If you could change the NoiseBoards what would you change?

We want to make sure that the NoiseBoards offer you the right features - stuff you actually use, not just stuff that we __think__ you will use - so we're looking at a few other message board software packages as possible replacements for the current software and we need your help. Got a favorite? Let us know what features you want and why you like it!

If you're interested in having a say in our plans post a message here!

Awesome. Thank you. ^^

Jenos, this is being worked on, I promise!

I know one way we can make the boards better. Add a damn third gender preference into the profile.

That would just be swell.

Didn't we think about that once before? For new members or something of the like? It didn't work for some reason.

Sticky threads!

I'm not really a fan of the new box around the boards, though I just checked and it's present everywhere else too.

Especially with a white background, it makes the two inches on either side of my screen seem very lonely.

"Amazing Facts" doesn't really serve a purpose. I would recommend we redisperse the stuff on there that we want to keep into their next most closely related board (such as Some Facts to Randomosity), and then get rid of that board all together. There is enough variety with the rest of the board topics that facts can be posted elsewhere.

I didn't think of this until after I took the survey, so I'll post it now.

In the Global Community section, the top two threads of Communicating Good Will and Relief Efforts each have 32 and 30 topics, respectfully. Seeing as these two are similar, they can easily be combined into one new section.

In Take Action, every section but Share Your Stories can be combined. They all are similar and often, people will post the same content in all three.

The entire history section can be combined and placed into Society as "History." This is only because people rarely post in any of the history threads, so there doesn't need to be a whole section devoted to it. (Sorry, amp.)

A short summary of the survey results are available...

http://survey.noiseboards.org/surveys/noiseboards_july2007_interim.htm

Combined with the feedback that we received here on this board, I feel that we have a good idea on where we should be heading. If you have any additional feedback on the survey results, please let us know by posting a message to this topic thread. Thanks!

I want more smilies. They play an important part in my life.

http://www.crushspot.com/forums/topic.php?cat=1&topic=952063&page=1 <--Like theirs (scroll to the bottom of the page)

The short survey has been up for over a week now and I think that it's getting some good information. If you haven't filled in the survey yet, there is still time...

http://survey.noiseboards.org/

I'll be doing a summary sometime next week to let everyone know what we got.

This is a question about the site in general, but it fit best here.

Why is everything rated? It is really starting to bother me because I just realized projects are rated. Why does it matter what others think about projects? Someone may have a really awesome project idea, but others think it's horrid, and give it a low score, thus causing the person to doubt their project.

For a site so into urging youth to change the world, urging youth to take a stand, I don't think everything should be judged so that it discourages a youth to speak up or take a stand. If anything, you should have the option to turn the ratings off.

The Noiseboard Survey is live!

You can read more about the survey here...

quote:

I am not sure if these posts have been directed to me,

Some are, some aren't.

And the profile idea is also a good idea.

I am not sure if these posts have been directed to me, but, no worries, I'll clear the air anyway. I am not part of the YN staff, nor am I an intern. I do, however, serve YN as a volunteer mod.

While I am here, I might as well say that I agree with the ideas that Ikki brought up in the post below this one. And I'll add this, the profile section needs to have more fields so people can get to know each other better (it is limited in word count among other things).

I'm sorry about my comment about "being big kids," but I'd just been forwarded a letter by Amp that had answered a question he and I had both been asking, and felt very insulted via the email. Since it was from a YN staff member, I took my annoyance out on the boards in bitter sarcasm.

Honestly, staff/interns, we'll respect you if you respect us and don't insult our capabilities and intelligence.

We'd all like to see more people on the boards, but I'd personally also like to see the image of the site warm and inviting, not hospital sterile. I'd like to see the vibrant colors to match our attitudes of most of us at least wanting to change something (sorry, I'm too jaded at the moment to really work for change... that's a different story, though.)

We, as regulars, try to be accommodating, try to be accepting, try not to be as rude, arrogant and bitchy as those who were before us. Do we slip up? Yes. It happens. But the point is we try.

Lisa and Kelvin, I think a survey would be a great idea. I also think that we should condense some rarely used boards and expand some others to allow for more topics that don't fit. I know I run into the problem of wanting to bring a college discussion in, say, sociology on the boards, but having no place where it would fit, exactly, and having to put it in "Share Your Stories" even though it's about our society as a whole and not my life.

I'd also like to see it easier to communicate with people. I'd like to be able to NM a person directly from the boards, and I'd like to be able to have the option of at least using more color. In real life, I am in LOVE with bright colors and I hate whites and more "dreary" and "sterile" colors, and I know I am not the only one who feels that way. Essentially, this goes back to the original point of YN needing to look less sterile, and bolder and more inviting in general.

And this board asks "If you could change the NoiseBoards what would you change?"

This question seems to ask people who use the boards what features we do/do not want.

I fail to see how membership and all that jazz is included in this. I understand that membership always needs to be in the back of our minds when we make decisions, but this is just ridiculous.

Why must this become a constant battle between board members and YN staff/interns?!

YNLissa asked us a question. We answered. I fail to see why this is any grounds for attacking the members who replied.

If someone can give me further insight into why feedback has to be argued and not just taken at face value, then please, let me know. If not, then let's just stick with the original topics. Thanks.

quote:

The regulars here need to be more accepting...YN is the home of many, should more people take pride in what is here?

We've been trying.

The reason we want orange is because it made the site feel less sterile, more inviting. If a site is sterile and not inviting, who will want to be on it?

I'll leave tonight with this...YN has changed a lot since I came in 2005. These changes have been mostly good, some have been questionable, though in the end, the website serves an important purpose for today's youth. Unfortunately, not enough people know about YN, leading to only a small group of regulars who talk about issues. I think that is a main reason why people don't see me on the boards as often as I once was. The pool of contributors here on the boards isn't large at all. I know YN has been working very very hard to get more people here...though I think membership is one of the most important things at the moment, not the time needed for picture approval, not the need for more orange, or the need for more surveys...we need more people to get involved on a more regular basis...I know that when I first came to YN, I was pretty intimidated by all the regulars, as if I was intruding on the personal space and inside jokes, as if I were an outsider looking in. The regulars here need to be more accepting...YN is the home of many, should more people take pride in what is here?