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You can’t always get what you want …

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We’re looking at enhancing the Afterword site in various ways and so we need to gather ideas and comments from the massive for changes that, in your opinion, would be ‘good to have’.. once we can get a list of changes together it will get prioritised by the level of support … so as your starter for ten here’s some ideas we have come up with all by ourselves like..:-

1) Buying AW T-Shirts and other ‘merch’ on the site

2) Share posts/comments on Facebook/Twitter etc

3) New section ‘Afterword Guide To…’ you pick a band/artist/author/director etc and write a quick guide with links/clips/whatever

4) Up/Like/Down/Dislike buttons on comments/posts (latter 2 options may not be implemented)

5) User name type ahead look up when sending a PM

6) Enhanced messaging – WYSIWYG editor and support sending attachments (images/mp3s)

7) When you are logged in then blog comments will be marked as ‘new’ independent of the device used – i.e. a ‘new’ comment viewed on a tablet will no longer be ‘new’ when seen for the first time with a laptop

8) Chat sub-system

9) Reply to notifications by email

Over to you..

5

Comments

  2. Likes and dislikes – Just NO.

    Likewise keep the drivel I post here off facebook and twitter please. I like that people need to actively seek me out here rather than have my U2 rants just turn up on their social media.

    The other stuff, I’m not sure I understand to be honest…

  3. A vote here for an up or like button. Or we could give it another name. How about the “great post/comment I enjoyed reading that I may even have laughed but I haven’t got time to reply right now” button. That’s GPCIERTIMEHLBHGTTRRN for short.

    Also 7) would be good

  5. Afterword Guide To …
    Could be intersting. Could result in some good impassioned writing.
    Having said that, is that what The Afterword is for – to share passions and discoveries?

    Share to Facebook – it’s a No for me

    Sorry for sounding negative. I’ll have a think but to be honest, and echoing Colin H, its good as it stands. Always room for enhancement, just not sure what yet. Keep on keeping on (and ensuring I’m not released into the community)
    How about a cover mount CD?

  6. An up for 1, 3, 5, 7
    A down or a -> for the rest. I remember an impassioned discussion about likes and dislikes in the old place, and I think the present ‘up’ works just fine. Which is not to say I’m not tempted to write ‘down’ occasionally…

  8. Just a pointer @rich in theory when you type @user it should start autofilling so you can ‘tag’ a user on Buddypress a bit like Facebook but doesn’t work since I switched to Genesis. Never quite got to the bottom of that one.

    7. can that be done?

    I like no.3 – it was something I intended to sort before I stepped down from Admin duties – basically Afterworders can create the definitive guide to bands etc. A bit like those Mojo ‘How To Buy’ things

  10. The only two things that are annoying (in a first world problem way) are NEW not being device independent – I regularly use the site on 5 devices and the first screen on the tracking page showing threads I’ve started, most posts on the site by everyone are responses to others posts and I would rather that was shown first – I guess it could be done with a personal setting. It would also be handy if the time of the last post was added to the date. GMT would be fine.

  11. I generally concur with the notion that the site needs very little tweaking.

    Now that the Massive has an edit/delete function, nothing else is pressing.

    I do like the idea of The Afterword Guide To… – that could put the vast knowledge of this mob to great use & I like the idea of AW T -shirts – I ‘d definitely buy one, though probably not wear it if I’m honest.
    Do NOT like the idea of ‘Up’ & ‘Down’ buttons at all. A great plus of the AW is that it’s not a popularity contest & if someone doesn’t like what you’ve posted, they can/will respond with actual words & sentences. A simple virtual ‘ thumbs down’ indicator is sloppy & encourages troll like behaviour. This place is better than that.
    I don’t do the social media thing, but get the feeling folk prefer some things compartmentalised.
    Great work though, keep it up!

  12. I like the idea of the “Like” button. In the old place we had up / down buttons for a while – the down buttons were generally held to be annoying (I certainly found them so), but the up ones were handy for supporting / agreeing with something if that was all you wanted to say.

    I would like to suggest an improvement to the “new” – can it be updated to be “new!” ? This is because on threads like Blogger Takeover, the word “new” is used a lot and this would make it easier to see the actual new posts.

    Thanks for the edit function – it is very handy.

    So 1, 3, 4 and 7 (with the tweak above) are the ones that I would like to see, please.

  13. Can we have a button that makes us a nice hot cup of cocoa and then tucks us into bed?

    Agree with others that the site is pretty much spot on as it is. Don’t really want any links to FarceBerk or Quitter, and definitely no down/dislike button. The idea of a virtual AW t-shirt (as now) is much funnier than the real thing, but I do like the idea of a definitive guide to / How to buy section.

    Not being negative either, but just like the site as it is.

  14. I would leave things as they are, having said that none of the above would negatively impact me. Got a splinter in my bum now from this fence I’m sitting on………..

  15. A lot of these aren’t obvious through current absence, Is there any harm in trying ’em out? No harm in then quietly dropping. The merch is probably very low maintenance and done near on demand, the James Bla(a)st FB page showing how it’s done. I can’t see that being big bucks megabusiness yet give a choice of a dozen odd designs at 29 euros a pop, so about 18 quids. I don’t need links here there and everywhere to twitter/FB (or even particularly like being posted in my email if anyone replies/responds/mentions my name) Up arrow yes, down arrow no. I quite like the idea of AW guide to this or that.
    I applaud the ideas generally as I think it time the site kicked it’s own arse and attracted new readers, who do seem to trickle in, but there is a risk of it becoming a cliquey self-congratulating and self reverencing (and referencing) blind alley of and for ageing curmudgeons like myself.

  16. Love the merchandise idea, particularly the notion of owing a GCU-designed t-shirt.
    Can I also suggest not using that pale blue font in the OP? It’s a struggle to read, especially this time on a Saturday morning 🙂

  17. T-shirts, coasters, stickers? OK, but I doubt it would fly.

    FarceBerk? *reaches for deadly weapon*

    Afterword Guide To… that’s not a bad idea at all, especially having read the recent splendid post about fooling about productively when in Dublin for a few days.

    Thumbs-Up thingamajig on every Comment? Personally I’ve got used to piping up with a “Where’s the UP button when you need it?” remark if I really want to high-five a comment. Making it trivially easy to do this probably just demeans the intrinsic value of the approbation. So maybe not.

    All other listed ideas – not for me thanks, especially email notifications. Good God, I spend half my life unsubscribing and filtering as it is.

    Oh, and the idea of a chat sub-system is anathema.

    So, to sum up, apart from a few of these suggestions, it’s Down With This Sort Of Thing, Careful Now. Love it pretty much as it is.

    • The Dublin episode seems to me more like a validation of the existing conventions of the site: mosely sends out an ATM beacon, yielding some great, informed replies and then composes a report which is like a “Nights Out” stretched over a weekend.
      But then I don’t want to knock the “guide to..” thing without seeing it in action (I suppose the closet thing, for those who remember the short-lived green “Not The Word” site, was Poppy Succeeds’s Temple Of Hip Hop, or whatever it was called). It’s just I have a suspicion that where you have so many strongly optionated arses, any “definitive” guide to anything is going to be trailed by a comet’s tail of contradictory posts picking it apart, some in a less-than-kind fashion. Not sure that’s going to help the shrinking violets chiz is talking about..

  19. Not bothered by the Up/Down buttons – I had no idea there were any on the site already.

    The site sees fine to me as is. The only things I miss are:
    Having a list of recent threads sorted in “most recently posted” order, like a bulletin board (the Recently Updated box doesn’t really work, for me anyway).
    A “new” notification that I can search for (the old place had “new!” which is reasonably unique search string).

    But if nothing changed I’d still be happy with the site 🙂

  20. Absolutely NO to like, or dislike buttons/arrows. They can create, either deliberately or accidentally, as sense of the click/clique. I don’t think most posters are bothered, or seeking approval or wanting to be liked. If someone’s want to engage, then reply, or just quietly agree, disagree, chuckle, snort etc.
    No links to TW/FB either. All in all, now that the site has Edith, it has all that it needs as it is.

  21. Sounds like you’re in danger of making a 12″ extended dance remix, on limited edition picture disc, or red vinyl or green vinyl or blue vinyl…..i.e. very probably ‘shite’…..when the 2 minutes 58 seconds 45 is the template.
    See ‘Beatles.’

  23. How about a cap on the number of times someone can post on a thread they started? The list on the right – which is what passing traffic (such as the 3700 who have read Bargepole’s King Crimson review in the last four days) see when they visit, is massively skewed by people providing up to a third of the content on their own thread. Showcase popular topics, not promoted ones, and maybe we’ll get some new voices in here

          • Here’s another solution to this constant discussion about people making comments on their own threads. I am one of the worst offenders.

            I don’t know if this is technically possible, but couldn’t it be fixed that comments made by the person who started the thread don’t count towards the number of comments? It would end all the discussions about bloggers bumping their own content.

            I would be very chuffed if you could fix this.

            • Not an offence. It’s your own thread to comment on as you like. Seriously, I don’t see an issue here at all. If it makes for a lively thread, so what, and the number of comments surely doesn’t matter as it’s not a competition, or shouldn’t be, just banter after all.

      • I agree. It does irk when someone appears to be commenting on their own thread for the sake of it (or to keep it live) but that’s not always the motivation and limiting it in any way seems to be going against the spirit of thing – it’s a forum and it’s the discussion and the tangents that make it so interesting

            • Great comment about the tangents Ainsley. I really enjoy it when one of my threads goes off in some strange, wonderful direction I’d never anticipated.

              Some of the most memorable moments here are the banter or somebody mentioning something fascinating you’d never heard of. Hubert, for one is a wiz at that but there are many others.

          • A dispiriting classroom would be one where pushy parents insist their offspring get special attention, and a seat at the front, while the quiet, humble kids get marginalised until their parents give up and take them out of school. Nothing wrong with a bit of positive discrimination to promote a level playing field

            • There are some pieces longer here which don’t get many comments because the author has covered the topic so well. Some positive discrimination to ensure that more readers get to see them would be a great idea. But how do you do it?

              Our morning paper sends out a weekly mail where the editor mentions a few of the articles from the past week that readers may have missed with links to them. That wouldn’t be appropriate here but it’s food for thought.

              Sometimes I mail a link to an AW post that I enjoyed to friends who may be interested in that topic. Or just because I enjoyed the writing.

              • Can’t believe we’re talking ‘positive discrimination’ bollocks. It’s only a blog site. If you lurk, dive in if you want to. Take the plunge. That’s what most regular contributors did at first. New posters nearly always get warmly welcomed. You just have to put it out, and you’ll usually get good feedback all in all, but not always, and if not, so what. It’s just ebb and flow. Stick at it. Some people probably have a go and find it’s not for them. That’s cool too. Think a virtual pub in a swimming pool.

                (‘Marginalised’…. ‘level playing fields’….)

                *rolls eyes towards the ceiling and tuts*

                    • Just a guess based on your debating style. The patrician distain for concepts you don’t understand is a dead giveaway

                    • Where’s the little grey Reply button below chiz’s last snark?

                      I wanted to use it to say “Stop that sneery ‘patrician disdain’ stuff chiz minor. It’s stuff and nonsense pouted by those of low moral fibre. Stomach in, chest out, damn well get on with it boy and stop whining”.

                      There you go, if we’re on about improvements, let’s get rid of this vanishing Reply function that seems to randomly think it can shirk its duties. Give it a sound digital beating and tell it to bloody well show up on time, every ruddy period, even on Saturday mornings, or it can report to the Porter’s Lodge, pick up whichever his chosen willow wand is for use that day and take it to the Head’s study for six of the best.

    • I understand and agree in principle Chiz but this is where a little adult restraint, a posting guideline and a bit of moderation action should suffice. Having a posting limit seems draconean to me.

      • Oh definitely – it’s an absurd proposal. Sometimes the threat of legislation is enough to change behaviour, or at least get people engaged and in the conversation

          • One particular post of mine became a conversation, as people posted tracks that touched them. Over the course of a week, I replied to every comment, thanking people but also recommending other bands, etc. the thread grew organically, I found some wonderful music that I otherwise wouldn’t have, and @Kaisfatdad put the tracks into a Spotty playlist, which I play often. The thread went off on some beautiful, musical tangents, sometimes because of my replies. Why should that be a bad thing?
            The whole thing was really rewarding for me.
            I couldn’t care less about the number of comments on a post – this is a blog not a bloody contest – so, if my comments were not ‘counted’ in the total, it wouldn’t matter. But I do not want a restriction on my option to thank people, to comment on their comment, etc

              • Okay, I get that the regular posters are happy with the stacked deck, but look what’s happening to the afterword gene pool. Only five of the most commented list in the last month have had a thousand views. That’s… really bad. People aren’t seeing stuff they want to read. Does this matter? Not really, unless you want to preserve the variety and quality of posts and posters that built this community in the first place

                  • That’s a good point, Chiz, but how do we refresh the gene pool and encourage new bloggers to write about topics that they care about?

                    I frequently mention the Afterword to friends and have encouraged them to sign up as lurkers but to date have had little success.

                    For example, I recently posted an Italian track that Dodger Lane had mentioned here on my Facebook page and got a positive response and was asked about how I knew about it.

                    Knowing that the site exists is a start. The next step is to get visitors to start commentingänd starting their onw threads.

                    • ( ppst! Kaisfatdude ! Are you on some sort of commission ? Can I have a slice of the action ?)

                    • So it appears that the current Most Commented thread of the week is also the least read thread of the entire month. It’s like putting the worst track on the album out as a single.

                    • You obviously feel strongly about this, Chiz, whereas I never look at the “charts” so couldn’t give a monkey’s nut. As we’ve no idea what the Afterword as a whole feels, perhaps we should have a debate thread, with a vote if there’s enough interest?

                    • I’m interested in the way the site markets itself to new members, and the “charts’ on every page of the blog are what they would see. I’d like to see more contributors here – maybe the more frequent posters don’t agree and would prefer it to be their own private club. You don’t encourage participation by alientating your audience

                    • A broader spread of posters would be a very good thing. I don’t know how we attract more, mind you, especially without the magazine to hang off. Perhaps we should ask the Scientologists. They seem quite good at that sort of thing.

  25. 7: lovely – I check in from work PC, home PC and tablet.
    3: nice idea, but inessential
    1: possibly, but who would be prepared to do all the packing/posting?

    None of the rest. I like it just the way we are.

  26. Joining in on the “no” to Facebook Twitter links and up/down arrows. The “up” on the OP works well, anything else would be divisive. What I would really like is a series of shortcuts like they have on Mumsnet forum for HTML commands, for example: *blahblah* puts blahblah into bold without having to write laborious code. This would be a big help writing Wordblogger posts and other posts.
    Other Mumsnet ones include
    Underline: _hello_ gives hello underlined
    Italics: ^hello^ gives hello in italics
    Strikethrough: –hello– gives hello with a line through it

    Also a chance to preview posts before posting would be great.

    Am not sure quite what you mean by “Chat subsystem”?
    Carry on with the great work!

  27. 1,3 and 4. But no “dislikes”.

    Don’t know if it’s possible, but I would like an “alerts” system where you get one every time a thread you contributed to has new stuff. I know we have Tracking, but a notification on main blog page would be good.

  28. I would certainly but an AW t-shirt and if any profit helps fund the site then all the better.

    Like the use of the Afterword Guide To – whilst we tend to do this to a certain extent in the normal blog, it would be nice to have in one place. There’s some great knowledge and writing on here. I seem to recall that someone knows a bit or two about the Mahavishni Orchestra…….

    The rest not too fussed about.

    It would be nice to have a feature that automatically generates a reply to my posts if there hasn’t been one after a week, so I don’t feel all left out…… 🙂

  30. Instead of 1) how about investigating ways of making the site self financing through commercial sponsorship.

    No not those awful sub bootleg Bath Festival tat ads and nothing too intrusive either. Just enough to pay for the running costs

    TwangDog Productions are currently in negotiations with podcast sponsorship partners including Conrad Knight Socks , Lil Lisa’s Seafood Slurry and Vandelay Industries

  32. 1,3 and 7 -yes please. 2 – a thousand times ‘no’. Up arrows for comments worked okay in the old place. Down/ dislike arrows would make me very sad. They would change everything that I love about this site. The rest? Not sure I understand them all, so I probably don’t need them in my life.

    How about a ‘Save’ function for a post & comments? The recent request for tips for a weekend in Dublin got such great responses that I just wanted to get on a plane. But it also made me realise that, if it is a few years before I can go back, I’d want to take it with me.
    Equally, I love to go back and re-read some beautifully written posts. Not sure how difficult it is but, it’s just a thought.

  34. 3 and 7 look good to me.

    Not so sure about either the up or down arrows. Either of them seem to be a lazy way of avoiding actually adding something to a particular blog and it’s the (mostly) good natured debate that makes this site such a worthwhile read.

  35. Like everyone else, I would love to see 7 implemented.

    My immediate reaction to Facebook / Twitter integration was a definite no, but as I think about it, I wonder if it could be a tool for promoting the site and attracting new blood? I wouldn’t want it in a form where a discussion could move to those platforms instead of here, though. Maybe an option to post an OP to the user’s profiles, but none of the comments? To be honest, I still don’t really like the idea, but I can’t think of much else that might tempt fresh people to the site.

    Not sure about a chat subsystem – I think it would have to be public, or there’ll be all sorts of clique insinuations, but if it’s public, why not just comment in a thread? Similar worries about 9, unless the email replies would automatically post as comments. As a rule of thumb, I think anything that facilitates taking a conversation away from the main site should be avoided.

    Neutral on the rest of it. Don’t think I would buy any merch, but if it washes its face and helps fund the site then go for it.

    Other tweaks? Can the colour of the “new” button be changed? I keep finding myself scrolling rapidly to look for a new comment and then getting caught by a yellow emoticon. I also second the call for changing the order of the tracking page. Lastly, it’d be good if the recently updated box displayed the timestamp and identity of the last user to comment on the thread, so you can tell if you’re up to date or not without having to open it and scroll to the bottom.

    • An up from me for a different “new” marker. Mr. Saucecraft’s avatar in particular always stops me scrolling before I realise. Fall for it every time.

      I suppose whatever it’s changed to will clash with something though?

  36. Always found the up or down buttons off-putting – used tonidnicated which side of an argument people found themselves on in lieu of writing a comment. And therefore a tool to belittle, chastise, bully and show disapproval.

  38. Funny you say that, aren’t some people looking for a platform:

    Bigmouth Podcast – and now website – what next?


    (Nooooooooooooooo)
    And Rob C, you at the back, go and make up with Chiz the groundkeepers son immediately. He’s right, you know, this site may be waxing trippily at the moment, but is capable of becoming as organic as the yoghurt I found at the back of the fridge, heavily bearded and emitting nasty bubbles. (Where is Burt, btw?)

  41. Lucky you keep such a low profile and your opinions to yourself then….. 😉
    I think most subscribe to that celebrated polemic of Marx about belonging to clubs.
    Groucho, clearly.
    Astral high fibre, sea shanty etc etc

  45. Yes to No. 7 (syncing ‘NEW’ on all devices).

    As the ‘up’ buttons mystifyingly seem to cause such consternation, how about a ‘Laugh’ or ‘Funny’ button instead, to click when someone makes a great joke or tells an amusing story. That’s neater and less intrusive to a thread than a long line of comments basically saying: ‘That’s funny’. (KFD has manfully run through the four perennial favourites in his comment two above this one).

  46. Already mentioned elsewhere by @Kid Dynamite, but can the various review sections be changed so that there is simply the title, artwork (if any) and the review itself. The remaining sections, which are currently compulsory, always cause much head scratching!
    Can these be done away with, or at the very least be made optional?

  47. I personally always like it when someone is so tickled by a comment, they bother to write “Up” or similar. I’ve never seen it used to side with an argument either, just to indicate fulsome wit or wisdom acknowledgement. Perfect.

  48. A vote here for 5/, if that’s where you type @ and the first letter of someone’s name, and a drop-down list appears with their AW avatar name. It definitely was a feature of this site not long after it returned after the Great Drupal Unpleasantness, but disappeared after a WordPress update.

    Oh, and I’m happy to do any merchandise designs like t-shirts pro bono, for the Greater Good. . .

  49. As regards the gene pool and attracting new contributors, is there anywhere on the main page that says we welcome new blood?

    What requirements are there to register? As far as I know, the only must is that you are a human being. However if this Music for Cats and other non-humans thing catches on, we may soon be crowded out with moggies, pooches, cactus plants, trees and stones who want to blog here.

  50. Well that took a while to review before my 2 bobs worth.
    Writing up is fine but it is of course cliquey as only vets know of the great to up or not to up debate.
    7 sounds good.
    Since time began I can’t get the blog to remember my name and password whatever the device search engine or operating system. Drives me nuts, especially when I read a thread want to make a comment then I have to log in which takes me to the home page not the blog and then I have to scroll scroll scroll cue little feat – scroll right through the night.
    Happy to exclude initiators comments in the count though no cap. Some days me and the Conch are the only ones on a thread while you lazy sods sleep.
    Yep comments are down but heck I did one saying anyone heard the half speed master of Exile and everyone piled in. Why the average age is 48 and I imagine if weighted to posting it would be higher. Just sayin old bastard topics thrive.
    I’d be ok writing specialist articles but at risk of being a graveyard. A lot of thought on exposure would be needed.
    Merchandise. Don’t really get it. The only people who would get the point are on the blog not others so why ?

    And yes where is HP ?

  51. The site is generally fine although perhaps a few more objective updates could be added. Like, an area to post your dealers name and mobile number for, like, when your Man is like caught short like, it would promote a healthy community spirit, like. You know it makes sense.

    • I really could have needed the Whooshy-Uppy Button (c) to check no. 6 in the OP…
      Edit: Hm…can we have handy copyright logo through simple (c) short cut as well?

      • It’s a concept defined back in the old days when, for example, a word processor would display everything in one font. Your printer would have a completely different font or set of fonts and you would need to embed control codes into your text to either change the font or put a word in italics. You never saw the other font or the italics until you actually sent the document to print. When Windows came along (yes I know other non DOS GUI things preceeded it), you could have the same fonts on the printer as on your PC and “what you see” on the screen would look just the same as the “what you get” out of the printer. One reason that stand alone Word Processors were ‘popular’ before Windows was because the computer bit and the printer were matched and therefore could be WYSIWYG. As far as printing colours is concerned, one of the main reasons that Macs were originally beloved of graphic artists is because the colours they saw on the screen would be the same as the one’s coming out of a printing press possibly the other side of the world.

  55. Sound effects?
    – The introduction to Court Of The Crimson King on start-up
    – Herb Alpert’s “Spanish Flea” when Posting a new Blog/Article
    – Scaffold’s “Thank U Very Much” when posting a comment
    – Wondestuff’s “Its Yer Money I’m After Baby” when pressing the Donate button

    etc

  56. No never ever to 2, 4, 8 & 9.
    Yes please to 5 & 7.
    Whizz to top-of-thread button? Doesn’t the “home” key on your keyboard do that anyway? Or am I being PC-specific?

    • Wow – so it does! I never knew that…I’m terrified of pushing any button that I don’t know what they’re for (the times I’ve tried, usually Bad Things happen)!
      Most functions on a computer are indeed a mystery to me, I’m probably using around 15% of the actual capacity. I blame the fact that I started using them late in life + had bad luck with my first computer, which was a hand-me-down and faulty and gave me nothing but trouble. Once I figured out that No; it wasn’t me, it was a technical malfunction, and bought a new computer that actually worked, I’d become scared to try anything I wasn’t sure of, in case I’d somehow ruin it!

    • Fantastic, it does work and end takes you to the bottom. The things you learn round here. I’ve given myself “Scrollers Wrist” navigating threads here, now it’s woosh…..

  57. Afterword Guide To … would be good.
    But …
    If it were to be templated like Nights In / Nights Out it may dilute some of the passion or extent of the submission.
    I do like to read medium/long form articles about whatever floats peoples boats – maybe it needs a basic outline template at the start, and then just a massive free text section.
    I would also suggest (possibly pointlessly?) that these guides should cover all forms of culture.
    The South Bank Afterword Show

    • My two-penn’orth on Afterword Guide pieces (if we’re going to have them, that is).

      They should be on any broadly-cultural topic whatsoever and as long as they are reasonably articulate, contain nothing deliberately provocative and are non-actionably factual, they should NOT be available for others to comment on directly but should be treated like published magazine articles that one can comment upon as general blog topics if one wishes, each one being pushed down the list of Guides and eventually out of sight as newer Guides appear, but being indexed and searchable, should one wish to look a particular Guide up.

      Actually, it might be a good thing to have an index of past Features, Nights In, Nights Out, Reads, Films and Games.

      • I still have my threads of threads from the old site. If it ever becomes possible to extract anything from the snafu that the hackers churned it into, I’d be happy to compile it.

  58. 1 (although someone would have to take charge and decide what it/they would be), 3 and 7 would be nice.
    9 possibly too, as unlike some other forums I visit, a reply to a thread doesn’t bump that thread up to the top of the list (thus showing what is “hot” and what “isn’t”.). The AW is steadfast in that threads remain in very strict time created order.

  60. You know what I’d like? A proper search facility that doesn’t rely on those strange “tags” at the end of the first post. Many people (including me) insist on writing “witty” entries in the tags – ie “Beano Album” or “Mahavishnu”, regardless of the thread content. This of course proves next to useless down the track.

    For example, I’m sure there was a recent thread (or at least a post) concerning Bowie’s and Peter Sellers’ guest appearance on sax and uke on two separate Steeleye Span albums, but no amount of searching can find it. If we had a “proper” search facility instead of the almost pointless tags, I/we could search the entire blog.

    Thank you in advance.

  62. Finally got round to adding my tuppence worth…

    1) AW T-Shirts and other ‘merch’ – Yes, might be fun but would it be worthwhile? How much would we buy? We’ve got coffee mugs for Africa at home, so I would only buy one just to have one, so to speak.
    2) Share on Facebook/Twitter – No
    3) ‘Afterword Guide To…’ – No opinion either way, but would probably read it if it was there and I was interested in the subject.
    4) Up/Like/Down/Dislike buttons – No, Happy with the “thumbs-up”
    5) User name type ahead look up …. – Don’t send PMs, so no opinion either way
    6) Enhanced messaging – Don’t understand
    7) Blog comments will be marked as ‘new’ …. &c – No opinion either way.
    8) Chat sub-system – Don’t understand
    9) Reply to notifications by email – Don’t understand

    Apart from some lukewarm support for “merch” and the AW Guide, looks like I’m happy to see things left as they are, thanks.

    It may be a done-and-dusted argument, but I’m with Rob C on the question of people posting on their own threads – I don’t think there should be any limit. It doesn’t seem to me that it’s ever done cynically simply to keep a thread running, but even if it is, so what? A long running thread doesn’t stop anyone else from posting or from starting their own thread and it doesn’t stop anyone from looking at any other content on the blog or elsewhere on the site. If the AW gene pool is shrinking, it’s not because people are commenting on their own OPs. In fact, quite the opposite, I think. If I post a comment on a thread, I like to get a response, regardless of whether its agreement or disagreement: that’s the essence of conversation. Otherwise, we are just yelling in the After-wilderness.

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