The 'New Look' thread is so long now that I've taken the liberty of starting a new one. I feel I need to act as a 'representative' on behalf of Poetry Group members, passing on their complaints. This may apply to other groups too. People are irritated by some features which have been described as 'silly' (and I agree) e.g. Like (0) Helpful (0) Made Me Think (0) Made Me Smile (0) Pure Genius (0). It's just that people in WW are highly literate and if something makes them think, for example, they want to say it in words rather than by a mere click.

But more important than this are the key functions of the site: posting new work, editing work, and posting comments. I've had a complaint about quote boxes in comments. It's a hassle to close the quote box and go on typing non-quote stuff. So I tested it out and posted the following instructions:

How to get quote boxes right

Type or paste your quote. When you have finished, move the cursor down until a red line appears. There should be a red box on the end of this line, at the right. When you move the cursor over the box it should say 'Insert paragraph here'. Click on the red box and continue typing. The next words you type should not appear as a quote.

David, is this correct? Is it necessary? Why do we now need to find a red line and click a red box, when we didn't have to do that before? Quote boxes were easy before.

Spell Check

Most WW members don't need this. Anyway, many words and names it underlines are correct, it just doesn't recognise them. It's just a small distraction but it should be easy to have SCAYT turned OFF as a default position, available if required.

These aren't all the points that have already been raised, and there may be more to come. I'll have to post here again soon.
�@
James.

Hmm. 

We could maybe have more literary acknowledgements, but the "like" links are simply acknowledgements... Better than fifteen pages of "Oh, yes, I do so agree." "So well put." "LOL!" Etc. 

Quotes are not as tough as you are making them sound: select the text you want quoted. Click quote. Done. 

But, yes, definitely turn off spell checker as the default. 

​

I 'like' the like feature. People don't have to use it, but it's a quick and easy way to agree.

I'm indifferent to the 'likes', but think the 'favourites' is a step too far.

I notice the 'Hits' has disappeared from the forum list. I miss this. When I start a new thread I'm interested to see how many take a look. 

Btw, I use the 'like' to recognise well-argued points, whether or not I agree. 

I've 'liked' it, but I'll say it anyway, I agree with gaius about the advantage of the like button is it cuts down on all the LOLs and agrees that can clog up a thread. 

Couple of technical glitches.
I'm not seeing text highlighted in bold on my Mac but I am seeing it on my iPhone.
I've just hit the link icon and the link box got stuck half in, half out on the right side of the iPhone screen. I couldn't find a way to cancel it other than refresh the page. 
 
 
Edited by NMott at 31/12/1899 01:50:00 on 16 January 2014

 Well hate me all you like but I need a spell checker if you don't have to have it all the time fine. I hadn't noticed it was turned on all the time- I thought there was a choice in the drop down list? Any way this morning it isn't working very well any way - so a diff' spell checker might be better!
 The thing I don't much like is the list saying who likes what and when it reminds me of a bunch of kids scribbling on the bog door at school! In amongst the comments on work it is 'clogging' and for me presents as a dense impenetrable thicket I never venture to read.
As to the issue of being able to like things? I have used it and the 'made me think' and' laugh' it is quick and lazy like the smiley face things not sure I need to give or receive wordless plaudits that lead to labels - being popular cuddlywuddley, fuzzy felt or in my case miserable git etc is all a bit beyond me  - but I know from what I have read  that some folk love them or see them as harmless fun so as long as that is the case I will give it a try. But personally I don't need it. I probably need a 'howler' button so folk could hit my punctuation gaffs and spelling twisters more.
Like Alan I miss the number of hits- I don't know why! Possibly it gives an idea of the feel/mood/interests/level of use of the group and who is around - not sure.
I do like the fact that when people have issues it usually seems to be able to be discussed and worked in somehow and I like the fact it seems livelier...like heavy snow has fallen and the adult neighbours are out having snowball fights. Not the best analogy as snow = frozen pipes, mud and floods and other annoyances or may be it isn't so dissimilar!

 
Edited by Alex29 at 06:47:00 on 17 January 2014

being popular cuddlywuddley, fuzzy felt or in my case miserable git

I think, MC, some people just like to be seen as fuzzy and cuddlywuddley. I'm not one of them, either, and often veer towards miserable git. But as long as we all get on, it's okay to have 'likes'.

Being Mister Pernickity, I notice the group count of 'Whole MS swap' is now correct, but the count of 'Whole Chapter crit' is wrong by 2. The listed count of 6 makes the group more vibrant (if 6 can be vibrant) than it actually is. 
Edited by AlanH at 07:17:00 on 17 January 2014

I quite like the "Like, Helpful, etc.". It allows one to acknowledge a post without necessarily commenting. I don't particularly like that every "Like, Helpful, etc." is listed in the "latest activity" list (particularly as the list is of fixed length and it's not possible to scroll down to see earlier activity), as this prevents me from seeing that new comments have been made on threads in which I am interested, but have not commented on (so I don't receive new activity notifications).



 

I'm not so sure about the 'Made me think' under the comment, equating to 'Thought provoking' on the Home page activity list. The first could merely be interpreted as 'I found this interesting', while the second is more contentious and could be interpreted as 'I didn't agree with this' or 'I found this provocative'.

I have used the 'made me think one' when I have miss read something or missed something technical perhaps or if it is someone's perspective which is different but makes me take another look at what I thought and revise it - like now Naomi's comment above- I hadn't thought that any one would think I might have been saying that I didn't like something... and I don't think I have ever seen any one use the 'thumbs down' thing even as a joke though we all have lots of different views and tolerance levels. So I haven't pressed 'made me think' I have explained it instead!

I love the Like - it's the equivalent to nodding or catching someone's eye in a RL conversation. Sometimes you don't have anything specific to say beyond that, sometimes you don't have time, sometimes you just don't feel very commenty at that moment. But you are actually there, in the WW community. You don't have to be saying something in full sentences or even words, to be socially engaged with a discussion, and Like conveys that. And yes, it doesn't clutter up the thread. I'll often Like what someone's posted straight away, and then come back later (which is easy now, because of the Activity listings) when I've got time to think out properly what I want to say.

We definitely need a Spell-checker, but I'd prefer it to be Off by default, and switchable on by anyone who wants it.

In a perfect world each of us could customise - set our preference for On or Off in our personal settings, and it would always be like that, but maybe that's too complicated to code.
Edited by EmmaD at 10:40:00 on 17 January 2014
Edited by EmmaD at 10:41:00 on 17 January 2014

No I like seeing all the activity on the home page as it shows you if the threads you're interested in have been updated and if there are any new threads. 

Can we have a quote button next to Reply so we can quote (and edit down to size if we wish) someone's comment without having to copy and paste and then highlight and hit quote. It would make it easier, especially on an iPhone, and add the name of the person you're quoting. 

Naomi's suggestion makes sense to me.  And I'd be happy to have a'miserable git' button too - I'm quite capable of being one occasionally!