Reformat?

[Ungtartog]

Eplaya kinda reminds of dial up BBS from the early 90s. It’s cute, in a nostalgic way… but compared to modern social media platforms, it’s pretty cumbersome. I have no idea how anyone is going to find what I write buried in some sub thread.

Is it even possible to tell how many people have seen your post?

What is the user activity on eplaya vs the Burning Man Facebook groups? Does it compete? I kinda doubt it.

[some seeing eye]

Hello, welcome to ePlaya!

I index into ePlaya by active topics. The I check home and onto the greater's station. It is not hard.

Because ePlaya is indexed by friends Google, searchterm site:eplaya.burningman.org works here, but not on competing sites.

The competing sites have no structure, they are streams in search of ad revenue.

[Ungtartog]

Competing sites have abundant structure. That is a false assertion.

[Skuzzy61]

Your assertion is quite false.

See, this is what social media does to you. You make a quick remark with no basis at all and that is it. That is not a discussion. What you said does not serve to move the discussion forward.

Your idea of abundant structure and mine are very different. I detest social media platforms for the lack of structure (Facebook is one of the worst). They seem to cater to the "look at me" generation and not to any type of actual discussion.

Your post is a shining example of exactly what I am talking about.

Now to answer your question(s);

1) If you want to track your posts, then hit the "Quick Links" drop down and chose your posts.
2) If you want to know the activity, then go to the topic listings in any forum. If you are looking at your post, then click on the form listing right under the "Quick Links" menu option. This shows total views of the topic and other information.

[ygmir]

Eplaya kinda reminds of dial up BBS from the early 90s. It’s cute, in a nostalgic way… but compared to modern social media platforms, it’s pretty cumbersome. I have no idea how anyone is going to find what I write buried in some sub thread.

Is it even possible to tell how many people have seen your post?

What is the user activity on eplaya vs the Burning Man Facebook groups? Does it compete? I kinda doubt it.

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!!!

[Skuzzy61]

Eplaya kinda reminds of dial up BBS from the early 90s. It’s cute, in a nostalgic way… but compared to modern social media platforms, it’s pretty cumbersome. I have no idea how anyone is going to find what I write buried in some sub thread.

Is it even possible to tell how many people have seen your post?

What is the user activity on eplaya vs the Burning Man Facebook groups? Does it compete? I kinda doubt it.

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Exactly.

Social media is akin to walking into a bar full of people and making every effort to be louder than everyone else so you will get attention.

Bulletin boards are akin to walking into a bar and moving passed tables with signs on them reflecting the discussion at that table and when you find one you like, then you ask if you can join the discussion.

[Traveller in Time]

Posting on a busy thread even requires some calculations: make a note of the views at the time of your posting and later you have to subtract that number from the new figure. There you have the actual number of people opening the thread at any page since your posting.

(There is probably a calculator function hidden in your device )

[Skuzzy61]

Posting on a busy thread even requires some calculations: make a note of the views at the time of your posting and later you have to subtract that number from the new figure. There you have the actual number of people opening the thread at any page since your posting.

(There is probably a calculator function hidden in your device )

I think views should be hidden. It is one of the main things trolls look for. I have never cared about view counts and admit to not understanding why anyone would care about it.

[Canoe]

I think views should be hidden. It is one of the main things trolls look for. I have never cared about view counts and admit to not understanding why anyone would care about it.

View counts are a pretty good indicator one can use to see if one is wasting one's time if one spends anymore time posting on the thread, discussing or providing information to that thread.

eplaya isn't social media per se. There's no 'compete'. Think of eplaya as:

• a searchable relatively targeted topic encyclopedia with an index, where the BRC related or relevant info you're after is often already available
• plus the ability to ask for info that isn't already available
  (or ask for info you didn't bother searching for...)
• plus you can ask for needed confirmation, reassurance, expanded details or help understanding
• plus - Active Topics search.php?search_id=active_topics
• (plus a few threads that we treat as ongoing conversations... to provide what the inherent strengths of the format doesn't provide - oh wait, that means it did...)

Although I haven't checked view counts on this thread, I'll not be 'spending' anymore time on it.

[Skuzzy61]

I have never measured a good discussion by how many people participate in it or how many just view it. The chance to learn something new makes the conversation/discussion worth the time and effort.

Social media is anything but social to me, at least, according to my understanding of what is 'social'.

I still believe view counts contribute nothing positive to the conversation.

[Canoe]

If one idiot keeps returning, and no one else is viewing, why keep trying to teach a pig to sing?

[gaminwench]

I believe anyone can sing (including a pig)

[ygmir]

I believe anyone can sing (including a pig)

you almost convinced me to try, once....

[gaminwench]

Give me another shot, buddy.

[Skuzzy61]

If one idiot keeps returning, and no one else is viewing, why keep trying to teach a pig to sing?

In the process of teaching a pig to sing you may learn something about the pig or about yourself or about how to be successful at teaching pigs to sing. There is always a chance something could be discovered.

One thing certain is, if you never try then you will never know.

[Canoe]

If one idiot keeps returning, and no one else is viewing, why keep trying to teach a pig to sing?

In the process of teaching a pig to sing you may learn something about the pig or about yourself or about how to be successful at teaching pigs to sing. There is always a chance something could be discovered.

One thing certain is, if you never try then you will never know.

Well lets see. Have you figured out a value for view counts?

[Skuzzy61]

If one idiot keeps returning, and no one else is viewing, why keep trying to teach a pig to sing?

In the process of teaching a pig to sing you may learn something about the pig or about yourself or about how to be successful at teaching pigs to sing. There is always a chance something could be discovered.

One thing certain is, if you never try then you will never know.

Well lets see. Have you figured out a value for view counts?

How about zero. I really see no value in view counts. None, unless you (collective, not you personally) are a troll. Over 30 years participating in discussion boards, of some kind, and I have never been curious about, much less, paid any attention to them.

[BBadger]

Over 30 years participating in discussion boards, of some kind, and I have never been curious about, much less, paid any attention to them.

Awesome! Then you won't notice if they're left in the table columns.

[Skuzzy61]

Over 30 years participating in discussion boards, of some kind, and I have never been curious about, much less, paid any attention to them.

Awesome! Then you won't notice if they're left in the table columns.

You are correct.

I was responding to what I would change and the reason why. They are a primary concern for trolls. I do not see anyone disputing that.

[Canoe]

(And the low-flying biplane putt-putts by faster than one can register what it was. Pilot was probably checking to see if the horse lead to water had tried a sip yet.)

- And I've given a way they can be useful.
- BBadger pointed out that since you don't pay them any attention, they can be there and you won't notice.

In thirty years of discussion boards, you've never been curious about them nor paid attention to them. Yet having never paid attention to them, you've somehow divined that "they are a primary concern for trolls" and should be removed. How did you manage to determine something about something that in thirty years of opportunity you've never paid any attention to. Hmmm...

Perhaps if you'd paid at least some attention to them, you might have noticed a correlation between them and something else. Perhaps that after thirty years of missed opportunity, you could start paying at least some attention to them from time to time, and see if any evidence-based thoughts turn up. Or not. It would require you to pay them some attention (so it requires a change). Data would be nice, but is so optional these days; must be out of fashion. And you'd have to spend some thought on correlation too. And on actual vs. apparent causation. Some of that ol' self-reliance prior to some of that ol' self-expression.

So I'll probably regret asking, but how are read counts a "primary concern for trolls"? The trolls I've encountered (on the internet) appear to thrive on eliciting responses (see Replies count). Usually by posting nonsensical things, like 'do away with read counts', to get people to respond. So by responding, and asking, I get the feeling that I'm feeding the troll.

(Off internet, trolls encountered tend to thrive, not on eliciting responses, but on the resulting 'let's get the f out of here' their actions bring forth. Whoa be it to one who comes home at the end of a night of drinking, leaves their window open and falls asleep - after selecting up a loud volume loop of youtube recordings of troll calls drifting out the window and up the valley. For whom the troll calls. (I'm pretty sure I owe someone(s) an apology for that))

[Skuzzy61]

I will do my best to not make you feel sorry for asking.

I have managed many discussion/bulletin boards for many years. The first board system I managed was on the Notes system on ARPANET. Somehow, I always found myself being the designated board admin for the companies I worked for.

That is how I know trolls love view counts. It is the quickest way for them to note if they are poking the bears or not. They live for attention. Everyone knows, or should know, the quickest way to shut down a troll is to ignore them.

By the way, I think asking questions is how we move forward. Making assumptions just wastes time. Thank you for asking.

[BBadger]

I think maybe you're stuck in the past with your experiences with discussion boards. View counts are a weak metric to gauge trollery, akin to banner ad impressions in the early WWW being a meaningful metric for product engagement.

Large reply counts are much better, and cause the post to resurface to the top, whereas a post with views for a while will slowly fade into obscurity without much engagement.

Whatever off-brand trolls use message board views as their trolling metric really need to get with the times.

[Skuzzy61]

Fair enough BBadger. More detail then.

View counts only mean mean something within the first few hours of a post and only if the troll is looking for a response. Many trolls are computer batch files just spewing crap into the ether and they may not be aware of where they are posting with no intent of ever returning. The hit-and-run troll.

To be sure, there are many types of trolls. It is a category wrought with many sub-types.

More clarity. Removing view counts only impacts the trolls looking to stir the pot. I also agree with large reply counts also contributing to enticing trolls to hang around.

Personally, counts mean nothing to me. The conversation is all that matters. As far as "being stuck in the past" goes. I have spent a good portion of my life learning. As an electrical engineer, you have to. If it taught me anything it taught me nothing remains static in the digital realm. It also taught me changes are not always good.

Thinking on it a bit, I will concede I may have a foot in the past as it pertains to only caring about the conversation. The early days of the board discussions involved a very high percentage of professors and scientists. The discussions were awesome and trolls did not exist. There were no counts of any kind. It was just a discussion.

With that, I will concede and withdraw. Thank you for the discussion. I enjoyed it.