Topic

Staff Topic

New! - Status Update Improvements

Hello!

We've just released a bit of an update to the "status updates" feature in the activity stream on your homepage.

The main advancements are:

(1) You can now "reply" to someone else's update

(2) You can now "like" someone else's update

(3) Updates look a bit spiffier (but not super-spiffy - more on that in a moment)

(4) Each update has its own "permalink" page, so you can share it with others, and more easily navigate chains of replies to a single update.

We're launching it now because, frankly, we're really pretty excited about the whole thing, and we wanted to share it with you. However, there are some interface elements that are still under consideration, which we'll be addressing in the next week or so. Namely...

(1) As hinted above, we think the new look is an improvement, but we're not 100% happy with it - please expect minor tinkering in the near future.

(2) You can't "unlike" something you've liked just yet... so be careful with that clicking-finger!

(3) For those of you who are reguarly all a-twoot, or who twutter, or whatever it is the cool kids do, you may notice that there's no direct, nice way to "mention" someone with, for example, an @ symbol. Doing this is slightly complicated by the fact that, in Glitch, players can have spaces in their names. However, we do have some Nebulous Plans for this which we hope will be enacted in (relatively) short order.

 Feedback is welcome!

Posted 16 months ago by hitherto Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Very impressive! Pat yourselves on the back and give yourselves the evening off :-)

    I kinda like the 'seeing half the conversation' thing that Artilect alluded to. Reminds me of how Twitter used to be before they borked it & we had the whole #fixreplies thing trending for days.

    Also agree with the comments about it taking up too much space, moving too fast etc but I am positive that Nebulous Plans deal with these issues.

    PS Is anybody else allowed to use the word 'like' any more? I thought facebook had it copyrighted, trademarked and probably patented too.
    Posted 16 months ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • agreed that the look of the updates does need to be refined. it's *okay* currently but could be significantly better.

    i think that replies need to look more differtenter than normal updates. including the second person's avatar head, maybe?

    generally though, excellent work.
    Posted 16 months ago by striatic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is very cool!  There seems to be some sort of bug, though... I can't see zeeberk's posts at all (and some other friends can't either), Rascalmom can't reply to mine, and so forth.  It's as if we suddenly aren't friends.  *sniffle*
    Posted 16 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1000.  This is way cool.  Love the thumbnails too!
    Posted 16 months ago by Marla Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "like" to glum pudding (in general :D )

    Yes, I do think zeeberk has found an elusive invisibility cloak though lol
    Posted 16 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oooooooh!!!  And invisibliity cloak!!

    (zeeberk!!!!  we're thinkin' of ya!!!)
    Posted 16 months ago by Pirate Apples Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh god, it's like facebook has invaded Glitch.
    Posted 16 months ago by Feylin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Come back zee, all is forgiven!!!!
    Posted 16 months ago by ♥joby♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • very cool improvement. you guys sure pack a lot of updates in a short period of time.
    Posted 16 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Omg this is amazing!!  I think that this will make the status updates sooooo much easier to follow and we can now keep in touch much better while the game is down!

    Thank you so much!
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Love it! Thank you! :) <3 
    Posted 16 months ago by NutMeg Botwin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +++++++

    so when do we get smiley faces :-) (I happy, I promise- so don't think never satisfied ) Smiley Face here
    Posted 16 months ago by Mystbecky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, I like the thumbnails pics. Not sure of the point of the "like" button on the update page---it would be more useful in the forums to avoid all the +1 or -1 separate posts.

    To me, the format takes up way too much real estate. I have yet to figure out how the new reply option is better than the old way which was simply @ whatsyourname: You're right. Everybody could see it at the same time. So what.  For instance, I recently replied to Aero. My reply was came up on my update page, but I had to keep scrolling and scrolling to see what I had replied to (yes, I forgot in two minutes---LOL) Yesterday, I would have just glanced down the page to see it.

    Frankly, I didn't have any problems with the old format, particularly because of the new search option on the Friends page. It is, errr was, much easier to figure out the other end of a particular conversation simply by doing a quick search.

    Now, these are just my initial reactions and if I just give it time perhaps I will appreciate the new format more.
    Posted 16 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Rachel2635: try clicking on the text of the reply--it will send you to a separate page with the original message plus all the replies to it. Pretty cool!
    Posted 16 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ Sheperdmoon: I tried that, but it didn't work for me. I must be doing something wrong. I will fiddle with it another time. But thanks for helping anyway ((hugs))
    Posted 16 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Can't wait to twutter (see first post) ...but so far I love the new look.
    Posted 16 months ago by MisAdventure Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's all new and there are sure to be bugs. :) But I like where it's headed.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Now this might take sometime to get use to,but it's different..
    Posted 16 months ago by mudspots Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For those of you noting that the format takes up too much space... we've been wrestling with that feeling too, and it's one of the things we're going to try to fix about the layout over the next week or so!
    Posted 16 months ago by hitherto Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Awesome sauce. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Piratice Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Only just noticed @Thee Robot Creator - They/we are talking about ur glitches main home page. Where you can see ur friends updates & post ur own... The awesome dev's have made some new changes to how it all looks/works....
    Posted 16 months ago by BumbleBeez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @hitherto - perhaps just a firm transfer of screen names that have spaces to using underscores instead??? This would seem to solve the problem (aside from making everyone who likes them angry!) and I would think it's a pretty good solution! (of course I would... It was my idea!)

    For those asking about threading, I believe Stoot previously said that wouldn't be happening... Although those things surely can be subject to change: beta.glitch.com/forum/gener...
    Posted 16 months ago by Dr007 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • YES. JUST YES.
    Posted 16 months ago by Cupcake Subscriber! | Permalink
  • invisibility cloak?

    Also, I think stoot was referring to multi-threaded for Forum posts, not to the status updates.  I agree that the forums don't need to be multi-threaded, but it makes sense for the status updates.
    Posted 16 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • zeeberk: I had said in the feed that perhaps someone had slipped an invisibility cloak into the wardrobe, since we couldn't see your posts anymore. :)
    Posted 16 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • :'(
    Posted 16 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree very much with Zeeberk. With the more direct reply options, I'm having a really hard time following a lot of threads backwards and guessing what various vague comments are in response to.  When the options for reading are either a) clicking through, finding out what's going on, pressing back, noticing I have to click everything again if I was far down in the timeline, finally finding where I was, then repeating or b) opening 57 new tabs, finding out that 47 of them are effectively duplicates because they're part of the same basic thread, closing too many, wondering why I missed some because I closed too many when I was trying to close the 47 duplicates, etc. ... I'm just not enthusiastic about it.  At a minimum I think we need formatting options so I can make things thread and nest nicely.
    Posted 16 months ago by Magic Monkey Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 zeeberk: I agree that forum posts are fine the way they are (don't need to be multi-threaded), but the status updates are extremely hard to follow right now, and need to be organized better. It's particularly irritating for me when I have to flip through several pages to find where I left off reading, click on a post to see all the posts that go together with it, then hit the "back" button only to be sent to the first page again, where I have to flip through the pages again to get back to where I was before. 
    Posted 16 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 to Feylin
    Posted 16 months ago by Phochai Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yep, @zeeberk, he was. I'm with you on the forum/status updates issue. A posting like the one that caused me to push the idea for the forums can now be locked with a permalink to a staff status update. Will produce the same results, and better too. I felt a few people had gone out of there way to slam me over the concept when @stoot directly addressed me. Unfortunately, @stoots comment really should have been private between the two of us, but until now that wasn't easily done. Hopefully they will implement a private message element to the status pages, especially when the staff needs to privately talk to a member. Ooh! Is that an idea?
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Why should that have been a private reply when it was posted on a public forum?  C'mon now, had I been stoot, I would have replied to you in public, too, since you assumed you were building something for the site and doing so on a public forum (well, quasi-public, but one we can all read).

    Hopefully they will not implement a private message system on the home page - if someone needs to contact me directly using Glitch, they can do so in-game via the existing mail system.  I just am not really interested in yet one more place on the internet for me to check email.  I like the in-game mail system, but wouldn't really want to be beholden to it when not in the game.
    Posted 16 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Please! No more stuff on the home page. It is getting too cluttered already. Besides once the game is live we will have the option of IMs and in-game mail for private matters 24/7.
    Posted 16 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Rachel2635. I know I've asked for private messages offline, but I see little need for it now for the same reasons Rachel states.
    Posted 16 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @zeeberk - Trying not to jack this thread any further, but... I made no such assumption about what I was proposing. I'm an IT professional with over 30 years of study and practice in the field.  What I was proposing was proposing was the creation of substantial work product that I was making freely available to Tiny Speck. I posted the idea in the appropriate forums and asked if any technically capable individuals would like to contribute. By it's very nature such and undertaking requires form of communications in the available channels. I'm also aware of the actual estimated value of such an undertaking - it's not inconsequential.

     @stoot was not trying to humiliate me or "set me out". His words were kind, professional, and well reasoned. I was very tired when I responded to him and went to bed shortly thereafter. In that time he provided further response to me that I had been unaware of until I woke up much (my medications right now create strange sleep patterns) and checked the forums. His remarks were directed to me, for me, and not needing further comment by third-parties, positive or negative. The public posting was only because that was the only option readily available to him at that moment.

    While I omitted since I was developing the idea "off-the-cuff", the idea of private messaging was intended for when the game was off-line. I just now had to cobble up a system using a private group to send private message to people here. The total number of groups is limited and I gave up a valuable resource to do that. There are other matters concerning accountability and technical capabilities of the game that limit in-game mailings as a tool for general communications.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No need to drag out your creds, FF, that stuff doesn't impress me given that we are surrounded by an awful lot of IT talent here - pissing matches aren't really necessary, are they?  And the way your posts read, it did sound very much as though you'd made some assumptions.  That's OK, we all do, sometimes.

    Also, the game isn't going to be offline that much longer.  Once the game launches, it'll be here, 24/7.  Which means in-game mail will also be here 24/7.

    For everything else, there's real email.
    Posted 16 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @zeeberk - That's ok. thanks for putting up with the rant. I was pretty hurt by some comments. I often do make postings here without clarifying limitations. As far as the assumption part I've just referred to to females here as "he" . And thank for reminding us of the good news (Glitch soon open 24/7) :D
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well I like this game as no one is expected to be perfect all the time..I have made errors - such as not seeing a link - and just about everyone is kind and forgiving.  Not to worry Fokian, we know you and get what you were trying to say...and the countdown continues while we wait patiently (?) outside the gates for the game to open.
    Posted 16 months ago by MisAdventure Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love it, thank you!
    Posted 16 months ago by PittyPat is sad Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm just plain confused about all of this, sorry.  Everyone else is so elated for what?  Little words please.  Thank you kind friends.
    Posted 16 months ago by xoxJulie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @xoxJulie - Ready to help. Just ask the first question that pops in your head. Nothing is a stupid question when it comes to learning new stuff.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Julie: Basically, you can reply to a friend's update, and the website keeps track of which replies are connected to which posts.
    Posted 16 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Loving it! It functions like a cross between Twitter and Facebook now, which I love :)
    Posted 16 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • All good...When will you implement real forums?
    Posted 16 months ago by MeherMan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What's unreal about this one?
    Posted 16 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Compared to a vBulletin® forum software it's not very powerful or useful. And TS has said in the past there were doing a major forum upgrade...
    Posted 16 months ago by MeherMan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Very Cool, We have our own little glitchbook/glitch+, You devs are amazing!
    Posted 16 months ago by miskey Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Me likey! Now I just need some friends.
    Posted 16 months ago by shipwreck Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks I have an inkling how this works now and I think I'm going to love it.  :)
    Posted 16 months ago by xoxJulie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is there a way to scroll down on a persons profile page to see posts from the past?
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just do what Asheron's Call did... 

    /tell Cal Henderson, Thanks for the fun interview the other day!
    Posted 16 months ago by Bashere Subscriber! | Permalink