Cross Pollination, Content Awareness, better User Experience
Discussion
Been meaning to suggest this for years, but never did. I dont know if anything similar has been suggested before, but I don't read this forum, nor do I read PH as much as I used to. If a repost, apologies:
Before the P&P broke up, I considered it an 'effort' to browse around, as do others, looking for interesting threads. So I didn't bother (much). I will also add that I have set up my "Whats new" to reflect two dozen forums which Im interested in. You dont need to run a poll to determine that people by their nature, prefer to be shown good content, rather than having to search for it.
An intelligent system can actually fix this problem, using very basic implementation:
Why not create space for 3 or 5 extra threads at the very top of The Lounge (and other forums).
Threads are loaded randomly into these spaces, chosen from a "pre-determined selection" of threads across PH.
The best way to define the "selection" of threads, is to:
1) Associate forums within PH with these empty spaces. ie, associate all forums, except perhaps the regional forums (for example). And,
2) Assign each thread a popularity variable, which evolves in PH time, for example: Number of posts divided by age of thread in hours.
Threads which are interesting grow fastest.
The threads which are currently growing fastest become part of the "selection"
Of the top 100 threads across the whole of PH, 5 from the "selection" are loaded at random into the top 5 spaces of the P&P.
This will creates deep link from one area of PH, ie The Lounge, into all other areas of PH, driving traffic from PH to PH, increasing page views, and would have a positive impact upon advertisers, and the general spread of traffic across the whole site.
Another obvious benefits is user experience. Users will be enticed into areas (repeatedly) which they may not have been before, areas which may grow on them, and will be introduced to content which they would have been completely unaware of. Automatically.
The same model could be applied to other areas. For example, the top 3 spaces in "General TVR Gassing" might pull in thread titles from the Wedge, Cerbera, S and Tuscan (etc) areas, helping to cross polinate the user experience, and helping flag up interesting content, which users would have otherwise missed.
I have never, ever read the wedge forum. But if top threads were flagged up in another similar forum, I would certainly check them out. I dont even read general TVR gassing, but if a new thread currently growing there was technically one of the "top threads" on PH, I would want to know about it. And it would be fantastic, if whilst reading about bikes or food, that this thread auto-loaded at the top of the page. I have never been in the bike forum, but suspect there are several hundred "great threads" which Id have enjoyed, had I been lured there, by methods other than someone creating a link elsewhere on PH.
Whilst unique visitor count wont increase, implemented properly, page views could rise significantly.
Now that the P&P has been broken up, I see this as an absolute necessity, rather than the "nice addition" it would have been, several years ago.
If anyone likes the idea, one step further might be as follows:
Of the top three threads in General TVR gassing, two are populated with random "popular threads" from the other TVR forums.
The very Top thread however, might be a random thread from the "popular selection" which could be pulled in from absolutely any area of PH. Including the computer, food, or photography areas. This will encourage interaction and exploration.
It would be nice, whilst browsing the food forum, to be made aware of breaking news, or something dramatic, which is going on elsewhere on PH.
I believe this is the solution you need, for a number of reasons, and will only have positive repercussions for everyone across PH as a whole.
Your internal linking strategy is the best method of helping PH page view counts, ad clicks, exploration, re-vistation of newly discovered grounds etc. At the moment the links are all there, but there doesnt seem to be much of a strategy in place.
Again, if this idea is a repost, my apologies. The system isn't currently in place, and Ive been meaning to suggest it for years.
Comments, anyone?
Before the P&P broke up, I considered it an 'effort' to browse around, as do others, looking for interesting threads. So I didn't bother (much). I will also add that I have set up my "Whats new" to reflect two dozen forums which Im interested in. You dont need to run a poll to determine that people by their nature, prefer to be shown good content, rather than having to search for it.
An intelligent system can actually fix this problem, using very basic implementation:
Why not create space for 3 or 5 extra threads at the very top of The Lounge (and other forums).
Threads are loaded randomly into these spaces, chosen from a "pre-determined selection" of threads across PH.
The best way to define the "selection" of threads, is to:
1) Associate forums within PH with these empty spaces. ie, associate all forums, except perhaps the regional forums (for example). And,
2) Assign each thread a popularity variable, which evolves in PH time, for example: Number of posts divided by age of thread in hours.
Threads which are interesting grow fastest.
The threads which are currently growing fastest become part of the "selection"
Of the top 100 threads across the whole of PH, 5 from the "selection" are loaded at random into the top 5 spaces of the P&P.
This will creates deep link from one area of PH, ie The Lounge, into all other areas of PH, driving traffic from PH to PH, increasing page views, and would have a positive impact upon advertisers, and the general spread of traffic across the whole site.
Another obvious benefits is user experience. Users will be enticed into areas (repeatedly) which they may not have been before, areas which may grow on them, and will be introduced to content which they would have been completely unaware of. Automatically.
The same model could be applied to other areas. For example, the top 3 spaces in "General TVR Gassing" might pull in thread titles from the Wedge, Cerbera, S and Tuscan (etc) areas, helping to cross polinate the user experience, and helping flag up interesting content, which users would have otherwise missed.
I have never, ever read the wedge forum. But if top threads were flagged up in another similar forum, I would certainly check them out. I dont even read general TVR gassing, but if a new thread currently growing there was technically one of the "top threads" on PH, I would want to know about it. And it would be fantastic, if whilst reading about bikes or food, that this thread auto-loaded at the top of the page. I have never been in the bike forum, but suspect there are several hundred "great threads" which Id have enjoyed, had I been lured there, by methods other than someone creating a link elsewhere on PH.
Whilst unique visitor count wont increase, implemented properly, page views could rise significantly.
Now that the P&P has been broken up, I see this as an absolute necessity, rather than the "nice addition" it would have been, several years ago.
If anyone likes the idea, one step further might be as follows:
Of the top three threads in General TVR gassing, two are populated with random "popular threads" from the other TVR forums.
The very Top thread however, might be a random thread from the "popular selection" which could be pulled in from absolutely any area of PH. Including the computer, food, or photography areas. This will encourage interaction and exploration.
It would be nice, whilst browsing the food forum, to be made aware of breaking news, or something dramatic, which is going on elsewhere on PH.
I believe this is the solution you need, for a number of reasons, and will only have positive repercussions for everyone across PH as a whole.
Your internal linking strategy is the best method of helping PH page view counts, ad clicks, exploration, re-vistation of newly discovered grounds etc. At the moment the links are all there, but there doesnt seem to be much of a strategy in place.
Again, if this idea is a repost, my apologies. The system isn't currently in place, and Ive been meaning to suggest it for years.
Comments, anyone?
Edited by Mobsta on Saturday 18th April 20:57
It sounds a good idea in essence. I thought one reason for the redesign was to get rid of NSFW stuff and nasty people. I have seen popular threads that contain NSFW subject matter and racist opinions. How does the current system and your proposed system eliminate this type of thing when 'popular' and 'NSFW' can coexist in a thread? See my idea of reverting to the old P&P and allowing a thread to be automatically locked if an amount of people register it as offensive. Hopefully we can trust ourselves to act like adults and not vote simply because we had an axe to grind with the OP and so on.
KANEIT said:
It sounds a good idea in essence. I thought one reason for the redesign was to get rid of NSFW stuff and nasty people. I have seen popular threads that contain NSFW subject matter and racist opinions. How does the current system and your proposed system eliminate this type of thing when 'popular' and 'NSFW' can coexist in a thread? See my idea of reverting to the old P&P and allowing a thread to be automatically locked if an amount of people register it as offensive. Hopefully we can trust ourselves to act like adults and not vote simply because we had an axe to grind with the OP and so on.
The NSFW issue is a different matter which would need to be addressed separately.My post relates to a problem that (I felt) was there BEFORE the P&P broke up.
Too many posts, and too many different forum areas.
And re: The "Whats new" feature?
Great! But in terms of ingenuity, its very 1990's
Users can browse through everything which is new. Wonderful. Its not that they "can" though, its that the "have to!" - big difference. Hence the unrest.
At this moment in time, if you want to see what is new in the last 5 minutes, you need to read through roughly 20 thread titles. Too much for the user.
PH is ahead of the game, due to its size. Pat on the back etc.
PH needs to stay ahead of the game, by implementing new, better and more dynamic functionality.
Web users like Good (qualified) content handed to them on a plate:
YouTube and Ebay present users with content they like, by simple analysis of the users viewing and buying trends.
Stumbleupon and Reddit (never used either) present users with qualified content based on popularity.
PH currently has no intelligent functionality which feeds users content in any manner other than in old-hat static list format, which users have to engage. And skimming them ALL isnt very engaging.
I prefer the new system (vs the old P&P) and would rather it remained.
But more changes (imho) are needed.
Why NOT feed qualified thread titles (on post popularity) into the top position in every forum area? To spread things around.
There are 100 thing which could be implemented, in addition to the above. Like a "top 100 threads" section, based on viewcount/thread age.
Your idea is a good one, but it doesnt solve the fact that content is still shoved away and out of sight from everyone else. I will never, ever read or even step into TWO DOZEN various forum areas here. But I would like to be notified of "hot content"
re: your "thread closed if X number of people are offended" idea - its good too. Perhaps tweaked to function as: "Thread closed if X% of users are offended, after a minimum of Y votes, ie 20+"
Bottom line, in my opinion: PH is great, well done Ted et all for getting it to where it is. It now needs a level of basic intelligence to feed users content, now that everything is compartmentalised.
Thanks for your comment.
Garlick said:
Thanks for a great post, I'm amazed you've managed to keep it quiet for so long 
We'll have a look at this on Monday, and i'll let you know what happens after we've discussed it.
I had far more important rubbish and drivel to slop around the PH decks We'll have a look at this on Monday, and i'll let you know what happens after we've discussed it.
Thanks for the kind words, I hope your web 2.0 discussions go well.
Sounds good. In your example of linking to threads in other forums in the TVR subforum, you could link into that spot using TVR-related keywords (make, model, etc). It'd be a bit hit and miss but slightly more relevant than just random thread selection. Could be a bit of server load but the PH guys seem to be on top of that stuff
zac510 said:
Sounds good. In your example of linking to threads in other forums in the TVR subforum, you could link into that spot using TVR-related keywords (make, model, etc). It'd be a bit hit and miss but slightly more relevant than just random thread selection. Could be a bit of server load but the PH guys seem to be on top of that stuff
The random selection would (in my example) be a random choice of "the most popular threads" not just a completely random choice.Different areas of PH could utilise this model slightly differently, by pulling content in from all areas, or only select areas of ph. Or both (ie two top slots for related areas, one top slot for content from non-related area)
Keywords analysis alone wouldn't help promote qualified (good) content across the forums, its too random.
By randomly loading popular content from one forum area into another, there is one more obvious benefit relating to content awareness - the more users are made aware of good content they were previously unaware of, the more likely they are to link to those pages, from the discussions they are having on other websites/forums. Many PHers often do link (from other sites) to conversations happening on PH, once they become aware of the threads on PH.
Ahem... I'll leave it there shall I.
Gassing Station | Website Feedback | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff