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At first glance . . . . .

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by maxwell edison

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

..... (and after attending the preview), I'm not crazy about it. And I'm especially not crazy about the ten suggestions telling me what this may be similar to. I've been here too long for some algorithm to tell me what I really wanted to say.......

I'm guessing that this discussion will get lost in ........... off-line.

Let's see.

22 replies

by maxwell edison

Exactly correct. And we all will, like we have the changes in the past. And who knows, I might even learn to like it!

by ansugisalas

I've been scouting out the older threads, and it's highly unlikely I'll be able to keep up on them like I used to.
Finding something to pounce upon is too slow... I loose the impetus.
I liked how the information was packed tightly before, for all it's shortcomings.

But hey, have you seen how sometimes, a glitch will land you on a really barebone version of the page... no colors, no formatting, just raw threads.
Never seems to last through a reload of course, but maybe that view could be of use...

by maxwell edison

An algorithm evaluates the title line and makes suggestions as to what it may be like. It's designed to avoid having redundant questions posted.

by ansugisalas

had to do with a black hat toolbar...
Or maybe a tool-hat blackbar, either one.
There's no auto-complete suggest dropdown by default, so it's on your end.

by av .

I hope you can turn it off or just say no. I can see where it could be useful in some ways because you can't really see all of the posts on TR, but it might discourage people from posting if they think it was already done. Also, how good is the algorithm? Does it really come up with viable redundant questions? I haven't tried it out yet.

AV

by keighlar

Jason wrote here: https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/techrepublics-2011-upgrade-simpler-and-lot-more-social/7473?tag=discussion-thread

They do have an algorithm in place. This is the relevant text copied from that link (although I'm not certain the link will work. This is a test. This is only a test.) :)

"Revamped Q&A - We have separated out the Q&A and updated the features to make it more intuitive to post questions and to both receive and provide answers. We have a new intelligent feature that, as a user writes a question, looks for similar questions that have already been answered and presents them to the user in order to save duplicate questions. We???ve also set up a separate option for respondents to ask the original poster to clarify the question vs. someone who wants to simply answer the question."

by ansugisalas

It's there in the Q&A only, and I hadn't checked that out yet!
I gave my post above a -1 for that - naughty misinformed post!
;)

by keighlar

Good one, Ansu. Self-beratement, and all that. I certainly would not have held you accountable. :)

by tigger_two

I moderate a forum that does something similar. Some of the "suggestions" that are presented really seem to come right out of left field and are NOT remotely similar to what is being posted.

The problem is that some people really ARE paying attention (sorta) and so they go post in the suggested thread... forcing a mod to move the post. Sometimes the suggested thread has been long dead and reviving the zombie starts it's own set of problems. More often, the content ISN'T appropriate to what the new poster is saying so we end up with an old, dead, thread with new content that doesn't relate to the original content.

I understand the rationale for suggesting other threads that might be pertinent when asking a specific technical question, but do not understand the rationale at all when it comes to discussions. We might well end up with four "Global Warming" threads but each one could easily be very different in the focus of it's discussion- man-made versus cyclic warming/cooling trends for instance. On its face, these are similar discussions at a very high level but that is where the similarity ends.

Good point, Max!

by hal 9000

Like the one I saw earlier when answering a question. Not sure what it was about now but it started with How to and one of the suggestions was

[b]How to tell if a man likes you.[/b]

I'm not really sure where that came from and I don't want to know either. :D

Unlike Max I missed the preview because I was working and not near a open Net Connection. Those people there are really Paranoid about Security and maybe I've been around them too long now as I'm getting a bit that way particularly when I start getting spam on a Account only used on TR and 2 days after opening it up to Gravator.

I've had that account since I started the Oh Smeg Account and this is the first time I've got any spam which is at least a couple of years now. Anyway after taking the computer off line and scanning with a Rescue Disc I'm told it's clean so it's TR, my ISP, or Gravator where the leak seems to be. I know which I would put my money on and as some Secure Accounts have not been hit I tend to believe that it rules out my ISP or My System. :^0

Col

by tink!

and I like the more graphical look, but would like a different color other than white for the used link in the upper menu. It took me a few seconds to figure out where the heck the Discussions were becauseI could barely see the link!

Oh and I LOVE the Expanded thread option!

by hal 9000

Though I have to say that any Color Blind Person is going to miss most of the Links at the top of the page. They need much better contrast to be easily seen. ;)

Col

by boxfiddler

That's what's behind the slow, clunky feel. Couldn't quite peg it.

[i]Finding something to pounce upon is too slow... [/i]

by ansugisalas

that it takes too long?
Anyway, I knew it was going to sound bad, no matter what, so I guess I gave up on pre-emptively cleaning it.

One thing that might help; I put my browser to display the whole thing at 80% zoom... fits a bit more stuff into one screenful.

by hal 9000

I've come to the conclusion that Site Traffic is [b]Way Down.[/b]

Very few asked questions Since Sunday have been posted when last week was somewhat busy.

But I don't like it either Max way too different and way too much like Face Book which I get my Daughter in Law to check for me. Looks way too cheesy for my personal taste. ;)

Col

by santeewelding

When the design is by committee. Probably should have turned it over to a Thomas Jefferson of Internet Organization. Too late now. The overtime and the bonuses probably have already been paid out.

by boxfiddler

are beginning to surface in Questions. It will be interesting to see if relevant questions are appended.

by dogknees

Time limits are fine, but given the international nature of our world, some of us aren't able to respond on the same day. Do we not get the same opportunity to answer? We read "yesterdays" stuff each day when we log on.

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