Feature/Recurring threads

[cpratt]

The new forums have a capability that can be used by those who provide feature threads. A feature thread is one where someone puts effort to provide interesting content on a daily weekly or recurring basis, always on the same topic. These threads are not off topic since they related to tractors, so they don't necessarily belong in Tractor Tales and may as such occur in the on-topic forums.

Some examples of this type of thread (off the top of my head) are recurring Tractor Puzzles, Tractor Quizzes, Tractor Photos, and Tractor Restoration and Repair projects. We've all seen them, plus they are something that is quite popular even outside of the community. The feature of the new forums that can help to organize these, is that a thread no longer goes away just because the date the thread was started is not the current date. For people not running the classic view sort filter, this type of thread will pop back to the top with every new post, so the result is the same as posting a new topic every day, as far as them remaining current.

The more important benefit is that this organizes all of the particular feature in a single thread and that becomes the signature thread of the individual who puts all the effort into providing these popular threads. Because of limitations in the old software, these features had to be fragmented requiring an unreliable search to bring up all of them even though they were actually a single topic. If you are one of the people putting their heart and soul into regularly providing these threads, consider using this new capability.

Here is a quick example of a recurring thread I would do, and plan to. I would call it "Chris' D-14 Restoration" and probably open it up with the first post describing the process I'll be updating in the thread. Then every day, I would come back to my signature thread and post the progress I made that day, with a new post and photos. People can respond or not, it doesn't matter, I'm documenting the history of my project.

Here is how to do it:
1. Create the thread with a good name representing your efforts (and easy to remember)
2. Post your opening introduction to your thread
3. As you come back daily or every few days, click on your username and select "Your content". Your thread will be in there.
4. Post your update, it will pop to the top of the forum you selected.
5. Rinse and repeat.

Here are the benefits:
1. Organization of something you personally put effort into
2. Easy Location for people who constantly check for your thread (if the name is picked well, it will pop to the top of the search engines when people put it in)
3. Appreciation reactions are grouped under that thread
4. Depending on subject matter, your signature thread becomes far more useful than otherwise because someone coming can see all the content in one place (this is extremely useful in the case of something like my example. If I were doing it in fragmented separate threads, it would be useless to someone doing a similar project and they'd never find all the pieces, my effort would be partially wasted).

Addendum: I mentioned Tractor Tales. There is a use for this there too. If I am remodeling my kitchen and want to share the process with my friends, this would be a perfect fit for one of the "ongoing" threads.

 

[DoubleO7]

If I am remodeling my kitchen and want to share the process with my friends, this would be a perfect fit for one of the "ongoing" threads.

I
Or like bmack95hd's new home build from excavation to moving in.

 

[cpratt]

I
Or like bmack95hd's new home build from excavation to moving in.

That probably is a perfect example of using a recurring thread for off-topic.

 

[DoubleO7]

I see that Majorman is using the Feature/Recurring content in one thread vs a daily thread in a new category method for Pictures and Puzzles. Janichlson posted a situation that might be undesirable for many users. Screenshot of his concern is below.

 

[cpratt]

I can just offer my opinion. It is a unique idea. If I understand @Janicholson 's idea, for example, each day Majorman would create one of his excellent threads. Then start a new one the next or something like that. That would solve "filter first message" people's confusion at not seeing his threads, and keep the thread from becoming too photo heavy, yet still stop the complaining of seeing too many threads on a single subject matter. That's a choice that Majorman would have to make though, as he is putting the work into his content and it's his right to do it any of the ways that are possible. It's not really the sort of thing to make a rule about IMO. The only loss is that things are not grouped together.

This would not be the way to handle a restoration/project thread though as that would fragment something that needs to be read as a book. Those have to be handled by "filter first message" people using the "watch" button and checking their alert list occasionally to see what they are missing in current posts for subject they like.

 

[DoubleO7]

That's a choice that Majorman would have to make though, as he is putting the work into his content and it's his right to do it any of the ways that are possible. It's not really the sort of thing to make a rule about IMO.

Majorman has stated in his thread that he has been asked by forum host to post all daily photos and puzzles in one thread.

 

[cpratt]

I don't think I asked. I think I just suggested it's a way to get people to stop harassing him about posting so many different threads. I do believe in using that method. I saw the daily harassment and felt bad when he puts so much effort into his stuff.

@Majorman, Sorry if I gave that impression. Please post as you see fit. There are no rules concerning any of that. Your best judgement is what matters in this.

 

[Majorman]

I don't think I asked. I think I just suggested it's a way to get people to stop harassing him about posting so many different threads. I do believe in using that method. I saw the daily harassment and felt bad when he puts so much effort into his stuff.

@Majorman, Sorry if I gave that impression. Please post as you see fit. There are no rules concerning any of that. Your best judgement is what matters in this.

Chris, as far as I am concerned, I am in your "front room" and take a suggestion as a request I am fine working anyway you want as long as you and the majority are happy. It is easier to post on one thread and certainly faster from my end. The only other way, IMHO, would be to have a Forum dedicated to pictures and puzzles but I do not know if that would be possible or feasible. Think the way we are doing it is perhaps the best way. Have spoken to KCM also.

 

[cpratt]

Chris, as far as I am concerned, I am in your "front room" and take a suggestion as a request I am fine working anyway you want as long as you and the majority are happy. It is easier to post on one thread and certainly faster from my end. The only other way, IMHO, would be to have a Forum dedicated to pictures and puzzles but I do not know if that would be possible or feasible. Think the way we are doing it is perhaps the best way. Have spoken to KCM also.

When it came to my thoughts concerning how to handle puzzles, they are suggestions, you choose how you do it because you are putting the work into it. I will certainly toss my ideas out there, but remember, mine are really focused on tech threads for restoration and rebuild. Some of the same things apply.

We know we a somewhat diverse and countering group of complaints. One group doesn't want so many threads in a forum, another group doesn't want to see a thread that started 24 hours or more in the past, a few don't want large threads for either reasons of not being able to read them or having too much large content in a thread (performance). It's tough to please all of these groups since it can be contradictory.

Puzzle / Picture threads do seem to be different than a Restoration thread. It's a matter of volume. As Restoration thread would probably only have one update a day, followed by a couple of replies to that update. A Puzzle / Picture thread might have many updates a day and numerous resulting replies per day. Looks like a Puzzle thread gets larger at a rate 5 or 6 times. May be a difference there that determines how best to handle it. To answer the complaints about large threads, having a weekly puzzle thread would solve that.

Now we have those who use the thread sort filter (first message). If you have weekly threads, it means those people have to click on Watch every time they see a new thread, that means they have a responsibility when they see a puzzle thread to click "Watch" so they can keep up with it (since it will roll down the page and become invisible to them). The single thread is better for this rather than one a week, but they have to use the "Jump to new" or they have a lot of scrolling. The other single thread drawback is as one user said, their connection is too slow to look at the thread and have it load in any reasonable time. That complaint is somewhat handled by browser caching, because it will go to it's cached for everything other than the new posts.

Another approach that meets some of the complaints is a single daily thread. That has the downside of not grouping the puzzles together in a meaningful way but on the arbitrary grouping of what day it is. Not really meaningful grouping, and certainly causes a lot of searching for puzzle threads. Still that my be an approach.

All I'm doing is trying to design on the fly by tossing out ideas. So many options, one thread per puzzle, one thread per day, one thread per week, and then just one thread forever. Drawbacks appear for each and strengths too.

You introduced another approach of having a special forum for puzzles and photo features. I actually like that a lot, but in that case, you and KCM would have to have control of that forum and anyone else wanting to do reoccurring features (e.g., "Tractor jokes" might be something like that someone might come up with as their feature thread), would have to be added to the list of those permitted to start threads in that forum. So there is a little maintenance involved. But it would be called something like "Community Features" or something. There is merit to this and I'll bring it up if you think so too. Then within that feature forum, you decide if you want daily, weekly, or forever threads to put your content in. Is having such a forum something that would help you meet your audience's demands?

 

[Rich'sToys]

For me it's working fine the way it's currently set up.

 

[Brown David]

For me it's working fine the way it's currently set up.

Yep.

 

[cpratt]

Chris, as far as I am concerned, I am in your "front room" and take a suggestion as a request I am fine working anyway you want as long as you and the majority are happy. It is easier to post on one thread and certainly faster from my end. The only other way, IMHO, would be to have a Forum dedicated to pictures and puzzles but I do not know if that would be possible or feasible. Think the way we are doing it is perhaps the best way. Have spoken to KCM also.

@Majorman

I just got out of our team meeting and everyone liked the idea of having a new forum called "Community Features". Is this something you, KCM and others would like. It could also be used by others if they have ideas from features as you guys have.

You would still have to choose whether your feature is a daily, weekly, or forever thread, and you could even post them as individual threads without raising the hackles of those who complain about tying up the entire first page of Tractor & Farm Talk with features. That would all be up to you, but there would be a permanent home to do with as you please. Seems to me there is a great solution somewhere in this to make them more prominent and give an air of these threads being "official" parts of YT (i.e., no one can logically complain one way or the other about their lack of presence or presence because it's a place specifically for features).

I'd be very interested in yours and KCMs thoughts on this, and anyone else who wants to put up or follows regular features (e.g., Tractor Jokes, Vintage Implements etc). The definition of on-topic would not be important, so for example, even Absent Minded Farmer's vintage rail research could go in a place like this with a feature thread(s) for that topic (this gives the benefit that those other than forum members could view such threads).

 

[DoubleO7]

the idea of having a new forum called "Community Features".

I would vote for the new forum/category.

 

[Brown David]

@Majorman

I just got out of our team meeting and everyone liked the idea of having a new forum called "Community Features". Is this something you, KCM and others would like. It could also be used by others if they have ideas from features as you guys have.

You would still have to choose whether your feature is a daily, weekly, or forever thread, and you could even post them as individual threads without raising the hackles of those who complain about tying up the entire first page of Tractor & Farm Talk with features. That would all be up to you, but there would be a permanent home to do with as you please. Seems to me there is a great solution somewhere in this to make them more prominent and give an air of these threads being "official" parts of YT (i.e., no one can logically complain one way or the other about their lack of presence or presence because it's a place specifically for features).

I'd be very interested in yours and KCMs thoughts on this, and anyone else who wants to put up or follows regular features (e.g., Tractor Jokes, Vintage Implements etc). The definition of on-topic would not be important, so for example, even Absent Minded Farmer's vintage rail research could go in a place like this with a feature thread(s) for that topic (this gives the benefit that those other than forum members could view such threads).

Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[Jim.ME]

@Majorman

I just got out of our team meeting and everyone liked the idea of having a new forum called "Community Features". Is this something you, KCM and others would like. It could also be used by others if they have ideas from features as you guys have.

You would still have to choose whether your feature is a daily, weekly, or forever thread, and you could even post them as individual threads without raising the hackles of those who complain about tying up the entire first page of Tractor & Farm Talk with features. That would all be up to you, but there would be a permanent home to do with as you please. Seems to me there is a great solution somewhere in this to make them more prominent and give an air of these threads being "official" parts of YT (i.e., no one can logically complain one way or the other about their lack of presence or presence because it's a place specifically for features).

I'd be very interested in yours and KCMs thoughts on this, and anyone else who wants to put up or follows regular features (e.g., Tractor Jokes, Vintage Implements etc). The definition of on-topic would not be important, so for example, even Absent Minded Farmer's vintage rail research could go in a place like this with a feature thread(s) for that topic (this gives the benefit that those other than forum members could view such threads).

A separate forum for such sounds like a good idea.

 

[Majorman]

@Majorman

I just got out of our team meeting and everyone liked the idea of having a new forum called "Community Features". Is this something you, KCM and others would like. It could also be used by others if they have ideas from features as you guys have.

You would still have to choose whether your feature is a daily, weekly, or forever thread, and you could even post them as individual threads without raising the hackles of those who complain about tying up the entire first page of Tractor & Farm Talk with features. That would all be up to you, but there would be a permanent home to do with as you please. Seems to me there is a great solution somewhere in this to make them more prominent and give an air of these threads being "official" parts of YT (i.e., no one can logically complain one way or the other about their lack of presence or presence because it's a place specifically for features).

I'd be very interested in yours and KCMs thoughts on this, and anyone else who wants to put up or follows regular features (e.g., Tractor Jokes, Vintage Implements etc). The definition of on-topic would not be important, so for example, even Absent Minded Farmer's vintage rail research could go in a place like this with a feature thread(s) for that topic (this gives the benefit that those other than forum members could view such threads).

I would be happy to look after that forum if it helps, I had a few years running the Fordson Tractor Pages web site and will run the idea past Keith. The problem I see from my side is I am fairly old now although I still work ,on circuit designs and builds and have all my marbles (as we say over here). Will get back to you later Chris.

 

[cpratt]

I would be happy to look after that forum if it helps, I had a few years running the Fordson Tractor Pages web site and will run the idea past Keith. The problem I see from my side is I am fairly old now although I still work ,on circuit designs and builds and have all my marbles (as we say over here). Will get back to you later Chris.

Okay, I'll wait to hear from you, but the team thought it would be a great idea. It also opens the door for others if they want to do similar things but were resistant.

 

[kcm.MN]

You introduced another approach of having a special forum for puzzles and photo features. I actually like that a lot, but in that case, you and KCM would have to have control of that forum and anyone else wanting to do reoccurring features (e.g., "Tractor jokes" might be something like that someone might come up with as their feature thread), would have to be added to the list of those permitted to start threads in that forum. So there is a little maintenance involved. But it would be called something like "Community Features" or something. There is merit to this and I'll bring it up if you think so too. Then within that feature forum, you decide if you want daily, weekly, or forever threads to put your content in. Is having such a forum something that would help you meet your audience's demands?

I like the idea of having a separate thread (or section?) that would be for daily pics as well as other such threads that would have recurring posts, such as projects (of any kind) or jokes or videos. The only thing that should probably be avoided are GIFS. I've seen other forums where people posted lots of funny GIFS, and all those GIFS wreaked havoc on the software (or was it the servers?). In any case, I do not see GIFS being posted on that site now - but then I just peeked a bit. It has been 2+ years since I even went to that site, and I was kinda lost even then.

I don't know how flexible this software is as far as trying to set up such a feature thread, but I do NOT like the idea of someone having to get "permission" to post there.

I sent Chris an email with a link to this other site so that he can see what I'm talking about. If it's at all possible, it would be great if there could be such a section so that each days pics can be posted into a thread. If someone wanted to post funnies again, they could be posted into this save section, and all funnies posted for that day would be in the same thread. All daily Pics would be posted in its daily thread. And so on and so on. People could comment on each thread just as they always have, and there should be no issues with loading or even finding them. So I hope Chris will take a peek at that other website and see if there is any way to make something similar for YT.


Now that Majorman has awakened me with his email, I'm now going back to sleep!

 

[Majorman]

Ok Chris, I think we have a goer if you thing we can handle it. Not sure about the suggested title though, I would have liked one that suggested the content like "Pictures, Puzzles and Videos" which immediately tells people what it contains. I also think it would be a good idea to get DB4600, WalJohn and Rusty 6 involved in posting there too as they also post pictures and puzzles. There are others too like Absentminded Farmer who also posts great videos.

 

[DoubleO7]

Creating a thread that may include ongoing projects kind of muddies the waters as far as an appropriate category name.

I was going to say "Daily Dose of Fun" with a subtitle of what to expect.
But there is no longer category subtitles now.