Forum design/format poll [Feedback needed]

[e_poison]

Hey guys, it's been two months since the site went live. Thanks to all who have joined so far and are using the forum! The Double M continues to live on. I was wondering if you could answer a quick question for us concerning the site format. It will help us with changes going forward. Thanks for your input!

[swablero]

Hmmm, thats a good question. Another way to ask this is "what features do we feel are missing or would we like to have".

[whiffypants]

I suspect E avoided wording it that way purposefully, because he is limited by the board/forum software as to what improvements can be made.

Instead the question is about the actual interface, because that's the biggest change being looked at. After that change -- if any -- is implemented, and we have an interface like Reddit, MeWe, Facebook, whatever we decide on, then we could look at specific improvements.

It's not that we don't want to know, it's that it's the technical equivalent of not wanting to spend money and time on reupholstering car seats and blinging out the headlights if we may be about to trade our beater in anyway.

[e_poison]

Hmmm, thats a good question. Another way to ask this is "what features do we feel are missing or would we like to have".

This is a separate question. I'm asking about the preferred format/layout in general. Features are coming regardless of the format.

[Kazinflame]

Reddit tends to be my favorite site due to it's ease of use (not the mobile version) - Mewe is impossible to keep up with and Facebook is foreign to me. I may be a little biased because of this but I still vote for 'more like reddit', although you want it to be it's own separate entity. There is a great chance here to develop a truly cohesive (and open) kratom community, maybe even bringing us all together instead of spread around multiple sites and services. Like how Reddit was.

[KrateAndVape]

I voted for the current style, only because I do not want to see the up/down vote feature like reddit here. That can be abused so much. Regardless, I hope to see user tagging and an easier way to see if my post was updated. (If I'm phrasing that properly.) Would love to see an app in the future so I can get notifications on my phone, but I realize first things come first. Just my penny-and-a-half But you guys have done and amazing job in such a short time. Indeed, this must be a labor of love.

[e_poison]

I voted for the current style, only because I do not want to see the up/down vote feature like reddit here. That can be abused so much. Regardless, I hope to see user tagging and an easier way to see if my post was updated. (If I'm phrasing that properly.) Would love to see an app in the future so I can get notifications on my phone, but I realize first things come first. Just my penny-and-a-half But you guys have done and amazing job in such a short time. Indeed, this must be a labor of love.

It would most likely be upvoting only. The reason I'm asking is because we are considering a new platform that would be more similar to reddit. Upvoting, karma, user tagging, highest voted comments rising to the top, etc. I am just trying to gauge if it's worth immediately doing or not. This site is still going through growing pains, so now would be a good time before a platform switch becomes a nightmare.

[KrateAndVape]

It looks like the majority of folks are voting for the reddit style. Which I understand. You like what you are used to. As long as the "vibe" here stays the same, I will continue to use and support this site no matter what the format is.

[whiffypants]

It would most likely be upvoting only.

For myself I love the karma thing, but I have no problems with moving it to an upvote-only system: you get the good vibes, you know when your post has been seen if you're in a side discussion, and the no downvote ability takes the nastiness out of it.

...I still vote for 'more like reddit', although you want it to be it's own separate entity.

Oh yeah, definitely. The whole point of coming here was to make sure that no one could just shut us out of our own place again. I'm -still- pissed about that, and to be honest I don't think Reddit's done with all the chainsawing they're gonna do yet. Even now we're there on sufferance. I wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of this year, they don't ban the kratom forums altogether or come down with even more restrictive and vague guidelines to force kratom out by attrition if not active banning.

That's only my own suspicion, and I'd be very glad to end up wrong on the subject, but either way I'm truly glad we're off Reddit.

And as far as I can tell personally, of all the splinter groups that formed after the Reddit fuckening, we're doing the best both numbers- and content-wise. So E, you're definitely doing -something- right!

[swablero]

Thanks E,
I thought after Whiffy's comments that there was some kind of emulation mode in the current software but if you're selecting another platform, that's a leaf of a different color.

I do find the current platform's functionality very minimal. I would go with the choice that had the most features (i.e. embedded video etc) and more important gave you the most flexibility to enhance it. I would take android over apple, so to speak.

Ive also found an annoying characteristic of the current software is that it does not treat your drafts with any reverence. I mean its not fault tolerant. I've lost a draft I was preparing a few times because I accidentally left the page. ran out of power etc. Also there are different behaviors when used on your phone as to opposed to a PC and mobile support is important to me.

And maybe this is so totally obvious, but its essential to identify and categorize types of content people are looking for and organize and enhance access to that content in whatever way possible. Incentivize this . I don't know how REDDIT GOLD, hehe Karma, I dont like the manipulative nature of that and it shouldnt be necessary. We need people to reciprocate with any revelations they may have in the spirit of community. Something necessary for all this to work

Content?. I for example, most of the time, visit to look for shill proof enlightenment about vendor and CURRENT strain quality in an effort to help use my money wisely when I make a purchase. Balzy list is invaluable! Maybe Balzy's list as a more responsive starting point for comments. I dont know how thats done?

Reddit had a huge user base but it aint what it used to be cause they made illicit that which people want

Hope these comments were in some way useful and of course thanks for all your efforts with this project!

[herbalhippie]

Wherever we move to, will it be someplace that won't be able to screw around with us like Reddit did or like MeWe could if they decided to?

[e_poison]

Wherever we move to, will it be someplace that won't be able to screw around with us like Reddit did or like MeWe could if they decided to?

We're not moving anywhere. I'm talking about this site lol.

[herbalhippie]

Oh. Yeah. Lol

Change of design, not change of place.

Forgive me, I'm half asleep and distracted. Bad combo.

[e_poison]

Thanks E,I do find the current platform's functionality very minimal. I would go with the choice that had the most features (i.e. embedded video etc) and more important gave you the most flexibility to enhance it. I would take android over apple, so to speak.

Features are a huge goal of ours right now. I agree, functionality is minimal at the moment, but that will be changing soon.

Ive also found an annoying characteristic of the current software is that it does not treat your drafts with any reverence.

I've had a few posts get eaten too. And there's also a feature which makes you double confirm your post if someone has posted on the thread while you were typing it up. Many might not be aware of this and erase their work on accident.

And maybe this is so totally obvious, but its essential to identify and categorize types of content people are looking for and organize and enhance access to that content in whatever way possible. Incentivize this.

There will definitely be an upvoting system whether we change platforms or not. Many new features are on the horizon.

Content?. I for example, most of the time, visit to look for shill proof enlightenment about vendor and CURRENT strain quality in an effort to help use my money wisely when I make a purchase. Balzy list is invaluable! Maybe Balzy's list as a more responsive starting point for comments. I dont know how thats done?

We have some new vendor lists that will be live soon. They will be maintained and updated frequently. There is also one that is live now which is kept up to date by BlendsAreMyFriends, one of the other admins: http://www.doublemherbals.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=191

Hope these comments were in some way useful and of course thanks for all your efforts with this project!

Thank you for the feedback!

[BallzDeep9]

..and to be honest I don't think Reddit's done with all the chainsawing they're gonna do yet.

Lots of changes at Reddit since the corporate sell-out and takeover ... Major article a week ago advising all "subs" and Mods you'd better back-up ALL your content. Not just kratom but anyone on Reddit: Conspiracy?

And.. I'm counting now, at least 3 or 4 new boards using the "open source" Reddit platform.
Including voat, Phuks.co and Saidit.net

[whiffypants]

Heh, yeah, I saw all that. I actually read the new agreements in their entirety, and they are written expressly to make the word "ownership" non-actionable legally.

I mean, what harm does it do Reddit to tell you that you own your own stuff when in the same breath Reddit gives itself explicit rights to every situation wherein "ownership" actually means anything on a practical basis, and does it into perpetuity? As some other pundit said, Reddit may have your back -- but it's got its hands on your hips.

And it's worse than that. We've been noticing that site-wide Reddit autobots are deleting posts with two or more external links in them. The only way I got clued into this was by being a mod, making a comment with links to here and MeWe for a new user, and refreshing the page only to see that I now had the option to manually approve it as a moderator. There was literally no other warning or clue. And because Reddit leaves removed comments in user history (so as to make it appear unremoved to the user that made it) there was literally no other way to see this was happening without logging out of Reddit and going back to that page to see that my post actually "stuck". These actions do not show up in our own moderation logs because they're happening on a site-wide level, so there's no way to track how many posts and comments are being removed.

My guess is that they're doing this to be more like FB and keep you on their own pages, but it's evil IMO. We've been manually approving these inexplicably removed posts wherever we see them, but there's only so much we can do because of the way Reddit handles removed posts, some are going to slip through and be lost forever.

You're welcome to try it yourself: go to the Double M, find a thread and make a comment that includes two or more external links. (Respond to one of my comments if you want, I don't care, just call it a test so that if I see it I know what it is.) Then logout of Reddit and revisit the page to see if it's still there. Chances are excellent these days it won't be.

Like I said above... I could not be more glad we're now off Reddit.

[BlendsAreMyFriends]

Forgive me, I'm half asleep and distracted. Bad combo.

Some people pay extra for that.

[Grunchy]

I've never been to mewe, but if it's anything like fb. no thanks. I do enjoy the traditional mode(as it is now) for general conversation, I feel some sort of karma system would be nice to help acknowledge good posts/contributions, but not exactly like reddit

Also, I know the forum is in it's infancy, but It would be nice if reviews were kept in the review area, and vendor post in vendor area, etc. It's chaotic as is.

[herbalhippie]

I do enjoy the traditional mode(as it is now) for general conversation, I feel some sort of karma system would be nice to help acknowledge good posts/contributions, but not exactly like reddit
.

I love this format for conversation. I like that the following comments are all in order, with quotes as needed, and that they don't go off in comment trees. I had a hard time with that at first when I joined Reddit.

There's another forum I've belonged to for many years with pretty much this same format. A few years ago, next
to the 'Quote' box they added a 'Thanks' box, so you could thank the poster if you liked their post or comment. Pretty much like a Reddit upvote. Then, at the bottom of their comment, it would show the username that left thanks and the date they did it.

Here's a shot of a recent comment of mine with thanks.

https://imgur.com/b0CATOL

[beathappening]

A few years ago, next
to the 'Quote' box they added a 'Thanks' box, so you could thank the poster if you liked their post or comment. Pretty much like a Reddit upvote. Then, at the bottom of their comment, it would show the username that left thanks and the date they did it.

I like this idea. I've used forums with similar features. This could also be expanded to a ratings system, with likes and dislikes and other tags, which reduces posts that just say "I agree" or "#metoo" but still gives the chance to voice an opinion. At the bottom of the post it has each rating and the amount given, with a clickable pop up window that shows who voted for what (or done anonymously)

[whiffypants]

Yeah, FPGeeks (a fountain pen site I belong to) has the same thing.

There's a phpBB extension for it that could be added here, but honestly it looks problematic -- and why put in the hours if we're going back to a Reddit-like interface?

But yeah. I -really- wish there was some way to acknowledge a post without having to reply.

[e_poison]

Yeah, that "thanks" feature is on another forum I've been a member of for the last 12 years. I like that feature a lot. It's like an upvote, but tells you who upvoted you. We could do something similar here if people want.

[whiffypants]

This is the one I stumbled across but it's not exactly simple; it involves board permissions and what looks like (to me) a complex install.

But this is more your field of expertise than mine so maybe I'm just nellie.

[herbalhippie]

Yeah, that "thanks" feature is on another forum I've been a member of for the last 12 years. I like that feature a lot. It's like an upvote, but tells you who upvoted you. We could do something similar here if people want.

Yes please

[BallzDeep9]

One really GREAT feature of this php Board, that reddit does not have....

Images!

Green powder turns into frozen Red bubble in a nice Yellow cup!

[herbalhippie]

^^^ Thanks

[herbalhippie]

I love that images can be posted. It's been so long since I've done one I forgot how.

[MetalMamaRocks]

I never really posted on forums much until I joined reddit. I think that's why I like the format, it's just what I'm used to.

This format is my second favorite, Mewe is my least favorite.

[e_poison]

Looks like a reddit clone is the clear winner in this poll. I prefer that format too, honestly.