Idea for cleaning up threads

[JaK]

This idea is to address multiple issues with threads:

1. Some threads, particularily Announcements, get very long and convoluted with many replies. Lots of the replies are questions, and then replies to those questions get interspersed with new questions and replies to other questions, and you end up getting multiple threads going under the same thread. On top of that, everyone who has replied to that thread gets a notification for each reply since theirs, the promo plan announcement already has 229 replies, even though some get bundled that still works out to a lot of notifications for anyone that replied early. And if you have email on, a lot of emails. That's a lot of noise, plus probably a bit of a strain on the system.
2. A lot of the time, people find an issue the same or similar to what they are experiencing and just tack on to that thread, even if they are old and/or already solved. This makes the issues these people are experiencing less visible to the community, and harder to track as the "solved" only goes with the originator of the thread. Lots of times moderators or oracles split these theads, but that is more work for them and it often does not give content to the reply.
3. Sometimes people tack on just because they don't know how to start a new thread, as it isn't obvious from the main Community page.

The idea is to add a new Question/Me Too button above/beside/below the Reply button on each post, (or better still seperate Question and Me Too buttons, but they would do basically the same thing).

The Reply button would continue to work as it does now. 

The Question/Me Too button would:

• generate a new thread for the new post instead of tacking it on the current thread.
• since it starts a new thread, current thread watchers would not get notifications/emails, instead would see them the same as any other new thread.
• the post form would automatically have a link back to the post it was generated from for context, the poster would be able to delete that link if desired.
• the subject on the post form would be editable (encouraged). If seperate Question and Me Too buttons, the default subject could be prepended with the same.
• the new thread location would default to the same category as the original thread, except for restricted categories like Announcements, where it would to Discussions instead. As a refinement, a category pick list could be implemented.

I realize that this would take a bit of effort to implement, but I think it would go a long way towards making the community function better by making threads cleaner.

Comments, critiques and refinements welcome.

[daredogg]

Hmmm, I like it, but I wonder if having another button would cause confusion? You'd then need to explain to users what either button does, and as witnessed with this latest promotion, people don't read (or at least don't like to sift through old posts), and would rather just ask their question.

I'd like to comment on your 3rd point that people tack onto old posts because they don't know how to start a new thread.

I've been here for a month, and I too had difficulty finding the button to start a new discussion thread. I figured out that you first need to first click on one of the categories like Discussions or Getting Started to reveal the New Message button. Have a look on my screenshot, and tell me how visible the button really is?

For a first time poster, they'd have to be pretty intuitive to find that button. Since there is no obvious way on how to post a new discussion question, the easiest and most logical thing to do is tack onto someone else's post (the problem JaK has identified).

On the main Community page, it would be better if it gave you two options at the top:

1) Use the search feature (type in a few keywords to find your answer); or

2) Post a new discussion question (do this if you can't find your answer)

Under those items, you can then have Featured Topics, Latest Topics, etc.

By making it easier for people to make new posts, it should help alliviate the tacking on issue and prevent posts from getting lost. Thanks to @JaK for taking the time to write out ideas on how to make PM Community even better!

I realize I only commented on one of the points listed, but I'm sure there are more of you with something to share! 

[JaK]

Thanks @daredogg, I had thought about making something very similar (New Thread button on the main Community page) a seperate idea but decided to roll it into this one; I'd support either way. 🙂

Hear ya wrt people not sifting thru, this is meant to help with that by untangling threads. As for confusion on what the button does, I think if you make it obvious, like Question, people can figure it out (well, most 🙂 )

[mimmo]

another option i have seen on other forums is once a tread is marked as resolved  it is then closed ie no more posting to it is allowed.