Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The software upgrade that I have already alluded to before is likely to happen in October based on the current pace of development and my availability (I'm burning a pile of holidays in October so have time).
So, I am going to start telling about some of the new features that will be available with that upgrade.
One of the major changes is the introduction of "thread types." Right now, there is really only one thread type, a "discussion" where people post responses to a topic introduced by the first poster. "Polls" are kind of a variant of that but become their own thread type under the new setup.
The first new thread type, and one I will add to most of our forums, is the "question thread".
In a Question thread, the thread start poses a question. e.g. "What is the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything?" That original post remains at the top of every page of the subsequent thread so that people can easily see what question they are responding to even after a few pages of discussion.
Respondents then offer their suggested answers:
"Be a good person"
"God"
"42"
People can then vote on the answers, upvoting ones they think are correct (or that they agree with) and, if allowed, downvoting ones they think are wrong (or disagree with). For threads asking factual questions or "how to", downvoting can be a way for people to flag wrong answers. For threads that are more open questions or are somewhat sensitive, I would tend to only allow upvoting. The thread starter gets to decide whether to enable downvoting.
If appropriate, the thread starter or a mod can designate one answer as the "Solution" (more appropriate in, say, a "how to" thread or a "tech support" thread).
In the above example, "42" would be marked as the solution.
So, I am going to start telling about some of the new features that will be available with that upgrade.
One of the major changes is the introduction of "thread types." Right now, there is really only one thread type, a "discussion" where people post responses to a topic introduced by the first poster. "Polls" are kind of a variant of that but become their own thread type under the new setup.
The first new thread type, and one I will add to most of our forums, is the "question thread".
In a Question thread, the thread start poses a question. e.g. "What is the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything?" That original post remains at the top of every page of the subsequent thread so that people can easily see what question they are responding to even after a few pages of discussion.
Respondents then offer their suggested answers:
"Be a good person"
"God"
"42"
People can then vote on the answers, upvoting ones they think are correct (or that they agree with) and, if allowed, downvoting ones they think are wrong (or disagree with). For threads asking factual questions or "how to", downvoting can be a way for people to flag wrong answers. For threads that are more open questions or are somewhat sensitive, I would tend to only allow upvoting. The thread starter gets to decide whether to enable downvoting.
If appropriate, the thread starter or a mod can designate one answer as the "Solution" (more appropriate in, say, a "how to" thread or a "tech support" thread).
In the above example, "42" would be marked as the solution.