15
votes
Have ‘all time’ be the default option when setting thread sorting in groups
I know that users can manually set this option as default, but it can be confusing for newcomers to only see, say, 4 threads in the whole group when there are many more than that. This makes it easier to navigate content (especially with a smaller community with less being submitted), is two less clicks for someone who wants to see older submissions, and is easier for new users who may have not found the ‘time sorting’ setting.
I think this makes sense, especially when the site is still fairly small. Right now ~tv has only 2 posts displayed in "last 3 days" mode, which can certainly give the "tumbleweed rolling through" feeling.
Longer-term, having the default time period adapt automatically to topic volume might be useful...busy groups like ~news would probably wind up with last 24 hours, while more niche groups might display the last week, month, or more.
I think so too. Leave the 'home' view as it is now focused on recent activity, but definitely change the default group view to something that presents all of that group's content. I think I'd favor 'recent activity' with 'all time' as the interval. Once the site is busier we could change that to 'last week' instead to focus more on newer content.
It originally was "all time", but after some discussion about the sorting, Deimos changed it to "24 hours" about 6 weeks ago. He then changed it to "3 days" a couple of days later after asking for feedback about the change.
The issue is that, when Deimos changed the default sort to "3 days", the site was a bit busier than it is now. However, I've noticed an influx of new users in the past couple of days, and it looks like the activity is increasing again.