Super Sticky?

Franz

Is a sticky search gambit enough?

Dominion

It did occur to me that there is probably such a gambit. But the gambit isn't there until you type it in. What I'm looking for is a subtle way to keep those stickies in peoples' faces. Remind them that they exist, as it were.

Toby

Dominion I feel like a simpler solution is to create a tag for all those important discussions (like the Blog tag on this forum).

Dominion

I could see how that could work. If you wanted to create a sticky "How to report bugs" discussion for the Dev tag, you'd apply both the Stickies tag and the Dev tag to it...

On the downside, this mean's you'd be setting two attributes (the sticky attribute and the "Stickies" tag) for each sticky thread ... and if you made a thread sticky but forgot to add the tag, it wouldn't show up in that list. The link I proposed would simply use the sticky attribute, so two birds with one stone (= less work for moderators, in the long run).

Also, it makes a nice pair with the "Followed" link (which also has a corresponding gambit, I guess). That link opens a list of stuff the user thinks is important; the "Stickied/Important" link opens a list of stuff the moderators think is important.

Toby

I put a bit more thought into this. I think the issue I take with a Stickied filter in the discussion list sidebar is that it seems to be a bit of a stopgap.

The reason you want a sticky filter is to keep people aware of those sticky threads. I'm going to make the assumption that those most of those threads are about things like rules, guidelines, and reference posts.

Often this information is most relevant when a user is starting a discussion. So the best time for people to see a guideline like "search and read the FAQ before you post a question" is just as they're starting a new discussion. They'll be much more likely to respond if the information comes just at the right time.

Maybe the concept of "sticky" – trying to keep this information in sight amongst the noise of all the other discussions – isn't the best solution. Maybe we need some kind of feature that gently reminds the user about relevant information after they've picked a tag for their new discussion.

Dominion

Toby You're right, it does feel a bit like a stopgap ... but I thought it worth mentioning as it seemed like a new way to approach the super-sticky issue. I do agree that

Toby trying to keep this information in sight amongst the noise of all the other discussions

is not the best way to go, because depending on what the user's doing, the stickies can end up adding to the noise. So as you say, maybe the solution lies even further outside the box.

meetdilip

Toby Maybe we need some kind of feature that gently reminds the user about relevant information after they've picked a tag for their new discussion.

How about a notice which popup when a particular tag is selected. The notice can have thread/threads in it as well. Call it " Tag notification ".

Kulga

There's really no way around it. Static Information that is consistently there will be ignored.
If I read a "Please read the faq", the next time I see it, I can trust that it says nothing new and do exactly what I was planning - even if it blatantly disregards what the message is saying

Rather then just say you need to follow the rules, it needs to have dynamic suggestions. A common one is don't post similar content - then display similar content. If the search engine is good (actually showing relevant content) that might stop me.

People respond much better to choice then saying "do this".
Another example: people not setting tags correctly:
-> Offer to set tags based on content written.

Also, static stuff displayed once or twice (like new posters) is ok. But the content should be very simple and relevant.

Toby For guests and brand new members, and for existing members when new sticky topics get posted, stickies will stick to the top because they'll be unread. i.e. everyone will get the proper exposure to a sticky topic at least once.

I like this idea. Just sticky it and forget. Don't need to remember to unsticky it, it won't clutter the place and if tagged with "sticky" or something - will still be easily accessible at some later point.

flame

Toby Perhaps it would be better left to a third-party plugin.

meetdilip

I want to share a case I posted on another thread

Will that be good if you are going to offer something like " template " for a things iike " Requests " ? They may need to use it more than once. ie, whenever they make a " Request ".

Davis

meetdilip

Toby Also stickies will stick to the top regardless of whether they are read or not when viewing an individual category.

hungyip

I can see the problem of a long list of sticky posts under "All discussions" page. These sticky posts might only be important when users look at a specific tag. I think it's better for these pinned post not to be pinned under "All discussions" page.

I understand that currently "sticky post" would no longer be sticky once it is read under "All discussions", but for non members/visitors, or for users that don't care about the sticky post, these "Unread stickies" would always appear on top of the "All discussions", which doesn't look good.

Dominion

hungyip I understand that currently "sticky post" would no longer be sticky once it is read under "All discussions", but for non members/visitors, or for users that don't care about the sticky post, these "Unread stickies" would always appear on top of the "All discussions", which doesn't look good.

I'm also beginning to feel there's a problem with the current approach.

... Well, I'm not too concerned about users who don't care about the sticky discussions. I tend to think discussions are sticky because the mod team thinks they're important and want users to read them. So any users who ignore them really only have themselves to blame. ?

But as for non-members and visitors ... yes, a long list of sticky discussions on the front page could be a problem. The more stickies there are, the more irrelevant the All Discussions page becomes to such users.

@Toby I don't suppose it would be possible to make the stickies cookie independent of membership?

(I guess that would mean making read/unread status completely independent of membership?)

hungyip

Dominion

I think maybe it's just easier to set whether the sticky post to be sticky under "All discussion" or not.

Dominion

hungyip You may well be right!

staion

I really hate the current implementation of the Sticky feature. I just need the Sticky to stick no matter what. It should be an option for a Sticky to either be like it is right now an only stick until read or to stick always on top no matter what.
As for the so called Super Sticky, just be a separate extension or core feature to post Announcements or Notices. A sticky is a sticky and a global one should be something else (Announcement/Notice), just my two cents.

And if you have a great idea how to properly manage your forums, you won't use too many sticky threads to sink the normal content and you could use a single sticky to post Guidelines and FAQs

staion

Is there any way now for a sticky to stick at the top no matter what? I really want this feature.

jordanjay29

staion You could fork flarum/flarum-ext-sticky and change this line to alter that behavior. This is the only instance I see that affects it, but there may be other places in the code where it checks.

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