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Tom Coates
20:41 / 10.10.06
Okay, so this is basically going to expose to you all exactly what a hack I am, but I've spent an hour or so in the backend trying to work out how to do some things, and it's not particularly well executed, and there's about a thousand things I've done wrong that you need not know about which make it not a particularly good user experience and much much worse than you can possibly conceive of behind the scenes, but I thought you might be interested in this: Recently Updated threads on Barbelith. This is an aggregate of all the fora except for the Conversation, Policy, Gathering and Creation, so that people can actually look at the whole board for a change and see what's going on in all the focused-content areas.

It's flaky as all hell, I'm not going to promise that it'll be there in a week, let alone a month, but I thought it might be good for you guys to play with for a bit and to help to remind you how many great conversations go on around the board in areas that you don't normally play - even if I may have to turn it off at some point in the future. I may stick it in the nav as well, but probably just for the short-term.
 
 
Spaniel
20:55 / 10.10.06
Thanks, Tom. Just noticed this and thought "have I overlooked this for, like, the last 5 years?"
 
 
Shrug
21:07 / 10.10.06
Cheers, Tom. A very welcome addition!
 
 
grant
21:17 / 10.10.06
NEW TOYS IN SMALL PRINT!

YAY!

It was the FAQ label that caught my eye first (that's a good edit, by the way).
 
 
iamus
21:25 / 10.10.06
Oooh, nice.

Cheers Tom, I hope this sort of thing hangs about for a bit.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
21:51 / 10.10.06
I was just coming here to rave about Recently Updated Threads! Awesome! I'm going to love this.
 
 
semioticrobotic
23:08 / 10.10.06
Definitely a great addition to the backend, Tom. Many thanks!
 
 
Tom Coates
00:10 / 11.10.06
I've just noticed that the pagination at the bottom of the page links to the wrong places. I may try and fix this tomorrow evening, but I'm not going to get near it for another twenty four hours or so. Apologies.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
00:34 / 11.10.06
No worries, Tom, this is an interesting thing. Thank you.
 
 
semioticrobotic
01:33 / 11.10.06
I've just noticed that the pagination at the bottom of the page links to the wrong places.

Clicking those was actually kinda fun. All sorts of neat things were popping up.
 
 
Disco is My Class War
04:12 / 11.10.06
Great idea, Tom, thanks.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
06:00 / 11.10.06
Cheers, Tom!
 
 
Evil Scientist
06:31 / 11.10.06
Nice idea Tom. May hordes of monkeys descend upon your house and do all the washing before you return from work.

Monkeys leaving afterwoulds optional.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
06:31 / 11.10.06
That's brilliant. It's the one thing I thought this forum really needed. Thanks Tom.
 
 
Olulabelle
08:40 / 11.10.06
I just noticed it too and came here to say thank you. I really like it.
 
 
COG
10:04 / 11.10.06
Would it be too cool if each updated thread in the results list came in it's appropriate colour?
 
 
Olulabelle
10:31 / 11.10.06
Ideally, but aren't there many more important things to change before we worry about the aesthetics?
 
 
Sax
11:04 / 11.10.06
That would be a useful function. Thanks for taking time out to put it together, Tom.

Of course, if such a thing came online it shouldn't stop people checking out the less popular threads...
 
 
Smoothly
11:07 / 11.10.06
Thanks Tom.
And I think it’s better without the colours. Personally, knowing what forum a thread comes from can prejudice me. I found this when I subscribed to the Barbelith RSS feeds. So while I might tend to glaze over threads with a light-green background on the board, my news reader would make me read the thread title and decide if the topic sounded interesting, regardless of whether I was interested in the forum more generally. This is, I think, a Good Thing.
 
 
■
11:57 / 11.10.06
Definite ditto on that. Also kind of makes the pager thread less necessary.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
12:07 / 11.10.06
Amazing, amazing...
 
 
Olulabelle
12:08 / 11.10.06
I think the pager thread is different. It's not so much for latest updates but for things other posters might be interested in. It's more a description of relevant content of threads.

Re: the colours thing, I hadn't thought of that and it's a very good point. It's quite interesting not knowing which forum a thread is from.
 
 
Lama glama
12:27 / 11.10.06
Extremely useful, nay, delightful new feature!
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
12:42 / 11.10.06
I think without the colours is good- if it was colour-coded I may just look at the ones in the fora I usually visit anyway.
 
 
SteppersFan
12:53 / 11.10.06
Oh yes, this is a very good idea.

I'd like it if each thread listed said what sub-forum it was from, but this is really very useful.
 
 
Quantum
14:47 / 11.10.06
W00T! That's ace, it's been top of my wishlist for yonks, nice one Tom!
You can get the colour/forum by clicking the thread, it's not that arduous. You want the moon on a stick, you people.
 
 
charrellz
19:32 / 11.10.06
Great addition. I kept meaning to suggest something along these lines, but could never think of a decent way it could be executed. This method is so simple it screams brilliance.

Please don't take our new toy away from us (unless we break it alot or try to eat it)!
 
 
redtara
22:15 / 11.10.06
Bless you Tom you are like the pandering parent I never had. Now I'd like a bike for Xmas, please.
 
 
lekvar
23:18 / 11.10.06
This is a good thing. I'm glad that this feature from the old site design was added back in.
 
 
sorenson
01:30 / 12.10.06
It is a lovely thing! But can we have a link to it from the main page? Pretty please?
 
 
Tom Coates
07:27 / 12.10.06
Yeah I should totally do that. Please don't get too attached to it as a feature though. It's sort of incredibly stupidly implemented and if Cal finds out I think he'll probably turn it off.
 
 
pointless & uncalled for
08:15 / 12.10.06
You want the moon on a stick, you people.

I want to avoid the scariness that is an unanticipated Temple thread. Still, my eyes have nearly stopped bleeding.

Still, it would be nice if a little grep could be tacked on the side to say which fora the thread was from. A little easier I would imagine.
 
 
Mon Oncle Ignatius
08:22 / 12.10.06
That's really good Tom, regardless of hackiness. Hackiness is OK if the users don't know about it...isn't it?

Anyhow, nice one!

I also agree that not knowing which forum a thread in the page is from helps, like the RSS feed, with me not skimming over an item.

Though having each item in its forum's colour might look pretty for anyone scanning the page while under the effects of hallucinogens.
 
 
ghadis
08:50 / 12.10.06
I think it's a great feature Tom. At one, slightly tipsy, point at 5 last night i felt that i was spinning plates and it was great to see all those plates in one go as it were (and to see that no-one was either up or interested after a while!).

I also think that it would make me post a bit more in threads in forums i don't usually frequent much.
 
 
Olulabelle
09:05 / 12.10.06
Please don't get too attached to it as a feature though

Oh dear. Too late.
 
  

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