Default Filter DW

[alan.davies]

Why do I always get the default filter of recommended every time I open dw? I am quite capable of decidling if I want a filter or not. How can I turn it off?

[gentlemedia]

I agree! Changing the filter could be stored in a cookie or an option to set it somewhere in the user control panel.

[Dani]

This was previously answered in another thread.

No, and that's by design. It's in response to the sheer amount of feedback we've gotten lately about the overwhelming low quality of content. It seems almost as if each time someone sees low quality content, it's one step closer to being fed up with DaniWeb.

I decided to go the route of Quora or Reddit or all the other non-Q&A based communities out there, or even Stack Overflow, where it's quality content by default, and only the most hardcore users have to seek to pull the feed of all content. You can vote up content from the all content feed for it to appear in the default quality content feeds that everyone sees.

[Reverend Jim]

I have a folder on my bookmark bar with shortcuts (filters disabled) to the main forums. Just disable the filter and save the URL.

[Dani]

I find it perplexing and intriguing that the exact same people who have spent the recent year(s) complaining about how frustrating is that they have to sift through low quality content to find any interesting threads worth responding to, are now unhappy with the filtering out of low quality content from the default feeds.

[alan.davies]

I find it perplexing and intriguing that the exact same people who have spent the recent year(s) complaining about how frustrating is that they have to sift through low quality content to find any interesting threads worth responding to, are now unhappy with the filtering out of low quality content from the default feeds.

OK few points here. I complained about necroposting and spam. This is not the same. My default filter stopped me viewing 3 new threads that were not that low quality. If the filter did what I wanted, fair enough, but it doesn't. Your idea and my idea of recommended may be different. Why can't my preference for filter or no filter stick even in the same session? It seems to reset to default filter on every revisit to a forum. It's starting to spoil my experience. The refit is nice in general, but this I could do without. Bookmarking is a good intermediate fix, but it shouldn't be necessary IMO.

[Dani]

Upon further thought, the Recommended filter for forums should be relabeled something like Featured or Trending because, unlike the homepage or your personalized recommended articles feed, they aren’t pulled from any type of sophisticated algorithm targeted for you.

Instead, what we’re doing is pulling all content that has received at least one upvote. The idea is to do what reddit does where there is a firehose of all content, in which the mods and power users vote up the non-shitty stuff, which is what everyone sees by default. you have to specifically look for the firehose and anything can end up in the main feed once it’s voted on.

It’s also a bit of a new revenue stream for me because sponsored articles appear in the feed by default, while non-sponsored articles have to be voted up by someone before they appear. I’ve been struggling trying to find replacement revenue to banner ads.

[Reverend Jim]

I second what Alan said. Complaining about the number of low quality posts is not the same thing as wanting them hidden. I just want people to stop posting them, so as I moderator I find it necessary to take people to task for making these posts. Obviously I can't do that if I can't see them. It's easy enough to sort them out visually when they have titles that are taken directly from assignments.

Having said that, I don't see why there can't be a user setting for a default filetr state of on or off.

[Dani]

So are you saying your primary reason for not wanting them hidden is for ease of moderation? Why not simply use the Latest Topics from the homepage then? Or Latest Posts in the sidebar? I'm trying to get to the root of your motivation so I can make sure I'm making the right decision for everyone.

Because, if your primary motivation is, indeed, moderation, then something that would help much more immensely is to use the Latest Posts feed in the sidebar: https://www.daniweb.com/posts/index/0

From that page, you can delete posts that are spammy, and upvote posts that look to be quality. This will ensure that all DaniWeb members always see every possible high quality post by default, and poor quality and spam will be weeded out for the masses.

[happygeek]

I'd pick up on, and validate, what Dani has said in that last comment to be honest. From my own perspective, I don't really worry too much about what is being displayed on the new home page as I'm more interested in seeing what's new - so my first action on firing DaniWeb up is to hit the hamburger and load the latest posts view. I can see where everyoone is coming from, but I think that the home page view and the latest posts view (or any of the other views) are chalk and cheese: the former is for newbies/visitors/general audience and needed to help generate the revenue that's required if DaniWeb is to survive, the latter is for advanced/veteran users who know what they are looking for and aren't afraid to use the available tools in order to go find them. I suspect if the home page view had been called 'trending' from the get go, rather than 'recommended' then this particular conversation might not have been taking place. Isn't this more about semantics than practicalities?

[alan.davies]

Isn't this more about semantics than practicalities?

Not for me. Ignore me as an irrelevance, but it bugs the crap out of me that even after I remove the filter and come back tot he same page a minute later, there it is, back like a bad smell. I just want to be able to switch the darn thing off. I dont use reddit or that type of site so I'm not familiar with the de rigeur. If everybody else is happy with it, fine, it just doesn't work for me. AN example - see images.

Img1: Webdev > Latest posts take me to this page (see filter default Img2)
Img3: Webdev > Latest posts with filter removed (some usefulish posts I wouldn't necessarily have seen)
Img4: Breadcrumb back to Webdev shows url as being filtered once more. So I have to go through the whole rigamarol of removing the blasted filter again.

Simply - bored with it.

[Dani]

I think your statement that "dont use reddit or that type of site so I'm not familiar with the de rigeur" is worth noting. DaniWeb, and all other tech forums, have lost nearly all their SEO traffic to Stack Overflow, but they've lost their community growth to community sites like Reddit, Quora, and Gitter, because that's where millennials go nowadays. In order remain a functioning business, it's important to keep up with the times, and part of that means having functionality that is familiar to people who do go to those sites.

[Dani]

I'm not saying that our current solution is the best, but if you were to approach me with a comment such as, "Gitter just recently introduced this new navigation method that seems to resonate with a lot of people, and I think it might have great results here as well," then that's something different. The idea of, "We should keep the same consistent behavior of all forums in the 2000s and early 2010s because it's easy, familiar and makes sense" just doesn't work at some point, when all millennials have jumped ship to bigger and better things.

[alan.davies]

I get the feeling that I've touched a nerve here Dani. I don't want the same as before because that wasn't working and I originally left due to the site being dead in all but name, so I recognise the issue. However, I thought I'd bring the issue to your attention as it is a feature that's pissing me off - can't speak for anybody else. Everybody else in their millennial clowncar can lap it up to their hearts content, he he.

[Reverend Jim]

use the Latest Posts feed in the sidebar

Well sure. If I'd thought of doing that (DOH!)

[alan.davies]

Just a reply to the sidebar comment. Latest posts from sidebar gets you the filtered list again.

[Dani]

I'm referring to "Latest Posts" in the sidebar, shown right above the top list.

[Dani]

I get the feeling that I've touched a nerve here Dani.

I'm not offended by any means. I also don't mean to come across as if I know what's best. However, on one hand, I've been hearing from everyone, including all the regulars, that they're fed up with having to sift through low quality content. On the other hand, I have my boyfriend, who is a diehard Reddit fanboy, take one glance at DaniWeb while I was working on the new design, and spit out, "Why are you showing all this? Why is this not filtered? I expect it to always be filtered. Here, like this ..." and goes on to show me a handful of popular community tech sites. Basically he proved to me that, not only do millennials want filtered results, but they expect it. By not having it filtered, he was actually confused as to what he was looking at. He thought he was looking at the firehose, which he equates to being useful for moderators and power users only, who sift through the firehose for the sole purpose of voting up content for everyone else to see.

[Reverend Jim]

So when I am combing through the fluff and I come across a legit question and upvote it, even anonymously, it helps everyone else?

[Dani]

Yes!

DaniWeb relies on people like you to comb through the fluff, so that everyone doesn't have to.

[Dani]

Davey, we wouldn’t be one of the first to do things this way. This concept is very trendy now, and millennials actually expect it. If they go to a community site and have to comb through the fluff on their own, it’s a major turnoff. They expect it to have been done already.

[Reverend Jim]

Yeah. Everything served up on a platter requiring no effort except reading.

But I'm not bitter ^_^

[Dani]

A comment on millennials, Jim? ;)

[alan.davies]

Not as a group. Just the whiny, entitled ones.

The difference being? heh heh

[Dani]

I think it’s more of a comment on the Internet now ... it’s matured to a place where website visitors can afford to be demanding, and expect ease of use and instant gratification, and websites need to keep up or be thrown aside.

[Reverend Jim]

I wish that were true for TV. It matured and we ended up with Real Housewives, Jerry Springer, Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo.

[happygeek]

we wouldn’t be one of the first to do things this way

Appreciate that, I meant that "DaniWeb: combing through the tech support fluff so you don't have to" makes a good marketing slogan regardless....

[JamesCherrill]

I've just understood what this topic is all about!
I've been monitoring the Programming forum regularly, but there's nothing Java going on.
Then this morning I randomly tried looking at the generic Latest Posts and there, at the top, is a sensible Java question, with the user showing what they have done so far, posted in the Programming forum, tagged Java.
SO I went back to the Programming forum and it's not there.

After reading this topic I now understand that DaniWeb has been defaulting to hiding this post from me.
It's mad, simply mad.

[JamesCherrill]

what we’re doing is pulling all content that has received at least one upvote

Ahah! So people don't see content until people have seen it and upvoted it.

DaniWeb relies on people like you to comb through the fluff, so that everyone doesn't have to.

And you hope that moderators will now take on the job of classifying all new content to get round the problems created by that ridiculous filter rule? Are you taking the piss? I'm here to answer questions and to prevent material that could damage DaniWeb. If you want an admin clerk then employ one, don't insult your moderators.

I get the point about featuring quality content, but until you have some vaguely sensible way to define "quality content" then you should put it back in the R&D box and not screw up the live system.

[Dani]

And you hope that moderators will now take on the job of classifying all new content to get round the problems created by that ridiculous filter rule?

I'm not forcing any additional work on the moderation team. I'm simply implementing what every other current community-based site is doing nowadays, which is putting a community-based filter in place. Everyone has the ability to vote on posts, and those votes now help us filter our content.

I'm here to answer questions and to prevent material that could damage DaniWeb.

But don't you see how not filtering out the content has done serious damage to DaniWeb over the past couple of years, since all other community-based sites do employ community-based filtering, and by not doing it, we have been damaged by horrible first impressions, and people frustrated they have to sift through bad quality content? What's the difference, from the perspective of someone's first impression to the site, whether they have to sift through low quality content to find something that interests them, or blatant spam to find something that interests them?