SaidIt Survey: Proposed layout modifications. Example images of 2 default + 2 custom CSS, with/without mods. Removed voting icons to leave only voting numbers moved with source url to right side. I would assume a hover label of "Interesting" or "Fun" would pop up. (Add "Vote" for clarity?)

submitted by JasonCarswell from (infogalactic.com)

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[–]Tom_Bombadil 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

Keep the simple existing format. Works for Voat and Reddit.

Also, left to right is more natural for Western readers. (U working for the Chinese?! :-) (I have no beef with China)

Simple is better for mass public forums, as it encourages crossover.

Having said this, it's understandable that your creative artist instinct would be bouncing off the walls. You have created many interesting things.

.

We could use some crossover.

Edit: please ignore the crossover comment. Also, what's with the floaty stuff over the text box.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (12 children)

So you think voting and the popularity game is a priority over content?

I don't really understand the crossover comment or why I'd ignore it.

The "fixed" floating menu is a stylistic experiment. I stumbled on it and thought it neat. Depending on how you navigate it might actually save you some time. Most of my navigation is usually going back to the previous page and working down the list, but maybe sometimes we want to leap somewhere else. That menu gives you most of the options. I hadn't seen it like this before. "Comments" is present but the rest are absent. This is a problem that I can either try to correct, or scrap the whole "position: fixed;" thing.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

The crossover Statements was out of context.

I deleted something self depreciating about my recent comments, but decided otherwise. Then I said we could use some crossover, cause some folks may be tried of my antics.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

I like antiques. But only classy ones. There are a lot of tacky antiques out there.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

So you think voting and the popularity game is a priority over content?

I think people are interested in the popularity of submissions, and that they'll be drawn to high voted links that are not in their typical spheres of interest.

Also, platform consistency is helpful for crossover familiarity.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

You didn't answer my question about the priority.

The votes aren't gone or disappeared. They're still there. But do they get the front seat or can they ride second fiddle?

Consistency and familiarity is nice but it's not like I'm reinventing the wheel. A car with a steering wheel on the right side is still a car. You and all visitors will get used to it faster than you realize.

The question is priorities.

If it's not already clear, I think voting is nice and can be indicative of some quality sometimes, yet at the same time is not proof or any kind of measure at all when dozens of better posts go unnoticed.

For example, right now the hottest post on SaidIt is my "Anti-Donald #HandsOffVenezuela" image I reposted from the Ryan Dawson Discord chat. I went there today to find out what he's up to after being banned. Meanwhile my another of my posts "The Many Types Of Pedophiles + War Is Worse - (Not for the faint of heart.)" around the same time has zero posts. I'm not saying it's the greatest piece of writing, but one took minimal effort and the other took a lot of thought and effort. And effort isn't the end-all measure either. I could spend a week composing my best essay and it might be shit or I might come up with something brilliant in an hour. The point is I don't think votes deserve to be top priority. But I'm not a Redditor and I'm not your average SaidIt bear.

That's why I'm curious what others think about their priorities.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

The point is I don't think votes deserve to be top priority. But I'm not a Redditor and I'm not your average SaidIt bear.

Reddit does a decent job of frontpaging high up-vote to subscribed ratios, so less popular subs can have visibility. Which is practical.

However, I don't think that a better voting alternative for popularity exists.

Popularity should drive priority in a quasi-democratic forum. The quasi isn't a criticism, as they'd be insane to turn this over to the public, and I think they're surely more even handed than I.

Can you think of a single post that they've pulled? I'm very curious about this.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

You still haven't answered the question.

Voting is part of it. It has inherent pros and cons. There is no perfect solution. And there is no way that I can see to even improve the weaknesses of the system, and I expect that if someone came up with improvements they'd be applied. So I agree, a better voting alternative doesn't exist.

Popularity does drive the priority generally speaking regardless where the buttons are placed. The hot page will always be hot and it will always be measured by votes. (Personally I'd like each page to have 3 options: list by vote, date, and alphabetically - to scan through them for differing priorities, yet still with the same content, from just that page, not the whole database.)

I agree with your quasi-mode idea. The more I think about it the more I think SaidIt needs to be centralized under their stewardship, but needs to take measures to decentralize the backups, alternatives, archives, etc. so it can be instantly resurrected or forked if taken down. Maybe there's a way to federate it but I think these trusted gatekeepers are critical to the SaidIt brand and offshoot not under their purview may taint it.

I don't know about posts, I'm not as dialed in or been here as long. I haven't witnessed or even hear rumour. Breakfast Dan was shooting his asstroll mouth off in the chat the other day and that got rebooted.

So is voting the top priority and does it NEED to be first? Or can it be shifted to the right. YouTube votes are not on the right and they're still functional.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

The votes on the right helps encourage voting, by making it noticable and easier. Voting should remain first, as it's the primary participatory option.

A simple click.
Or two...
Or three; to unclick the first one.

The stewards are clever and likely have forks, etc.
If not, then I'm sure you'll help them with that. I'm not sure how control of forks works, it is that's feasible.

Either way, their the captains of their own ship. They're as experienced as anyone at Redditing, and they know what had failed in the past.
IIRC you really didn't car for Reddit, so you could ask them for insight about specific justifications. They probably couldn't quantify much of it, as it's experience based, so you have to deal with the issues before the solutions make sense. That's a guess, but I'm an expert theorist/guesser.

Quasi mode was taken out of context. Please go read my comment for specifics. Quasi mode should be inclusive of subs, not exclusive of subs.
Free speech 100% especially for voices with messages that I despise..

Does that help?

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I think you mean votes on the left.

I'm not talking about the primary participatory option (which is actually reading the title). I'm talking about what is valued more - the article or voting?

It's not more noticeable no easier. I just happens to be in a familiar place. Where are the votes on YouTube? In the same place they always are.

Stewards? Forks?

SaidIt is not Reddit. This is one way to make that abundantly but subtly clear.

I was making a pun on Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Damme.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

ALSO One subtle thing I want to draw your attention to and feedback on is the URL source. I've moved it to the right side to stand apart from the title, kinda like a signature. I think that is mosdef better. Do you?

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

I don't like the vote counts on the right because I think most people want to see them. I do like the simplified voting buttons. Yep, it's easy to add "vote insightful" and "vote interesting" hover tooltips.

Also this /s/SaidItSurveys banner is a beauty.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

ALSO One subtle thing I want to draw your attention to and feedback on is the URL source. I've moved it to the right side to stand apart from the title, kinda like a signature. I think that is mosdef better. Do you?

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks I missed that part. I donno if I like it, everything else is left aligned. It is important info though, maybe worthy of standing out by itself.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I had another idea. I'm giddy just trying to phrase it. This doesn't just apply to these proposed layout modifications.

In Australia apparently they have compulsory voting. Forcing people to do it. Even if some think it's a fraud, a waste of time, a corrupt system, or whatever. I suppose there are pros and cons to this.

I propose you force people to endure whatever changes you want to make1. Let them eat it. Not in the same way Australia does under threat of penalty. I mean do just do it. Force it on them.

Now you might say, hey, wait a minute there cowboy... And I'd say, but temporarily. 1 As a test.

Maybe you force people to endure a change for a week. At the end of the week the regular users will be acclimated to it. And then they can give you proper feedback. Obviously you make it so that the changes can be easily reverted as necessary.

But using the force, Luke! Using the force!

Well, so far only 4 people know about this survey, though magnora7 hasn't commented I'm pretty sure he gave it a vote (during drama in the chat with Breakfast Dan) and said he liked the post. Maybe it's because that crazy JC guy made this post and not m7. Or maybe folks don't care. Or maybe it's a slow day. Whatever the reasons may or may not be, community participation is not focused. And it doesn't need to be.

Now you could spring it on them but I think we all agree a little warning would be nice, especially in case there's some kind of resounding no, due to something unanticipated or unforeseen. So you pitch them a SaidItSurvey that lays it all out, including the test start time and end time and every time someone asks or complains you point them at that post. Of course you can let people vent and discuss it in the post, but you don't give them the second part - the after-test questionnaire until they've had a fair go of it - then they can weigh in on the after-test post where their opinions will really count. Some might have gotten used to the changes and want them back. Some might be glad to revert to the old ways. Some might be more angry about this process.

Whatever the results might be, I feel pretty confident that you'd get a lot more feedback by shaking it up a little for just a little while. And I'm 99% sure there'd be no casualties or harm done.

Maybe it's a little too disruptive (thus my mischievous prankster giddiness). Maybe it's not. Maybe this is a good idea. Maybe not. Or maybe you can tweak it to your own liking.

Remember, the force is with you, always.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

You can still see them, though it would take getting used to.

And for folks customized to Reddit it might even be worth posting "Vote interesting" and "Vote fun" beside them for a while, not just when hovered over the number.

With good design you can see them better.

It just makes them less of a priority.

As for that banner, thanks. The menu now blocks it. And I still have to delve into the centering thing.

When are you going to change to "interesting" and "fun"?

And when are you going to adopt the new logo? Assuming you still want to.

FYI: The first official SaidIt post = Wednesday 2017-10-11, at 09:43:20 UTC SaidIt's birthday. Meaning that on 2019-04-11 will be the 1.5versary.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Well happy 1.5versary. I'll bug magnora7 about the interesting and fun change, I thought we had a pretty clear consensus on that one.

I'm most likely down with the logo change... Did it get finalized? Let's mock it up on the existing home page header banner.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

You have a month and a week to plan for your 1.5 x travaganza. Maybe at that point you can apply the upgrade.

I thought we'd reached consensus too. But if anyone's had a change of mind or wants more revisions lemme know.

They were final so far as I recall. Several variations of colours too: https://infogalactic.com/info/SaidIt_gallery

I should put all my banners there too.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The funny to fun change is green lit, so we'll get around to that sometime soon.

I'll do some logo and header mockups and do a survey to see if we should adopt your logo.

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The 11versary.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

That's a good idea. However the other oval bubbles cover it up on the left side, in a distracting way. I'm on my mobile right now, so it may be didn't on PC.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Also, did you change the .net appearance? It was lined before

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Answering both at once...

  1. What's a good idea?

  2. Oval speech bubble voting icons?

  3. Distracting way how? I don't have a mobile to test on. Do you use http://m.SiadIt.net mobile mode? I had assumed they stripped the CSS for that.

  4. Change the .net appearance in the logo? Not since the new logo was finalized over a month ago, before February: https://infogalactic.com/info/File:Saidit.net_2019_Logo_Day_Text_In_Bubble.svg

  5. It was lined before how? All of the logo designs in development are here: https://infogalactic.com/info/SaidIt_gallery