Post-reaction notification forum navigation for dummies

[Slav Power]

It seems that people have genuine concerns about the usability of the site being worse due to the recent changes, and I'd like to show some simple ways of adapting to the current situation with simple visual aids for both desktop and mobile users.

Problem #1: Reactions as a way to keep track of post activity.

This is still doable and it doesn't take much effort. Simply click on your profile image on the front page and click the "Reactions received" button.

Now you can look at which reactions you've recently received and you can filter which reactions you want to see. A minor inconvenience by adding one more click in the process. Pro tip: if you choose the "Your content" option from the dropdown menu instead, you'll see a list of your recent posts if you want to keep track of that too.

Problem #2: Looking up the post to which a user reacted to view it's reactions.

Another simple solution. Once you open the reaction list, simply click the "your post" hyperlink and then click the reaction list below your post.

This way you can still track engagement of your posts with ease. The only real difference is that now you need to do one more click and you won't get instantly notified every time someone left a reaction on your post.

However, there is a better way to keep track of threads you like. This function is called "Watch threads". To watch a thread, it's very simple. You open a thread you like, and on top of it there will be a button that you can click to start watching a thread.

Now you will get notifications whenever there's new activity in the thread, but you can always disable those and simply scroll down a bit to see the list of watched threads. The ones that had recent activity will show up on top, so you can follow your favorite threads at your own pace.

If you want to look at the full list of all the threads you're watching, for example if you're following too many threads for them to reliably fit on the front page widget, or you want to manage them easily, you can view them this way:

As you can see, you still have plenty of ways to engage with the forum and keep track of everything that's happening. All it takes is the minimal levels of effort and learning the features that exist in the forum software. The removal of reaction notifications is only minimally detrimental to the browsing quality of the site, since as you can see there are other ways to do what people have used the reaction notifications for.

 

[The Gene Genie]

Thanks, I was looking for something like this.

 

[Grub]

In what way is all that better than just clicking a single icon in the corner of the screen that kept track of all that shit without having to leave the current page?

 

[The Blue Morpho]

In what way is all that better than just clicking a single icon in the corner of the screen that kept track of all that shit without having to leave the current page?

It isn't but Linux users are used to doing silly extraneous pointless things for basic usability

 

[Grub]

It isn't but Linux users are used to doing silly extraneous pointless things for basic usability

I use Linux. I set my desktop up to be as easy to use as possible because I enjoy doing things on the computer not using the computer itself.

 

[Slav Power]

In what way is all that better than just clicking a single icon in the corner of the screen that kept track of all that shit without having to leave the current page?

I understand that it was better when you had reaction notifications, and when you posted something in a featured thread where you were getting dozens of reaction notifications about this single post was better for keeping track of forum activity?

To me that just seems counterintuitive, because your notifications end up favorizing a single post of yours that gets excessive engagement instead of actual replies, and from what I understand it's the site usability and keeping track of forum threads that's the reason people are upset, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding something.

 

[Grub]

from what I understand it's the site usability and keeping track of forum threads that's the reason people are upset, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding something.

Adding extra steps to something that only took one step before decreases usability no matter what it is.

 

[Slav Power]

Adding extra steps to something that only took one step before decreases usability no matter what it is.

Answer this:

I understand that it was better when you had reaction notifications, and when you posted something in a featured thread where you were getting dozens of reaction notifications about this single post was better for keeping track of forum activity?

Was this a better system in your opinion?

 

[Chongqing]

Was this a better system in your opinion?

That's exactly what I want, to a T.

I'm not a fan of these changes.

 

[Slav Power]

That's exactly what I want, to a T.

Why? Be honest.

 

[Chongqing]

Why? Be honest.

I like to see all of the reactions.

It helps show me what's relevant to people and makes me feel like I'm part of a community. Like when some a&n comment I made months ago resurges and people are suddenly responding a lot to it, that's interesting and eye opening to me, to see what the masses are reading.

There's kind of a rush sometimes. That, "what the hell?" type of confusion. One time me and some other random user got into a spirited discussion about cart narcs. Null featured it and when I logged in I think there were hundreds of reactions. That was an experience.

For me, reactions to posts kind of feel like a slot machine paying out. When people disagree with me or think I'm dumb, I feel like I've lost the gamble. But when there are lots of positive reactions, I feel like I've won the gamble. When I see lots of reactions for one post, it's like a jackpot or something.

Sorry, I know how lame this sounds.

 

[Harvey Danger]

Solution to problem 1: takes 2 clicks instead of 1
Solution to problem 2: takes 4 clicks instead of 1 (or 4 instead of 3, if your notifications are cluttered)
Watched thread solution: takes multiple clicks to get completely different information than the 1 click previously provided

Conclusion: this is objectively less efficient, and anyone who thinks this method is an improvement is a retarded nigger

We're up to 90 pages now in the sticker notifications thread of people pointing out the existing functionality is a worse UX, and slower, and doesn't provide the same level or speed of feedback. And the response is always "here's how you use it though". That is not a response. That's reddit-tier point-missing, an assumption that you are the big brained fedora wearer holding the secret info that will enlighten the ignorant masses. You're answering questions nobody had.

For the 10 millionth time, the problem is not that no functionality exists, the problem is it exists in a worse way than what we previously had.

 

[Slav Power]

Solution to problem 1: takes 2 clicks instead of 1
Solution to problem 2: takes 4 clicks instead of 1 (or 4 instead of 3, if your notifications are cluttered)
Watched thread solution: takes multiple clicks to get completely different information than the 1 click previously provided

Conclusion: this is objectively less efficient, and anyone who thinks this method is an improvement is a retarded nigger

We're up to 90 pages now in the sticker notifications thread of people pointing out the existing functionality is a worse UX, and slower, and doesn't provide the same level or speed of feedback. And the response is always "here's how you use it though". That is not a response. That's reddit-tier point-missing, an assumption that you are the big brained fedora wearer holding the secret info that will enlighten the ignorant masses. You're answering questions nobody had.

For the 10 millionth time, the problem is not that no functionality exists, the problem is it exists in a worse way than what we previously had.

Okay, so if Null implemented a dropdown menu right next to the notifications that opens up the reaction list, where you'd essentially have a dedicated notification section for reactions, and it would take one click to look at your reactions, and two clicks to open the relevant post, that would absolve all the issues with the reaction notifications being gone?

@Null Perhaps this is something that could be implemented if this is the main UX concern people have with the current system. Seems like the perfect compromise. Have the "reactions received" list as a little pop-up iframe right next to the notifications. What do you think?

 

[Lurker]

Okay, so if Null implemented a dropdown menu right next to the notifications that opens up the reaction list, where you'd essentially have a dedicated notification section for reactions, and it would take one click to look at your reactions, and two clicks to open the relevant post, that would absolve all the issues with the reaction notifications being gone?

@Null Perhaps this is something that could be implemented if this is the main UX concern people have with the current system. Seems like the perfect compromise. Have the "reactions received" list as a little pop-up iframe right next to the notifications. What do you think?

wouldn't that still defeat the purpose of what null's trying to do

 

[Slav Power]

wouldn't that still defeat the purpose of what null's trying to do

If the only real issue people have with the lack of reaction notifications, and judging by the replies in this thread and the reaction notification poll thread this really is the only issue people have with the lack of reaction notifications, then obviously by making it a tad bit easier to look at your reaction list this entire issue would be solved.

Clearly there no other underlying issues people have with this change so it's worth a try to see if it'll be a satisfying compromise.

 

[Harvey Danger]

Okay, so if Null implemented a dropdown menu right next to the notifications that opens up the reaction list, where you'd essentially have a dedicated notification section for reactions, and it would take one click to look at your reactions, and two clicks to open the relevant post, that would absolve all the issues with the reaction notifications being gone?

How is that any different from having the old notifications system?

If you're splitting out notifs into Reactions and "everything else", you're probably not using the multiple notification settings correctly. Either you care about reaction notifs, or you don't, or you want to see them separately with a different click; there's functions for all 3 cases, but Null nuked the first one.

And no, I wouldn't ask him to develop a new feature like that. It's a waste of time, and it goes against what he's explicitly complained about, that people are somehow using the forum in wrong brain-damaged ways when they see sticker notifications. Putting them in a separate dropdown doesn't fix his "problem".

 

[Slav Power]

How is that any different from having the old notifications system?

If you're splitting out notifs into Reactions and "everything else", you're probably not using the multiple notification settings correctly. Either you care about reaction notifs, or you don't, or you want to see them separately with a different click; there's functions for all 3 cases, but Null nuked the first one.

And no, I wouldn't ask him to develop a new feature like that. It's a waste of time, and it goes against what he's explicitly complained about, that people are somehow using the forum in wrong brain-damaged ways when they see sticker notifications. Putting them in a separate dropdown doesn't fix his "problem".

Right now I am speaking about the issue the users have. And from what I understand, the issue is not that people can't see their reactions, because when presented with a solution to that problem now the issue is that it takes additional clicks to reach the reaction list. So this seems like the best compromise as far as user experience go.

Obviously, as the other thread has told me, it's not about "dopamine releases" and that it's a gaslight, and people only cared about the reaction notifications for the sake of easy activity following. With them gone, now they have to do one additional click to see their reactions that they solely use for keeping track of discussions, so by having it as an easily accessible list with the minimal amount of clicks would solve the only valid complaint people seem to currently have, which is UX design.

I think this is a perfectly valid idea and it should be implemented even temporarily to see if this is truly what people wanted or not.

 

[Harvey Danger]

I think this is a perfectly valid idea and it should be implemented even temporarily to see if this is truly what people wanted or not.

It's valid because it's the old way of doing things. Even so it's still extra steps, because with a 2nd box you need to click twice, once to see sticker notifs and once for quote/watched thread notifs, whereas before you got both with 1 click.

It's better than current system, it's worse than old system, and it doesn't address what Null says is the "problem". Why bother?

 

[Sneed's Feed And Seed]

Getting a reaction gives a rush of dopamine. We are all drug-addicted monkeys behind the keyboard. Do the fucking math.

 

[Slav Power]

Getting a reaction gives a rush of dopamine. We are all drug-addicted monkeys behind the keyboard. Do the fucking math.

I was told that this is a gaslight and that the actual reason why people are mad is the lack of easy way to keep track of the activity your posts have to know if some old posts of yours are gaining traction again.

Are you telling me that all of it was an excuse to try and persuade Null into bringing back "dopamine boosters" and the gaslight was always the activity monitor excuse?