Logged out to check, it seems like the contest thread titles and forums are visible, but if you click on one, it takes you to the log-in screen.
I was going to say the same as @Madman, only to add that you'd sometimes wonder if the contest threads are visible even to members.
The problem is that we don't have as many active members any more, but even when we did, people who weren't participating generally didn't read them. That's not just a problem on this forum though.
its unfortunate that some of our most active competitors were also a massive pain in the arse in other ways and either wound up getting banned or took the flounce when we told them they weren't special. These things are cyclical so we'll get another generation of competitors along in due course the other thing is the dated appearance and the limited options we're able to offer (the broken medal engine for example), all of which needs us to upgrade to xen foro2 or another software like say flavium, but that needs the owner, who hasn't logged in for over a year One thing we could reasonably easily do is make the contests their own node which would make them more visible on the screen, i'll look at that when i get a moment
Making the winners more visible in a box on the right might make for more engagement as would add to the sense of achievement, like the 'Server Fund Raiser' and 'Recent Blogs' boxes... Competition Winners ------------------------------------------------- "The Schuldiner Paradox" by @Mish September short story winner "Moonsong" by @Dogberry's Watch September poetry winner " Death By Chocolate" by @Louanne Learning September flash fiction winner See past winners...
There are lots of things that *could* be done, but so many things require Daniel, unfortunately. I dunno what level of access moose has.
So, in my progress journal, I did mention sometime ago that I always vote late in the short story contests for a good reason. This is the reason. Contest threads have pretty bad visibility. I've noticed that when I vote late, there are anywhere from 1 more vote to 3 more votes that happen after mine. I think it's because of the current setup. Only one contest thread is visible in the main page—the only with the latest post. So when I vote late, the contest thread becomes visible again, people see it, and some cast votes. It makes sense. The majority of votes are cast in the first 10 days. Voting slows down a lot after that, the vote thread gets buried, and nobody takes notice of it—except when there is a new post to bring it up again. Be it by me or someone else. I'm surely not the only who's noticed this as evident by the quoted posts. Actually, when I saw the thread title, this exact problem jumped to mind, so I wasn't surprised to see it mentioned. Although I've noticed for so long, I didn't say anything because I presumed that there was some sort of reason, like another technical difficulty, for the current setup. I guess I need to stop making so many assumptions. I'm assuming that what I say here is obvious to everyone but... you know the rest. It doesn't hurt to say all this anyway.
If i make the change i was talking about that will adress this since contests will be a category, and each type of contest will be its own forum so the most recent thread in each will stay visible on the main board. Ive got a few things to figure out before i action it - have to make sure i don't press the wrong button and end civilisation as we know it, but i'll try and do it soon
That is a good idea but I don't think I can - the widget box layout is behind a door for which i don't have a key ETA looking at this i might be able to - but i'd need to make the comps as forums change first, and it wouldnt be exactly like suggested because it would need to populate content off the winner threads
Well yes, the Holy Grail would be to upgrade the software to XF2 or Flavium or whatever which would make a massive difference to user experience, but i can't do that... so i'm limited to doing my best with the tools available to me
I've done this bit - let me know if there's any glitches, I'll see if i can sort the sidebar out another day... too many changes at once can rustle the servers jimmys
What i'm hoping to do withthe side bar is have a widget using 'threads' like the 'recent posts' one that shows the most recent three competition winners. Ive recently discovered that although i can't create new widgets i can edit existing ones and there are bunch we don't use any more. It looks like i ought to be able to repurpose one to key off the competition winner prefix. I'm not promising though because our whole back end is a bit like my mate's kitcar...where the headlights flash with the indicators and the low oil light comes on when he turns right
and boom ive done the competition winners widget also, that was easier than expected...it should display the three most recent threads tagged competition winner, It just needs the contest admins to make sure we put the winners name first in the thread title so it shows up before the cut off
I like how we're getting some improvements for one of the nicest parts of the site. The winner widget is super cool.
anyone have any other thoughts on what they'd like to see? (I'm not promising to do them all as i have to work within the confines of whats possible with XF1 and the access i have). I'll say up front that fixing the medal engine is probably beyond my ken
