Introducing "Thread Prefixes"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jordan
  • 56 comments
  • 5,600 views

Jordan

Site Founder
Administrator
Messages
24,600
United States
United States
Messages
GTP_Jordan
Messages
GTP_Jordan
As some of you have already noticed, the old "GTPlanet News" forum has been consolidated into "Site Feedback". I'm using the opportunity to introduce a new forum feature known as Thread Prefixes. Think of it as a form of "tagging" threads in a specific forum - as you can see, this thread and all the others which were moved from the old forum now bear the "Site News" tag to the left side of the thread title in small, green letters.

You may have seen thread prefixes in other forums running the vBulletin software, but I've taken it a step further, linking the prefix text to a view of all other threads with the same tag. This allows you to easily filter threads on specific topics in a specific forum, creating a type of pseudo-subforum that you can browse and search as normal.

As you can see, there is a lot of potential with this functionality. It encourages better organization while reducing the number of empty forums that nobody particularly wants to post in. For example, I recently added a YouTube subforum to The Rumble Strip. Although it encourages people to share interesting videos with the rest of us, the forum doesn't get quite enough attention for the topics to really become popular. As a result, we're missing good stuff other people are sharing, and their contribution to the community goes under-appreciated. By merging the YouTube forum into the Rumble Strip and adding a YouTube prefix, nobody misses anything, the forum maintains organization, and people are still encouraged and inspired to make new topics.

This "Site News" prefix was introduced first to help me and you guys get comfortable with the feature. Of course, it does have its limits and it will not be appropriate for many of the forums here (I can already see the concern on some of your faces, now :p). A careful implementation, though, could significantly change the dynamics of the community in a positive way.
 
I like it. It sounds like a good way to organise stuff without eleventy-billion sub forums. I'm not too sure if 'Site Feedback' suits most site news threads though, but still. Perhaps a re-name is in order... ;)
 
Argh, I clicked on Site Feedback when I wanted The Infield... this might take some getting used to :lol:
 
Just two suggestions:

1. You might want to integrate the tags better into the forum interface. Right now it sticks out like a sore thumb when the newest post in a subforum has one of these when viewed from the main page. (Does that sentence make any sense?)

2. When actually viewing the thread, it might be better to not have the tag at the top of the page telling you what thread you're viewing. I don't think it really agrees with the rest of the GTP look. Unless we're slowly implementing changes for GTPX which might be just around the corner...

Also, the surround on the tag is a different color than everything else.
 
Wow, it sure gets your attention. Seems like a reasonable idea.

I'm having a hard time getting used to The Infield being on top, though. I'm kind of thinking Site Feedback should be on top. That might also help grab new members' attention better.
 
I like the idea of this. Does it explain why I couldn't find anywhere to post a youtube vid yesterday too? I was sure there used to be a dedicated forum for them :p
 
Nice work, Jordan, we use the vB linkbacks at PC. Have to say, this looks better, looks a lot sleeker.
 
Cool.:dopey: How about a "Tuning Garage" prefix for GT5.:lol: J/K. Very nice indeed though.👍
 
I like it. 👍 And in my 8 years at GTP, I've come to know that you'll refine the appearance of the tags.

Are you going to make them context-sensitive? So you cant post, say, a "race results" tagged thread in the Photography & Cameras forum?

Are you looking for suggestions on categories?
 
Are you going to make them context-sensitive? So you cant post, say, a "race results" tagged thread in the Photography & Cameras forum?
Yes, they are context-sensitive and can only be used in specified forums.

Are you looking for suggestions on categories?
Sure. 👍
 
Is it possible to remove the prefixes from the Last Post column?
 
What sort of size do you wish the Prefix to take up? Do you have any measurements?

Oh and I just created this based on the size of Icon your already using, its probably too small but style-wise?

prefixm.png


On second thoughts myself, mabye loosing the black boarder would improve space and look.

EDIT: Like this possibly?
prefix2.png
 
Last edited:
TB
Is it possible to remove the prefixes from the Last Post column?
I presume it's bothering you? Yes, it can be removed.

What sort of size do you wish the Prefix to take up? Do you have any measurements?

Oh and I just created this based on the size of Icon your already using, its probably too small but style-wise?

prefixm.png


On second thoughts myself, mabye loosing the black boarder would improve space and look.

EDIT: Like this possibly?
prefix2.png
The prefixes will probably end up looking similar to that in a different location, though I won't be using an image.
 
No, it didn't fit at all. I have no idea why the vBulletin developers thought it would be a good idea to place thread prefix variables in so many places throughout the templates. :indiff:
 
I presume it's bothering you? Yes, it can be removed.
Perfect! For as clean as you have GTP set up, that looked completely out of place. Thanks, Jordan! :cheers:
 
The only other problem I have is that Site News is under "Site Feedback". It looks a bit weird to me now, since all the other sections are pretty self-explanatory.
 
Hence the previous suggestion for a possible name change. 👍
 
Would it be possible to get a step by step tutorial of how to use thread prefixes? I can see what they're doing. But I don't know how to actually use them.
 
Could you merge the GTMobile and GT5 forums until GTMobile releases? It may get un-organised, but with thread prefixes, it can work out. The GTMobile forum only has about 10 people at a time while the GT5 forum can go past 500. GTMobile is really uderated and I really want it to be cared about as much as GT5, if not, better than it is now.
 
Would it be possible to get a step by step tutorial of how to use thread prefixes? I can see what they're doing. But I don't know how to actually use them.
They're not as complicated as you may think they are. To "use" prefixes, just click on them and they will show you all of the other threads with the same prefix. When you're making a thread in a forum, you can select the prefix you want your thread to have. That's it! :)

Could you merge the GTMobile and GT5 forums until GTMobile releases? It may get un-organised, but with thread prefixes, it can work out. The GTMobile forum only has about 10 people at a time while the GT5 forum can go past 500. GTMobile is really uderated and I really want it to be cared about as much as GT5, if not, better than it is now.
No, each GT game gets its own forum here.
 
Is there any way that the GTMobile forum can get some more attention? It's 5 to 500, and GT5 is a mystery to us compared to GTM.
 
Is there any way that the GTMobile forum can get some more attention? It's 5 to 500, and GT5 is a mystery to us compared to GTM.

It gets all the attention it needs. If more people are interested in it then more people will visit that forum. You can't force people to visit something. Despite GT Mobile the attention is still mainly on GT5 so that subforum will get more visits.
 
I think if there are going to be prefixes for newer threads (especially for the Motorsports forum), there needs to be at least "Other" or something. Because I want threads to have relevant prefixes, and I don't want to (for example) talk about MotoGP by using a NASCAR prefix.

So that's a suggestion. If there's something that doesn't fit with a certain prefix, at least add an "Other" prefix, or maybe come along with other prefixes.
 
Back