MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > JIM - PLEASE: how can we tell if we're r...

JIM - PLEASE: how can we tell if we're responding to active MC.o users?


color-code, perhaps?

otherwise we will never further a "discussion" board?

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Have you tried e-mailing him at [email protected]?

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of course

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I'm sure that you'll receive a reply soon. I am also interested to see what happens here too. On that note, it appears that Jim has indeed replied to some people on the "Lists and Recommendations" board as well (even in "General Discussion" as you may know as well) so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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jim is a very busy man...

i ask/post this here to possibly help get it sorted; reply or not, it's a fact that he reads these posts.

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No worries, as I'm confident that we'll hear back from him in no time at all. I give him serious props for being a great multi-tasker!

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Just thought that I would let you know that I recently received a reply from Jim today about implementing emojis into the message boards and he mentioned that they probably/may do that.

Just out of curiosity, did you receive any updates on your end about this issue?

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It really would be good idea to put a limit to have many new threads one user can start per day..

Edit: I saw just now that you even made a thread with almost the exact same question a bit earlier.

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do we have freedom here... or limits?

yet if you're talking about me, mate, just say it -- i do not bite... but i only have web access a few days a week; my apologies.

i'm simply asking since these archives in which we swim reach back quite far, and only a relative few of those authors have joined-up here.

why should we reply to someone who is no longer "here"?

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To further the discussion maybe? Many threads on many boards have lived on long after the OP stopped being active, with new posters picking up the reins.

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excellent point... but it's not all about the OP, is it?

for specific-type queries, might it be best to know if the bloke on the "other end of the line" is still listening?

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You're right but for individual movie threads can be picked up by others even if there is no OP or none of contributors have joined here.It'd be rather fun.

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fair enough then... and this proves my point.

this is an active discussion, isn't it -- since MC.o pulled the imdb archive, i am just asking: can we know if the other person is there or not?

none of my business? a curiosity? a daft thinker?

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When you say "inactive",are talking about posters from IMDB?

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AFFIRMATIVE

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"why should we reply to someone who is no longer "here"? "

because it's a public message board not an email. Even if you reply to John Doe's thread and John may never see it, many many other people CAN see it and might find your post interesting or useful, and they might reply to you.
Even people who never register and post may be reading your words. I was a longtime lurker at IMDB and had never registered. The lurker to poster ratio is always higher than you think.

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good point!

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Is this the second thread asking for this within the same day?
That's a bit much.
patience grasshopper. he has many requests, he can't do everything in a day.

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I call this trolling. Checking a bit of his posts around in addition to the thread-spamming just confirms it.

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i ain't a "he".

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great answer -- thank you!

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I agree, Jim should do something about it cause it can be confusing.

For instance, on the "I need to know" board I see people giving answers to the questions that were made by "dead names".

Of course, they will never be given the answer "yes, you guessed it, thanks" or "no, not that one" and it can be frustrating to put effort into answering someone's question and never to be answered. Seems to me that some posters still don't realize they are talking to dead people.

The worst example I've seen so far is on some board (can't remember which one) where the poster replied to someone "Cutebunny123, I'm so glad to see you here", but Cutebunny123 was a dead name. It was a bit heartbreaking to read that, honestly.

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but back then, in the early 2017's, we knew that they *might* be there.

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Except it's not an answer, it's just a suggestion. Only the person who started a thread can reply if the suggestion is correct or not... and the person who answers will never know if they guessed right or not.

EDIT: yeah, it's a good idea to tell those posters that they were talking to non-existent people. I wish I've done that too.

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Maybe it would be a good idea if Jim puts some sort of a disclaimer in the "I need to know" section. Like "be aware that you may be responding to people who can't answer you"

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(a repeat):

well i think it's a bit more about the MAGNIFICENT TRANSFER from imdb to MC.o?

we're all in a state of flux, and want to best support this effort with "fluid traffic"?

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thank you so much for explaining my thought so much better than myself can.

i do understand the need to keep DEAD THREADS going, but we surely might like to know if we are here -- or in a seance?

ha-haa! you nailed it... thank you!

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You're welcome. :)

On most of the boards this is no big problem, but on some boards like "I need to know" it IS a problem.

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well i think it's a bit more about the MAGNIFICENT TRANSFER from imdb to MC.o?

we're all in a state of flux, and want to best support this effort with "fluid traffic"?

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<< Seems to me that some posters still don't realize they are talking to dead people. >>

I see dead people.
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Hey whiskey, not sure if this was mentioned above yet, but you can always click on the poster's username to see when they last posted. If clicking on the person's name doesn't bring you to their profile, then they are not a member here.

Hope that helps!

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Whiskey knows very well how to click on a username and see their posts at least. He has been stalking me around trolling with a lot of excessive cursing/profanity and name-calling, and then editing some of his worst posts to make them seem harmless. In addition to spamming threads with same subject as active existing ones. I would suggest you take a look at this user and make a judgement if this is what we want here.

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There should be a three strike rule. The first offense is that they are banned for a day. Second, they are banned for a week. Third, their username is banned from the site.

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Sure. I'm all for giving second (or even third) chances. A warning and then betterment is all good for me. The important thing is that something is being done against this, as it ruins a lot of the joy and drowns the good discussions in negative posts around on the boards.

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I posted almost the same answer as jim in whiskey's first thread that is nearly identical to this one. I'm sure they saw the answer, but made more threads with the same question anyway.

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Hi Jim, true, mousing or clicking over the username is how to tell among us dedicated users, but I think the bigger issue is user experience for the general population, and the impression that this community makes to readers/lurkers as they consider whether to continue following/joining this site. Making it even more visually obvious which data is imported and which is MC-origin would really enhance user experience, because it would allow realistic expectations of the timing and the origins of any community response, and it would make a better impression with visitors as they consider reading or joining discussions here. Clicking over usernames will be too unintuitive and obscure a behavior for many casual or non-technical users, and it's something readers (who may be the bulk of our future potential contributors) won't think to do and understand the importance of (they'll just think, "Why isn't anyone replying back? And why are so many posts saying goodbye to this site?").

Here's another thread where people have discussed this:
identifying posts from active MC.o users?? and I'll repost my ideas from there to here to keep it in one place:

bravo_bravo wrote:
> [...] I've been thinking it'd be great if the usernames on the imported posts could be regular text instead of a hyperlink to the main page, and the same black text color as the rest of the imported post. I think it'd be very helpful for users to be able to tell very easily just from glancing at a post if it's an archived post or not. Having to mouse over a username and note if the username links back to a profile page vs. the MC homepage is too obscure a detail to be user-friendly.

I think this would be very good for morale, too :) because you wouldn't want people replying to archived posts thinking that the archived user will get an email notification. Also, from the perspective of those who might just read the boards (and that might be a lot of people before they decide to join a site), you wouldn't want them to get the impression that many "people" on this site (that are actually just archived usernames) aren't replying back when people reply to them. If it could be clear to everyone including a casual board lurker which posts are MC-origin and which are IMDb-archived, there won't be any unnecessary disappointment or negative impression if imported usernames don't reply back from the void! :)
>

Is it possible to add an "(inactive)" label next to imported usernames? And maybe put the imported data in different background-color boxes? Just some more ideas...

I greatly appreciate the fantastic work and huge progress you've made for the site, Jim. We're going to keep on rocking!

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Hi, 9, yes, I saw that and think that's a great idea, too! The thing is, I think many people will just want to jump directly into a board and start replying/posting and reading thread topics, and not look at anything other than the thing they want to talk about.

That's why I think big, obvious, visual cues rather than text will go a long way. Site text can be like user manuals, many people won't read them and will go straight to the action. The text that people WILL read are the posts, so if they can tell right away from visual cues and minimal reading (e.g., "Oh, this user is labeled inactive, and their post is in a different-color box), then they'll be cued to slow down a second and realize that there IS a difference (new vs. archived threads, active vs. inactive users), and they'll subsequently be able to use the site more productively and know what to expect.

It won't be practical for us to be on the lookout for people replying to imported posts, letting them know the imported user may not be here. There's over 4 million boards 24/7, and a good user experience should be self-possible (that really does not sound right, lol, but I hope you know what I mean).

And let's not forget mobile users. I don't think they'll be able to hover over usernames, and it won't occur to them to (and again, I don't think it will occur to most users including desktop users, either).

This might be a lot to implement, but it would go a long way toward making the right impression with visitors, attracting and KEEPING active users, and growing our boards. Just my two cents! :)

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That is actually a very good idea. In IMDb, once a thread was created and it was months or years old, you would never know if you could continue the discussion. If you replied, the OP would never get the reply because you would be replying to the other repliers and vice versa. There needs to be a way that everyone can see what someone has written, when they write something on a give thread. This is so the OP is in on it and anyone replying can see that response as well. Of course, this feature would help as it would narrow down the people, who are actually active.

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I always saw the message boards as being as much for posterity as for the others in the thread, Yes, it was to answer questions, but it is also bringing information together in one place, where others might learn from it.

Even if the OP never sees the reply (and there's no assurance they ever would, even if they belong to both sites) it bumps the thread up to the top of the list, and revives the topic.
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The bad part was that there was never any incentive to come back unless someone replied directly to you. So once someone came on the board to ask a question, it was doubtful they would ever comeback and see what other questions were being answered. Of course then they would start another thread or someone new to that message board would make another thread and it would all ready be answered within the thread that normally would not cover that question. It was really messy.

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Yes, I agree that everyone being able to get

1) notifications for new thread replies; and
2) notifications for new board posts,

would be fantastic. Jim has said he's working on more notification features on the site, maybe these can be on the wishlist... :)

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THIS.
It's a message board not email. You aren't only talking to the people who posted before you, you are talking to people who might be reading your words a year from now, even to lurkers who never register. That is why all the messages are saved. it's not a live chatroom.

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<< You aren't only talking to the people who posted before you, you are talking to people who might be reading your words a year from now...That is why all the messages are saved. >>

(down drink)

Rigght...thash wash I SHAY!

PROSHTERISHY!
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