What sort are you using for your front page?
I'm here for a few hours during the day while at my shop (EST), and usually about two more in the evening, around 9:00 pm. Every important thread I read (announcements, site discussion, well-commented threads) seems to be at least 12 hours old, with most being more like 19 hours old. It's hard to get in on the conversation when every thread I reach where I'd like to comment is that aged.
If I look at the last 12 hours, I get a bunch of threads with 0-5 comments. Maybe there's not a great solution, but it's hurting my contributing here because no one really wants to dredge up a conversation that people had yesterday or the day before.
So, what sort are most people using, and does anyone else see this issue, or is it just difficult to create a sort that would assure my seeing threads that get "hot?"
I had that for a while too, but I think that's a reddit hangover where old submissions aren't worth commenting on because nobody but the person you reply to (and/or the OP) will likely ever see the comment. However with Activity sort here that is not the case since by making a new comment you are also essentially "resubmitting" the topic to the site (since it rises to the top of activity sort again as a result) so more potential users have a chance to see the topic, see your new comment and then join in on the discussion. I would suggest trying to move past that hesitance to comment on old topics and instead embrace it since that's exactly what activity sort is meant to encourage. So if you feel you have a comment worth sharing, just share it regardless of the topic age. :)
p.s.
Most Comments - last 3 daysor some custom period might be a better sort for you if you're looking for "hot" topics since the last time you were on the site. I occasionally switch to that after I have been away for a slightly extended period just to see the major/most talked about topics I missed in that time.Yes, and I hadn't realized I bring that bias.
Interesting. I didn't really think one new comment would bring a topic back to the the top.
If that's the case, I'll comment in a lot more 'zombie' threads.
I've worked quite a bit with the sorts, and
Most Commentsis good, but I still tend to miss threads I consider important. I'll work more withActivity. Thanks.I can't speak for everyone, but I love it when a comment digs up a thread I might have missed. And I don't mind it when somebody replies to one of my comments a few days later, if the subject is interesting and the discussion is good then it doesn't hurt to let it lie for a little while, you might come back with a fresher perspective, even.
I sort by activity > all-time as I just like to see where any sort of discussion is happening on the site that I might be interested in contributing to. There have been some great discussions on posts that get brought to the top after a few days or weeks and I wouldn't want to miss them.
I'd say that is 'hot' to me it shows where people are most recently be it on a post that is just posted like this one or a post that is months old.
I believe that's the default when you sign up, and I stuck with the default for a while at first. Currently I'm on
Activity > last 3 days, because someone suggested it, but I still seem to miss every (for lack of a better word) "hot" posts.It used to be
Activity - all timeas the default for new users butActivity - last 3 daysis now, IIRC. But similar to cain, I stick toActivity - all timeas my default since I love seeing old topics resurface and new conversations going on about them. :)My default is still 'newest' since the content is coming in at a fairly slow pace. Once there's more than 2 pages of submissions between visits I'll probably change that to 'votes'. I'd like to change it to 'newest weighted by votes' but we don't have that view yet. Once I finish skimming the new stuff, I flip over to 'activity' to see what threads are lively.
I also sort by newiset by default, I like to see everything that has been posted since my last visit (usually never more than 10-15 posts) and add/update tags if needed. Then I usually switch over to activity-alltime to see what the current hot topics are.
What would that be? Wouldn't it just most votes within a short time period (a few hours or something)?
I'd use the same content that shows up in 'new' but let the vote weights adjust that order as well. It wouldn't be strictly chronological. Show me the good stuff that's new since my last visit.
I think, as others mentioned, this is mostly a mindset that comes from being used to reddit and other sites where you pretty much must be around within the first few hours of a post's life or it's not worth commenting on it any more.
Between Activity sort being the default and everyone being able to easily enable the "mark new comments" feature, it's much easier here to have posts "live" longer and conversations continue over longer periods. You really shouldn't feel hesitant about posting in older threads, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing it.
I've read it in this thread, but just to verify, does a single new comment bring a topic back to the top of, say
Activity - all time? Because that would also explain why I'm seeing such "old to me" topics—they get returned to the top because someone added another comment, and I'm left wondering why my top three are all at least eleven hours old.I'll try posting more in older threads, but it's going to be a tough bias to overcome because it's second nature now to assume a single comment in a topic that's sometimes days old is going to have a tough time re-igniting that conversation.
Thank you for clarifying. I really wasn't aware of that until this thread, despite the fact that it should be quite obvious, because it's almost counter-intuitive for one comment to have that much weight towards the sorting. I get why though, and that gives me more knowledge going forward to play with the sort methods.
"Newest" for me. I like chronological feeds because I know what's been posted since I last checked and things stay in a consistent order.
After looking through the new feed I'll switch over to "Activity" to see if there are any interesting conversations going on. One of the things I like about Tildes is that conversations last a lot longer than on reddit, so if I only look at the newest posts I'll miss some of the more in-depth conversations that take days to develop.
I found myself using "Newest" more often than not when I first go here though recently I've been sticking with "Activity". As everyone else seems to be saying the discussion here "live" a bit longer than Reddit and I needed to acclimate to that.
I usually sort by Activity first and then to Newest after. I really actually love seeing older posts get brought up, especially by new users adding new thoughts. I also take a bit more time with commenting, knowing that good post could be "hot" for a few days.
Activity → last three days
I like seeing old threads I may have missed getting bumped up. I really hope we don't end up with a "stop necro-ing threads" attitude here. Sometimes it takes a while to formulate a good response to something, and I'd rather read something that's had a bit of thought put into it than a half baked reaction to a headline.
I sort by votes, restricted to the last 24 hours. But the sort is irrelevant since I (almost) never get more than one page of content and I always read (or scroll past) it all.
I'm using "Activity - All time". I like seeing where the conversations are happening.