"Sticky" threads

[Minnesota]

If there is a way to keep certain threads at the top of a forum, this is a must have right now. For example in the Implant section, it would be great to have a thread about sizing implants at the top of the forum. By keeping it at the top it would reduce the repeat of questions over and over again. By having the most popular/useful topics at the top, it would help new members find their answers quickly.

On most online forums, these threads are called "sticky threads." This means having them stuck at the top and easy to find.

[Thomas]

Maybe an option for guys to click "do you find this helpful?" Then an area where the most helpful posts are up front (there are some product evaluations sites that work like this)

[gerryp]

I'll revive this thread by seconding Minnesota's comment about the importance of "sticky" threads. It could be a major improvement to Frank Talk's usefulness.

[Frank Talk Admin]

It's worth talking about.
How do we determine what threads are the most useful? By views? responses? Help decide a criteria. What are most men looking to find out?
With funding, I'm sure we could add the 'helpfulness' factor Tom suggested

Along with this we need to discuss the reason for guys posting. We have tens of thousands of men a month who never register or post. The reasons for this are mostly guesswork on our part. Some men come just for information - 'just the facts, ma'm". I think most of the men who post come to find support. It's not just an answer they are looking for - many guys are asking to be heard and understood. This is the only place many guys feel not so alone. I think the guys who just want facts, information and knowledge tend to just lurk.

paul

[gerryp]

One candidate for a sticky thread that comes immediately to mind:

For weeks after I joined Frank Talk in early December, I had trouble coming back to the site using various browsers. The problems included very slow log-ins, sometimes with a message that the site was incorrectly redirecting, and most often a problem where no recent posts would show up--only those one or more days old. Finally, I found a post by rlm1818 which explained that there was a problem with browser caches which prevented one from being able to see recent posts. He explained that you needed to clear your browser's page cache and that would solve the problem. I had experienced the problem with Firefox 18, Internet Explorer 9, Chrome, and Safari, as well as Safari on the iPad.

To make a long story short: for Frank Talk, I now use Internet Explorer 9 only (even though Firefox is my preferred browser). Before logging in to Frank Talk, I press Control-Shift-Delete, and when the window pops up, select Delete Temporary Internet Files, then Enter. After a week or so, that has resolved any problem every time. I wish I had known this when I first started using Frank Talk. (Of course, somehow, it seems that the webmaster should be able to solve the problem, since I have never encounted it on any other website.)

So--thanks go to rlm1818. Hope this is helpful to others who may be experiencing the same issues!

Gerry

[rlm1818]

If there is a way to keep certain threads at the top of a forum, this is a must have right now. For example in the Implant section, it would be great to have a thread about sizing implants at the top of the forum. By keeping it at the top it would reduce the repeat of questions over and over again. By having the most popular/useful topics at the top, it would help new members find their answers quickly.

On most online forums, these threads are called "sticky threads." This means having them stuck at the top and easy to find.

I agree with this 1000% too. From looking at the documentation someone with Administrator or Moderator privileges can mark a thread sticky, or create a new sticky thread.

In terms of what threads would be marked that way, well some moderator would have to make the call. But, you could have, in each forum, a sticky thread in which readers can make suggestions which would help the moderator choose. I think the most useful sticky threads would be new threads created by the moderator to address frequently occurring issues. Initially this would be redundant to some older threads, but eventually these would become a nice repository for the collected wisdom on the thread topics. Plus, people might create links within the sticky thread to the most relevant older threads on the same topic. And, to make it maximally useful, the moderator should either purge or move (to a separate thread) replies which drift off the main topic of a sticky thread.

There is a huge amount of accumulated wisdom in the FT forums. But, as the size of FT grows, its increasingly hard to find it. Better organization would help a lot, and sticky threads are one way of doing it. So often some newbie finds FT, and then proceeds to ask the same question that has been asked and answered numerous times before. He gets maybe a few answers, if any, since most regulars here are tired of answering the same questions, and many who have answered are no longer active. The newbie is advised to search the forums and do his homework for better answers. This is appropriate, but the sheer volume of information here makes it difficult. Plus there is a huge amount of redundancy already.

[rlm1818]

One candidate for a sticky thread that comes immediately to mind:

For weeks after I joined Frank Talk in early December, I had trouble coming back to the site using various browsers. The problems included very slow log-ins, sometimes with a message that the site was incorrectly redirecting, and most often a problem where no recent posts would show up--only those one or more days old. Finally, I found a post by rlm1818 which explained that there was a problem with browser caches which prevented one from being able to see recent posts. He explained that you needed to clear your browser's page cache and that would solve the problem. I had experienced the problem with Firefox 18, Internet Explorer 9, Chrome, and Safari, as well as Safari on the iPad.

To make a long story short: for Frank Talk, I now use Internet Explorer 9 only (even though Firefox is my preferred browser). Before logging in to Frank Talk, I press Control-Shift-Delete, and when the window pops up, select Delete Temporary Internet Files, then Enter. After a week or so, that has resolved any problem every time. I wish I had known this when I first started using Frank Talk. (Of course, somehow, it seems that the webmaster should be able to solve the problem, since I have never encounted it on any other website.)

So--thanks go to rlm1818. Hope this is helpful to others who may be experiencing the same issues!

Gerry

This continues to be an issue and a headache. I can't believe there isn't some simple server setting that would solve the problem. Worst case, an upgrade to the server software would surely fix it. The most recent copyright shown here for the server software that is in use for this site is 2007. The most recent version of the server software is from 2012, so its at least 5 years out of date.

Is there a cost (eg programmer) involved in updating the software? If so, how much?

[rlm1818]

Along with what appears to be the site upgrade, I'd like to bump this idea of "sticky threads". According to the documentation for this site, this is a feature that a moderator can implement within the capabilities of the existing software. If this is correct, all that would be required is for a moderator to create or mark certain threads as "sticky". It would be a great addition to the usefulness of this site, IMHO.

[sabaone]

"Sticky"threads may be a helpful tool. For now though, viewers of the discussion forums can make use of the search tool once they open the Implants section(or any other, for that matter). This is simple way to access the data one may seek.

Sabaone