About Me and Activity Feedback

[Petrograd Capital 155]

can i ask a question? this system is due to the fact that now, when entering the profile, you can immediately see the "about us". it is not comfortable. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by anaconda

[Troblems 5,617]

@anaconda A few add-on packages were found that were able to better align the profile page with how it used to work. While technically unrelated, it’s all in an effort to restore usability back to where they were in the 3.x update (I think?). For those who have been around a while are used to this layout and generally prefer it. What don’t you find comfortable about it?

[Petrograd Capital 155]

Return activity to the first page. Let's talk why and why.

I spoke with a lot of forum users. I will say this: many are perplexed by the innovation of "Friends System". By the way, the function is not bad. However this is at least not convenient for me as well as for other users. In order not to gossip, I decided to ask the opinion of users who can also express it in this thread. People, for the most part, go to the profile to view the activity, not its description. 

* What don’t you find comfortable about it? — It's simple. It is not comfortable.

Edited February 10, 2021 by anaconda

[Jeric 46,851]

I honestly mark this as one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” things. From 2011 - 2017 the default landing page of all users was the About Me page. In 2017 the software we use had an upgrade to a brand new fully redesigned system called IPB 4. Since then, Activity became the default tab on a users profile. The reaction was immediate and loud. It would even pop up from time to time. Knowing this we went out and grabbed a mod that allowed us some control over the default tab. Hence the change. 
 

I’m perplexed by the inclusion of the Friends system into this topic. They are not connected features. Friends is something also brought back that was sorely missed by many old school users. An old feature that Invision dropped. 
 

The default tab being set as About Me is something completely separate from Friends. It also makes the most sense to have the About Me as the default tab. The recent changes on the forum are us actually making good on long agreed decisions to act on user feedback and requests. 
 

I like to set expectations, so I can tell you that no matter the results of chatter, Friends is absolutely not going anywhere. It’s not just here to stay. It is back. As far as the default tab, if my inbox is flooded with this feedback suggesting that About Me being the default page is some sort of deal breaker, I’ll consider that feedback. For now I personally prefer it this way and have some level of prior complaints when About Me was moved to suggest that there will be no way to please everyone. 

[Crunchypuff 152]

I just looked at my own profile and was kinda confused since the first thing on my page is my activity.

then I realized that's probably because I don't have the 'about me' section filled out

So I guess if you want activity first on your own profile, that's one way to do it

[Jeric 46,851]

@anaconda I split your complaint regarding the change in tabs/drop downs from the Friend System and merged them here. Is there something specific in the Activity page that makes you prefer it first? 

[Pandora 38,040]

12 minutes ago, Jeric said:

I honestly mark this as one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” things. From 2011 - 2017 the default landing page of all users was the About Me page. In 2017 the software we use had an upgrade to a brand new fully redesigned system called IPB 4. Since then, Activity became the default tab on a users profile. The reaction was immediate and loud. It would even pop up from time to time. Knowing this we went out and grabbed a mod that allowed us some control over the default tab. Hence the change. 
 

I’m perplexed by the inclusion of the Friends system into this topic. They are not connected features. Friends is something also brought back that was sorely missed by many old school users. An old feature that Invision dropped. 
 

The default tab being set as About Me is something completely separate from Friends. It also makes the most sense to have the About Me as the default tab. The recent changes on the forum are us actually making good on long agreed decisions to act on user feedback and requests. 
 

I like to set expectations, so I can tell you that no matter the results of chatter, Friends is absolutely not going anywhere. It’s not just here to stay. It is back. As far as the default tab, if my inbox is flooded with this feedback suggesting that About Me being the default page is some sort of deal breaker, I’ll consider that feedback. For now I personally prefer it this way and have some level of prior complaints when About Me was moved to suggest that there will be no way to please everyone. 

Would there ever be an option to let users decide what the landing page on their profile should be?
Like.. the RP site has the ability to let users choose between "about me" / "Profile wall" etc as the first thing people end up on in their settings.. maybe that could be implemented one time?

Also.. my profile icon is jumpy at mobile / not static anymore

[Kadae 655]

I really like the change! I put some effort into writing a little about page so it's nice having that be front and center, and the friends system is very fun!

[Jeric 46,851]

7 minutes ago, Pandora said:

Would there ever be an option to let users decide what the landing page on their profile should be?
Like.. the RP site has the ability to let users choose between "about me" / "Profile wall" etc as the first thing people end up on in their settings.. maybe that could be implemented one time?

Also.. my profile icon is jumpy at mobile / not static anymore

RP site? 

[Pandora 38,040]

5 minutes ago, Jeric said:

RP site? 

yeah

Canterlotavenue

[Jeric 46,851]

12 minutes ago, Pandora said:

Would there ever be an option to let users decide what the landing page on their profile should be?

That might be possible later down the line, but that may actually not solve everything, and may actually make things worse for some. The good thing about consistency of design in a forum is that everyone knows where things are on everyone’s page. Say someone’s habits are focused around posting public messages on another users page, giving control to users to modify their page would negate any form of muscle as some users would require a different navigation to get to a specific feature. It’s a double edged sword that sounds nice on paper but can prove to be frustrating in practice 

3 minutes ago, Pandora said:

yeah

Canterlotavenue

Oh! Yep that makes sense now. Yeah they are on a different forum software so they have capabilities we don’t and visa versa. 

[Pandora 38,040]

1 minute ago, Jeric said:

That might be possible later down the line, but that may actually not solve everything, and may actually make things worse for some. The good thing about consistency of design in a forum is that everyone knows where things are on everyone’s page. Say someone’s habits are focused around posting public messages on another users page, giving control to users to modify their page would negate any form of muscle as some users would require a different navigation to get to a specific feature. It’s a double edged sword that sounds nice on paper but can prove to be frustrating in practice 

well okay but it was just a suggestion in case you get too many complaints regarding now
(i too was confused by it.. btw can you check what's causing the jumpiness of my profile icon on mobile? It's creating a lag and is silly to have every time i open my profile like the icon isn't static anymore and tries to shove down things)

Edited February 10, 2021 by Pandora

[Jeric 46,851]

5 minutes ago, Pandora said:

well okay but it was just a suggestion in case you get too many complaints regarding now
(i too was confused by it.. btw can you check what's causing the jumpiness of my profile icon on mobile? It's creating a lag and is silly to have every time i open my profile like the icon isn't static anymore and tries to shove down things)

You might be referring to the animation elements. Taping on your cover photo will display the full height of the photo and move the profile image up slightly. It’s not static. 

[Pandora 38,040]

1 minute ago, Jeric said:

You might be referring to the animation elements. Taping on your cover photo will discuss the full height of the photo and move the image up slightly. It’s not static. 

no it appears to move it regardless if i tap or not, it's kinda odd and it wasn't like this before the update

[Petrograd Capital 155]

45 minutes ago, Jeric said:

@anaconda I split your complaint regarding the change in tabs/drop downs from the Friend System and merged them here. Is there something specific in the Activity page that makes you prefer it first? 

it's practical. you can see absolutely all recent activity from the user: messages and other. much easier to search for any kind of message. for example, it is more important than ever to me as a person doing this. the page "about me" is confusing, especially for those who have been on the forum for a long time and in fact does not make sense. that is all. 

[Jeric 46,851]

1 hour ago, anaconda said:

it's practical. you can see absolutely all recent activity from the user: messages and other. much easier to search for any kind of message. for example, it is more important than ever to me as a person doing this. the page "about me" is confusing, especially for those who have been on the forum for a long time and in fact does not make sense. that is all. 

You can still see it. It just takes an extra step. 

[Petrograd Capital 155]

3 minutes ago, Jeric said:

You can still see it. It just takes an extra step. 

well, what's the point to reinvent the wheel?

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,463]

I actually highly prefer it landing on the About Me first. Why? Simple, because it makes the About Me far more valuable. It can be fun to decorate one's about me section and add in all srots of info, but before, it was off to the side. Now it is upfront and the activity is still only one extra click away. I personally have no issue with that. 

In my opinion opinion, there's some good overall changes happening underneath and above the hood lately. We do need a dark theme though for stealthy Ninja feels.

[Jeric 46,851]

38 minutes ago, anaconda said:

well, what's the point to reinvent the wheel?

It’s going back to the wheel that many people preferred. 

[Petrograd Capital 155]

1 minute ago, Jeric said:

It’s going back to the wheel that many people preferred. 

me and some users are against this innovation but apparently it will have to be accepted. thanks for the answer. 

[Sparklefan1234 170,562]

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

I actually highly prefer it landing on the About Me first. Why? Simple, because it makes the About Me far more valuable. It can be fun to decorate one's about me section and add in all srots of info, but before, it was off to the side.

 

I like it because I hopefully won't receive "small talk" PM's from new members asking me who my favorite pony is. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,463]

1 hour ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

 

I like it because I hopefully won't receive "small talk" PM's from new members asking me who my favorite pony is. 

Yeah, it helps in giving information that some may otherwise not see or seek out on the page. Besides, we all know your favorite pony is Squidward.  

[Sparklefan1234 170,562]

28 minutes ago, Kyoshi said:

Yeah, it helps in giving information that some may otherwise not see or seek out on the page. Besides, we all know your favorite pony is Squidward.  

 

It's a well known fact that they based Squidward off of me.