Community Feedback: how can the site improve?

[pjk]

The goal of this thread is to get some more discussion going on how to improve the community, and make changes that seem necessary.

More often than not if we don't hear feedback from the community, we don't know there is an issue. We certainly need help from the community reporting issues, bugs, etc., but in addition, over time, it's important to make changes like layouts, culture, etc. The moderation team here normally discusses these issues, but we want to hear from you, the community.

As the site has grown, the culture has changed. There are more people, different discussions, and less conversations to be had (the wiki has over 1,000 articles and the forum has 1,100,000+ posts now). Some people lose interest in the hobby, and others simply lose interest in the discussion. New and old members don't find the same discussions interesting, so balancing that is one of the problems that needs to be solved.

So, what feedback do you have for the community to make it better? Better meaning more useful and interesting to you. How can we make discussions more constructive? How can we better keep beginner discussions separate from more mature discussions, so each group can still constructively discuss on here?

Any and all feedback is appreciated, either by sending me a PM directly, or by replying to this thread. Thanks for your time.

 

[PlainCuber]

Not to be boring, but I like the community/forum just like it is. And as far as keeping beginner discussions separate, I would vote NO. I think newbies should be able to "mingle" with all other cubers. Just my two cents.

 

[EchecsRex]

I think there should be a sub category to the fourms where new cubers can go. There could be faq's and other things that you might need to know as a new cuber. Experienced cubers/members can go there to answer all the questions new cubers have.

 

[JustinTimeCuber]

I've been having an issue with the forum being slow. It works fine when I am logged out, and OK on the Tapatalk thing, but when I am logged in it can take several tries to get to any page or thread or to make a post. Sometimes I click on "new posts", nothing loads, and when I reload the page it redirects to the forum homepage (speedsolving.com/forum). It started a few weeks back and I've tried all the things- using a different browser, using a different computer, accessing it from school, etc. It kinda works on my phone browser but that's all.

On the issue of what to do for newer cubers, I don't care right now I should be sleeping kbye lol

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[wir3sandfir3s]

So ever since off-topic threads have been removed from the front page, they have been kinda dead. An idea could be giving them their own new posts tab to make them as easy accessible as normal feed so people can find and use them again. Just an idea!

 

[shadowslice e]

The only thing I might suggest is the ability to mute threads or forums.

Also, we do have an entire section dedicate to beginner questions...

 

[Loiloiloi]

Is there was a section of the site where you could input your average times or PBs and it would show up on your profile or under your name on the forums that would be a pretty cool feature.

 

[biscuit]

Is there was a section of the site where you could input your average times or PBs and it would show up on your profile or under your name on the forums that would be a pretty cool feature.

The signature? A lot of people use it for that?

 

[Loiloiloi]

The signature? A lot of people use it for that?

A user-made workaround doesn't constitute them not making a change. This is a suggestion thread, and it's something I think a lot of people would use.

 

[GenTheSnail]

I've noticed that the signature preview isn't accurate. The preview for my signature is 4 lines long, but when I post it's only 3. Like the the screen isn't as long, so I have to check a previous post to make sure it's formatted correctly.

 

[Robert-Y]

I haven't really thought much about what improvements can be made but here's one:

In my opinion, we do not need a new thread for every new WR/CR/NR announcement. I would prefer it if we could somehow just group all of these announcements into some record feed. Users may submit their own announcements with proper format like: region, result, event, record format(single/average/mean), competitor name.

However if there's actually something to discuss e.g. the scrambles or a video of the record, then creating a thread is appropriate.

 

[DGCubes]

I haven't really thought much about what improvements can be made but here's one:

In my opinion, we do not need a new thread for every new WR/CR/NR announcement. I would prefer it if we could somehow just group all of these announcements into some record feed. Users may submit their own announcements with proper format like: region, result, event, record format(single/average/mean), competitor name.

However if there's actually something to discuss e.g. the scrambles or a video of the record, then creating a thread is appropriate.

I'm not sure if I agree. Speedsolving is where I get most of my cubing news (and I'm sure this is true for many others), and if any WR is broken, I want to see it as soon as I check the site. If I see that your proposed thread is bumped, it could just be someone congratulating the record holder, or it could be an entirely new world record. I like to know what I'm getting into by the title before clicking on the thread. CRs and NRs are understandable to have in a thread like that (unless they're particularly notable, like WR2), but I'd personally still prefer to see them have their own thread.

 

[Robert-Y]

In my mind, we could keep a window on the homepage displaying recent records, kept up to date by users. So hopefully you will indeed see the records as soon as you check the site. I'd also like to know about WR2 etc too. Users could also submit records like these.

 

[JustinTimeCuber]

I'm not sure if I agree. Speedsolving is where I get most of my cubing news (and I'm sure this is true for many others), and if any WR is broken, I want to see it as soon as I check the site. If I see that your proposed thread is bumped, it could just be someone congratulating the record holder, or it could be an entirely new world record. I like to know what I'm getting into by the title before clicking on the thread. CRs and NRs are understandable to have in a thread like that (unless they're particularly notable, like WR2), but I'd personally still prefer to see them have their own thread.

My view on this:
WRs should have their own thread.
CRs, NRs should have their own thread only if they are notable, i.e. OcR 3x3 single or NAR 4x4 average, and not Latvian NR 6x6 single or AfR FMC average.
If anyone gets a time that isn't exactly notable, they can post it, but don't post every official solve you ever got in its own thread.

 

[Windar]

Someone who creates a new topic or thread should be able to delete it, and posts too.

 

[cmhardw]

I think the forum in general is fine for the vast majority of its users. I think long time members are leaving or lurking because we don't feel we have much of anything to contribute to the community. My suggestion is to give older cubers a sub-forum or section to hang out in where we do feel that we can contribute interesting or relevant things.

 

[SpeedcuberJH]

1. Maybe a leaderboard of some sort? You could connect your wca profile and see your score among others.

2. A full makeover. The forum is a little bit old and could probably be improved.

3. A section where YouTube videos could be promoted to start up people's channels.

4. An instant messaging section; anyone online could speak to other cubers.

5. A photo gallery.

6. Forum ranks depending on how experienced you are.

That's pretty much all I could think of. I think adding these things would be awesome.

 

[FastCubeMaster]

Maybe the ability for the thread creator to edit the title/move the thread to a different topic?

 

[wir3sandfir3s]

I think the forum in general is fine for the vast majority of its users. I think long time members are leaving or lurking because we don't feel we have much of anything to contribute to the community. My suggestion is to give older cubers a sub-forum or section to hang out in where we do feel that we can contribute interesting or relevant things.

There's a thread for that

 

[Petro Leum]

i'm still very much missing the old forums, where i just click home and see everything i need
now i need to take a couple of clicks.