I wonder if there is a better way to do announcements.
Firstly, I wonder if we need an announcement category or alternatively use a tag and a clear title (starting announcement perhaps ).
Secondly, I wonder if it is possible to lock the post and ask for all comments etc to be done via a linked topic. Might save these posts ending up with lots of replies on lots of different subjects. This probably would lead to using a better subject and tag in the appropriate category with it pinned.
Edit: I think you will also end up with a list of linked topics to the right of the original which would be pretty cool.
Good question. I did think about adding an announcements category like opneHAB, however, I thought that the announcement thread would soon turn into a dev/feedback discussion…and this is a good thing. I like the users can give direct feedback to an announcement directly on the announcement post or reply via linked topic. I think we should just make announcements via pinned topics in the relevant categories.
From what I’ve seen on other forums, announcements are not really intended to generate replies/comments. They are, as the name imples, a news item intended to convey information in one direction. An example being the announcement (on the old forum) about the new forum and the activation date. Another example would be the recent release of the emonSD image. If generating comment/replies is intentional, then perhaps the announcements section isn’t the best place to put the post, or as already mentioned, direct the replies eleswhere. i.e. lock the announcement post and direct users to reply via a linked post, or have them start a new thread.
We could add an announcements category, however It would probably just echo the blog. It don’t really make that many announcements! It would looked rather bare for most of the year.
Do you not think that an announcement should be best placed in it’s category e.g. A hardware announcement should be made in hardware and and an emonSD announcement should be in emonSD category?
If you can force the replies via a linked topic, that will then compartmentalise each response into its own thread making it easier to follow. I like the linked topic reply. I don’t like that I cannot reply directly to a post with a tiered quote (quote a quote).
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