The active and popular tabs

[Sunshine Flock]

I love browsing the activity tabs in the sidebar. I refresh them a lot throughout the day, but I've noticed that the active and popular tabs pretty much always stay the same.

This makes sense for popular, but I was wondering if there's a way to alter the parameters for how discussions are selected to appear in the active tab. Lots of great content is getting overlooked for those of us who love this widget.

Most of the discussions I've participated in were discovered through this widget. I almost never click on the featured discussions in the active and popular tabs because they're almost always the same.

If the parameters can't be changed, is there room in the sidebar to add two more discussions to each tab so more content is displayed? I'm on a laptop, so maybe this wouldn't work for mobile devices.

Also, can another tab be added? When I resize my browser to iPad width, the content breaks to down below the discussion content. The size of the widget doesn't seem to be affected. One pixel less spacing on the tab name padding and there may be room for another tab.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Great feedback, I'm really glad you started this discussion!

We have a lot of options and control when it comes to the parameters of the widgets (on the sidebar and also on the homepage), so let's keep this discussion going to see what the consensus (or majority) might want changed.

Some examples of the tabs we can use:

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I don't see many polls, so probably not that one.

Unread discussions is a possibility. I do enjoy seeking out threads with no responses yet. There would be overlap with the 'new' tab, though, but it could also unearth discussions that have been sitting around with no comments.

You seem to have a large archive of articles, if I'm understanding that page correctly. I think articles would be a good one. Can the widget grab from that database, or is it limited to the discussion forums?

Most liked discussions is another possibility. But you don't have space for multiple words in the tab header, and this may compete with the 'popular' tab.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I know you have limited space with the widget, but another fun idea would be to somehow feature members starting discussions for the first time, or new member introductions. I see them now and then in the new and recent tabs, but siphoning them into their own tab would be fun and allow more of them to be seen.

And maybe I'm lone ranger in requesting this, but it's pretty neat how receptive BYC is to feedback. I've never encountered a discussion forum like this before!

 

[sumi]

Unread discussions is a possibility. I do enjoy seeking out threads with no responses yet. There would be overlap with the 'new' tab, though, but it could also unearth discussions that have been sitting around with no comments.

Unanswered threads can be found here (click or hover on the … to get the drop down):

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Does anyone know how a discussion qualifies to be listed on the active tab? What are parameters it's looking for?

There are so many great active discussions that aren't showing up on that tab. Only the best of the best, I'm guessing, based on the number of pages and comments. But that's how the popular tab functions, right?

There should be something that differentiates the active tab from the popular tab. I just keep seeing the same content over and over again.

 

[WVduckchick]

I glance at it quite often too, and click on interesting titles. I do seem to find lots of threads that I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. But I rarely use the other tabs.
I wouldn't mind if there were more than 5 listed.

 

[casportpony]

I glance at it quite often too, and click on interesting titles. I do seem to find lots of threads that I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. But I rarely use the other tabs.
I wouldn't mind if there were more than 5 listed.

I'm the same way! If that weren't there I would miss out on a lot of interesting posts and threads.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Great discussion & feedback!

Does anyone know how a discussion qualifies to be listed on the active tab? What are parameters it's looking for?

I do!

Recent: Threads with new posts. Only shows threads 10 days or newer
Active: Most Replied Threads. Only shows threads 60 days or newer
Popular: Most Viewed Threads. Only shows threads 60 days or newer
New: New threads. Only shows threads 5 days or newer

All of them have threads from Random Ramblings & Games / Jokes / Fun excluded.

In addition to those options, we have: "Latest Replies" and "Most Liked Threads"

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Great discussion & feedback!


I do!

Recent: Threads with new posts. Only shows threads 10 days or newer
Active: Most Replied Threads. Only shows threads 60 days or newer
Popular: Most Viewed Threads. Only shows threads 60 days or newer
New: New threads. Only shows threads 5 days or newer

All of them have threads from Random Ramblings & Games / Jokes / Fun excluded.

In addition to those options, we have: "Latest Replies" and "Most Liked Threads"

Those parameters make sense. Can each tab only have one parameter, though? I'm just wondering how to introduce more variety, because where it's at for me and BYC is the constant updates and new discussions. Yet half of the tabs don't reflect this.

As for a new tab, latest replies would keep things fresh and ward off some of the stagnation in the other two tabs. I would find that very interesting and could see myself checking it often.