I think we're all going around each other in circles about the same question: How do we move extraneous chatter out of the deal thread but keep it an open and inviting place for members?
I recognize that a certain portion of membership only visits the deals thread, and personally, I don't mind a certain level of chatter in the HUISABH thread. "Hey the watch I got from X deal came in" or "Did anyone get a shipping notice yet" type comments are perfectly fine. Dragging those comments out to 2 or 3 or 5 pages of back and forth is where I tend to step in and ask for folks to get back on track, and to move those discussions to dedicated threads.
I do like these ideas, and I'll have to think about how they can be implemented. A "HUISABH Deal Discussion" or similar thread could be created and then easily "stuck" so that it's always on top. It would be then simple enough to direct members to that thread if/when the NADs get rolling.peskydonut wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 7:40 pm - An official HUISABH-meta thread. A scenic frontage road to the deal superhighway that is the official HUISABH thread. Laxer rules on what's considered “off-topic banter". Any prolonged chatter on HUISABH can be "taken to meta". Maybe repurpose "Deals Talk"?
- If a single "meta" thread is too unstructured, how about a designated section for HUISABH deal breakout threads? We sort of have that now, but it's very informal. Someone (mod, OP, or someone else) creates a thread and diverts conversation there. If the concept was a bit more formalized I think it would have a wider adoption.
I like this idea a lot, butpeskydonut wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:35 pm What if there was a "Discuss this deal" button you could click next to a deal to start a separate thread in a designated place. In the newly created thread, first post would embed (or quote) the original deal from the HUISABH thread. Back on the HUISABH deal there would automatically appear a link from the deal post to the newly created discussion thread.
PHPBB is good software. Unfortunately, it does not have some functionality that I would like, and I lack the ability to write those functions in, even if they are possible. I can and will do some research to see if a button or some other similar method is available as a plug-in or modification.
Thank you [mention]peskydonut[/mention] for starting this discussion. These are the types of things I enjoy seeing from members, and it does give us things to think about.