14 replies to this topic

[Luke]

One feature I think would be really cool is to jump to the next post made by a certain user, even if that post is on the next page of a topic. It would be mostly a Javascript thing: It would see what posts you've scrolled past and only look ahead from there. You can bring up a box and type in the user's name and it will do an auto-complete based on who has posted in the topic (or maybe just a short list). Clicking on the persons name or hitting enter would either immediately scroll you to that person's post, or take you to the page of that persons post.

This would be useful in situations where you want to see what a particular person said throughout a topic. For example if we have a 10 page topic, Matt might have posted in it 3 or 4 times. With a feature like this I could jump to every one of those posts without having to guess where those posts are. And because I've jumped to those posts, I can examine the replies by others around it.

[Amy T]

That would be an awesome feature.

[Pereira]

I agree.

However instead of reloading the page, would it not be better to just list all of that users replies in that topic? For instance instead of the numbers in "Who posted in: Jump to user's next post" not being click able, perhaps it could list all of the users posts in that topic when clicked on?

I'm on a few football (soccer) sites and generally I dont care what a few users say and I mainly look for the users posts I like, this would help me bypass all the posters and posts I dont want to see in that particular topic.

Would that be too out of bounds for the search and server?

[Tanax]

I suggested a similar feature but apparently they had no intentions what so ever of implementing it.
I suggested that you should be able to quick search(in the nav bar) in the current topic for all posts by a certain user. This is kind of similar except my suggestion would provide all 3-4 posts that Matt made and your suggestion would provide an easier "browsing" experience and more streamlined.

I of course see the benifits of both.

[Pereira]

Will there be any feedback from staff on this matter?

[bfarber]

We cannot reply to every suggestion. I have no feedback on this (personally) I'm afraid, so I'm not sure what kind of feedback you would like to see.

[Matt]

I haven't given it a huge amount of thought but my initial thought is that taking a topic out of context is never a good idea. Jumping to the user's next post will surely rob you of the context?

[Luke]

I haven't given it a huge amount of thought but my initial thought is that taking a topic out of context is never a good idea. Jumping to the user's next post will surely rob you of the context?

Not necessarily. Sometimes there is a lot of "fluff" in a topic and you just want to get to "the meat" of the topic. For example if someone is asking IPS something I may want to see what IPS staff members said, if anything. Would be nice to be able to know the people who posted and how many times after the point I'm currently at (scroll position on page). Someone might want to ask you (Matt) something and I want to know if you answered it. I could then bring up a menu and see that you posted two times after the point I'm at. I could click your name and jump to your next post. If I need more context, I can read around that post. The point is when there are a ton of pages to a topic it's hard to find posts made by specific people... currently you have to skim, which is quite tedious.

How this is accomplished I really don't care. The base concept would be that it's java script based, uses the scroll position to see what post you're at in the topic (would ignore posts above the visible portion of the view port), and allows you to jump to a specific person's next post. This could either be done in a box with names and numbers next to them, or maybe a box you can type their name in. Maybe it would also be useful to find someone who posted in the topic by user group (I could select someone from the IPS Staff group, for example).

[Pereira]

I think I seen something similar being discussed on Xenforo awhile back. I dont think it will take away the context besides search already does that. This would just be a more specific way to find a users next post in a topic with less amount of hassle i.e going through every page of the topic to see if they replied.

I think being able to click on the "Who posted in:" pop up and having a link on the posts amount beside every user, that will take you directly to all of that users replies in that topic would be a much quicker way of browsing a forum. For instance a thread with 1000 replies, their might only be 8-9 staff replies but they are all in different pages of the topic and you only want to view the staff replies. This would be of benefit in this instance.

[bfarber]

Hearing how this would work, it very much sounds like a power-user feature that maybe 1% of any users would know to use, understand how it works, and remember to use when they had a use.

I don't see the average user even attempting to use something like this, generally speaking.

It sounds like something best left to a hook IMO.

[Pereira]

Your probably right. I thought it could be like VNC only it would make searching more specific in the topic at hand.

[Luke]

Hearing how this would work, it very much sounds like a power-user feature that maybe 1% of any users would know to use, understand how it works, and remember to use when they had a use.

I don't see the average user even attempting to use something like this, generally speaking.

It sounds like something best left to a hook IMO.

I think it really depends on how the feature is executed. If it's too difficult to use for the average user I completely agree. But if it's simple enough a lot of people would find it useful. Trying to find only staff replies in a very large topic is a prime example of this. And I know I'm not the only one who wants this. I just don't like having to manually skim through every single page.

To be successful I think existing stuff should be leveraged. When on the topic view if you click the # of replies it brings up a window showing who posted in the topic and how many times. Perhaps you could make those numbers clickable. Clicking on the number would take you to that persons first post in the topic. Then on the posts themselves maybe have some sort of link that would take you to that next persons post in the topic. Perhaps it could be next to the post #. Could be something like "#5 | Next ->".

Another thing you could do is make that popup window (that shows the users with their # of posts in the topic) accessible within the topic itself. How though I'm not really sure (isn't really required).

That should be simple enough from a user standpoint, right?

[TCWT]

I asked for this feature a while back. Also, include the number of unique posters in it. Sometimes, I want to see that stat.

[Nick²]

This could actually be a very useful feature, and isn't necessarily tailored for power-users.

For example, you're the member of a very large forum for a game. The developers just posted a list of changes to expect in the next update. Questions (replies) are coming in by the minute, and the developers are multi-quoting and answering ones they feel are insightful. You only care to see the developers' responses, so you use this feature to jump to the developers' posts (which are really all anyone cares about in this topic) and skip all of the posts asking questions (as well as the incoherent banter such forums attract) in between.

Ideally, this isn't a feature that lets you skip to any user's next post, but instead to skip to the next post by a staff member. Such a feature is quite important in some communities (though I won't say 'all' or 'most'). See here for an example of a good implementation of this feature. It completes the system by also marking topics that have staff responses with a different icon.

Edited by Nick², 24 April 2011 - 09:01 PM.

[Maxxius]

I don't know how this should be (IF) implemented but it would really be a very useful feature.

I vote for it.