Hot topic, cold topic.

[Morganite]

So, once again I looked to see if there was anything new in the Eyrie thread. And there was a super-flashy icon in front of it... but that turns out to mean there *aren't* any new posts. When there are new posts, the board uses the same "new posts" icon for them as everything else.

So I contemplated making a more distinct "hot topic with no new posts" image, and assigning the two appropriately... but then I started thinking "what's the point"? Do we really need a special icon to say "there's a lot of posts in this thread"?

And I figured I should throw it out for discussion instead of making a unilateral decision. It'd be (extremely) easy to make hot topics use the regular icons. It'd be somewhat more difficult to make a different icon for "hot topic with no unread posts", but not too difficult... although you might suffer from my sense of humor as a result. Or you can pick a third option... as soon as you come up with one.

Thoughts?

-Morgan. However, "why not both" is not valid in this context.

[Bob Schroeck]

We have the ability to make that distinction with icons? Sure, go ahead.

(One of these days, now that I actually know enough CSS to be useful, I should look at the skins section again and see how much sense it makes to me now.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Morganite]

Go ahead with which though?

Personally I don't see the point of having special icons for long-running topics. (Which is what they usually what they are here, rather than high-activity ones necessarily.)

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

Argh. I just went "whoa" and posted without reading the whole message.

As it turns out, I can control how many posts it takes to make the "hot topic" icon appear. It's currently set to 21. If the icon really bugs people, I can set it to something like 500 and it will effectively disappear, with no need for you to mess around with anything.

What do people say?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

I've never seen the need for a "hot topic" icon - either we're talking about something or we aren't.

EDIT: Although... if the threshold is set to 295 or so, the icon would pop up when it's time for a new thread.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Morganite]

As it turns out, I can control how many posts it takes to make the "hot topic" icon appear. It's currently set to 21. If the icon really bugs people, I can set it to something like 500 and it will effectively disappear, with no need for you to mess around with anything.

It probably doesn't matter who does it; either way it's less effort than actually writing a post about it was. I'm not sure it bothers me in itself so much as that when I see that icon I think "new replies!" and... there aren't any.

Actually, with that added, and thinking about some other things, there's more options.

-Take the current "hot topic" icon and have that appear on busy threads with new replies.
--With or without having a different icon for hot topics with no new replies.
--With or without changing the post threshold. (To 295, or possibly something else?)

-Or just remove it, at which point the same icons will be used for everything. (Can be done by either method.)

Personally, I think I like "hot topic icon for when there's new replies only, change post threshold to 295". But leaving the threshold where it is doesn't bother me either. I'm just tired of that flashy thing meaning "no new replies".

(What happens when threads get too big anyway? I'm sure there's a reason for the 300 cutoff, but I'm not sure what it is.)

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

The 300-post limit is entirely arbitrary and based on someone's feedback a long long time ago. Basically, it helps keep the number of pages in a thread manageable. I've set my paging to 50 messages per page, but I think the default is 25, which means a thread that reaches 300 messages has 12 pages to click through if you're looking for something. As far as I know nothing bad happens if we put more posts in a thread.

As far as reorganizing icons and whatnot is concerned, if there's a consensus of the users on what if anything should be done, then let's do that. Though I must admit changing the threshold so an icon pops up on a thread that needs closing is a great idea.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Morganite]

EDIT: Although... if the threshold is set to 295 or so, the icon would pop up when it's time for a new thread.

Lacking anyone else saying anything for a couple days, I've gone ahead and done this.

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

Huh. I didn't realize the rights I'd given you included that. Cool.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

Really, I kinda wish there was a way to base the icon's coming or going on a posts-per-hour basis. For me, a hot topic isn't simply 'a lot of posts' since any thread old enough can garner that much attention, but instead one where there is frequent posting going on, meaning that people are actively watching and discussing the thread.

[Bob Schroeck]

I don't think Yuku's system is sophisticated enough to watch rate of posting, sadly.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Morganite]

Huh. I didn't realize the rights I'd given you included that. Cool.

Sometimes it seems very peculiar which things it will and will not let me do.

BA: Maybe Yuku's got a suggestion forum you could bring that up in... but it seems like something that could require a lot of tracking, so I'm not sure how viable it is. Definitely not possible now, from what I can see.

-Morgan.