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Revival of old forum threads vs. archive function
Thread poster: Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
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TOPIC STARTER
Yes, it illustrates the point Apr 14, 2010

Paul Dixon wrote:

I would like to inform Katalin that my posting to the 2001 thread was indeed to illustrate the point.


Yes, it illustrates the point perfectly. Look at the posting that is the third after yours. He did not realize that he was quoting and responding to (by stating it contained incorrect information) a posting that is 10 years old.

By the way, the decision about the BrowniZ-quoting was announced and discussed and debated along with other membership benefits quite extensively in another, much more recent thread:
http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_job_systems/152417-quoting_with_browniz_points_will_not_be_possible_after_january_1_2010.html


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
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Jared - the forum search seems to be incorrect Apr 14, 2010

Jared,
You raised an interesting point about WHY those old threads get revived and whether it is possible that the old threads are the ones that people find first when they search.
You know what, I just checked, and indeed this seems to be the case.

This is what I tried:... See more
Jared,
You raised an interesting point about WHY those old threads get revived and whether it is possible that the old threads are the ones that people find first when they search.
You know what, I just checked, and indeed this seems to be the case.

This is what I tried:
I used the Advanced search:
http://www.proz.com/?sp=forum&action=SearchForum&advanced=y

Then I entered "benefits" to the "Keyword(s)" field, then hit Enter with all others left as the default setting.
The default setting for "Sort by" is "Relevancy" and the list starts with a post from 2001, and it seems to go in ascending chronological order. The very last post listed on the list of the 2002 matches points to this thread.
Then I changed the setting for "Sort by" to "Date", and voila!, I got the same matches, in reverse chronological order, the latest post (this one) first.
I have no idea how the "Relevance" sorting supposed to work, but to me it seems just a simple chronological list, starting with the oldest post.
This does not make sense to me.

Could you check on the algorithm whether the sorting and display is working the way it is intended?
I have not checked with multiple keywords, maybe there is a difference then, and the "Relevance" listing would make sense, but I think the newest postings that are relevant to the search should be listed first, instead of the oldest ones.

In any case, if there is only one search word, there is not much to say about relevancy, the sorting order should default to "Date", and display the freshest matches first.
Do you agree?

Another problem I noticed is that the search does not work well for poster name. I noticed it at a few times, but I just assumed I mistyped the name or something. Now I tested it, I tried my first name, and got a long list, but when I tried my last name or my middle name or my full name, they brought up nothing. This is definitely an error.

Katalin

[Edited at 2010-04-14 23:26 GMT]
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Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
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To Katalin Apr 14, 2010

Yes, indeed - but three people have had the chance to discuss a matter that had been forgotten.

I think the proposed warning would work fine, but not locking files (or "archiving" as used here). This way, people who wished to contribute would be able to, fully aware of the file's age. Incidentally, I always read the previous posts before making my own contribution.

Regarding the issue of BrowniZ payments, I am aware of the more recent thread and indeed made a contributi
... See more
Yes, indeed - but three people have had the chance to discuss a matter that had been forgotten.

I think the proposed warning would work fine, but not locking files (or "archiving" as used here). This way, people who wished to contribute would be able to, fully aware of the file's age. Incidentally, I always read the previous posts before making my own contribution.

Regarding the issue of BrowniZ payments, I am aware of the more recent thread and indeed made a contribution to it. I just used this case as an example of "ProZ has changed for better or worse", giving one change I agree with (introduction of partial memberships) and one I oppose (no payment for quotes through BrowniZ).
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Samuel Murray
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A counter-suggestion Apr 15, 2010

Katalin Horvath McClure wrote:
I think it would be a useful function to warn the poster if the thread he/she is about to post to is old, to make sure he/she really wants to revive that old thread.


I have no objection to being warned that a thread is stale or that the last post was X number of years ago, but I have no objection to reviving old threads either.

What I do have a problem with is when I myself answer in such a thread, not realising that I had already answered several years go (and sometimes given the exact same answer). What I would find nice is that when you reply to a thread, there should be a message at the top saying "Your previous reply in this thread was on 1 April 2009" with a clickable link to your post, to prevent helpful but not too terribly observant people (like me) from posting unnecessarily.

Would that satisfy your need?


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
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Samuel, whom are you asking? Apr 15, 2010

Would that satisfy your need?


Whom are you asking, Samuel?


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
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Whom Apr 15, 2010

Katalin Horvath McClure wrote:
Would that satisfy your need?

Whom are you asking, Samuel?


My post quoted you, so I was asking you. But I think that my suggestion (though still good) may not be exactly what you're looking for, because in your later posts you mention the scenario in which people do forum searches and end up replying to very old discussions. In those situations, the person reopening the discussion may not actually have posted in it previously.


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
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To Sam Apr 15, 2010

If you asked me: "Would that satisfy your need?", then my answer is:
I don't have a "need".
I made a suggestion (actually two), but it is not based on any sort of "need".

And your suggestion is completely different.
By the way, I noticed the screen when I posted in this thread said (blue letters on top of the input area): "Number of times you have posted so far in this thread: ..."
I am not sure whether this is a new function, or if it works only for the thre
... See more
If you asked me: "Would that satisfy your need?", then my answer is:
I don't have a "need".
I made a suggestion (actually two), but it is not based on any sort of "need".

And your suggestion is completely different.
By the way, I noticed the screen when I posted in this thread said (blue letters on top of the input area): "Number of times you have posted so far in this thread: ..."
I am not sure whether this is a new function, or if it works only for the thread starter, because I don't remember seeing this before.
If this function works for all thread posters, that may satisfy your "need"?
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
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I've seen it too Apr 16, 2010

Katalin Horvath McClure wrote:
If you asked me: "Would that satisfy your need?", then my answer is:
I don't have a "need".


Does "need" have a meaning in your country that it doesn't have in mine, perhaps?

By the way, I noticed the screen when I posted in this thread said (blue letters on top of the input area): "Number of times you have posted so far in this thread: ..." I am not sure whether this is a new function, or if it works only for the thread starter, because I don't remember seeing this before.


I've seen it too, but I've only seen it in threads that I started, and only once I hit a certain limit (5 posts, I think). My logic tells me this would apply to all thread posters, but there's no way of knowing unless someone tests it.

Wait... let me test it.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
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Test 1 Apr 16, 2010

Samuel Murray wrote:
By the way, I noticed the screen when I posted in this thread said (blue letters on top of the input area): "Number of times you have posted so far in this thread: ..." I am not sure whether this is a new function, or if it works only for the thread starter, because I don't remember seeing this before.

My logic tells me this would apply to all thread posters, but there's no way of knowing unless someone tests it.

Wait... let me test it.


Test 1...


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
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Test 2 Apr 16, 2010

Samuel Murray wrote:
Samuel Murray wrote:
Katalin wrote:
I am not sure whether this is a new function, or if it works only for the thread starter, because I don't remember seeing this before.

Wait... let me test it.

Test 1...


Test 2...


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 12:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Yep, there it is! Apr 16, 2010

Samuel Murray wrote:
Test 2...


Got it! I just that message too:

Number of times you have posted so far in this thread: 5

Mystery solved. Perhaps the moderator can hide my previous two posts now...


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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old threads Apr 18, 2010

I used to find it extremely useful to read back through old threads - some of them very old, but now I find the threads have been restricted to 2 pages and don't go back very far at all.

What has gone wrong? Do I need to reset something? I didn't change any of my settings.


 
juvera
juvera  Identity Verified
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@Tom Apr 19, 2010

Some information relating to your (and my) problem:
http://tgl.proz.com/forum/site_forums/140276-number_of_topics_shown_on_the_latest_posts_list.html


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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I disagree Jul 5, 2010

Just because X amount of time has passed doesn't necessarily mean that a thread has lost its validity; and "bouncing" an old thread back to the top might be a very useful way of refreshing a discussion.

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
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Italian to English
How do I access older threads? Jul 5, 2010

Steffen Walter wrote:

Hi Katalin,

Good thinking, and a very useful suggestion. That said, I'd have thought that this issue (i.e. converting old threads to "archived" status) had already been dealt with by staff. I vaguely remember that this suggestion came up before.

Steffen


How can one access older threads? Currently I only see a couple of pages of recent threads and I often want to go further back in time. There are lots of older threads I find interesting.

[Edited at 2010-07-05 15:37 GMT]


 
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Revival of old forum threads vs. archive function






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