Why put Inky Thoughts at bottom of Forum

[SamCapote]

[rant] Every time I come and visit, my first stop is Inky Thoughts, and I wonder why you put it way at the bottom of the forum, forcing us to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll (I’m on a cell phone and that is how many scrolls I have to do), as I would think it was one of the top 2 or 3 categories with the most traffic.  [\rant]
 

 

[Karmachanic]

Save it as a link

[LizEF]

There are different views possible, including making your own view.  Once you find the view you like, you can save a link to it, as @Karmachanic pointed out, and then go there every time.

 

It sounds like, by default, you're going to the page which lists all the forums, in groups, staring with the "FPN Community" group and then the "FPN News" forum.  If this is the case, you'll note a "down arrow" icon (like a wide "V") on the right side of the group title.  If you click this, it will collapse the group.  And in my browser, this "collapse state" is saved, so that the next time I come back to the site, the groups are still collapsed.  If you collapse all the ones above "Inks, Inc.", that would save you a lot of scrolling.

 

If you'd like help creating a custom view which shows the Inky Thoughts posts first, just post over in Members Helping Members, and we can walk you through it - be sure to note you're on a phone as the way to do it will vary slightly.

 

Anywho, I'm with you - inks should be closer to the top!

[flyingfox]

13 minutes ago, LizEF said:

There are different views possible, including making your own view.  Once you find the view you like, you can save a link to it, as @Karmachanic pointed out, and then go there every time.

 

It sounds like, by default, you're going to the page which lists all the forums, in groups, staring with the "FPN Community" group and then the "FPN News" forum.  If this is the case, you'll note a "down arrow" icon (like a wide "V") on the right side of the group title.  If you click this, it will collapse the group.  And in my browser, this "collapse state" is saved, so that the next time I come back to the site, the groups are still collapsed.  If you collapse all the ones above "Inks, Inc.", that would save you a lot of scrolling.

 

If you'd like help creating a custom view which shows the Inky Thoughts posts first, just post over in Members Helping Members, and we can walk you through it - be sure to note you're on a phone as the way to do it will vary slightly.

 

Anywho, I'm with you - inks should be closer to the top!

Thank you for the great tip! I still wish inks are closer to the top though... “Brand Focus” and “Regional Focus” could be lower.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, flyingfox said:

Thank you for the great tip! I still wish inks are closer to the top though... “Brand Focus” and “Regional Focus” could be lower.

  I'm with you.  I think lots of things could be moved lower down, but then there are probably people who wonder what all the inky fuss is...  Customization through filtering and such have worked well for me.

[XYZZY]

The new FPN interface exacerbates the scrolling because of all the extra whitespace.

[OleJuul]

 

 

 

What, and where, is "Inky Thoughts".  It's not at the bottom of this page, and a search doesn't bring it up.

 

[RJS]

It's the name of the forum you're posting in right now...

[lapis]

You can also see the location (of this sub-forum, namely "Inky thoughts") up top under the bar "Forums Calendar, Blogs, Downloads...."

Home > Inks, Inc. > Inky Thoughts > Why put Inky Thoughts at bottom of Forum

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[OleJuul]

1 hour ago, RJS said:

It's the name of the forum you're posting in right now...

 

lol I guess I wasn't thinking. I was confused by the topic since one can go directly here if desired. I guess other people gave the obvious answers already.

[A Smug Dill]

4 hours ago, flyingfox said:

I still wish inks are closer to the top though... “Brand Focus” and “Regional Focus” could be lower.

 

Somebody's preferences will have to at or near the bottom. Sometimes it's yours and/or mine, unless you/we/I have power or leverage over others when jockeying for position.

 

Personally I'm more interested in reading about inks than about pens, and then about Italian and Japanese pens than Montblanc and Parker, but I can't think of any reason objectively why economy of motion (in scrolling when browsing, instead of going directly to forum sections by local bookmarks or shortcuts on my device, ought to be given priority or consideration by anyone else.

[SamCapote]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes I do go to the default page because I have to login every time, as I always set my browsers to delete all history and cookies on exit...less chance of getting hacked. 
 

I just edited my desktop shortcut URL to Inky Thoughts now, and if I want to post, it prompts me for a login.  
 

btw, I use RoboForm password manager, so at least it stores my login info with a one click. 
 

Part of my playful rant is that I honestly believe that Inky Thoughts is one of the most popular sections, so what’s the logic in burying it at the bottom?  Yes it is the 2nd most busy section after Fountain & Dip Pens. 

 

Anyway, this is really a small issue, I just wanted to let the admins know that it the ONLY thing I don’t like about how FPN is setup. 
 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by SamCapote
Got actual ranking

[Arkanabar]

I use as many as six different browsers per OS.  They're all set to "Restore pages and tabs from last time" and one of them always has tabs for my favorite FPN fora.

[flyingfox]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Somebody's preferences will have to at or near the bottom. Sometimes it's yours and/or mine, unless you/we/I have power or leverage over others when jockeying for position.

 

Personally I'm more interested in reading about inks than about pens, and then about Italian and Japanese pens than Montblanc and Parker, but I can't think of any reason objectively why economy of motion (in scrolling when browsing, instead of going directly to forum sections by local bookmarks or shortcuts on my device, ought to be given priority or consideration by anyone else.

Going from more general to specific could be beneficial. Or the categories could be arranged by the number of posts. Presumably the categories that has more posts are more frequently visited or sought out.

 

Unless there is a specific reason to keep certain topics on the higher priority area, it seems to makes more sense to keep it at an easy access, which means greater number of people’s preferences would be closer to the top. Just like any other organizing tips suggest, really. 

[A Smug Dill]

9 minutes ago, flyingfox said:

Unless there is a specific reason to keep certain topics on the higher priority area, it seems to makes more sense to keep it at an easy access, which means greater number of people’s preferences would be closer to the top. Just like any other organizing tips suggest, really. 

 

The web site/forum owner is the primary stakeholder, not the user. Economy of motion, or otherwise satisfying “greater number of people's preferences”, is not by default the priority compared to minimising management overhead (including rearranging things from the status quo) and increasing the number of visitors, from which ideally a proportion will become paying subscribers or supporters. Attracting traffic is more important to making day-to-day user operations easier; the users who are really keen to read about inks, and have ways to access the information (even if it's more laborious than what they imagine is ideal), will suck it up and do what it takes to navigate, whether it is by scrolling or setting up bookmarks.

 

So, unless you're making the argument that, “F****t my personal preferences, putting ink discussions within easier reach for everyone ahead of brands and regions of writing instruments is better for the site's standing and/or finances,” I don't see how the users' convenience to get to the forum section/threads of interest is a useful argument for putting high traffic (what, measured by number of new posts, as opposed to number of page retrievals?) areas up top.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Small wonder that a site called fountain pen network is organized as Pens Ink Paper?

 

but, if this were the fountainpeninknetwork I suppose Inky Thoughts would be higher up.

 

 

[PithyProlix]

Not that I think it's actually the reason for the forums' ordering but spatially it makes sense. When writing the pen is on top, ink comes out the bottom, which then, hopefully, lays on top of the paper.

 

 PEN 

 INK 

 PAPER 
 

[Runnin_Ute]

I think there are a number of reasons why it ended up the way it did including @PithyProlix 's reasoning. 

 

Another is the housekeeping stuff(including Chatter,PIF 

Then main Fountain pen forum 

Inky Thoughts while more highly visited might help the site overall better down lower, instead of going to the busiest then nothing else gets visitors. I suspect that was part of the logic when arranging things.

[inkstainedruth]

21 hours ago, SamCapote said:

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes I do go to the default page because I have to login every time, as I always set my browsers to delete all history and cookies on exit...less chance of getting hacked. 

I'll admit (particularly with the new format) that when I log in, I just click on the "new content" button and then adjust it to "Since My Last Visit" option -- so I'm seeing posts in the order of when they've been made, no matter what the sub-forum or thread it's posted to.. 

I just wish (and this seems to be a bug, although possibly a minor one) that if I have to walk away from the laptop without logging out (maybe to deal with a load of laundry or something) I sometimes discover that it's (automatically) reset itself to "last 365 days".... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dennis_f]

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

 

I just wish (and this seems to be a bug, although possibly a minor one) that if I have to walk away from the laptop without logging out (maybe to deal with a load of laundry or something) I sometimes discover that it's (automatically) reset itself to "last 365 days".... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

I find FPN doesn't do this if, when you sign in, you click the "remember me" option.  That works for me...

 

As for viewing the forums, I'm in the InkStainedRuth camp: I just click  on "New Content".  

D