To the owners of DU, just Wondering?

[Woodswalker]

I really like DU and feel very at home here but is there a way that Forum could be set up where posts get more discussion or view time. It seems like there are dozens of dozens of great posts that end up just being statements with no discussion because of the speed that new posts keep coming in pushing other good subject matter into quick obscurity. Popular Posts don't come back to the top like on other forums from what I see preventing revisits of older high interest posts that are still discussion worthy which kinda let's a lot of really good subjects wither on the vine.

[Joinfortmill]

1. I hear ya.

[Tetrachloride]

2. Forums such as Foreign Affairs

don’t get much respect.

Currently, Recs are the only way to stay in the limelight.

No active moderation.

[hunter]

3. Most of the forums and groups proceed at a fairly leisurely pace.

It's only in General Discussion that the posts fly by, often with a lot of quick replies and not much thoughtful discussion.

Try some of the other forums and groups.

GD races along from one shiny thing to the next, following the lead of twitter or cable television news channels.

[BlackSkimmer]

7. It does seem to be a largely twitter forum these days.

A shame.

[Ahna KneeMoose]

4. As A Relative Newbie

Somehow (?): I have only visited 'The DU Lounge (Forum)' and the 'Latest Threads'; however, I have always longed-for the entire 'Democratic Underground' to move much-more-slowly down-the-page and then past-the-fold in a manner similar to the older (and now sadly gone) 'Kinja'.

Somehow (?): The older version of 'Kinja' allowed for much more intimate discussion before the entire message moved past-the-fold and then out-of-sight.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Try looking at popular posts under the "Greatest Threads" tab.

[intheflow]

8. The GP is my favorite "forum."

I'm not a fan of visiting the individual pages like LBN or GD for exactly this reason. I hate clicking on interesting "thread-lines" only to find one sentence like, "That is all" written there. Very annoying. The GP allows the cream of the crop to rise; after all, if your post can't get even 5 recs, it probably isn't that informative. Or, the forum is rarely visited, or your name isn't widely recognized among DUers. But mostly I've found I get the news and info I want and need by mostly frequenting the GP.

[Wounded Bear]

6. That's what the "Bookmark" button at the bottom of the screen is for...

you can bookmark threads for future quick return to it.

[Firestorm49]

9. I rather enjoy the GD forum. I'm in and out many times a day and just keeping up with

the latest news works well for me.

[mopinko]

10. i have to remind myself to visit this forum, and not just latest and greatest.

i’m usually surprised to see posts still bouncing around for days sometimes.
go back a page or 2, and kick the 1s u like.

[EarlG]

11. We provide many different ways to view discussions

If you want to see the threads with the most recommendations in the last 24 hours, and the newest threads that are getting recommended, visit the Greatest page:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=greatest_threads

If you want to see the newest threads that were started in chronological order, visit the Latest page:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=latest_threads

If you want to see threads with the most replies, click the "Most discussed" button at the top of the Latest page to get this view:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=latest_threads&mode=latest&sort1=replies

If you want to see the threads which were most recently replied to, click the "Last replied" button at the top of the Latest page to get this view:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=latest_threads&mode=latest&sort1=lastreply

Note that you can also use the filter bar at the top of the Latest page to change the timeframe that you would like to see threads from, which means that you can see the most recommended threads from different time periods other than 24 hours, by clicking the "Most rec'd" button to get this view:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=latest_threads&mode=latest&sort1=recs

If you want to see active, ongoing discussions, visit individual forums such as General Discussion:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1002

In a forum, the most recently-replied-to thread is kicked back to the top of the forum, so threads which are under active discussion will appear at the top.

If you see a thread which interests you and you want to come back to later, bookmark the thread using the button at the bottom of the OP and then check back to it later using your Bookmarks page (link found in the top-right page navigation):

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=myaccount&sub=bookmarks

And FWIW, the still-in-development DU4 will improve upon all of the above functionality and includes new ways to sort and locate threads.

[Emile]

12. +1

[Xoan]

21. +2

[Woodswalker]

22. Hey thanks, alot of good pointers

Is there anyway to give a thumbs up or like to a response. For example your response was very helpful but I don't see a way to do that?

[EarlG]

23. Not currently

But that feature is coming soon.

[highplainsdem]

13. What you're complaining about is a perfectly normal process in

an active forum with a lot of users posting messages about news and interests that change rapidly.

You seem to be recommending some way of keeping threads you like on the first page.

But DUers will never agree on which threads should be kept there.

I like the way GD works in a democratic Democratic Underground. Even if it means there are so many new threads that I sometimes have to look back a few pages to see if anyone else has already posted news only a couple of hours old.

Btw, there is nothing stopping anyone from looking at the board pages beyond page 1 and commenting on them. And my understanding is that replies will kick or bump the thread back to the top, unless a certain amount of time has passed since the previous post.

[usonian]

14. Google site search does not work well for me.

I can't really recommend a better way to search DU. ( Google still uses "page rank" a measure of backlinks to a page, which very few posts here do.)

And thanks for posting the existing ways to view threads.

[highplainsdem]

17. If you donate even a small amount you become a Star member and

can use DU's own search tools, which are much more helpful.

Though in a forum as active as GD, you'll typically have to limit the date range or the search will time out.

[usonian]

20. I was gifted a star membership (THANKS Maru Kitteh!) but didn't recall seeing the advanced search

Until now , thanks.

Search of any kind doesn't show up on mobile devices, so maybe that's my gripe (or remembering the bad old days without looking for the update.)

[highplainsdem]

18. Btw, I just used "Search this forum" to check for all your posts here

in the last two months - it's a great way to look for your own posts or any DUers' - but the search results cut off after the most recent 250 GD posts, with the oldest from that search on Christmas Eve.

DU's own search lets you search by keyword and/or user name, for all posts or only thread titles or OPs or replies.

It does limit you to just one keyword, unfortunately.

[question everything]

15. You can always kick a post that moved down quickly

It may have already moved to Page 2.

And, yes I agree that posts with titles like "This" or "no comment" and with only link to twitter deserves to sink.

[malaise]

16. Just bookmark hose you like

a suggestion

[Raine]

19. Bookmark them, you can give them a kick too. nt