Thread Order

[Prizzy Kriyze]

I've been on RPN for roughly a year and there's been a lot of changes and such during it, some for the better, some for the worse, but I feel like this is something easily changed that could improve the site in general.


When I started roleplaying on RPN the roleplays you'd find in the RP tab were sorted by start date, but this has been changed at some point so that the latest replied to roleplays are on the front page. I think we should return this to the way it was. Having it so that roleplays that have recently been replied to are the first to show up means that newly started roleplays get bumped back to the second or third pages within 24 hours of getting started, meaning that it'll be more difficult for them to get attention. Not only that, but the roleplays that dominate the front page are often ones that have already gotten very far ahead in their plot and are very difficult if not impossible to join.


Now, I'm aware that there's a function to sort roleplays by start date already, but I'm fairly certain many people don't know this. This is also not a problem for me, but a potential problem for authors (And as such, simply using the sort by start date option myself won't help.) I'm afraid that new roleplayers are going to be deterred by the amount of reading they'll have to do to catch up, or that really good roleplays get little to no attention because they get bumped back by the "bigger" roleplays. (I'm also pretty sure that you as a matter of fact CAN'T sort by start date on mobile devices.)


I believe that the roleplays should standardly be sorted by start date rather than latest post so that all roleplays get equal attention, instead of there just being a few roleplays that grow really large because they manage to start up quickly.

 

[welian]

I can see where you're coming from (though I personally prefer the current setup) and it might be a nice feature to allow people to set in their Preferences what their default thread sorting mode is.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Why though? So that those who come looking for a roleplay can find one that's definitely active? I think the reason the few on the later pages are only less active because of this. Still, your entitled to your own opinion.

 

[Mordecai]

I agree with Welian. I prefer it as it is; however, making a statement about it existing isn't a bad idea.

 

[welian]

[QUOTE="Prizzy Kriyze]So that those who come looking for a roleplay can find one that's definitely active?

[/QUOTE]
Yep!


And because it's industry standard. Almost every single forum across the internet by default sorts threads by most recent reply. It's a bit like navigation being in the header of a site, and driving on a certain side of the road.


I absolutely see the merit in your concern, about the most fast-paced threads getting the bulk of the attention, but I don't think we should change the default sorting order of threads for the entire site until there's more feedback from other users.


An addon to allow a user to change their personal default sorting mode would be a good compromise, in my opinion.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

It wouldn't solve the issue I stated though (As in, new members or non tech-savvy ones only finding the large roleplays). I can't argue if it's mostly just me thinking this though, the entire point of this suggestion is to make things more convenient for everyone, not me.

 

[Chordling]

I am in agreement with what Welian and Mordecai have already said, and here's why. Finding the different sort functions is not that difficult. Secondly, if any roleplayer is just going to pay attention to larger roleplays hoping to find something to join, they're not looking in a very efficient manner. Larger roleplays means more people, and that can mean less space. They're not going to be able to join those roleplays if it's already filled and active. You have even mentioned this yourself. Naturally, those roleplays will eventually lose attention, and should be properly prefixed by the roleplay GM or the appropriate moderator to allow new roleplays to grow.


The benefit behind roleplays being sorted by most recent post is that users can see during the new cycle which roleplays will remain active. Bare in mind that searching through the roleplay forums for games to play in is probably not the smartest way to find games. There are two recruitment forums which provide much more success because those are the games that people can jump right into.


There are thousands of users on this site who used to be "new" and have been able to find roleplays to join on their own with the current sorting system. I think it's safe to say that they are doing okay.