File endorsements in their own discussion topic

[Pushkatu]

The only negative thing I see with this new feature is reading comments that respond to other people comments wich are not there anymore. Many use the comments on mods pages to look for answears to their own problems and many times they find the said answears withing the comments page. Now things look a little wierd since people will stumble into this sort of posts: "Hey, how can I fix the Y bug or Is it compatible with X mod, becouse the readme does not mention it?" and the next post they read is made by the same person " Hey, thanks, that helped a lot." Now, when someone reads these posts they will most likely say where the f... is the answear? OR I can fix that how exactly? or Is it compatible or what??:blink:

 

Of course over time when new posts will be made, such confusions will be limited.

[Dark0ne]

I'm sorry you're not happy, Emma :(

 

Most people do post their questions and suggestions while endorsing, i.e. in the same post, maybe you can make them change this habit over time, but it is what they have done in the past. Therefore questions and answers are now split in an unfortunate way. (On a side-note, if people are not doing questions and suggestions when endorsing, what is the purpose in at all posting while endorsing? I mean, it would basically mean that the only relevant thing to put in the endorsement-post is generic stuff like "great mod, keep up the good work".)

 

My hope is that people will, indeed, change their habit over time to not ask questions in their endorsement posts. Endorsement posts should be reserved for positive feedback and thanks where as questions and technical support should be directed to the comments or to a separate discussion topic for a specific issue. That would be my ideal outcome.

 

If you look at files like Midas Magic or Deadly Reflex you'll find that around 30% of all the posts originally in the "Comments" tab were actually Endorsement posts. You have to go back to March 7th, about 30 posts back in the endorsement topic, to find an endorsement that has an actual question in it for Midas Magic. The next one after that is on the 11th of January, 80 posts in. It's a similar story for Deadly Reflex and while I understand these aren't your files and your situation might be different (aside: is it much different?) when designing this little rework I took a close look at Deadly Reflex as it's probably one of the biggest mods that has regular recurring technical support questions. I figured if Deadly Reflex only had small amounts of users asking questions in endorsement posts then most other files would be similar, or better in comparison.

 

Questions out of endorsement posts aside the idea of 2,000 of 6,000 "I endorse this file...it is awesome" comments being moved out of the Comments tab so that questions and answers can more easily be seen, ergo reducing clutter was too good an opportunity to pass up.

 

Having said all of this you can post in the endorsement thread, so you can follow up any questions people have in that thread.

[Zaldir]

What about having two forms when submitting a comment/Endorsement. One for technical and one for general endorsements. Both will show up when posting, but they will be separated on different topics.

 

Something as simple as this: EXAMPLE (Yeah, I know - I suck at editing^^)

 

And then each one of those could be optional, and you can choose to write in both, one, or even none, if you're only giving a positive endorsement

Edited April 12, 2011 by Zaldiir

[buddah]

The only constant in life in change.

 

Some call it evolution, but the fact is you do not grow and adapt to change you will cease to exist.

 

Just an old man's observations.

[Eiries]

Eh, I guess I don't mind this. It makes previous conversations messy, but over time things will make sense again. As for the endorsement topics... these can still be commented in, can't they? Like, I can drop a comment in any Endorsement topic just like any other thread. That also will be useful for answering those endorsement-question combos... even if it means juggling two threads.

 

And as a final note, quick question: there is an "unpin this thread" option available in the new endorsement topics... is that supposed to be there? What purpose does it serve? If I hit it, will it make the thread float away? :tongue:

[forli]

I agree with this change. Many times you find the response to a post situated several pages away, and 70% of the people don't understand what that guy is talking about because the discussion is continuously interrupted by endorsement.

 

I agree also about a separated section for technical problems, incompatible mods, bugs, glitch, etc...

 

I suggest to add the "Comment tracking" also for the images comments (in a separated section, of course!).

 

Just a last thing... I Endorse this discussion!

Edited April 12, 2011 by forli

[Genzel]

I'm not sure if this is just a problem on my end, but it seems that a recently added file on the Elder Scrolls nexus has all the endorsement comments in the past few hours from all the sites in its comments sections: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38013.

The file has no comment topics open, and even though endorsements for the file have been disabled, and only 4 people have downloaded the file, it has 3475 endorsements.

[forli]

 

I'm not sure if this is just a problem on my end, but it seems that a recently added file on the Elder Scrolls nexus has all the endorsement comments in the past few hours from all the sites in its comments sections: http://www.tesnexus....e.php?id=38013.

 

The file has no comment topics open, and even though endorsements for the file have been disabled, and only 4 people have downloaded the file, it has 3475 endorsements.

 

When I open the link, it say "No file exists for this ID".

 

Are you sure it's the right link?

Edited April 13, 2011 by forli

[Genzel]

It was the right link, but the file has been removed since yesterday it seems. I guess the problem is solved?

[Povuholo]

Thanks, a very useful change. As is the new Comment Tracking page, thanks!

 

I can see why there could be a problem with people asking questions in their endorsements though. Maybe the endorsement pop up could recommend not doing so?

Edited April 13, 2011 by Povuholo