Are there any questions about the new and improved profiles?
I’d be happy to answer them right here.
Mods feel free to share your thoughts on what the changes are like to use …keep in mind we’re still making tiny tweaks and any bugs will get fixed before we launch.
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62 Answers
None here, love the new ideas!
I imagine I’ll be confused for awhile, but, then, sometimes my shoes confuse me. I think it’ll look pretty.
I lurve the new profiles! I am especially grateful for the privacy settings.
I am wondering whether Topics will be consolidated, such as “infants” and “babies” being put into the same Topic.
No questions yet. Love how all the new features sound. Can’t wait to see them in real time.
My favorite thing is how profiles will show “the greatest questions you’ve asked and the greatest answers you’ve written”.
Yeah, which changes are these then? Just read up on the blog, sounds like it may have legs. We shall see.
@Seek_Kolinahr We’ve had a tiny group of “topic editors” that will help out with that as we fix capitalization, typos and merge topics. Right now that’s a hand-picked, tiny group but we plan on opening that up at some point in the future. We’re working on disabling topics that aren’t bodies of knowledge, writing descriptions for non-obvious topics and making it so if you type in a topic like “relationship” it will use “relationships” (which is the canonical topic we’ve decided on using). We keep logs of all the topic edits and those will eventually be public if people really want to see them.
The plan for picking topic editors right now is anyone over 1k lurve or so will be able to opt-in take a topic editing test to help them understand the process of editing topics (it’s not about the score you get on the test—getting an answer wrong (or right) will explain what the right answer is and why).
@timtrueman
Interesting. You are good. You all never cease to amaze me. ^_^
I love that I can hide all or any of my questions (privacy setting).
@Seek_Kolinahr We think things through and experiment with them internally first (using something usually forces you to find its flaws and obvious “what should we change”). Occasionally we screw up but nobody is perfect and I’d rather make mistakes and learn from them than do nothing and play it safe.
I feel like an idiot. What is new?
Any change to the character count? I put links to books in my profile, and those long links all appear to count as characters against my total. I keep having to cut things in order to add books to the list.
How about commas and other punctuation in topics?
Any thought of toning down the styling of topics? On the question page they receive a much stronger visual emphasis than any part of the question other than the category. Now apparently they will on the profile page too. Has there been any discussion about reducing this disproportionate emphasis?
1. No change to the character count. The limit on your story is still going to be 4096 characters.
2. No commas in topics since you’d never be able to type those in on questions (this is a limitation of auto-completion). We may change that in the future but one step at a time.
3. The current visual style is here to stay. No plans to change it.
@Jeruba You could use an URL shortening service such as bit.ly. That would give you some extra characters to play with…
Hi there, it all looks good to me… Talking of privacy, I notice that if you’re not logged in, you can still visit people’s profile page and see their answers, questions, biog etc etc… Would there be a good argument to make these only visible to people who have made accounts and are therefore “part of the community”? Perhaps its a moot point as it’s very straightforward to set up an account so what’s the difference… just a thought that went through my head that’s all.
@harple You do have the ability now to have your answers hidden from everyone or to allow only those in your fluther to be able to see them.
@harple :) You go to “My Account” then “Privacy Settings” and voilà!
@free_fallin Auch, you’re ace, so you are! I should pay more attention!
I wish I could help add explanations to topics myself. How many have you guys done so far?
@Fred931 Zero. We start tonight. If you want to flag a topic (you’ll be able to do that starting tonight) and write the description in the text field for the flag.
@timtrueman Woohoo!
And because I’m too lazy to check above for this when does the shutdown start?
@Fred931 I’m not 100% sure. I’ll put up an “MOTD” (Message Of The Day), the little alert at the top, the second I know when we’ll take Fluther down for the upgrade—probably between 9–10PM Pacific.
@timtrueman Aww, that’s past my bedtime. IT’S NOT FAAAAIR.
How long will it be down?
@daytonamisticrip Good question. It’s tough to say but I’d estimate 3–5 hours. It’ll be worth it though, I promise.
They look well-planned. The Fluther’s staff efforts in listening to ideas for improvement, as well as doing the design, development, and deployment in a strategic manner are greatly appreciated. I also like that you gave us an opportunity to get a sneak preview and offer feedback.
I am so excited! It is like Christmas! Especially for us Mods. They are building us a new coffee room with an espresso machine!~
I’ve read the link posted about the details of the changes but about the part of hiding your profile, maybe consider an option where you could allow certain people to view your profile or photo/s, like being in your fluther or some other option.
@Jabe73 I really doubt we’ll ever do that. We’re not Facebook and that would add a lot of complication to Fluther.
No problem just great job on the new and improved profiles.
And we’re back! What do you think?
I love it! (but you already knew I think it rocks ;) )
I don’t want anyone to see any of the questions or answers I write on my profile. Do I have to remove them one by one?
On the My Account page there’s still (as before) a Privacy settings link for answers. There isn’t a way to hide questions, except one by one.
I really like the new look! I love that you can hide specific topics/questions/answers, too.
Why list only some of most things (e.g., some topics, greatest questions, greatest answers, etc.), but show ALL of the people one is following? I think it takes too much space.
@bob_ That’s only true for your profile. It’s because too many people were used to having everyone right there for so long.
Why come I can’t exploit the system any more to view peoples’ answers when they’ve opted to hide them? That’s not fair. I have to get my creep on.
Okay, I’m a little insulted that “drinking” appeared as one of the four topics on my profile. I’m not going to lie, I’m going to be drinking in a few minutes from now, but still. That makes it seem like I’m an alcoholic. :\
@DominicX Those fout topics are chosen at random every time your profile is viewed. Presenting a giant list subconsciously forces most people to gloss over the whole thing. Showing only a handful really encourages actually reading them. I’ve found the new profiles really help me get to know someone better than the old profiles by presenting a facet of who they are on the overview.
The fact that you can see topics in you have in common with another member is pretty nifty. Also, showing who we both follow, and making it easy to follow someone from another person’s list is cool.
It’s a wonderful layout! Much easier to use, like the tabs with the totals listed on each, the Topics in Common feature, and the Top 3 questions and answers.
Q: Why would a Jelly’s profile not have any Greatest Answers?
You alphabetaized my Fluther! Thank You! I’m still confused about the rest, but I’m still confused by my shoes, too, so it’s all good.
Will it be possible to select one’s favorite answers/questions to show on the profile, instead of having the algorithm pick them?
@bob_ I like that idea, but would you take that over seeing new ones over time on other people’s profiles? With the algorithm it will change over time…with people picking them it might not…
@timtrueman For the paltry number of questions I’ve asked, I would prefer to select the ones that show up on my profile. I’d be happy if a few of them would curl up and die, while one is virtually timeless, and I would welcome more input. For the infrequency that I look at others’ profiles, I think it could be beneficial for individual members to control which three of their questions they want spotlighted.
@timtrueman Is it a rule that when flagging topics to add descriptions that you can’t add descriptions to topics that are easy enough to understand, such as, dunno, “food”? I’m just bored, but in my mind, adding descriptions beyond the less-known of topics might add some kind of “character,” as if the big box with the words on it sort-of becomes more tailored to the user by acknowledging it knows and can explain what you’re looking at and, in a sense, give the (primarily new) user the idea that the site is more than just Q&A. Just thinking aloud.
@Fred931 The plan is to only add descriptions to the lesser-known topics.
Am I the only one who can’t figure out how to change my Avatar?
@Adagio On your profile, go to the bigger version of your avatar. When you mouse over the picture it gives you the option to change it.
@Adagio It’s also under My Account, called “Change your picture”
It would be nice if there was an option when adding a topic to your profile from someone else’s question to choose right then if I wanted it to be public or private. Then I wouldn’t have to go into my profile every time and change the settings.
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