Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome
[staff profile] denise
[site community profile] dw_suggestions: A User's Guide

So, you want to learn more about the [site community profile] dw_suggestions process! This entry will be made the "sticky entry" in the [site community profile] dw_suggestions community (replacing the existing one, which was starting to show its age) to serve as an introduction to the Suggestions process, Dreamwidth development, and just what the heck people should be keeping in mind while they're discussing things here.

Let us begin our magical mystery tour.

dw_suggestions: A User's Guide )

And that is Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About [site community profile] dw_suggestions But Were Too Shy To Ask Or Just Kept Forgetting To Bring Up! Any further questions?
black woman looking at the camera; she's wearing a white hat and an beaded necklace
[personal profile] timeasmymeasure

Title:
Be Able To Customize "Member Posts" Text In Communities

Area:
communities, customization

Summary:
We should be able to customize the navigation text for the reading in page in communities.

Description:
Currently, the reading text for communities defaults to "Member's Posts", which makes sense. However, it also makes sense that we should be able to customize the text in the 'Customize Journal Style - Text' page like we can with the other navigation links.

Poll #9397 Be Able To Customize "Member Posts" Text In Communities
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 53



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
33 (62.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (1.9%)

(I have no opinion)
18 (34.0%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.9%)

Azz and best friend grabbing each other's noses.
[personal profile] azurelunatic

Title:
Community Membership Log

Area:
communities, community administration

Summary:
For community administrators: Log relevant community membership changes, such as new members joining, moderated membership activity, members leaving, attribute changes (post moderation, post permission, moderator, admin), and bans.

Description:
Some of these attributes are already logged for site administrators, but it would be useful to have them logged for community administrators.

Invitation -- username of invitee, server time of action, username of admin making the invitation.

Join -- username of member, server time of action, and whether it was in response to an invitation/through the member moderation (and who approved the membership if so).

Membership rejection -- username of applicant, server time of action, username of admin rejecting the application.

Invitation expiration -- username of invitee, server time of invitation & expiration, username of admin who invited them.

Attribute change -- username of member, server time of action, the change (gained/lost post, entry moderation, moderation power, admin power), and username of admin.

Ban/unban -- username, server time of action, ban/unban, username of admin.

Departure -- username, server time of action, and username of admin if this was an admin action.

Should reading page subscription/unsubscription also be logged?

Poll #9396 Community Membership Log
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 55



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
33 (60.0%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
22 (40.0%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Azz and best friend grabbing each other's noses.
[personal profile] azurelunatic

Title:
Community Entry & Comment Action Log

Area:
communities, community moderation

Summary:
For community administrators: Log relevant entry and comment activities. This could include things like deleting entries, deleting comments, screening/unscreening comments, freezing/unfreezing comments, editing entries, and tag editing.

Description:
One challenge for community administrators is sometimes keeping track of various activities in their community. Different community populations require different levels of admin attention, and sometimes an administrator does not realize they need to know about a specific action in their community until something happens and they're left trying to sort out what exactly happened and who they need to talk to.

These are all community actions that currently leave little trace in the system, but can be crucial to sorting out what happened and why.

Entry deletion -- some communities ask that their members not delete their entries. Some communities ask that only one specific administrator delete any entries. Sometimes, as in the case of communities like dw_suggestions, a deleted entry means administrative work to track down the entry and reconcile the public-entry-to-private-admin-entry counts. Entry deletion should log the username of the entry owner, the server time the entry was initially posted to the community, the entry's subject and first ~100 characters (raw), the time of entry deletion, the username of the party who deleted the entry (and possibly their position: self or admin), and whether the entry was marked as spam.

Comment deletion -- some communities ask that comments with problems be left in place for an administrator to handle. Sometimes it is accepted for the person who left the comment to think better of what they said and delete their comment, but it is frowned upon for the entry poster to delete a comment even though they have the power to do so. Comment deletion should log the username of the comment owner, the subject and first ~100 characters, the server time the comment was initially posted, the entry (and thread, if applicable) in which the comment was posted, the username of the party who deleted the comment (and possibly their position: self, entry poster, admin), the time of the comment's deletion, and whether the comment was marked as spam.

Comment screening/unscreening, freezing/unfreezing -- I have seen entry poster vs. community administrator freezing and screening wars before, and they are not pretty. I did not know that I would want this logged until it happened to me. This should log the username of the comment owner, the subject & first ~100 characters, the server time the comment was initially posted, a link to the comment & thread (because sometimes you want to go straight there, sometimes you want the whole thread, possibly the direct parent too), what the action was, and the username of the person who did it (and possibly their position: entry poster or admin).

Entry editing -- I'm less concerned with editing of the entry text in this context as I am with things like editing to turn off comments, or that it would be really nice to log when community admins bump the NSFW setting or security. But other community admins may have different concerns. This should probably log the username of the entry poster, title & first ~100, server time of post, server time of edit, who edited it (and possibly position: entry poster or admin), and the attributes that were edited. Subject edits could probably display old subject & new subject. Body edits could display ... net change in character count? (Other community admins, please weigh in on what would be useful.) Entry attributes should display old value & new value if there was a change.

Tag editing -- this could be useful for mistaken tagging or tag vandalism, like if someone accidentally detags an entry, or selects all tags for an entry and saves it. Log should include information to identify the entry (username, server time of posting, subject & first ~100, link), the old tags, the new tags, and the username & position (non-member, member, entry poster, admin), and server time of change.

I'm not sure that comment editing needs to be logged, because there already exist notifications that can be emailed, admins from paid communities can subscribe to all comments (including all edits), and people edit comments a lot (and it could clog up the logs).

Anything else?

Poll #9395 Community Entry & Comment Action Log
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
27 (58.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
19 (41.3%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Red and white striped socks clothes-pegged to the guy rope of a tent.
[personal profile] twigletzone

Title:
A new revenue model: pay-per-awesome?

Area:
Payment/revenue/keeping DW ad-free.

Summary:
After reading <user name=synechdochic>'s essay on the flaws in Web 2.0, I've had an idea for a potential new revenue stream for sites like Dreamwidth. I'd love to know what you guys think.

Description:
I recently re-read <user name=synechdochic>'s <a href="http://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/234496.html">essay</a> on Web 2.0, and why the advertising model is doomed to failure. It made me think. I'm not an economist and have no experience of running an Internet business but the basic idea I had seems like common sense, so I'm throwing it out there for more experienced minds to consider.

<user name=synechdochic> suggests that the basic problem with the subscriber model is achieving sustainable revenue as the site grows over time. DW is young, and therefore small, and hasn't hit this problem yet. <user name=synechdochic> further suggests that the centralised model of revenue generation, in which the user is the product being sold to advertisers, quite rightly alienates users and creates a downward spiral of ever more intrusive advertisements.

Livejournal has attempted to generate extra revenue by allowing users to purchase gifts for other users - but all this provides for the user receiving it is an image to display on their profile page. The Archive Of Our Own has kudos points, which are free social status you can hand out to creators of content you enjoy. DW has a "Gift a random user" function that lets you donate paid time. What if all these ideas were linked up and taken one step further?

Imagine an opt-in system where users could pay to buy kudos points or something like them, which they can then donate to whoever created any piece of DW content they find particularly awesome. Kudos points could then be exchanged for site services like paid account time. Perhaps, if a user acquires a very high level of points in a certain time period, the excess could even be converted back into real-world money.

DW, as the provider of the platform that publishes this awesome content, could take a percentage from purchases of points - say that spending $10 buys 900 points instead of 1000, or something (where each point represents $0.01 worth of site services the recipient could buy with it). Or perhaps users could even choose what percentage of their point buy to pass to DW directly to help run and improve the site, and what percentage they want to convert into points they can donate to other users.

DW isn't meant to be a crowd-funding site so there would have to be some mechanism in place to stop users begging for points for content that hasn't yet been created. That's essentially a social problem, so the solution would probably have to be about DW's culture; policing anyone abusing the system, and clearly explaining the intentions of the system to start with. It would seem sensible to run it alongside the current subscriber model, so that people still have the option of contributing both socially and financially to DW without being dependent on other users' goodwill. Nobody should be denied a voice, after all.

The idea here is to stop the user becoming the product, and make the content the valuable thing instead; the financial model behind the site becomes more democratic since each individual user can be both a seller and a buyer. The users who produce the best content are materially rewarded for it by the community, and even those who don't have a lot to contribute in terms of content have a way of getting involved and showing their appreciation. Since DW contains a lot of fanfic, anonymous donations of kudos could even be made possible so that less family-friendly content can be appreciated without the donation being traceable to a particular account name. Any author who wants to keep their content free could simply opt out of receiving kudos for a particular post or a whole journal - whether that's because they believe information should be free to all or because the idea of being paid for writing adult fiction skeeves them out!

As I said, I'm neither an economist nor an experienced Web business person - just a left-leaning person with a reasonably good mind. And I do understand that implementing this would be a massive project. But - does this fit DW's philosophy, and could it be a model for the future?

Poll #9394 A new revenue model: pay-per-awesome?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 82



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
8 (9.8%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
9 (11.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
48 (58.5%)

(I have no opinion)
14 (17.1%)

(Other: please comment)
3 (3.7%)

RatCreature's toon avatar
[personal profile] ratcreature

Title:
make managing your tracking notifications easier

Area:
tracking

Summary:
It would be great if in the long list of notifications of things you track it would be highlighted when a tag you tracked had vanished (edited or made private or such), or an entry you tracked was deleted, so you can see that one of your notifications is not working anymore. Also it would be great if the list had other sort options rather than chronological, e.g. by type (tracking a thread, tracking comments to an entry, tracking an entire journal etc.) and sorted alphabetically by journal name for example.

Description:
I don't track that many things on DW yet (only a bit over 60 items so far), but on LJ that list has gotten very long, and it is really hard to find things. I could have 1000 tracking notifications on DW and all are just one list.

Among the list I often don't notice that a tag I'm tracking (e.g. for a series I'm following) has been changed, and that that is why I don't get notifications anymore, rather than the WIP having been abandoned. That tag changing actually happens with disturbing frequency as some people like to reorganize their tags (e.g. adding a "series:" in front of the title tag once they have more than one). So it would be great if any defunct notifications could be highlighted in some way, so I don't have to spot them the hard way in a long list.

It would also be good to be able to sort that list in general, instead of the display being always just chronological. I'd find a sorting by the type, e.g. journal update, comments to an entry, comments to a thread, useful, also the possibility to sort the list by the journal name (for communities I'd like them sorted for the comm name rather than the poster). As control I imagine something like a sort button on top saying "display chronological/alphabetical/by type" that you can click like in other places that show you long lists.

Poll #9375 make managing your tracking notifications easier
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 62



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
47 (75.8%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
14 (22.6%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.6%)

they say
[personal profile] msilverstar

Title:
Feed journals should show the source

Area:
user interface, feeds

Summary:
Put the feed source link into the feed journal view for clarity.

Description:
New feeds and broken feeds have very blank journal pages, which are a bit off-putting. Even feeds with lots of content can be confusing, depending on the format of that content. Right now the source information is only on the profile page. Because there's no original content in the journals, showing the feed source right there in the journal view would make them easier to understand.

Poll #9374 Feed journals should show the source
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 53



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
31 (58.5%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (1.9%)

(I have no opinion)
21 (39.6%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

"Beanie Baby" -type dragon, red with white wings
[personal profile] thnidu

Title:
make list of allowable HTML easier to get to

Area:
entries and comments

Summary:
Make it easier for the user to see what HTML tags are OK to use, *while they are writing or editing a post or comment*.

Description:
In order to check "can I use this HTML tag?" or "What's the name of that tag again?", a user who is composing or editing a post can scroll down to the list given below the post... unless it's a DW-specific tag. For that, they have to (as far as I can tell)
1. open up their home page in a new tab
2. click on "Help/FAQ"
3. open one of three different pages listed there (here in the order they appear in):
- a. What Dreamwidth-specific markup/HTML tags can I use? (a short list of those three tags, with links to further information about them such as available attribute)
- b. What HTML tags can I use on Dreamwidth? (a list with detailed examples)
- c. What HTML can I use in my entry? (a simple compact list of the allowed HTML tags, plus a link to page "a" above (Dreamwidth-specific markup/HTML tags)

Two suggestions:
1. After the list of general HTML tags that you have below the composition pane for a *post*, add a list of DW's local HTML tags, with something like "Dreamwidth-specific tags:".
2. Also,
- Make a separate page with those two lists -- not just allowable general HTML and a link the user has to follow to see the DW-specific list. Include
-- the "learn more" links that you already have on "What Dreamwidth-specific markup/HTML tags can I use?",
-- and a link to the detailed list with examples that is "What HTML tags can I use on Dreamwidth?"
- Put a link to that page in the *Reply* area, maybe under the composition pane just to the right of "Check spelling during preview", something like this: [Allowable HTML]. The link should open on a separate page.

I've been hand-coding HTML for decades, but even so I appreciate having a list of the HTML that DW accepts at the bottom of the entry window. And I would appreciate even more having an easily accessible list of your site-specific HTML tags, which I often do not remember; for example, exactly how to add a userhead and link to the name of a user on another site.

Poll #9373 make list of allowable HTML easier to get to
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 60



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
50 (83.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
10 (16.7%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

[personal profile] the_cats_mother

Title:
Option to Hide Community Member List

Area:
Privacy

Summary:
I see a suggestion for invisibility for communities was rejected (sadly) but what about an option to hide the member list?

Description:
I'd like more privacy for members of communities with a sensitive subject matter or to avoid harrassment of members. I know you can opt not to subscribe to a community so that it doesn't show on your personal profile, but members of a community can still be identified from the profile of the community itself. Example; under another username on LJ, I belong to a small community which has attracted a very unsuitable would-be member. This person has been refused membership and is now pestering members to plead on his/her behalf, both on their journals and even by tracking them down on other sites via their profile pages. If DW would let us hide our member list, we could import to here knowing that even if our unwelcome guest found our community, s/he would'nt be able to see our (changed) usernames and start harrassing us again.

Thanks for reading. :)

Poll #9372 Option to Hide Community Member List
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 80



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
40 (50.0%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
19 (23.8%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
6 (7.5%)

(I have no opinion)
14 (17.5%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.2%)

Original Concept  by Me
[personal profile] rebelsheart

Title:
Jump to top button

Area:
Entries, Reading Page

Summary:
Implement a "jump to top" button similar the the one present on most Tumblr blogs. Also implement a "jump to bottom" button.

Description:
Tumblr is essentially a graphics-heavy Twitter - which is to say it has a different purpose and function in life than Dreamwidth. Many of their design elements would be inappropriate here. However, I think that the "jump to top" button that appears when you've begun to scroll down a Tumblr blog or dashboard would be wildly helpful.

Along the same lines, a "jump to bottom" button would also be helpful on reading pages, allowing users to quickly determine if they need to go back another page to see if there are more entries they should read since the last time they looked.

Poll #9371 Jump to top button
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 68



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
10 (14.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
30 (44.1%)

(I have no opinion)
27 (39.7%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.5%)

"Cesy" - An old-fashioned quill and ink
[personal profile] cesy

Title:
Order subscription filters by name

Area:
filters, reading page, subscriptions

Summary:
On the Manage Filters page, http://www.dreamwidth.org/manage/subscriptions/filters, order the filters by name

Description:
The list of filters is currently ordered by when you created them, so if you weren't particularly logical about setting up your subscription filters, http://www.dreamwidth.org/manage/subscriptions/filters can show a bit of a mess in the drop-down. Rather than having to re-create them all, I'd love it if they could be sorted by name rather than creation date. It's already possible to rename a filter, so this would allow people to order them however they wanted - if you want to keep them in creation order, just stick numbers on the front.

Poll #9370 Order subscription filters by name
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 61



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
35 (57.4%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
5 (8.2%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (1.6%)

(I have no opinion)
20 (32.8%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Azz and best friend grabbing each other's noses.
[personal profile] azurelunatic

Title:
Community Moderation Log

Area:
communities, moderation queue

Summary:
Show the last (reasonable number of) community moderation actions on a special page. This should particularly include the username of the moderator.

Description:
Community moderation queues are one of the unfinished areas of the site that could use some sprucing up.

Currently there is no visible record of which community moderator took action in the moderation queue, nor exactly what that action was.

Keeping a record of the moderation queue from the beginning of time could conceivably take up a hefty chunk of space, especially in high-volume communities. Instead of keeping the records indefinitely, we could log them as they happened, and show up to a certain number of them (I suggest 200, as that is double the size of a paid community's maximum queue depth). Or, if hanging onto them indefinitely would not be a strain, they should be paginated maybe at 100 records at a time. They would be displayed on a special page that can be accessed only by users who have the right to see the moderation queue.

(While community moderators can see the moderation queue, administrators can grant themselves the right to moderate, and should probably be able to see the page whether or not they currently have that attribute turned on. Please do submit scenarios where an administrator should not be able to visit that page in the comments, if you can think of any, because I can't -- at least not until admin rights can be granted piece-by-piece, in which case we'll probably have owners by then, and owners should then be able to visit it without explicitly turning anything on.)

The page should log the following:

Username of submitter
Timestamp of submission
Title of submission
Escaped (plain-text with all HTML symbols displayed) version of first X characters of submission
Username of moderator
Action (disposition of submission)
Note (if any)
Timestamp of action
Link to entry (if posted)

It should log approval, rejection, and reject-as-spam.

It should display (by default) in the order of action, with newest actions on top, but it would be awesome if the page could be sorted by some of the other fields. Records would remain visible until pushed out of the active area.

This would be useful for community management tasks. Moderators could spend less time on communicating basic details to each other and more time talking about other community management needs. It would be easy to look up recent actions of other moderators even if they did not mention the incident. In case of problems on a moderation team, for example if moderators were taking actions by accident, by a mistaken understanding of the community policies, or out of malice, their actions would be visible to others and they could be spoken with based on a record of their actual actions rather than one person's word against another's.

Poll #9261 Community Moderation Log
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 61



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
40 (65.6%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (1.6%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
20 (32.8%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Azz and best friend grabbing each other's noses.
[personal profile] azurelunatic

Title:
Community admins/moderators: moderation queue action subscription

Area:
communities, notifications, entries, moderation queue

Summary:
Create a subscription for action (acceptance and rejection) for community moderation queues. Make this subscription available only to users who have access to see the moderation queue.

Description:
Community moderators may currently receive notifications for new submissions to their community's moderation queue.

It would also be useful for them to get notifications about moderation queue action, possibly from themselves, but definitely from other moderators.

The notification should include:

The username of the moderator who made the action, what the action was, what community this is in, the username of the user whose submission it was, the time the submission entered the queue and the time the action was made, the note (if any) the moderator left, the entry's title, contents, and possibly other relevant metadata (tags, location, mood); if this action was an approval, a link to the entry as posted.

(Should this be sent for items that are marked as spam? I can think of arguments in both directions: against: in case of legitimate spam it is useless overhead that will only bother the other moderators, emailing known spam may alarm email providers; for: if a moderator is marking things as spam that are not spam (either accidentally, mistakenly, or maliciously) the others should know, moderators who become accustomed to messages about queue action may be surprised when they see an entry come in but find it gone with no notification about why.)

This notification should only be available to people with access to see the moderation queue, which in practice is only moderators, but in terms of practical community oversight might need to include the community administrators.

The subscription should be separate for every community, and should (if possible for business reasons) not count against the subscription slot limit.

(Related: an on-site moderation queue log.)

Poll #9260 Community admins/moderators: moderation queue action subscription
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
19 (33.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
4 (7.1%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
33 (58.9%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Azz and best friend grabbing each other's noses.
[personal profile] azurelunatic

Title:
Include a copy of entry with all moderation queue messages

Area:
communities, entries, notifications

Summary:
When a community moderator approves your community entry, that notification should also include the subject and contents of the entry.

Description:
Currently, entries that are rejected from the moderation queue have the contents of the entry included below the rejection message.

This would also be useful for notifications of approved submissions. As it is, if you have forgotten what you wrote, or especially if you have submitted multiple entries to that community (up to 5 per user in a paid community), you have to click through to re-read it. This isn't always convenient.

A notification is already being sent to the user, so it wouldn't add any more mail jobs, just add to the bulk of the existing mail job and retrieve the entry and comment.

It would increase the load on the user's mailbox/data transfer, but not by more than another emailed comment notification for the same entry, and if they're getting the notification by email, that is probably a slightly lighter load than loading the page with that entry in a browser.

Poll #9259 Include a copy of entry with all moderation queue messages
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 59



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
33 (55.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
2 (3.4%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
24 (40.7%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Tales of Vesperia: Judith leans against her spear on a windy day
[personal profile] sincere

Title:
Making circle changes from the hover menu should be less easy

Area:
entries

Summary:
It is currently too easy to accidentally make circle changes through the hover menu, accidental or otherwise. I propose changing the current <i>two</i> links that require no confirmation before acting to <i>one</i> link that will redirect to the Add to Circle or Manage Subscription page with full text options.

Description:
Several times in the last two weeks alone my mouse has passed, either purposefully or accidentally on the way to clicking something else, over someone's usericon. The hover menu doesn't open until the instant I am attempting to click somewhere else, and now I have clicked on one of the many links in the hover menu. <i>Immediately</i> I have subscribed to someone's journal, unsubscribed from someone's journal, granted someone access to my personal entries, or removed someone's existing access to my personal entries. This simple misclick can result in as many as two email notifications to let someone know that I changed their status -- when I had no intention of doing anything like that.

It's embarrassing to accidentally grant access to someone you're just talking to casually on a community, and even more embarrassing to then go "Uh, sorry, never mind" and take it away again.

I don't see why the hover menu makes this so easy. This requires only a single click and it's just done, but when I do it on the profile page, where I am <i>much</i> less likely to click on those links accidentally, it takes me to a separate page going "Are you sure?" first.

In addition, the hover menu has a lot of text on it, and it appears and disappears very quickly. Once I misclick, I usually have to hover over the icon again 3-4 times to see what I changed, and then to get my mouse to the link to change back again.

My solution to these problems: Replace the "Subscribe/Unsubscribe" and "Grant access/Remove access" links with just one link, which will redirect users to the existing Add to Circle or Manage Subscription pages (depending on their current status in your circle). This both removes the accidental adding problem, and makes it easier to use.


<b>Potential pros:</b>
+ No more accidental circle changes. Big pro for me.
+ Fewer links means less chance for misclicking in general.
+ Users won't have to sort through as much text to find the link they want.
+ Seems more accessible for readers who have reading or clicking difficulty than providing so many options on the tiny, there-and-gone-again hover menu.


<b>Potential cons:</b>
+ Some ease of use removed, requiring an extra page load to change circle status.
+ If there is any accessibility reason for the pile of links and text on the hover menu, that should be taken into account.
+ If you were hoping to meet your future spouse via a misclick granting them access and them falling in love with you while reading your private meanderings, this may reduce the odds of that happening.

Poll #9258 Making circle changes from the hover menu should be less easy
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 68



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
9 (13.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
15 (22.1%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
23 (33.8%)

(I have no opinion)
18 (26.5%)

(Other: please comment)
3 (4.4%)

headless houseman
[personal profile] roximonoxide

Title:
Editable Module Headers

Area:
styles / customization

Summary:
User input fields to control the text headers of all modules, not just the custom text module.

Description:
Currently, the the Custom Text module allows for the user to change the module heading from the Text customization options for your journal. (The same page where you might edit other default page text such as metadata labels and navigation links). Though you can hide module headers entirely with css, other modules have no such customization options other than order and page placement. It would be exceedingly helpful to both users and communities who use their journals, and the modules available to them, differently if all other modules allowed for the user to alter the default module headings to text of their own choosing.

This might logically be implemented either from the Text page, as it already exists for the with the Custom Text module, or from the Modules page where order and organization of your modules takes place.

Poll #9210 Editable Module Headers
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 67



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
38 (56.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (1.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
2 (3.0%)

(I have no opinion)
26 (38.8%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

pic#1340249
[personal profile] eyesofstrength

Title:
Tracking comments made by specific user

Area:
tracking

Summary:
A way to get a notification sent to email or DW inbox when a particular user comments to a post. For example, tracking responses that denise makes to a news post since she always has useful things to say.

Description:
While the current tracking and notification options are definitely great, there are a few things that are missing and could lead to possibly missing out on important things from people you want to watch.

While at times this could be accomplished by tracking a tag in a community, if the tag isn't there when the entry is posted, that notification method doesn't work. Plus there is no way to find when someone has commented to an entry outside of tracking all comments to an entry, or top level comments.

So what I propose is a way to track in a post or community comments made by specific users. This could be very useful in things like roleplaying communities to track characters important to yours, or to track mod posts. In communities like art or fic ones, someone can track when a particular artist or writer posts. And I'm sure there are other usages that I'm forgetting.

In posts, it could be useful to add to top level comments to get responses to questions people may have from official sources. Or in a request community, to see when a particular person fills a request. Or in roleplay communities, to get only responses from people your character would definitely respond to so you don't miss them, or to see when characters you like reading respond to others as well.

While this could be accomplished with top level comment tracking or comment tracking in a post, that is going to send a lot of excess notifications before you get the one you need. If 100+ people post to a particular post and you want to know when 2 people in particular post, that's over 98 notifications you don't need. Or if you are interested in only the official responses, you'll get a lot of excess by tracking a whole post, especially if questions and answers is only a small part.

And for tracking when someone posts to a community, there is tag tracking, but that only covers if the tag was there when the post was made, not if it was added later, and plenty of people are forgetful about adding tags when making the post. Also, the tag has to exist to track, and other users besides the one you are interested in may post with that tag as well.

Obviously refreshing a post or community can do it as well, but that is definitely time consuming and if the person you are wanting to see responses from only posts every now and then, a lot of wasted time.

One thing that could be a concern is privacy, so obviously I'd like to say that I don't support this being a way to know when someone posts something that is locked or screened and you cannot see it. It should only allow for notifications of things posted that you can actually see with the journal doing the tracking. So if a community is members-only, you can only track like this if you are a member. Basically, stuff you'd be able to see by refreshing the community or post, this is meant only to save time.

Not going to suggest a particular way to implement this because honestly, I'm no coder and someone may well have a better idea than I may to make this work. I'm just giving what I'd like to see on how it is used and the specifics on how to make it work I'll leave to people far smarter than me. Of course if anyone has any ideas on how to do this without added features, that's great too!

Poll #9209 Tracking comments made by specific user
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 71



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
20 (28.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
8 (11.3%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
26 (36.6%)

(I have no opinion)
16 (22.5%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.4%)

Hugh Grant's face and hand. Hugh has fangs and looks like a vampire.
[personal profile] lannamichaels

Title:
Rename "Upload Icons" to "Manage Icons"

Area:
Navigation

Summary:
Change the text of the "Upload Icons" link in the navigation to more accurately reflect the use for that page.

Description:
In the links, the link to manage icons is called Upload Icons. Other places where you can change things are called Edit and Manage. "Upload Icons" makes it sound like that's where you go to upload, but somewhere else to Manage them. I suggest the text of the link be renamed to "Manage Icons".

Poll #9094 Rename "Upload Icons" to "Manage Icons"
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 91



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
73 (80.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (1.1%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (1.1%)

(I have no opinion)
16 (17.6%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Tina from Glee, smiling
[personal profile] pleonasm

Title:
Move Delete Entry button away from Save Entry Button

Area:
edit entry page

Summary:
Move the Delete Entry button on the Edit Entry page so that it is not right next to the Save Entry button.

Description:
LJ recently made this small change so that the Delete Entry button is not right next to the Save Entry button on the Edit Entries page. Now, I know we're testing a beta Post Entries page, but I haven't seen the same for the Edit Entries page. If we're going to be using the Edit Entries page for a while, I'd like to see the Delete Entry button moved like it has been moved on LJ. This makes it much harder to delete an entry by accident. Of course, it would be great if it didn't change the tab order, either. Move the Delete button left, move it right -- the point is separating it from the Save Entry button better.

Poll #9093 Move Delete Entry button away from Save Entry Button
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 74



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
55 (74.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (1.4%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
18 (24.3%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

kay eiffel's face meets the typewriter
[personal profile] allchildren

Title:
move journal title controls back to Edit Profile

Area:
Styles/Profiles

Summary:
Move the editing controls for journal title and subtitle from Edit Journal Style to Edit Profile.

Description:
Once upon a time on LJ, journal titles and subtitles were edited via the Edit Profile page, and everybody was happy. (There was a dark time previously when journal titles and subtitles didn't even exist, but we don't like to talk about those days.) However, one day For Some Reason those controls were moved to the Customize Journal Style page. Much consternation and confusion raged across the land, for the journal title and subtitle and in fact THE FIRST THING one sees on one's profile, so it seems pretty natural to want to edit it there; in fact, some journal styles hide the subtitle completely. WHY IS IT EDITED THERE. WHERE IS THE LOGIC. BUFFY QUOTE.

...cried the people.

Years later, Dreamwidth came to exist and forked off of LJ's existing code, and that was great. Even greater was the fact that DW was hard at work at correcting some of LJ's more questionable coding decisions. Great, great stuff. However, this fork included the illogical switch of title/subtitle control, and thus it still sits in Customize Journal Style, making way less sense than it would to be in Edit Profile.

Sadness, and also it just took me like two minutes to find because seriously, why is it there?!

I propose that Dreamwidth undo this illogical decision and restore title/subtitle to its rightful place under Edit Profile. The only drawback I see is that it may confuse people who have gotten used to it being under Customize; but since Edit Profile is really the natural place to look for it I think that will be the lesser confusion. Plus, there could be a link where that control used to be pointing people in the right direction (or at least that link to Customize could exist under Edit Profile so I never waste two minutes again). Also it might be hard to code or something. But probably it would be awesome and everybody would be happy again, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Poll #9086 move journal title controls back to Edit Profile
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 78



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
28 (35.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
17 (21.8%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
14 (17.9%)

(I have no opinion)
18 (23.1%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.3%)

Leaves
[personal profile] sepdet

Title:
Tweak login button for ham-fisted mobile users.

Area:
Control strip

Summary:
Reposition login/logout button with some space around it.

Description:
I'm not quite sure of the best way to fix this, but I keep hitting the Logout button when I try to click the "reading" link below it on the control strip at the top of my journal. I have arthritis and an iPad, so I'm testing accessibility and mobile issues for you at the same time!

For both audiences, it would be better not to have a frequently-accessed link right beneath "logout". Maybe the logout button could be moved to the right, as it's easier to hit the middle of the word "Reading" horizontally than vertically.

There's probably some way to tab to it, but I have a hunch this wouldn't be too hard to adjust. Of course, that brings in a bit of the dreaded whitespace, which makes sites easier to browse via mobile devices but tends to make pages look ugly.

Poll #9085 Tweak login button for ham-fisted mobile users.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 62



This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
38 (61.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
24 (38.7%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

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Base style:
Yvonne
Theme:
[personal profile] branchandroot
Resources:
John Lee Hooker

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