Hot Topics no longer on PB Software?

[Alan Vende]

Forum URL: psychic-psyghtings.proboards.com

Why were Hot Topics removed from the PB software? How will we be able to distinguish hot topics from regular topics without the red and pin? (This is a serious question, as I can't think of any other way, since the thread icon for threads that are hot is the same as regular threads.)

With the Hot Topic, I just looked at the folder icon to see if a topic as hot. Would I have to now look solely at the replies to see if it is or not?

Thanks!

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

You're right, they are gone, Alan Vende . I, too, wonder why.

[Brian]

Tim's about to post in this thread, but I just wanted to interject before I have to leave the office for the day and let you all know that a plugin was made in advance for anyone who still wishes for this feature on their forum.

www.proboards.com/library/plugins/item/1203

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Thanks for creating that plugin, Brian .

I'll be using and reviewing it. I don't see the reason for not distinguishing the more popular threads from others.

Glad you had a solution at hand. Much appreciated.

[Alan Vende]

Thanks for creating the thread, Brian! I am glad that this functionality can be brought back.

[Tim Camara]

To answer your first question as to how you can tell the difference, if you feel that you like being able to see 'hot topics' with an icon, you can continue to do so, either with a very simple template modification or with this plugin.  

As to the why, it's because hot topics at their core were a fundamentally broken concept.  A topic was marked as hot when it reached a certain number of posts.  Not a certain number of posts in a specified time period or anything fancy, just a certain number of posts (configurable by the forum's staff, of course).  This means that rather than being an indicator of current 'hotness', as it would be defined in any other context, it was merely an indicator of an arbitrary level of interest at some period in the past.  

Take for example, some of our own boards here on support.  Looking at the contents of any of the threads in the Advertise Your Forum board, you'll see that many, if not most of them, have more posts than what the threshold was for hot topics here on support.  Yet most of them are just pages and pages of bumps, as close as an hour apart.  I don't think it's controversial to state that most people would not consider these threads 'hot topics'.  Having a high number of posts is no indication of thread popularity, any more than the number of people in line at the DMV indicates the popularity of that infamous institution.

Further, we recently discovered that even internally, there was confusion about what exactly hot topics were.  Most of us assumed there was some kind of time limiting involved with gaining that designation.  The feature's actual usage was not intuitive, and we're striving to make software that is easy to use and as un-confusing as possible.  If the people that make and maintain the feature don't know how it works, how can we expect anyone else to?

At the end of the day, this removal was part of a broader initiative we're undertaking to make ProBoards a better forum platform.  Sometimes it means adding features that enrich your forum.  Sometimes it means removing features that are gathering dust or causing problems to make way for better functionality.  We want to build the best software we can, so that you are all empowered to create great content and great communities.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Thanks for the reply, Tim Camara . Always nice to see you around here.

Although I can appreciate what you said, I'm still happy that we can still have the functionality with either a template change or Brian 's plugin!

Of course, it goes without saying that you'll have many more surprises for us in your quest to keep PB outstanding and always the BEST!

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Oh, crum!

It looks like more than just the hot topics needs the plugin and for folks with customized images, the plugin won't be the answer since every theme will have it's own images.

[Former Member]

I was just coming to post about this. The plugin is great, but our mobile users won't be able to see them since it's a plugin and they are already complaining that the hot topics are gone.

[Matt]

Thanks for responding Tim Camara
does this mean that we will be able to use some more options with the new plugin? in the previous system a thread could be inactive for years and still have a hot topic label, so this new system actually makes more sense.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Yup, @theophaniatcf, members are accustomed to looking for those topics first and foremost.

And many of us have taken the time to customize our icons since ProBoards allows us to do that.

And template changes (and plugins) won't show on mobile.

I don't see a problem with an old thread that achieved "hot" status keeping that status as it sinks down the thread list. Once it met a posting criteria, that doesn't change with the passage of time.

I'm blue. 

[Nscalerr 🐺]

Wondering what the template modification is like Tim Camara ?

[Former Member]

Jan 25, 2016 17:41:53 GMT -8 ♥ ℒʊ√ ♥ said:

Yup, @theophaniatcf , members are accustomed to looking for those topics first and foremost.

And many of us have taken the time to customize our icons since ProBoards allows us to do that.

And template changes (and plugins) won't show on mobile.

I don't see a problem with an old thread that achieved "hot" status keeping that status as it sinks down the thread list. Once it met a posting criteria, that doesn't change with the passage of time.

I'm blue. 

+1. I'm writing up an explanation for our members now, but based upon the complaints we've already received I don't believe that mobile users are going to be happy.

[♥ ℒʊ√ ♥]

Is there no code for the header or footer that would point to the target image being used in each theme?

[Matt]

I just downloaded the plugin, is it possible to add other requirements such as amount of posts in a certain time period? otherwise it's basically the same as before but just can't be seen on mobile now.