Just recently we have been contacted by a few members of the forum who have been having issues with the home page and we have also noted a few threads and comments on the same topic. The main concerns are that interesting topics may get buried and questions may go unanswered. As we cannot make any technical changes to the forum, we wanted to run a suggestion by you to see what you think about an idea that may help to improve things.
On the home page you will notice that we can make certain threads sticky. What we are proposing is that the moderators during their daily patrols around the forums select interesting threads from around the site and make them sticky for a day to allow ease of viewing. We would welcome your feedback on this idea.
Best wishes
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Now that friends on the Gabfest have informed us what a sticky is, I am of the opinion these can be well used by the moderators for their own threads which presumably are of interest to the entire forum. I would find this helpful to know there is a place to come to get the latest communication from the moderators. Sticky use should be reserved for use by moderators only.(In my humble opinion)
Let other threads rise to the top or sink into oblivian according to interest shown in them by the frequency of their use, as at present. In other words, no change needed.
Just because a thread is popular with some and is always bumped to the top does not mean it is interesting to others.I would much rather see the threads I am interested in.
Out of 15 threads shown on the home page there were 5 stickys (could we 'ignore' these too!) and 6 were Loch Garten leaving only 4 that I may or may not have been interested in.
If I went to a library I would go straight to the section that interested me and not plough through others that were not.
It's not always easy to hug a hedgehog.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.
Personally I would like a link to groups on the home page rather than forum posts which are duplicated in the site activity. The home page of each group also has a list of forum posts so this is rather a duplication.
The only source of knowledge is experience. Albert Einstein
Have just read through the posts and see more or less a repeat of what has been discussed recently in the Loch Garten group.
As we have already been told, there is nothing structurally that can be done about changing how the community/home page works, or the addition of any new buttons, so it is down to the individual to toggle between existing buttons.
The LG threads are consistently well subscribed to, hence them being current. That is not going to change anytime soon.
If threads from other parts of the Community were as well subscribed to then they would remain current. It is how forums work.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data
Is it not the case that the RSPB have a policy of using popular osprey sites like Loch Garten and Glaslyn as a means of selling RSPB memberships?
This being so it is not really surprising that a lot of osprey fans come on the forums.
Tiger Signature
As long as I can find my LG Daily Update I'm sorted in the osprey season, but CRossOne's idea would make the site much easier for me personally, and others I would have thought, to navigate all year round and broaden one's bird-brain ;-)
IMAGICAT
I live in Australia, and my viewing times are so out of sinc with the UK that I seldom post, unless I have something fresh to add, but mainly catch up on the day's happenings at LG. I agree with what Tiger has said, and feel that he is a legitimate spokesperson for the majority of LG forum participants. Like most of the LG particpants, I have bookmarked LG Ospreys, and go straight there, without going near the RSPB Home Page. Our forum threads are clustered at the top of the list because they are more popular than others, which naturally sink further down the list according to the frequency of posting. Isn't this what should happen?
Smiles, Jan.
Why don't those people who are worried about this create an index thread where they post links to threads that they consider interesing. Then you have a thread which changes by the hour and reflects what some members consider worth drawing attention to.
After in the world of news items can climb quite slowly.
Wattle15 said: I live in Australia, and my viewing times are so out of sinc with the UK that I seldom post, unless I have something fresh to add, but mainly catch up on the day's happenings at LG. I agree with what Tiger has said, and feel that he is a legitimate spokesperson for the majority of LG forum participants. Like most of the LG particpants, I have bookmarked LG Ospreys, and go straight there, without going near the RSPB Home Page. Our forum threads are clustered at the top of the list because they are more popular than others, which naturally sink further down the list according to the frequency of posting. Isn't this what should happen?
It's potentially a vicious circle though. New people may come to the home page with a general question/topic in mind, but be discouraged from posting because they can only see LG threads. So we get less input into the site from general posters. The more tenacious may try to look around for a different place to post within the site but the forums are difficult to navigate for newbies - the setup is unlike most other forums out there in internet-world. A longer list of active threads on page 1 of the home page is one of the things I think we've been told is do-able, and IMHO it would help a lot and not upset anyone.
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Galatas said: I agree with Doggie , Sparrow and Claire. It's clear that some people open new threads when they could use existing threads which are about identical subjects. We all know who is most guilty in this area.
I agree with Doggie , Sparrow and Claire. It's clear that some people open new threads when they could use existing threads which are about identical subjects. We all know who is most guilty in this area.
So exactly what threads do you have in mind?