Quote:
Originally Posted by BSPeter  set it to your own personal preference under " Thread Display Options - Thread Display Mode" which is accessible via "User CP" (most left option in the light blue bar at top of the forum) / "Settings and options - Edit Options". (I personally use "Linear - Oldest first".) |
Forum Display - default "Newest Post First" is a nightmare. (please change it)
Newcombers will always read from top to bottom. And everyone will be confused, and keep on being confused, until they learn that at BSP-forums everything is upside down.
(It's not so obvious, because many posts don't have a reply)
And if they come back next week, and have forgotten all about it, they again think "What the hell am I reading?", when they click on a subject. They don't see the initial post, but the last reply. And that reply - especially without a Quote or reference to a previous replay - may appear to be the initial post. That is ve-ry confusing..
And that's not all. Once they have learned to read from the bottom, they again get confused, when the thread has multiple pages. What they read on the bottom of page 1 is again not the initial post, but a reply in the middle (that again may look like an initial post.)
At other forums, at least the initial post stays on top. So if you click on the topic, you can immediately read what it is about. But then the confusion starts. The first reply you see, usually is not a reaction to the initial post above, but to someone elses reply beneath that. But until you see that, you again think "What the F.. is he talking about?".
I think "Linear - Oldest First" is the best for everyone, and best suited for the default setting. I don't think that choice is very personal.
Who benefits from "Latest First"? Only dedicated users, who look around a lot here. But they are the ones, that know how to change personal settings, and have a reason to make that special effort.
I think many things should be improved here. This Forum is not doing well in the last years. There are visitors, but do they find what they need? I don't see many new skins either. And I got here, simply because I couldn't find a skin, that I found practical enough. I think the skin is the downside of BSP at the moment, while so much is possible..
A small thing to start with is to change the default forum display to "lineair - Oldest".
And if possible, to change it for all previous treads to..
(I hope I do not sound too critical or offensive.. I value everyone, that keeps this thing alive, and don't blame anyone or anything. I just want to contribute to improvement..)
So thanks again for the reply, Peter! :-) (inspiring me to this) Is there a way of notifying the ones that decide about this? For now I repeat your advice here:
Change Forum Display to "Linear - Oldest Post First":
1. Click "User CP" at the top of a forum page, in the blue bar, the most left option.
2. On the left, under "Settings and Options", click "Edit Options".
3. Scroll down to "Thread Display Options", and choose "Linear - Oldest First".