Posts are backwards why?

[Cironir]

Just to chip in my two cents: I'd prefer the "logical" order also, oldest first and newest Last. Since people write Messages from top to bottom (first letter of a message is older than the Last), it would make the most sense to me if threads also started with the oldest article.

it is only one of many.
forum I visited, I'd probably not mind, but alas,
severe headache. If this was the only web
smoothly read it without eventually getting a
my post like this would really help anyone to
I seriously doubt that ordering the lines of

I don't expect that the system is changed just for my needs, but a good community is important to me when I buy/play games. I like reading/writing about what I'm playing, sharing my thoughts and bouncing around ideas. The current system is too frustrating for me to really want to participate here, so the game's attraction is also negatively affected. My loss, I know.

Giving the user the choice would by far be the best option. If newer Versions use a different format/system to store Messages, then this probably does present a problem, however, it's a problem you'll eventually face anyway. Are there tools that would help converting the data?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Cironir:

it is only one of many.
forum I visited, I'd probably not mind, but alas,
severe headache. If this was the only web
smoothly read it without eventually getting a
my post like this would really help anyone to
I seriously doubt that ordering the lines of

Cute. But not a good example. After all its not the Posts that are reveresed. Its the threads.

Any forum built around customer support (you know, the ones that do trouble tickets) tend to be ordered this way. So your example should have been that any customer service person jumping into a troubleshooting thread would see...
5)thanks that fixed it
4)did you try teaking the borgle?
3)no that didnt do it
2)are you sure the fwibble is turned off?
1)I cant seem to get asdf to work on my machine.

So the first post is the one most informative about what answer might be needed if any.

I don't expect that the system is changed just for my needs, but a good community is important to me when I buy/play games.

Heard and agreed to.

[ July 27, 2004, 17:40: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Ragnarok:
I hope by that you do not mean that Shrapnel is thinking of changing things to the more common layout of oldest Posts first and on down. I would truely hate to see that happen here.

Not switch it. Just extend it. (hopefully. Knock on virtual wood)

Actually the SEIV forum had a big hand in the "this is a community chat forum not a trouble shooting forum" discussion. It had been decided awhile ago to upgrade the forum software to a package that makes the sequence a user choice. But to accomplish it as a choice means the software stores forums very differently. The reason the upgrade wasnt done instantly was concerns about importing. Progress looks good and (looking nervously around for Murphy) an answer one way or the other looks imminent.

[Cironir]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Any forum built around customer support (you know, the ones that do trouble tickets) tend to be ordered this way.

Not the customer support forums of companies I've worked for. Admittedly, though, the "newest first" order was more common a few (many?) years ago, I don't encounter it often anymore. I also agree that there are some advantages to it, but they are far less significant, or even non-existent, on community-focused Boards (where threads are usually on-going discussions rather than question/answer small-scale exchanges).

A number of forum packages support the "automatically go to newest message in a thread since your Last visit" (or "... Last time since you opened this thread") feature, which would probably meet the needs of customer support reps who are pressed for time, and still allow a more "natural" order of Messages in a thread. The current system is as tedious as top posting in Usenet, though not entirely comparable since threads are still ordered "properly".

Anyway, I feel a bit bad that my very first post here was criticism. The different order was the first problem I ran into, so I used the search command and found this thread. It's meant as feedback, not as *****ing.

[Suicide Junkie]

You can click the "Printer friendly" link if you need to catch up and read them all from oldest to newest.

[Ragnarok]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Not switch it. Just extend it. (hopefully. Knock on virtual wood)

...
...

Oh ok. Well it would be nice to have the option of picked which way you want to view the threads. I personally love this way over the conventional method. In fact when I first came to Shrapnel I absolutely hated the reverse (correct for me now) order of the threads, but now I have gotten used to it and it makes more sense to me to have them this way. So instead of opening a thread and needing to click to the Last page to view the newest post I can just click open the topic and boom the newest are right there on top.

But going to the conventional way of doing things would not be so bad as long as we have the option of chosing which way we want to view it.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Cironir:
Not the customer support forums of companies I've worked for. Admittedly, though, the "newest first" order was more common a few (many?) years ago, I don't encounter it often anymore. I also agree that there are some advantages to it, but they are far less significant, or even non-existent, on community-focused Boards (where threads are usually on-going discussions rather than question/answer small-scale exchanges).

A number of forum packages support the "automatically go to newest message in a thread since your Last visit" (or "... Last time since you opened this thread") feature, which would probably meet the needs of customer support reps who are pressed for time, and still allow a more "natural" order of Messages in a thread. The current system is as tedious as top posting in Usenet, though not entirely comparable since threads are still ordered "properly".

This is all very true. No one here is in disagreement with any of it. The "trouble support" Version which was started here years ago is no longer "commuity chat" that these forums have become.

And switching to a newer package which allows it both ways is the answer. Done and purchased. Its no longer a question of IF it should be done.

But Im not sure if you realize yet the wealth of information which has built up in these forums. In some cases it has gone beyond a manual, beyond a strat guide, its become an encyclopdeia of knowledge which exists nowhere else. THATS the scarey part. Making it easier for some Users now does not tip the scale over precautions about the data. Since we are between conventions it has become the "project of the day"