Utility of Popular Discussion

Report · Nov 21, 2012

This was the list of Popular Discussions on the right sidebar of the main page on this forum some minutes ago:

Shouldn't such lists be restricted to discussions appearing in the specific forum one is visiting? I do not have and I do not use Flash, so the first item is completely wasted on me. And it doesn't amuse me to follow a link such as the last one and find that it is a four post thread in a forum I never visit...

Also, I think it cannot be all that difficult to prevent the listing of closed/archived threads. It's not fun to follow -for example- the link to the Spam report thread [6] only to find that it has been closed for months.

Report · Nov 22, 2012

I thought that the Popular Discussions WAS limited to the forum, where one is. Maybe that was just an erroneous and unfounded assumption on my part?

I agree that the list should be restricted TO the open forum.

Hunt

Report · Nov 23, 2012

The widget IS restricted to the forum you're in, and any sub-forums it may have. The threads in your screenshot are in Forum Comments, even though some of them are talking about other topics they're the threads which have seen the most page views in recent days.

Report · Nov 23, 2012

Dave Merchant wrote:
The widget IS restricted to the forum you're in, and any sub-forums it may have. The threads in your screenshot are in Forum Comments, even though some of them are talking about other topics they're the threads which have seen the most page views in recent days.

I was wrong in assuming without checking that the Flash for Xbox thread was in the Flash forum, but the Upgrade query thread appearing in the screenshot of my opening message definitely wasn't and isn't in this forum or a sub-forum of it (as far as I know, this forum has no sub-forums):

And, while the Spam report thread [6] has been appearing in the list everyday for quite a long time, I find it hard to believe that it is being visited every day by a large number of participants, for it's on the 5th page of the list of topics. Same with the CS4 thread, on page 32...

Report · Nov 23, 2012

After seeing your thread, I began paying attention to the subject, but only tested in the forums, that I primarily hang out in. In all of my observed cases, the "Popular Discussions" lists were applicable to those fourms, as closely, as I could tell. Wonder if that works, as I had assumed they would, but then in some forums, that list is populated with threads from elsewhere? I only surveyed a small sub-set of the forums, those probably could be typified as being similar: the various Premiere Forums, the Encore Forum, and the Photoshop Forum.

I am sure that someone can comment specifically what you are seeing.

Hunt

Report · Nov 23, 2012

Bill Hunt wrote:
...
I am sure that someone can comment specifically what you are seeing.
Hunt

Are you saying or implying that you don't see what I am reporting, and that it's only me seeing things...?

Report · Nov 23, 2012

Claudio,

I would never say that, even if true. My observations have been extremely limited, to just a few forums, and their sub-forums, and everything there seems to be, as you, and I, would expect it to be, though I did not test every thread. The vast majority have been ones, that I do remember from those forums.

My guess would be that it is not that way, with all forums, and I just have not hit one, where things are wonky. I will keep my eyes open for those threads, to see if I do encounter any anomalies.

Hunt

Report · Nov 23, 2012

Now, maybe I missed what you were pointing out.

I just surveyed the Forums Comment "Popular Discussion," and the first two on the list are from Sept, rather limited in both Replies and views, and one is even locked, that they appear at the top of the list. They ARE from this forum, but seem odd as # 1 & # 2, on that list. Is that what you are referring to?

If so, I was only looking at titles of threads, and not actually looking AT the threads, trying to gauge if they deserved to be at the top of the heap.

If that IS what you are talking about, then please kindly disregard my Replies, as I thought that you were seeing threads from other forums, and not the one, where you were seeing the "Popular Discussion." If so, then my bad, and I apologize. Now, I need to check some of those popular threads, to see if I can determine why they are ranked, as they are. I do not even pretend to know which algorithms might come into play, to determine popularity - maybe the same ones used to determine the winner of the Miss Universe Pagent?

Hunt

Report · Nov 23, 2012

Bill, you did notice the in my last message, didn't you?

And yes, it's either that I have not been clear (not so unusual), or that you have missed my point (more unusual), but have no time to explain now. Perhaps tomorrow morning.

Report · Nov 23, 2012

I did see, and note the emoticon, and was not 100% sure how it applied, and to which part of the Reply.

I did a very bried and quick survey of the forums, that I have mentioned. All of the "Popular Discussions" are fairly good choices, though what I see as their "ranking," might be off a bit.

I think that I just misunderstood, and you, sir, are a gentleman, for letting me slide.

Hunt

Report · Nov 24, 2012

Bill, most of us old die-hards -you included- are gentlemen by nature . My report refered only to what happens in this thread. What happens here, and not in any of the other forums I frequent, is anomalous and should be corrected. Unfortunately, nobody with the power to correct is seems to be taking notice. I do miss the times when JC would come speedingly in to correct such issues. Unfortunately, it seems that his hand are tied by Jive's and Adobe's impositions.

Report · Nov 25, 2012

If you'd read the last entry on the "Upgrade Query" discussion you'd have seen I moved it. It used to be in the Forum Comments section. Hence why it's no longer on the PD widget in here, but is in the PD widget for the Licensing forum.

Report · Nov 25, 2012

Dave Merchant wrote:
If you'd read the last entry on the "Upgrade Query" discussion you'd have seen I moved it. It used to be in the Forum Comments section. Hence why it's no longer on the PD widget in here, but is in the PD widget for the Licensing forum.

According to your message in the Upgrade Query thread, which I hadn't seen, you moved the thread on November 17. My report was posted on November 21, and the link was still in this forum when I posted my message of November 23. And yes, it is gone today.

Report · Dec 19, 2012

I find it very difficult to believe that the Spam report thread [6] and the Are these still User to User forums? threads are much visited nowadays. However, they are in the list of Popular Discussion of this forum, while I do not see a link to the present Spam thread in its main page. Seems peculiar to me.

Report · Jan 12, 2013

Claudio González wrote:
I find it very difficult to believe that the Spam report thread [6] and the Are these still User to User forums? threads are much visited nowadays. However, they are in the list of Popular Discussion of this forum, while I do not see a link to the present Spam thread in its main page. Seems peculiar to me.

I had reported that (about the links) myself here back in September 2012 and nobody replied back...

Report · Jan 14, 2013

Fixed.

Report · Jan 14, 2013

Dave Merchant wrote:
Fixed.

Has it? I'm still seeing the link to the now locked Spam report thread [6]. In the very first place.

Report · Jan 15, 2013

Spam [6] is no longer on the Featured widget for this forum's overview page ( http://forums.adobe.com/community/general/forum_comments ) which is the default landing page for normal users. The 'Popular' widget on the sidebar for Discussions Mode automatically sorts by number of views/replies, so given how massive Spam [6] is, the only way to stop it appearing would be to delete the entire thread. We don't do that.

Report · Jan 15, 2013

Should be switched to Spam [7] now. since Spam [6] is a dead end now anyway.

Report · Jan 16, 2013

Dave Merchant wrote:
...
The 'Popular' widget on the sidebar for Discussions Mode automatically sorts by number of views/replies, so given how massive Spam [6] is, the only way to stop it appearing would be to delete the entire thread. We don't do that.

Well, it doesn't seem to be a simple matter of ordering by views/replies. This is what I see:

Threads in the Popular Discussions list:

Spam report thread [6] thread: 58,484 views, 438 replies.

CS4 Master ... thread: 94,606 views, 10 replies.

we're under attack!! thread: 1,647 views, 40 replies.

Spam report thread [7] thread: 7,064 views, 62 replies.

We Need Adobe... thread:22,891 views, 4 replies.

Not in the Popular Discussions list, but immediately before the Spam 6 thread in the list of threads:

Known issues with the new skins thread: 22,047 views, 245 replies.

And even if it were, I find it hard to believe that a filter cannot be applied to discard threads thar are closed/archived. Deleting threads does not seem to me to be the only way, or the most intelligent to stop archived threads from appearing in the Popular Discussions list.

Report · Mar 27, 2013

Now the Popular Discussions list includes a link to this 2009 thread:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/455064

Should I take this to mean that all of a sudden this archived thread has received a considerable number of visits?

Report · Mar 27, 2013

When I posted my previous message, I didn't notice that four of the five threads in the list are archived. Also, the number of visits for each when I asked a couple of minutes ago were, in the same order of the list:

103,705 - 64,794 - 94,471 - 11,686 and 72,779

If this is the result of automatically ordering threads by number of visits, something is wrong with the process...

I have yet have to read a good reason for posting lists containing mostly archived threads...

Report · Mar 27, 2013

The forums are in the process of being rearranged, as a result the stats on which threads rank as 'popular' will be changing and you may notice some strange entries. It should settle down in a week or two.

Report · Mar 27, 2013

Let's hope that this gradual settling process leads to an improvement, although I for one would not miss the list if it was simply eliminated.

Report · Apr 18, 2013

Three weeks later, things do not look as if they had settled down. This was the list of Popular Discussions some minutes ago: