Do you want to read the BEST first ????

G'day all,

I'm not sure how many are aware of the number of CHOICES this style of forum offers. Awefsome !!!

For those of you who might be new to the forum, (or regulars who have, like me, not been aware of the plethora of gadgets that are on offer),
TRY THIS!!!

To get to the "best" of each forum quickly, open the forum (e.g. "Help and Feedback"), go to the top of the "page" and click on RATING. This then re-orders everything to put all of the 5 star posts at the top, followed by 4 star posts, etc. In this way, you get to read "the best" of a forum first (in the opinion of those who've taken the time to rate the post).

For new readers, this can be a good way to become familiar with the popular threads of Somersoft VERY quickly.

Of course, you will probably want (at some stage ;) ) to get back to "normal". EASY!! Go to the right of the "Rating" heading - there, you'll find a heading like "last post" (sounds like being in the Army!!!...) - click on THAT, and you're back where you started.

And, if you find a really good thread within a forum, then RATE it (give YOUR opinion in stars). And, Yes, you can rate it poorly as well as "good value" - just look for "Rate thread" at the top of the page within a thread. If I was a guru in this, I'd attach pictures to show you ....

But, it IS easier than it sounds.... Try it!!!

I've found these a great way to quickly find the VERY BEST posts in a forum (great for a refresher from time to time) or to get "up to speed" quickly.

There are so many bells and whistles here - takes a while to get one's head around them all. But, just PLAY with the forum - to get what you want.

Have a great day, all.

Regards,
 
Last edited:
Sim, I've found a "feature" ;)

Addendum:-

While "playing" a few days ago, I noted a feature of the forum. (Being in IT, a "feature" is a bug that has not yet been addressed ;) and often less than desirable)

And that is this - as you enter each forum, there is a dropdown list at the bottom of the page that seems to "default" to 100 days of threads (approx 3 months), or at other times (other forums?) it is set to 2 months, 75 days, or whatever.

Now, if you are using the "stars rating" to bring the best to the top, you will ONLY GET the 5 star, 4 star, etc. from that period (2 months, 100 days, whatever...).
If you wish to see ALL rated threads, you need to go to the dropdown list (bottom left of your "page") and select "beginning". Or choose "one year" for a more up-to-date selection. Then click on "show threads" (right beside the dropdown list).

The "feature" is, if you then go to another forum, then back to this one, it will have reverted to its nominal setting of "100 days" or whatever.....


One good thing is, if you use SEARCH, it searches THE LOT without limiting results. And, if using Search to get a list, be sure to use "BACK" to return to your list.

Regards,
 
Famous last words, Les !!!

G'day all,
One good thing is, if you use SEARCH, it searches THE LOT without limiting results.
Well, it seems that comment I made is a "contextual" comment (i.e. it seems to be true in the context of my previous post - it Searches way past the "70 days" or "100 days" limit....)

But, I just found today that Search DOES limit results to a total of 200. Probably to allow you to "have a life" :D

Thus, as each week passes, the chance of Search finding older threads becomes less and less likely. This is a figure that is probably able to be changed. Question is, would there be a "downside" in allowing Search to continue indefinitely - or to (say) 500?

That's obviously a question for Sim (sorry, mate).

We can "workaround" this by the way. If you KNOW you are wanting a post that was in the "General Property Discussion" group of forums, you can do an Advanced Search to only include that group - or, you can do multiple Searches (one on each individual forum) or, for the really old stuff, just Search on "Archives". By being selective, the Search limit of 200 isn't too troublesome.

Regards,
 
Ratings!

With ratings, it just takes one vote to get a rating on a thread, eg, one person clicks 5 stars for a thread and it immediately gets 5 stars next to it!
 
G'day GSJ,
With ratings, it just takes one vote to get a rating on a thread, eg, one person clicks 5 stars for a thread and it immediately gets 5 stars next to it!
I don't believe you're correct there, GSJ - but I couldn't find the answer in FAQ. As I understand it, one person alone will not produce the stars - the actual figure is under Administrative control.

Still, even if it is 1, it means one person thought enough of the content to take the time to add a rating. Have you seen how many posts are not rated?

Whether this "rating" is valid or not, my post was pointing out HOW one can bring them to the fore. Useful to some maybe,

Regards,
 
Agree, it can be useful - I've used it myself.

Though, I gave a new and unrated thread a vote of 5 stars, and there were 5 stars next to it immediately - try it yourself, I just did it again!

Probably better if it was under Administrative control, to make the search by ratings thread even more useful.

Regards,

GSJ
 
Last edited:
G'day GSJ,

Thanks to you for putting forward these comments. In the past, it certainly had been "more than one", but changes were made at some time in the past, and (you are right) currently, a single vote would add a rating.

Now that Admin has been made aware, the setting has been changed back to what it should be. I'm now told it takes 3 (or more) to "rate" a thread.

So, everyone, if you take the time to "rate" a thread, don't be too concerned if it "doesn't seem to work". It simply means that others need to agree before the stars are displayed.

Thanks for pointing it out, GSJ,

Regards,
 
I find a good way of finding popular threads is sorting the thread list in each forum by the View Count and the Reply Count..
 
Back
Top