New tweak this morning: Original Poster's colour change

mizmir

Aesop wrote: »

aha! stopped sulking now, I can see it too! but am seeing it now too while quoting fermi.

Am feeling very left out - my border is definitely blue!

fnc63

fire**fly wrote: »

looks to be from this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2356825

.

ahh so it takes just 7 likes to get something implemented then, that shouldnt be very hard to do on my idea

MSE_Forum_Manager wrote: »

@fnc63 Apologies you received no reply - we don't reply to everything, and in the case of your thread, we tend to leave them for a while to see if other people comment. That's often a good indicator to us as to whether it's something the forum as a whole wants or agrees with. At present, it doesn't seem like a problem the forum agrees with en masse, so we don't see the need to change it or put it high on our action list.

That certainly isn't to say that it's something we wouldn't look at if we receive a lot of feedback on it, but we have limited resources and part of my job is to focus the development team in areas where changes we make benefit the most people possible (if that makes sense).

Thoughts?

but...

but you did change it, that was my feedback, it always was and has been a 'share' button, not a recommend only button

so why did you see the need to change it in the first place :question:

no need to worry about your limited resources, i'm not asking you to redesign the wheel or anything like that, just put back [what wasnt broke before] the button to the way it was

jayme1

It may be a little 'out there' but why not simply put "Thread Starter" in the username/post count left hand area, much like they do on macrumors (example)

Mandelbrot

It seems to me that MSE isn't always making the best use of its biggest resource re the forums - its users.

The post above from jayme1 (and many others I have seen on this board and elsewhere) indicate what is probably true for most of us - we use many other forums beside this one - often using vBulletin as MSE does.
In fact, there are many people on this forum who manage/maintain such sites.

Perhaps the MSE team could create a 'sticky' where people could post things (such as highlighting the OP) that they have found on other sites to be of benefit. I know that people post this kind of thing from time to time in posts here on this board, but they can easily be overlooked. A 'sticky' would give the MSE team a better chance to catch them.

ETA: I know there is the 'Technical Suggestions' sticky already.
What I had in mind was more along the lines of an 'examples of how they do it elsewhere' thread - with a link showing just that (or a pic if the forum is restricted).

meher

Really? They do take suggestions on board, a lot of it would reflect each time there's site make-over. The only thing they wouldn't listen to us is if we request this site is pink :xmassmile for some reason. The way I see it, because many posts are ignored without a response, this part of the board looks inactive and that isn't good for the forum to evolve. It often seems like this site is just catching up with similar sites. May be we should have a new team member, mse autoresponse.

Savvy_Sue

meher wrote: »

The only thing they wouldn't listen to us is if we request this site is pink :xmassmile for some reason.

Which is, if you ask me, a great shame. There can never be too much pink in the world.

Former_MSE_Forum_Manager

fnc63 wrote: »

but you did change it, that was my feedback, it always was and has been a 'share' button, not a recommend only button

Hi fnc63.

We changed it to what we now use (or have started using for the mostpart) across the main site. Apologies; I think that reply may have better answered your initial question? We made the switch from having the big "in post" box to moving them to the title bar which was the main change as we saw it and what the focus was.

Mandelbrot wrote: »

Perhaps the MSE team could create a 'sticky' where people could post things (such as highlighting the OP) that they have found on other sites to be of benefit. I know that people post this kind of thing from time to time in posts here on this board, but they can easily be overlooked. A 'sticky' would give the MSE team a better chance to catch them

Hi Mandelbrot

I like this idea, although it might get difficult to follow if people start to provide feedback across multiple issues in one thread. Perhaps we could limit the thread to just having single post ideas from users, and then ask people to thank the ones they like the most so we can gauge popularity.

We can then discuss internally the ones we believe will have the most positive effect for the resource needed and create specific threads for the purposes of proposal and testing, allowing feedback from users, for the ones we are looking to action.

We'd have to be clear that the "highest thanked" idea won't necessarily always be the ones that are actioned (we have to make decisions internally that will always involve factors the forum is unaware of), but it will certainly give us a clearer idea of what people want.

meher wrote: »

Really? They do take suggestions on board, a lot of it would reflect each time there's site make-over. The only thing they wouldn't listen to us is if we request this site is pink :xmassmile for some reason. The way I see it, because many posts are ignored without a response, this part of the board looks inactive and that isn't good for the forum to evolve. It often seems like this site is just catching up with similar sites. May be we should have a new team member, mse autoresponse.

Thanks meher

We really do try and listen as much as possible and I'm hoping the evolution of the MSE Labs board, and a more pragmatic way in the way we interact with that board and our users, will help greatly in the future.

Former_MSE_Forum_Manager

fermi wrote: »

OK. To get things back on track here.....

We've spoken about this, and the only concern we have with changing the outside framework / introducing a new element is the affect on users wondering if MSE is in some way promoting or approving something if it's too prominent which is a genuine concern for us on certain boards and with inexperienced forum users.

How do people feel about us changing the pastel green "user" area around the post to another pastel colour? We were going to screenshot some options and see if there were any that clicked with you all.

I can understand that some may see this as the same thing, but we are trying to find a mid ground between making the OP's posts clearer but not sending out the wrong reason for doing it.

Keep the feedback coming though.

aliasojo

MSE_Forum_Manager wrote: »

How do people feel about us changing the pastel green "user" area around the post to another pastel colour? We were going to screenshot some options and see if there were any that clicked with you all.

IF the OP HAS to be highlighted at all, then why can't it be done in a very subtle way? At least that would be a compromise for those that want this and those that don't.

I highlight certain cells in my Excel charts just enough to draw attention but not enought to be 'in your face'.

Surely just a shading would be enough and not a solid block colour (pastel or not)?

fermi

MSE_Forum_Manager wrote: »

How do people feel about us changing the pastel green "user" area around the post to another pastel colour? We were going to screenshot some options and see if there were any that clicked with you all.

I can understand that some may see this as the same thing, but we are trying to find a mid ground between making the OP's posts clearer but not sending out the wrong reason for doing it.

Not at all. I can very much understand the distinction.

mizmir wrote: »

Yes changing the surrounding colour (header, left panel, footer) for the original poster (from green to something that stands out more) would be much better - and leave the background white. Is that doable?

So that ^^^ pretty much.

I had a play around changing the surround colours via css on Saturday, but never really found a (even pastel) shade that didn't look distinctly 'icky' against the current colour scheme? But then, I'm no designer, so others ma have better luck with that.