Hot vs. New

robert.c.brown15

I don't know if I agree with "hot" being the default selection for this forum. This forum is made up of a lot of people seeking help and answers. If I have it set as hot, that post needs to get a lot of likes to move up the ladder. I used to be able to get multiple answers to a question within an hour or so. Now I might get one all day. I understand I can change it to "new" but I can't make everyone else. Reddit uses "hot" as a means to filter out stuff that is deemed not as important as other things so the good stuff gets to the top. I know the ChefSteps team doesn't think only certain questions should be answered based on a the forum's opinion of whether it is worthy of making it up the forum ladder.

Also, if I make a post in an old thread, does that thread get bumped up the the top? It should if it doesn't.

As I type this the words are lagging way behind how fast I am typing. And it is a pain in the ass when using my iPhone. Going back to fix a spelling mistake is near impossible as it quits typing and usually results in it glitching. It is bad enough that I stopped writing on my iPhone and just grabbed my computer.

I'm really trying to figure out why the move to a new forum was made. I like the cutting down of topics (what happened to the classifieds though?), but couldn't you have done that and kept the old forum? And no private messages? That was extremely useful.

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Comments

DiggingDogFarm_65362

I also find myself clicking on "New" the moment I revisit the forum.

Andrew_Hsu_30145

Thanks for the feedback. We'll think about these issues and write a more detailed response soon.

In response to your question, yes, making a post in an old thread does bump it up. I will point out that this wouldn't happen if you were sorting by 'new'.

We know about the iPhone typing issue and are actively working to fix it.

robert.c.brown15

I thought I typed this already, but it disappeared I guess? I don't design forums, but wouldn't you want the latest comment to show up when sorting by "new," not the newest thread? How would people resurrect old threads? I generally thought you want to avoid redundant threads when you can. For instance, sieves. There are almost 10 threads on sieves when I think one of them holds practically all of the answers. If someone searched it and posted in it asking a question, shouldn't it go to the top when sorting with new?

Isn't that how it used to be? I'm really just curious. This is your forum, make it work however you want.

Brendan_Lee_56950

New content is different than updated old content. In the web world you have to balance dealing the signal to noise so to speak. So in your example, while it's a pain for you since you are trying to get info from an old thread, what if someone was just replying by saying "I agree" and nothing else. Does that thread warrant to jump to the top of the "new" list again? Probably not. But there isn't really a good way of sorting the good from the bad so I think we're handcuffed this way.

I also see this as a byproduct of the modern web experience too. The old forum was of an old style that is a dying breed.

cammarata.nick

Thanks for the post Robert, I'll try to help give an explanation of some of our decisions.

Remembering your previous choice of hot v new is probably a good idea. We released hotness for less frequent users, so we can try to show them the best the CS community has to offer during the time they've been gone. However, one thing that's particularly prevalent in the CS community(and we love!) is that a bunch of users straight-up read everything! We need to always remember our most passionate users, and accommodate them as much as possible

However, one thing that might be counterintuitive is that we actually make every new post the "hottest" for a bit of time, giving each post a chance to thrive. You are guaranteed to have many users see every post you create. Perhaps we need to up the dial of how long it stays at the top, giving new posts more of a chance.

Thread hotness is still something we're playing with. It does bump it back to the top, but perhaps not strongly enough.

Stepping back a bit, the new forum was made to give the community a better way to express themselves! We want to provide a superior experience, make it fun to use on all devices, and allow your content everywhere to be highlighted in the community. For example, if you create a fantastic recipe using the ChefSteps recipe creator, or do some great work in the ingredients wiki, it should be visible in the community for others to see. None of this was possible in the old system, which is why we've made the investment to build this totally custom. This is something that isn't out yet while we're still working on the core experience, but we're really excited to be working on it.

Regarding the speed issues, I'm experiencing it right now as I'm typing this post, and it's super frustrating. A major performance review of everything here is the next major thing we're going to be focusing on.

Just as a reminder, we're still super early in the production of this new software, and we're shipping often multiple times a day to improve it. We're listening super closely to everything the community has to say, so keep it coming!

robert.c.brown15

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! Sounds like you guys know exactly what you're doing. Excited for things to come!

Jack_Mayer_85396

Hi Nick, thanks for the explanation. I've been here almost since the beginning and shared some of Robert's concerns. I visit the forums 2 or 3 times a day and it was very helpful to see only the newest posts since my last visit. Having said this, I am most confident that you and the Team will get it right. A little patience from the community is warranted. All the best!

robert.c.brown15

Can i bump this. There are some GREAT posts in the "new" section of this forum. I've been staring at the same 4 posts all week because I don't think to push "new." There are a lot of questions out there and people sharing a lot of cool stuff that I hope people are seeing! I posted a tool thread, which this community loves, or at least used to love, and I got one reply. That is ok. It was a good reply, but what I'm saying is that usually it would have resulted in more, and therefore more points of view. What good is "hot" if new users come for guidance and never get seen.

I'll stop now. I'm probably just pissing people off. I guess I'm just too used to the old forum style where things got solved and I didn't have to read 25 "Congratulations" posts on a new Food Truck endeavor (which is truly fantastic!) to find posts that need "new" attention.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

"....it was very helpful to see only the newest posts since my last visit."

EXACTLY!!!

I miss that!!!!

I can't get used to this new format, it's too chaotic.

I'm somehow missing a lot of posts that I stumble upon later.

That's not a criticism just a fact.

robert.c.brown15

Here here!

Plus, can we have private messaging back?

Andrew_Hsu_30145

Given that you're a power user that uses the community often, would defaulting your sort to 'new' help this issue?

robert.c.brown15

Sure! So I guess you're sick of me, haha. Sorry.

Edit: l don't think you were talking to me...

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Yes.

com-chefsteps

A small UI complaint that seems to fit fairly closely to this one, although different: when I see my notification-bell has eight notifications, and I click one, all eight notifications are immediately marked as read. (If I haven't memorized the number pre-click, then I don't know how many notifications to check.)