Suthish just suggested a few great ideas and we are thinking to implement them. Here is a list of new features.
1. Add a Forum Moderator user type. We can pick a few 5 to 10 moderators on the forums. Their profile will show a Moderator icon
2. Add Moderators link at the top of the forums, their roles and responsibilities. A moderator can modify, delete, close and do other things to a post. Also can send a message to a user.
3. Automatically notify a post if it was answered but answer was not accepted to user.
4. After 5 days, automatically notify user about their feedback on answers and vote (thumbs us) and accept answers. If no response came, close or archive thread automatically.
5. A confirmation message before delete a post. There should be no physical delete from the database if deleted by a member or moderator.
6. Add Most Recognized Members hand picked by Admin, Editors, and Moderators. Will have a different logo than the top members.
7. Add Legends - Members who does not care for prizes, awards or anything else. More than MVPs and others. These members are legends. They also work behind the scenes.
Anything else we should do for moderator?
8. Insert Help Links - As I type an answer, I should be able to search the site and if possible answer is already there as an article, blogs, or forums, I should be able to insert that right away.
9. Show maintenance message if site or forums are being updated or down for whatever reason.
10. Move a Thread - This option can be used by Moderators to move a thread to other categories including College Projects etc.
11. Convert a Thread - This option will allow moderators to convert a thread into an Article
12. Request an Article - New Forum Category
13. Sticky Threads - not sure what this is?
14. New Threads (unread threads) - When you visit forums, we can display new threads with a different icon, so users know which threads are new since they visited last time.
15. Bad Word filter on forums, comments, blog comments
16. Editor - Image Upload does not work in FireFox 4
17. Lighter version of the page (less HTML and JavaScript). Replace rich controls with lighter
18. Make forums load faster
19. Forums Category Moderators - Each forum category will have a moderator. When a question is posted and the post type is a "suggestion" or "idea", in that category, an email will go to the moderator.
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Mahesh ChandPosted Mar 31, 2011, 8:48 PM
Cheers!
FroglegPosted Mar 31, 2011, 6:17 PM
I depend upon snippets with my bad memory(age)
We should be able to upload snippets into categories - strings, gdi, whatever
Suthish NairPosted Mar 31, 2011, 3:35 PM
We need to improve Ask a Question section.
Because lots of questions posting in wrong sections by selecting from drop down list.
Members not mentioning which .net framework, windows or web application etc are using in their threads.
Thread
Some time its facing difficulty to give an answer, getting confused what answer to post.
Another one is the subject text box validation, people entering like Help, Help Me etc..
Hoping future release will take care of these..
Suthish NairPosted Mar 28, 2011, 2:02 AM
Who will convert these threads to Articles?
We can merge Point 11 with Point 12, asking the poster to convert it into articles.
We already have sticky threads, i was actually talking about Point 10 (above threads).
For Point 14, we need different icons for Unanswered, Answered (presently this not global, icon viewed
only to member whose post got accepted), Closed, Deleted, Duplicate.
Praveen KumarPosted Mar 28, 2011, 12:27 AM
Not just in forums but on every comment posted by user in articles, blogs etc. Seen many post where user post hate messages in comments.
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 27, 2011, 11:11 PM
Mahesh ChandPosted Mar 27, 2011, 10:55 PM
We have this feature already!
This feature is available to Editor and Admin only. When you post a new thread, there is a CheckBox "Keep on Top". That keeps a thread at the top. I was think in more creative way to make it like Sticky Notes where no matter where you are on the forums, you will see Sticky Threads listing in the Right side bar in a Sticy Notes look and feel :)
I guess we can add this feature when an Editor or Moderator edit a post and make it sticky.
The only problem with Keep on Top is, for users like us, who are on the site 24/7, it gets boring.
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 27, 2011, 10:42 PM
Mahesh ChandPosted Mar 27, 2011, 9:29 PM
Frogleg, can you send me a URL of sticky threads?
Suthish NairPosted Mar 27, 2011, 4:48 PM
Allowing or using above posted threads (like Frogleg said "sticky threads") will more readable to outside
worlds and those looking for assignments with codes (they only needs code
Above threads are 80 - 90 % understandable, i think so.
I don't know how this will effect our website, in a good or bad way.
At least we can say we have College Assignments module/section
These are not articles or blogs or resources, a different room in a house for new comers.
Experienced members can upload there codes also, kind of open source.
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 27, 2011, 4:27 PM
I have in the past suggested the idea of a forum for suggesting / requesting articles. Those threads could be posted as suggestions for articles. Also, I often see articles with a lot of code and very little explanation. It is much easier to post code than it is to post a clear and concise explanation of what the code does and how it works. If the author of the code does not do that, then it would be worthwhile for someone to write another article.
FroglegPosted Mar 27, 2011, 3:49 PM
Quite a few forums have these now and they may seem to stand out more than articles in the left pane
Suthish NairPosted Mar 27, 2011, 1:42 PM
Thread1 Thread2 Thread3
Above threads are so good, will help members those looking for college projects, assignments etc..
But we need to store these threads to a new section or location, so can be easily accessible.
So to an extended we can help those looking for college projects, assignments etc..
Like this we can also have great thread section, which will be selected by Admins, Moderators etc..
Suthish NairPosted Mar 21, 2011, 12:55 PM
I was posting above message on another thread, by mistake saved here.
Mahesh ChandPosted Mar 21, 2011, 12:44 PM
Amit ChoudharyPosted Mar 19, 2011, 12:58 PM
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 16, 2011, 10:35 PM
Mahesh ChandPosted Mar 16, 2011, 8:28 PM
All features have their pros and cons. We just need to find the best solution that works for all.
Andrew:
For points system, I think we need to keep it. But we need to give points only when an answer is accepted. We had a feature "Thumbs Down" and that was for the answers they were bad. But we removed it because it was not working properly. We will put that back and one user can only "Thumbs down" 1 time per post.
Too many thumbs down (say 10) will send a warning message.
We will also make Accept Answer feature more visible and send bunch of remiders.
Raja:
I like your suggestion about Reply Type. A Reply can be a type - Answer, Suggestions, Comment etc. Sometimes I myself and Sam posts suggestions but they are not direct answer to the question.
Tree Structure - This feature is not a good idea because it is very costly. Unless everybody agrees and it adds value! We had this before but having a tree structure on high trafficked website adds lot more processing.
Duplicate Links:
We can make forums smarter. When a user posts a new questions, we can filter similar questions and ask him if this is a duplicate of the previous posts.
Overall good feedback. Let them coming.
In next couple of days, I will compile a complete feature list and we can dicuss what everybody things and we can start implementing them eary next week.
Cheers!
Andrew FensterPosted Mar 16, 2011, 8:06 PM
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 16, 2011, 7:35 PM
Andrew FensterPosted Mar 16, 2011, 7:22 PM
I certainly understand your point. If you spend the time providing an answer, you want some sort of recognition. I've provided about 15 answers now, and only one or two were marked as the approved answer. I find it somewhat frustrating, even though I have no interest in the forum prizes and have no intention of competing for a prize.
Still, the point system doesn't fix this. If anything, it makes it worse. Now I'm not only unappreciated, I'm also losing out on points. It seems like you could reward or recognize the people who are helping with the forum without using a system that encourages people to obsess about their point count.
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 16, 2011, 5:45 PM
Raja: As for a question being made a favorite, this web site makes it relatively easy for anyone to submit an article, so your suggestion for "a good question can become a wiki" has been implemented years ago, except the articles should contain good answers, not good questions.
Suthish NairPosted Mar 16, 2011, 4:58 PM
Lots of new members getting joined. So lots of work for moderators, those who interested in spending time.
The basic points said by Sam and above listing needs to take it into account asap.
Initially when i joined forums that time also they are giving away prizes and i can say better than other communities.
If we going to restructure it with creating much worse than it really is. Most of the members like prizes, thats why they are here.
Raja KrishnamurthyPosted Mar 16, 2011, 4:36 PM
1. Reply to Reply Feature so that it forms a tree structure - If we have a bunch of answers going back and forth then we need a way to specify that we are answering to that particular reply. This visual cue (tree structure) would make it pretty easy for others to follow too.
2. Comment on Reply Feature - We have so many experts who are giving amazing solutions but there are times where they could go wrong on a simple syntax error. Instead of adding another reply if there is a way to comment on a reply then it would be great. This would also be very useful to get clarifications on a question rather than doing a reply.
3. If a question is being made a favorite does the author of that question / post get points? There are cases where a good question can become a wiki. Some open ended discussions like HTML 5 implementation / WCF Performance Tuning Measures etc can be made as wiki.
4. Is there a way to penalize a reply by which the author loses points (-1) - This could be very useful when people give reckless answers.
Hope the above makes sense
Andrew FensterPosted Mar 16, 2011, 4:28 PM
It seems the emphasis on scoring each person's contributions to the forum does more harm than good. The competition for points drives people to answer as many questions as possible, even if they do not know the subject well. Then they follow up to request that their answer be marked as the accepted answer. They get a point for doing this, even though it's annoying. If your moderators start deleting posts from people who are competing for points, you can expect complaints.
I think you should consider putting less emphasis on the whole point competition. You can still hand out prizes, but do it more like the MVP prizes -- let a group of judges decide each month.
As for moderators deleting questions that are spam, advertising, or just plain unintelligible, that seems helpful.
Mahesh ChandPosted Mar 16, 2011, 4:05 PM
The only problem with rules/guidelines is, people just don't read them.
What we can do is, compile a few important rules/guidelines and send them in each Forum notification goes to users when they register, post a question or get a reply. This will be a polite message at the bottom of the notification.
Sam HobbsPosted Mar 16, 2011, 4:02 PM
There are many other suggestions for the forums but since you are limiting this to just those that are related to moderators, some suggestions I haved made in the past are that we need forum rules and for the rules to be visible and/or accessible. Also we need to have a way to conveniently reference (using a link or a rule number or whatever) a rule, such as no duplicate posts. The rules don't need to be called rules; some of the guidelines could be "First look for relevant articles in the web site", "Be specific", "Ask about only one thing per thread" and "Try to reduce your code to the minimum required to reproduce the problem". I think the need for moderations can be reduced if the rules can be made more clear and one of the rules is that members are requested to (politely) remind other members of the rules when relevant. It is important that it is clear that moderators or other members are expected to request compliance. You must expect some people to get ugly without that.