amazing Race 17
FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#2: Jan 4th 2011 at 12:09:05 AM

The system would have to know what was unread by everyone who looks at the page. There are over a hundred thousand pages and the number of people who visit the site each day is in the millions.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#3: Jan 4th 2011 at 6:47:51 AM

We're that big? surprised

Still, the lampshade is a genius idea.

Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#4: Jan 4th 2011 at 8:11:08 AM

Base it on date then. Discussion within a month gets a tag, if a user looks at it, it get's a check mark in the system that says "looked at X discussion on y"

Fight smart, not fair.
arromdee Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Jan 4th 2011 at 10:38:21 AM

Hpw about color-coding it? Discussion within a day gets a red icon, discussion within a week gets an orange icon, two weeks is yellow, a month or more is green. You could make the more recent ones larger as well.

Thorslund Since: May, 2009
#6: Jan 4th 2011 at 11:45:23 AM

I think that displaying the date of the last discussion post on the icon would be a good idea.

Agent0042 Creator - Laconic/24 from Dayton, Ohio Since: Apr, 2009
Creator - Laconic/24
#7: Jan 4th 2011 at 12:59:48 PM

Agreed. There's no need to have something complex that would flag it by individual user, but having a color code or a date display would be very helpful.

“I just think that's really shady." "Shady?!" - Stephanie & Chad, The Amazing Race 17
YamiiDenryuu Since: Jan, 2010
#8: Jan 4th 2011 at 2:02:53 PM

The date display sounds good to me.

FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#9: Jan 4th 2011 at 3:05:29 PM

Dating the articles in any way is a bad play. Some discussions will not have had any activity in years, which will make the article appear dated, literally. Maybe the number of replies?

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
INUH Since: Jul, 2009
#10: Jan 4th 2011 at 3:07:15 PM

Maybe if it only distinguishes replies from periods the last week or 2 weeks? Going 2 weeks without discussion isn't a big deal, but having a reply in the last day or week is.

Infinite Tree: an experimental story
Agent0042 Creator - Laconic/24 from Dayton, Ohio Since: Apr, 2009
Creator - Laconic/24
#11: Jan 4th 2011 at 4:02:25 PM

Yeah, exactly. Just something to let people know that there's new discussion that they might want to look at.

“I just think that's really shady." "Shady?!" - Stephanie & Chad, The Amazing Race 17
Stratadrake Dragon Writer Since: Oct, 2009
Dragon Writer
#12: Jan 4th 2011 at 4:50:33 PM

The system can also benefit from a way to distinguish whether or not there is any existing discussion. Mediawiki, for example, discussion pages (being ordinary wiki articles in the Talk: namespace) are redlinked until there's actual content posted to it.

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Micah from traveling the post-doc circuit Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#13: Jan 4th 2011 at 4:56:54 PM

Technically that's true here, too; it's just that a YKTTW counts as discussion.Wait, never mind, this is no longer the case.

edited 4th Jan '11 4:57:59 PM by Micah

132 is the rudest number.
FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#14: Jan 4th 2011 at 5:33:14 PM

Sure it is. The comments button shows up if there is a YKTTW, an archive of comments, or comments. Without any of those, there is no little orange quote bubble thingy.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
Micah from traveling the post-doc circuit Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#15: Jan 4th 2011 at 5:37:20 PM

Huh, I must have misclicked somehow.

In any case, just about every trope is going to have a YKTTW archive, so it's not a very effective signal of active discussion.

132 is the rudest number.
Agent0042 Creator - Laconic/24 from Dayton, Ohio Since: Apr, 2009
Creator - Laconic/24
#16: Jan 4th 2011 at 9:41:39 PM

Getting a bit off the subject for a moment, but since YKTTW was brought up - is there a way to link the discussion for a ptitle back to its YKTTW? When I created I Don't Pay You To Think, it launched it without the punctuation, so I went around it by creating the punctuated title and then making the original into a redirect, but now there's no discussion link on that page to get the original YKTTW.

edited 4th Jan '11 9:41:52 PM by Agent0042

“I just think that's really shady." "Shady?!" - Stephanie & Chad, The Amazing Race 17
Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#17: Jan 4th 2011 at 9:50:50 PM

You can always just copy the permanent YKTTW link to the ptitle's discussion page as a comment.

Agent0042 Creator - Laconic/24 from Dayton, Ohio Since: Apr, 2009
Creator - Laconic/24
#18: Jan 5th 2011 at 5:17:34 AM

Ah, good idea. Did that just now. Thanks.

“I just think that's really shady." "Shady?!" - Stephanie & Chad, The Amazing Race 17
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