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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 12:24 pm Reply with quote
I was wondering if ANN ever considered adding a "post of the week" feature where the moderators (or perhaps each moderator) could pick out what they think is the best user post and copy it into a weekly article. One post each week or one post each moderator each week.

Although y'all seem to be working pretty hard this wouldn't be too much added work because it seems the moderators have to read pretty much everything anyway.

The reason I mention this is that every once in a while I read a posting by some user or other that it seems clear they put a lot of work into and offers some fairly substantial or entertaining insight into one or another anime. Too often I see those posts pretty much ignored in favor of some trivial conversation or side topic or irrelevancy of the moment.

I'll bet doing this would encourage more posters to put more effort into their inputs. So I would like to see it.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16935
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 1:25 pm Reply with quote
Well just to clarify we don't read EVERYTHING. We simply don't have the time to read every thread's new activity every single day. Hence why we always say if there's a problem post report it otherwise we might not stumble onto it. That being said we mods do see more of the daily posts and activity than most staff that is true.

It's an interesting idea. I would be concerned that other users might get offended or upset with one post being chosen over theirs. Why did he/she get chosen but not me etc etc. Plus, much like the reports of bad posts we would need to be alerted to the good posts otherwise we might miss them. I suppose we could tell users to "report" them but simply mention it's for the "good post" thing so we knew. Then again that might clog up the reports area.

I'd be interested to see what other staff think of it.
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 1:44 pm Reply with quote
I'm sorry, but I personally hate this idea. Why should one person be promoted over another? There are hundreds (if not thousands) of posts on the forum every day, let alone week. Many of them are very well thought out and insightful. I find it offensive to say that one should be picked over another.

Furthermore, how is this newsworthy? It's not news. It's not "interest." If it was a post on a subject someone was interested in, they would have already read it in the thread it was posted in. I can't see anyone purposefully reading an article that's basically "look at a couple forum posts."



If this ever does go into effect, I request that my posts never get used. I don't agree with this idea, I won't read this article, and I want nothing of mine associated with it.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9836
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 4:49 pm Reply with quote
While I'm not as vehemently opposed to the idea as Dessa, I don't see the point. Most posts are part of an ongoing discussion and are apt to be lacking when taken out of context. Further, posting style is more or less an individual thing. Those who post thoughtful well received posts do so because that is their nature. People who post nasty one liners are not going to change and those who post rambling walls of pointless text will likely wonder why they were not chosen.

I vote no.
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nobahn
Subscriber



Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 9:26 pm Reply with quote
FWIW, there is a thread (which, IMHO, doesn't get anywhere near the love and attention that it should) which does cover the subject: Perfect / Pointless / Poignant Quotes. You can find the link here, in the "Pseudo-Stickies" section.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 1:45 pm Reply with quote
Interesting that the idea is more popular with the moderators than the hoi-polloi as such. At least the self-selected subset that would actually bother to read the feedback forum.
Quote:
I find it offensive to say that one should be picked over another.

Woah -- no offense but I think you are pretty easily offended there. If you have ever worked to submit manuscripts for publication (articles, stories, novels, academic papers) you live with this happening all the time. There is nothing offensive about it -- it just comes with the territory. The editor thinks she can use your work to advance her publications commercial interests she will do so. From her point of view the best case is where she has multiple submitted works to choose from, but "best" from the editors point of view is always understood to be not necessarily the same as the author's. And there is also often a random element to it (wow these three are all good but I only need one -- roll a dice.).

If you come at it any other way you will end up like that deranged not-author from the opening episodes of ROD the TV.

The proposal is a bit different here in the sense that nobody is talking about paying forum posters money. Yet still ANN is a commercial enterprise (I presume) and pays (I presume) for other editorial content. It seems that ANN is concerned about the quality of the forum content that it heavily moderates its content. If the owners are interested in encouraging more high quality content this is a pretty simple and inexpensive way of doing it.

Not that it matters but the topic is of some interest to me. I am working on a web project (not anime related) where much of its design is around improving the content of user contributions. A number of different techniques are in use at sites like StackOverflow or Slashdot or Reddit and I have been studying them. Their systems seem to pay off pretty well and nobody seems offended by it. ANN might not want to invest in software development for this but since they are paying (I presume) moderators doing this might get them a bit more RoI.
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nobahn
Subscriber



Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 1:50 pm Reply with quote
HaruhiToy--
Moderators are volunteers; we do it for the love of the site.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher


Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10420
Location: Do not message me for support.
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 2:04 pm Reply with quote
There's no way for the staff or moderators to do this.

If we ever implement a karma / reputation system (I'd like to), then the posts that gain the most reputation every week could be used for this.

That way it would also be very democratic, which I think would be less offensive to people who share Dessa's opinion (Dessa, comment?).

Alan45 does make a good point though, posts need to be presented in context for them to be either "good" or "bad." It might not be interesting at all to read a "really great post" without the context it was first presented in (ie: the rest of the conversation).

-t
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:28 pm Reply with quote
Actually, IIRC, phpBB3 includes a karma system by default (so, uh, that upgrade we were supposed to get?). Provided that the ability to DOWNVOTE posts is missing (I've seen far too much abuse on that), I have no problem with being able to upvote posts you like, provided that there is no limit on the number you're able to upvote (flood limit, yes, but number limit, no).

The difference, for me, is that there's a huge gap between "hey, I like this post, let me give it a +1" and "here is the best post(s) of the week." One is giving kudos/karma for a good post. The other is singling out posts as better than the others.
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Galap
Moderator


Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:12 am Reply with quote
I would very much not want to see a karma/reputation system here. It essentially introduces a bias to the posts (i.e. a lot of people liked this post, so it must be right/good, and the opposite.), and that's bad because the ideal is people evaluating others' posts based solely on the merits of what the person is saying, rather than what other people think about it.

As for the main topic of this thread, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea in theory, but in practice we don't really have the capabilities/resources requited to implement that.
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