Change My Mind: "Announcement/Feedback" type forums should never be @ the top of the index.

[Nev_Dull]

On Discord and Twitter, no one really bothers scrolling past the newest things, neither do they really need to.

Is that really the case, or are you making an assumption based on your own use? I'd have to see some real numbers to be convinced.

On the other side, I've spent plenty of time in a lot of coffee shops, watching people scrolling through stuff on their phones for long periods of time. I've yet to see anyone throw down their phone in frustration over scrolling. While that's no where near an empirical study, the anecdotal evidence has some merit.

 

[haqzore]

Is that really the case,

For Discord, it's absolutely the case.

The design of Discord makes consuming anything but the latest content incredibly cumbersome AT BEST, so it simply doesn't happen.

It's one of the primary things that aggravate me when communities insist on using Discord for things like event planning.

 

[Nev_Dull]

I'll accept that. I've not had occasion to use Discord (or at least managed to avoid it), so I have no experience.

 

[Jura]

Categories on-topic go on top. Forum sections with higher replies to topics or total posts go above lower. Feedback tends to be pretty small even on active forums. Don't have a million forums and sub-forums so people see stuff.

 

[Hentai]

My above the fold content (top of page load) are widgets for new threads, new replies, and new resources added to our resource manager. THEN come my announcements, personal introduction section, user support section, then comes my niche topic boards.

I think its a good compromise because I do think my announcements, intros, and knowing where to get support are important too... Which is why they are still my first forum categories, just my "recents" widgets put them down below the page load on mobile.

 

[haqzore]

My above the fold content (top of page load) are widgets for new threads, new replies, and new resources added to our resource manager. THEN come my announcements, personal introduction section, user support section, then comes my niche topic boards.

I think its a good compromise because I do think my announcements, intros, and knowing where to get support are important too... Which is why they are still my first forum categories, just my "recents" widgets put them down below the page load on mobile.

How often do you have announcements that are impactful to your end-users?

 

[Leaf_Green]

I agree. Many years ago I had my news/feedback/help category at the top of the forum. It took a little time, but my mind was indeed changed. Nothing bad came from the change. I don't have any numbers but I'd imagine there was at least a small activity boost. Only a handful of my audience care about site updates. When they come, they'll be in the "recent posts" panel for a while and the few interested will check that out.

As for feedback/help, it's just logical to look for that if something comes up. Members have no trouble finding the subforum. It's just at the bottom at the index and isn't needed very often. Members are advised to read the FAQ when they sign up. If they don't, that's on them, but I have no problem simply telling them how to get there.

I was also advised to refrain from placing the niche-specific category at the top. I switched this around. General has been at the top for a long time and it helped a lot. Most people love the main niche but it's probably discussed around 1/5 of the time.

I think update forums are often more helpful to site staff than members. Particularly if they keep something like a changelog that most don't really care about.

 

[Hentai]

How often do you have announcements that are impactful to your end-users?

Honestly, its a holdover from our phpBB days now that we have XenForo the "Notices" system basically replaces announcement threads and can be used to link to such. That being said I do feel that the Introductions & Support boards are important to have at the top as I want my board to feel welcoming to newcomers and I want everyone to know where they seek help. Since they are grouped as a category, I haven't had much motivation to move them, especially with "above the fold" content many people were concerned about, are taken up by the recents widgets.