Customization of the Active Posts feature

Great suggestion from Macguru on filtering by forum topic...

[Dante_Maure]

The Foo Charter discussion [webmasterworld.com] spawned an idea that I felt was worthy of it's own thread as it goes beyond the Fun and Frivolous Forté of Foo...

What I would like to see is a way for users to remove individual threads or whole forums, right from the active list. But I have no idea of what kind of work is involved to achieve this.

Being able to completely customize which forums get monitored through the active posts list would be an enormous boon.

I'm sure that most members would appreciate being able to focus on the forums relevant to their needs while filtering out the forums dedicated to issues that don't pertain to them. (regional, specific scripting languages, platforms, etc.)

I could take or leave the individual thread screening, but filtering by forum would be absolutely invaluable.

[dingman]

Likewise. I liked the idea from the moment I read the post.

[web_india]

ditto

[Brett_Tabke]

And for long term health of the system, do you think the current form of 'force feeding' of all the threads doesn't make a difference?

[aus_dave]

I agree with Brett - if users start filtering too much some of those less active forums may die out completely.

My biggest problem is with the volume of posts on this board it is difficult at times to be aware of what threads are current, especially after being away for a day or two. The other problem is while going through the recent post pages I inevitably get sidetracked, follow a link or two, etc. ;)

There is so much good information here it looks like people are trying to work out how to manage it better. If I had a wish list it would be to add the month next to the year for all the results returned in a search. This would make it easier to see how recent the thread was before opening it.

[Dante_Maure]

And for long term health of the system, do you think the current form of 'force feeding' of all the threads doesn't make a difference?

I agree that the "force feeding" of all threads as the default setting (minus Foo) would serve best, while then allowing for the addition of selective filtering by user preference.

If I had a wish list it would be to add the month next to the year for all the results returned in a search. This would make it easier to see how recent the thread was before opening it.

I'd love to see the time stamp of the thread origin along with the handle of the most recent contributor.
(I've seen this combo work nicely on other forums)

[dingman]

'force feeding' of all the threads

Hmm... it certainly is leading me into forums I woulnd't otherwise have thought to enter, and I'm not sure I would have had the forethought to leave them in the active posts list. But at least having the option of removing Foo would be nice. Perhaps options for specific fora, like Foo and Commercial Exchange?

[HitProf]

What about a default setting by Webmasterworld that can be ajusted by individual members? Most members will simply accept what they get. Only the more experienced members will alter the default settings. This way you can leave Foo and Community Center out. Addicts can put it back in :). New members will find their way to it no doubt.