Changes coming to the SON Community

[Errol]

Dear Members,

Over the next several weeks, we will be making slight changes to the SON Community with much of the changes taking place behind the scenes, more from a technical standpoint than anything else — nothing to do with staffing. There will also be a design change that will impact how you view the message boards.

First and foremost, we are currently in the process of transitioning to a new service provider who will be better equipped to handle the massive amount of data we’ve accumulated since 2005, our most current iteration of the SON Community. Our new provider will also be able to provide a more hands on approach on matters that I myself can no longer handle, outside of moderation. This means they’ll be able to correct bugs/glitches in real time and directly implement new features that enhance the user experience instead of us having to wait for the next software update. This will help relieve a lot of the burden off myself in handling those matters and will allow me to better engage with users directly, which is something I quite enjoy.

Note: Members will be notified at least one week in advance of when the service provider change will take place. 

In terms of design, plans call for the SON Community to better align itself with the design of the Soap Opera Network website while still maintaining its own unique style. Our current software provider will remain so there will not be any changes requiring users to do anything on their end. Additionally, there will be no significant changes made to the individual forums in terms of topics, categories, etc. Any alterations made is being done to enhance, not distract or confuse.

To help during the transition period, we welcome feedback from our members on what you all would like to see added to the SON Community. This can be a design feature, a nice add-on, a new forum, etc. We will consider any/all options and try our best to accommodate what we can, if possible.

Regards,

- Errol

[Contessa Donatella]

This sounds terribly exciting! I can only think of one small thing that I'd like to see changed. If I had my druthers, I would have the default position for the search phrase be "everywhere" instead of "in this topic". Can't wait to see clever "under construction" signs or "Men in Trees" or "please bless our mess."

[dragonflies]

Will it look completely different? The only thing I Hate on the board is the changes to the primetime forum

[Jeff]

Is it possible to have a "like" button so members can express they like, enjoy or support certain content...

[j swift]

I second this request, and if there was a like option then I wouldn't even need to post this comment

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Edited October 15, 2022 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

Ya know the "Like" is so often iconically represented as the thumbs up emoji, which is way cool with me but I just read an article today about how we need to stop using thumbs up. It ragged on a few other emojis too. Basically the gist of it was that en masse some younger people have decided that the thumbs up is offensive. (That did not seem to be explained!) And, said youngers say that no one but old people use it anyway. How about a glowing star? Anyway, it's an idea to mull over. <---another one, we're not supposed to use "OK".

[Errol]

Explain.

[Vee]

I think a like/dislike button will just result in strange hurt feelings and more of the unsettling mental tailspins we see in other parts of the forum which currently are largely left unattended.

[Franko]

I fear that like/dislike on individual posts could easily be (for lack of a better word) abused. I'd be willing for a compromise where it could be enabled or not allowed when someone creates a thread, however.

[Soapsuds]

A chat room

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I miss the chat room

[janea4old]

I would like a fix to the primetime layout.

The primetime layout changed earlier this year, and it was bothersome to me; but I wasn't sure where to post about that, and now I have the chance.   I would think there was no thread about a show, because when you click on Primetime, it shows only the threads about shows that don't have networks assigned.   For a while I thought a bunch of threads were missing.  I finally found the separate network subcategories off to the side, and then saw the series listed there.

It's the placement/location of the network subcategory menu that confused me.  It took me a while to get used to it.  Before whatever changed earlier this year, I could find things more easily.

That's why duplicate threads happened regarding one series - one thread was started in the main primetime menu (started by someone who couldn't see the menu of networks), and the other thread was started in the correct network subcategory.  The two threads were later merged by an admin and it was fine; but I could see how it happened.

[Errol]

I played around with some settings a few months back which clearly impacted the Primetime forum in particular. I think I figured out what I did and I believe it’s since been corrected. If not, let me know. Separately, to help combat the threads in the network/streaming forums vs threads that aren’t, how would you (or anyone else) suggest fixing this? I have an idea, but I’m open to hearing other opinions. 

Not going to happen. The last time we had that feature was when it was directly offered by Invision. It stopped working after awhile and I don’t believe it’s a feature within the software anymore outside of maybe a third party provider. Coupled with no ability to to moderate discussion there’s no chance that feature will return.

 

I agree with this which is probably why it’s not implemented on the forums currently (it’s been awhile). I saw that the software provider does have a feature like a like/dislike button on their own forums so I presume there’s a setting for this somewhere in our system but a like/dislike feature I agree would likely cause more disruption than be meaningful in any way. Considering YouTube was forced to get rid of their own dislike feature in the sense that the public doesn’t see the ratio themselves I can only imagine how some would use it here. To be clear, I don’t think anyone use in negatively out of spite but the response from others might not be as thrilling.

[victoria foxton]

@Errol I already noticed a small change on the Days thread.

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[Errol]

Yes, that’s how it’s supposed to have looked all this time but I didn’t know the setting for it until I was searching settings for the primetime forum and came across it. The option was to have post stats under the first post (which is how we always had it) or on the side bar.

[yrfan1983]

It could be a like button but no dislike button. That would keep the vibes positive.

I’d be sooo excited to have a like button. Often times I want to agree with, support or thank someone for a post, but it doesn’t feel worthy of a reply post for me to simply say “I agree” or “thanks”. A like button is a simpler cleaner way to express appreciation for a post.