Allow similar build threads?

Keep It Simple Stupid. KISS. Let the similar builds stay together in a single thread. For me, I come here for research and fully enjoy reading various threads and theory on builds. I don't mind finding a posted build and reading through the thread to maybe find a better alt build. A case in point for me was the k2 hobo. The OP had got my attention and upon reading the thread come up on Archwright's version that was a bit more efficient. Having to wade through 30 other variations on a theme as individual threads would be tiresome at best.

Personally, if someone can't be bothered to read the entire thread, that's on them. Can lead a horse to water...

 

This is something I have been thinking about for a few days, and here are my thoughts so far.

Merge all the similar topics into one: Eg: SDR-5K, energy weapon and mach guns.

That will work to keep the place very tidy, however, I have also comeup with another idea.
Each of the forums, and I will use the 5K forum here for an example, create a subforum within that forum dedicated for builds based around machine guns, create another subforum for builds based around ACs.
In further thinking, it has occurred to me that this would be fairly hard to manage.

So this brings me back to merging similar builds into one thread, which will keep things tidy, and as long as the thread it appropriately named, than people should know what they are looking for.

 

No. This will never happen. It would be Forumception.

[quote author=Moonsword link=topic=2220.msg13413#msg13413 date=1374096050]
In further thinking, it has occurred to me that this would be fairly hard to manage.
[/quote]

I was going to voluntold you for it!

[quote author=Moonsword link=topic=2220.msg13413#msg13413 date=1374096050]
So this brings me back to merging similar builds into one thread, which will keep things tidy, and as long as the thread it appropriately named, than people should know what they are looking for.
[/quote]

Yes, we get that but then how does the voting work? This is what the main question on the thread is. If we merge all the threads that are the same then does each post in that thread, that has a build, get the ability to be rated? Do we display the highest rating in the message index or just the original rating for the OP in the message index.

This is the conundrum that people have been trying to work out.

 

I'm off camping right now but when I get back this is on my to do list.

No buttons jumping to highest build in thread.

No moving highest thread to top.

Forum software (at least this one) isn't designed using that filter for posts

 

(Sighs)

Anyways thanks for the feedback people. I'm away on vacation right now as will make my decisions when I get home in the next few days.

I'm locking this thread.

 

I edited my post and added your bit hopefully clarifying things a bit.

I'm stuck on this one so going to take a few days to marinate it on it.

 

I've been mulling this over in my head all day, in fact the last several days of my vacation. Because of this I have re-opened this discussion since you guys have provided some great input...

In my eyes this discussion has sort of taken on two different directions and thus shown two potential problems. The first one being "Merged or Individual Build Sheets" and the second problem being "How to Rate Merged Build Sheets versus Individiual Build Sheets".

Here are the basic bare bones of each issue after having gone through the threads.

INDIVIDUAL BUILD SHEETS
Build authors should have credit for the work they put into their designs
Allows people to easily see the progression from a crap build to a great build

MERGED BUILD SHEETS
Cleans up the forums and removes all the Wow, you removed 16 points of armor "variants"
Makes things easy to find based on weapons loadout, type, role

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RATING INDIVIDUAL BUILD SHEETS
Crap builds eventually sink to the bottom; both in last post date as well as star rating
Better builds rise to the top; even if it is just a matter of switching out armor for a DHS etc

RATING MERGED BUILD SHEETS
Question on IF highest rated build in the topic be used as the message index rating or not
Makes mega threads; would have to scan and scan through in order to find the best build

Essentialy with these added problems it is almost easier to keep the system the way it is and simply merge threads on an AS NEEDED basis (like the Jenner D area that had to be added to). 11 people voted to have the forums cleaned up but if you merge the threads then you run into the rating problems and the better build authors not getting credit for their work.

Conundrum!

 

[quote author=Michael link=topic=2220.msg12908#msg12908 date=1373748169]
Jacob that is called "pruning" and unfortunately no forum software, at least that I know of, allows this type of thing to happen. Some people have communities that are 10 years old with posts from 10 years ago lol
[/quote]

Yes, you can do this in SMF: Admin -> Forum Maintenance -> Topics
There is a pruning option: Remove all topics not posted in for x amount of days. There are more options and you can select the boards you want for this. You would have to do this manually every so often, but it will do all of the work for you. You just plugin the amount of days.

 

Apparently I was wrong! SoLo would know better than I since he has basically built a ground up portal for SMF.

The problem with pruning is that what if a build is already perfect but hasn't been posted in within the last 90 days? You lose a great build, possibly a 5 star build, boooooo.

 

This gives me an idea... What if we had a page, perhaps in the users profile, to view every topic/post that they rated, and they could easily change their vote for those topics/posts(threads) with a click of a button? Without ever revisiting that topic/thread. They could also, optionally, go to that topic/post(thread) with a link to it from their profile. It would be sort of setup like a table.

Also, for people who have the ability to Administrate Post/Topic Ratings (in Permissions), it would show up in other users profile, the topics/threads they rated. Also, if you'd like, we could add in the actual rating that they gave it as well.

Let me know if that would help any... Ofcourse, no one would be able to change the rating from within a users profile, except for that user, no matter what!

Also, another idea, is that we should be able to sort threads in a topic by rating score in Descending (100% - 0%) and Ascending (0% - 100%) order, which would help identify the best rated thread in a topic, however, this doesn't help with viewing all topics. Just an idea I'm throwing out there.

Also, their will be a Stats page in the future of PRP that will provide many many many different charts of information on topics and threads in a topic. So, this will most likely be more useful than the rating that shows up in Topic View. However, also, I am planning on adding these 4 options for Topic views to PRP:

1. Average Rating in topic
2. First Post Only (the way it is now)
3. Highest Rating in Topic
4. Lowest Rating in Topic

Although these will be global settings for all boards that are enabled for rating in your forum, so, not sure if that helps any.

Let me know what you all think of this.

There could also be pruning options for Ratings if you think it would help. There could be a page for pruning topics that have no ratings in any threads within those topics for specific boards (that you select), or based on a ratings score or star. If this would help any, let me know what pruning criteria you'd want to be able to select from. I'm guessing:

• List of Boards to select from, or all boards that are enabled for Rating.
• Quantity of Stars (including 0 stars) less than, equal to, or greater than.
• Ratings Score (0% - 100%) that you type in manually (again, less than, equal to, or greater than)
• what else??

 

Wow SoLo, these are all some really great ideas and I'm sure many of the guys are just drooling over them!

 

EXACTLY why I don't suggest pruning. I don't want to bump 5 star builds every few weeks just to help them stay alive.

 

SoLo was talking about adding something into the PRP module which would allow us to prune topics, from specific boards (like the ones that are used for rating) that have zero stars (they have not been rated) and are older than XYZ days.

THAT might be a cool feature no?

 

Might be useful then. Also people need to rate more.

 

Just to follow on from this rather than create a new topic.

Is there any easy way of finding which builds I have not yet rated?

The builds are posted thick and fast particularly in the assault mech part of the forum and it is difficult to see which builds I have rated and which ones I have read but not yet rated without opening each thread.

I believe this may help/encourage people to rate threads which will in turn help in determining good and bad ones as discussed above.

 

In all honesty I would rather have people only rate builds they have tested.

You can look at a race car and say "wow. 500hp and 500ft-lbs woo hoo" but until you drive it you can't give an educated review.

 

Well, part of ma totally agree with you, but part of me also know that you can judge a build within a range just by seeing it. Things like "you don't need a useless case with the XL" or simply "you can add FF for an extra ton" or "dude your build is at 20% heat add more DHS"
You KNOE there are things that can improve on.

That having said, I would compare to builds I have played already with the same variant, and make a similar one (if not identical) if I can.

Generally speaking, I usually give the middle score of my projected effectiveness, and adjust it after I play. That is why I usually give ratings from 2-4. I would usually change the rating after some tests though. A few of them acts a bit better than expacted, while some prove to be a bit impractical. Some may not suit my style, but I can understand how some people would like it.