Forums - Offer option for user to set default view to show latest messages first in a conversation
GENERAL
TESTING
GENERAL
TESTING
Description
Students in course sites with highly active forums complain that it's too easy to overlook or respond to old posts. They request that the most recent activity appear at the top of a conversation by default. (Here's an actual comment: "I wish the newest threads would rise to the top, and older threads head to the bottom. No one wants to necropost, but we often wind up doing so. Worse yet, we may miss important new posts.")
I see a few ways to address this feedback about Forums:
1.) Can you add a user preference setting so that the "View" of conversations will appear based on the individual student's preference? Perhaps an option where the initial thread is always listed at the top (for context) but all subsequent messages are ordered newest to oldest? Also, allow a config setting so an institution can set a default value?
2.) On the main screen of Forums, consider a "Recent Conversations..." frame. To the right of the listing of forums and topics, there is potential space where the most recent reply could be highlighted. Clicking the title would go to that message within the thread. For reference, look at the "Recent Content" area of Apple's community discussions – https://discussions.apple.com/community/ipad/using_ipad
3.) Change the naming of the view options from "By Date Ascending" and "By Date Descending" to "By Date Oldest to Newest" and "By Date Newest to Oldest" for speed and ease of use. "Ascending" and "Descending" are great for programmers, computer scientists, mathematicians, etc. Many others may not understand what the terms mean or it may take them a moment to figure out the direction. Using the more human friendly terms would make it more intuitive.
Thank you for considering these feature requests.
Activity
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Matthew Jones April 24, 2018 at 10:34 AM
Bulk closing issues that have not been updated since 2015 and earlier. Please reopen if this is still an issue and you have new information or if this is a feature you'd like to still have consideration for.
Students in course sites with highly active forums complain that it's too easy to overlook or respond to old posts. They request that the most recent activity appear at the top of a conversation by default. (Here's an actual comment: "I wish the newest threads would rise to the top, and older threads head to the bottom. No one wants to necropost, but we often wind up doing so. Worse yet, we may miss important new posts.")
I see a few ways to address this feedback about Forums:
1.) Can you add a user preference setting so that the "View" of conversations will appear based on the individual student's preference? Perhaps an option where the initial thread is always listed at the top (for context) but all subsequent messages are ordered newest to oldest? Also, allow a config setting so an institution can set a default value?
2.) On the main screen of Forums, consider a "Recent Conversations..." frame. To the right of the listing of forums and topics, there is potential space where the most recent reply could be highlighted. Clicking the title would go to that message within the thread. For reference, look at the "Recent Content" area of Apple's community discussions – https://discussions.apple.com/community/ipad/using_ipad
3.) Change the naming of the view options from "By Date Ascending" and "By Date Descending" to "By Date Oldest to Newest" and "By Date Newest to Oldest" for speed and ease of use. "Ascending" and "Descending" are great for programmers, computer scientists, mathematicians, etc. Many others may not understand what the terms mean or it may take them a moment to figure out the direction. Using the more human friendly terms would make it more intuitive.
Thank you for considering these feature requests.