[Chipp]

Hi all,

In brainstorming recently, we have come up with the idea of a limited content-promotion system here (a la sites like Reddit or Digg) with the though being that it will make great content gain extra recognition within the often hectic pace of the News forums. A user would have the option to 'upvote' a thread they approve of, simply ignore it if it is not of interest to them, or report it if it violates rules. We would, of course, then be looking to highlight exceptionally highly ranked discussions even more than our regular news articles.

From a technical standpoint, this system would mean the news section is no longer made up of forum posts - there will still be clean integration into the site, just through a more news and link-sharing oriented interface than a pure forum thread. We are looking at using the Pligg suite.

Specifics are yet to be written out, however, we wanted to see if this idea (adding a third tier to how you can interact with threads) was of any interest. Please share your thoughts!

 

[TwoCables]

I like the idea. It's at the point now where it seems like we can't have a single news thread without somebody ruining it and causing it to turn into a disaster.

I'd also like to have it so the person who's sharing the news can't make any comments or post their opinions, etc. I mean, there's almost nothing worse than a news thread where the Thread Starter included their opinion on the news article in the OP. I always find that it's much better if they just post it without saying anything at all.

 

[Open1Your1Eyes0]

I agree, having a news section that is separate from direct the forums would be a great implementation to prevent all kinds of nonsense being posted.

 

[Cindex]

The only problem I see with this is that newly posted news articles are often overlooked. Though, I think that might happen sometimes now anyways.

I think if we could get both, that would be awesome. Otherwise, I think it may cause issues.

 

[Robitussin]

I like the idea but would there be a place in the forums to discuss said articles as well? I think that the news threads do all tend to end up being nonsense at some point but there is some interesting things to be read if your willing to dig.

 

[Chipp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robitussin I like the idea but would there be a place in the forums to discuss said articles as well? I think that the news threads do all tend to end up being nonsense at some point but there is some interesting things to be read if your willing to dig.

Each news item would have a comment thread attached to it for discussion, much in the same way we do now (just under a slightly different system).

 

[Munkypoo7]

Hmm, if by what you're saying I'm following correctly, this should cut out most of the stupidity that sometimes ensues on news threads...

Munky approves!

However, only two qualms...

1. As for the "upvoting"... could a limit be implemented so we do not have extreme necromancy on topics? It already occurs with month old topics that died long ago, no need to ressurect them... Just wondering and picking your brain

2. Will this effect integration with Tapatalk at all? I'm only inquiring due to the fact I'm actually liking Tapatalk integration and am using it more and more

 

[Chipp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Munkypoo7 Hmm, if by what you're saying I'm following correctly, this should cut out most of the stupidity that sometimes ensues on news threads... Munky approves! However, only two qualms... 1. As for the "upvoting"... could a limit be implemented so we do not have extreme necromancy on topics? It already occurs with month old topics that died long ago, no need to ressurect them... Just wondering and picking your brain 2. Will this effect integration with Tapatalk at all? I'm only inquiring due to the fact I'm actually liking Tapatalk integration and am using it more and more

Tapatalk is only a temporary solution for us - we will, with our platform change, be moving to a completely cross-platform native mobile interface (a la an m.overclock.net site). This new system, not being vBulliten, will not have Tapatalk support.

 

[NrGx]

I agree with this simply because any thread with the words Nvidia, ATI, AMD, Intel, Apple, Microsoft...are practically guaranteed to be locked. Good, constructive discussion will really help this place grow.

 

[TwoCables]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chipp Each news item would have a comment thread attached to it for discussion, much in the same way we do now (just under a slightly different system).

So is it going to be similar to GeekHack's vBulletin setup where they have the tabs at the top, one for the Article, and then one for the Discussion?

 

[Lord Xeb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chipp Hi all, In brainstorming recently, we have come up with the idea of a limited content-promotion system here (a la sites like Reddit or Digg) with the though being that it will make great content gain extra recognition within the often hectic pace of the News forums. A user would have the option to 'upvote' a thread they approve of, simply ignore it if it is not of interest to them, or report it if it violates rules. We would, of course, then be looking to highlight exceptionally highly ranked discussions even more than our regular news articles. From a technical standpoint, this system would mean the news section is no longer made up of forum posts - there will still be clean integration into the site, just through a more news and link-sharing oriented interface than a pure forum thread. We are looking at using the Pligg suite. Specifics are yet to be written out, however, we wanted to see if this idea (adding a third tier to how you can interact with threads) was of any interest. Please share your thoughts!

I really like this idea. I am up for it ^_^ it would be nice to be able to find more interesting news articles

 

[Chipp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoCables So is it going to be similar to GeekHack's vBulletin setup where they have the tabs at the top, one for the Article, and then one for the Discussion?

Not really - the 'news item' would essentially be a headline and a link to an external source. Think something more along the lines of Reddit.com.

 

[Chunky_Chimp]

Hmmmmmm. I've always liked that sort of system, though I'm not sure if it would really reduce the amount of work for myself and other news moderators; in fact it would mean we'd have to watch the headlines (in case of a mistake) AND the threads (as we do now).

What if you were to, say, set it up in a manner where the discussion thread would keep itself locked for an hour or so for people to really get into the articles before commenting? Sometimes a user won't read the whole thing and make a comment that starts a flame war that has to be cleaned out.

 

[TestECull]

No. We have enough trouble in the News section without people trying to get votes. Not only that but the only things that get voted up will be the same old topics, we'll never see the truly new stuff.

 

[Chunky_Chimp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TestECull No. We have enough trouble in the News section without people trying to get votes. Not only that but the only things that get voted up will be the same old topics, we'll never see the truly new stuff.

If voting doesn't bump it, and I wouldn't expect it to, then it won't be a problem. What would be a problem (and it kind of is a problem right now) is people actually bumping the discussion threads.

 

[Mygaffer]

If there was still an easily reached (one click) way to get to the forum thread for the news item, so we could still have a lively discussion I guess it would be ok. You wouldn't have these closed threads making the news story disappear.

It would only suck if it meant that there was less/no discussion of the news pieces. The whole reason I am a member of the forum is b/c I like discussing things on the forum. I've already got plenty of news sites.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chipp Not really - the 'news item' would essentially be a headline and a link to an external source. Think something more along the lines of Reddit.com.

So there wouldn't be discussion threads? At least a link to a discussion thread, like they do on fark.com.

No discussion means I'd probably be using this site less, as I check all the major tech sites for news, I only come here for the discussion. If you think you can do tech news better than the big tech sites, well more power to you.

 

[Chipp]

Please let me clarify - I guess I'm sending some conflicting messages.

The main interface would be lists of headlines and the voting/reporting system; below each news headline will be a link to the 'discussion', which would take you to the discussion thread for that news item. We're looking to clean up the system by putting an extra layer between the reading of news and the discussion of news, but the discussion is still a critical element of what we're doing here at OCN.

 

[Monkey92]

I like it.

 

[NameUnknown]

Honestly, I dont think it needs to be done as a seperate rebuilding of the news section.
I dont see an issue with the way it is now, but having say a top 4 articles in each section. The top 4 would be able to be upvoted just like you are proposing for this whole new system.

The reason I think this is better is because the current layout of OCN, I really like. I find it easy to use and navigate. I've never liked on any site or forum when you go from one section oto another and everything changes. To me, it makes the site less appealing as it doesnt flow well. But hey, thats just my opinion on it.

Now I will say this though, there does need to be something done with the news section. It almost always turns to just bickering or flaming or some other crap like that and never real discussion.

 

[ENTERPRISE]

Great idea. I think separation between news and Forum will be great.