Please allow us to default Newest First rather than Oldest First
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On discussion forums that are brand new, 'Oldest First' is fine because you can see everything. However, you will notice that on a lot of more mature, venerable discussion boards on other systems, users are either allowed or defaulted to 'Newest First'.
On CollectiveX, you can make a temporary change, but it defaults right back to Oldest First when you return a moment later. A number of users, that I know of, found it incredible annoying. I bet if you did a poll on some of these features, by people who have been using the groupsite for a while vs just getting on it, you may be more inclined to make changes.
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Neil has a good point about polling for certain features. I must admit though, I much prefer an "oldest first" format. Helps me follow the thread better.
The key is to ask the right questions. For new threads, no doubt oldest first is preferred, and that's most people at this stage. The question should be not whether people prefer oldest or newest first per se, but if they prefer oldest or newest _once discussions are multiple pages_.
As I mentioned we've got some threads that are getting into a few pages, and it'd be nice if users didn't have to click on 'last page' *then* have to scroll down to read the last post. This is why so many other sites with long-time use prefer newest first.
I'm just asking for the option for sites that are more heavily used to be rewarded with features that reflect that kind of use, especially features that most discussion boards have long used like vBulletin, IPB, etc.
Neil,
Maybe there is a way for us to change the default based on if you have viewed a discussion more than once or have participated in the discussion. If its your first time viewing a discussion or if its a dicussion that you haven't posted to, then the default could be Oldest First. If you return to a dicussion a second time or its a discussion that you have posted to, maybe we could change the default to newest first. I'll talk it over with Joe and see what we can do. In discussions that I am active in, I'd prefer newest first as the default option myself.
Clarence
These are the right options to provide in something like a survey, which by the way, would be a great addition (like they have at the top left of www.macrumors.com) so the group can actually help make decisions.
How would you prefer oldest/newest posts are displayed? Choose one from each set of three:
-Manager's ability to change default universally.
-Manager's ability to change default whether the discussion is a single page or multiple pages.
-Manager's ability to change default whether user has viewed the topic more than once.
-User's ability to change manager's default universally.
-User's ability to change manager's default whether the discussion is a single page or multiple pages.
-User's ability to change manager's default whether user has viewed the topic more than once.
-User's no ability to change manager's default.
My vote is NEWEST first b/c typically I am clicking a link to see the latest post based on an email I received and then I have to click several links to get to the actual post (in an Oldest First format). Or I can change the drop down to Newest first, but that is still doing one more click than simply hitting the link and reading the post.
my vote is also for newest first - confusing to arrive at discussion forum from email and find the first post.
I agree -- newest first would be the nicer default, Judy.
I've been on a number of other very active forums and in every case the standard (default) has always been that the newest topics appear at top.
This is true on Google Groups, JPF, Muse's Muse and various private (work-related) discussion forums. Seems like the best way to find older entries is to search by date or use appropriate keyword phrases to search older topics.
Michael
What about this logic. If you are reading a discussion thread for the 1st time... the default is "Oldest First". If you post a reply to any discussion thread... your default changes to "Newest First" thereafter?
unless you are linking from an email. If you are coming from an email update, the "comment" that caught your eye will likely be the latest.
To make things as simple as possible for all users. We'll make the default "Newest First".. but all users to change their default to "Oldest First" at anytime. Hopefully that's best for most users.
That works for me too. Serena
I'm still seeing OLDEST FIRST in version two regardless of whether I am reading the topic for the first time or fifth time and regarless of whether or not I've replied to the topic.
Hopefully this change is still coming just didn't make it by the latest go-live. It's very important, I believe, to have freshest information first and not force users to click the pages links to dig around for the latest post.
Mark - We haven't forgotten... it's on the list.
I see this topic ended in 2008...is this still on the list or is there a way now for a manager to set the default of all discussions to "newest first"?