New Community homepage is live! :)

[Martin-O2]

Hi everyone,

I'm sure you've noticed if you've visited before, that our forum is looking a bit different today. We've been working hard for the past several months on making changes to the community homepage, and finally went live with the new version this morning!

We have been listening to your feedback from our discussions around what you like or don’t like on the homepage, passing it on to the designers and developers, along with ideas that you’ve come up with, and tried to get as much as possible included. A BIG thank you to everyone who have provided your views over the years. 

The update has brought several changes to the layout and to the different features of the page:

Welcome and search

• FAQs are linked from the top underneath the search bar, for quick look at the most-asked questions.
• If you're logged in, you have quick access to your latest posts right on the homepage. If you're logged out, you will see instead a login box and quick general information about what the community is about.
• Underneath that you have 3 quick links to help you get started: 1) info topic on what's the community about and how to get help, 2) topic listing all the different forum boards, and 3) the how-to guides board.

Notification Feed

A new feature on the right side of your avatar, next to your "My Settings", "Messages" (PMs) and "Unread posts" links when you are signed in. You can see a list of recent activity here related to topics you've participated in, e.g. if someone has given you a Kudos, replied to your posts, or @-mentioned you on the forum.

Community Topics and contributors

• See what everyone’s been chatting about with top and latest discussions.
• You can also help with unanswered questions or ask your own.
• You can see a list of current top contributors on the right

Most Popular Searches

• See the popular searches that others have made on the community to help you with your query

Latest News

• 3 latest topics that we've wanted to highlight!

Popular Topics

• Especially helpful for those looking for help: you'll see 2 most-used community how-to guides, with related Solved topics underneath.

Activity

• Some stats about the community where you can see number of active members and click into member search, number of members online (if they've set themselves visible in their settings) with a link to view all, total posts and questions solved.

We know that big changes can be annoying and even stressful to users if the old layout has been there for long (we had the previous look since 2014!!), and some of the abovementioned elements are both new and different from what we've had before. Now that the changes are live, we will be testing and monitoring over time to see how the page performs.

We'd love to hear your feedback:

We'd love to hear what you think of this new change. Do you like the design and feel of the homepage and its new sections? Do you think it's an improvement to the old design? What is your initial feeling around navigating the forum, finding and replying to topics, etc? 

Also, since we've just gone live today, don't hesitate to alert us if you see something that's not quite right. We've done a lot of testing but there can always be some lingering bugs or issues that we might have missed. 

Your continued feedback will be much appreciated as always to help us plan for future improvements. 

Cheers,

The Community Team

[Cleoriff]

There is another issue which is bugging me constantly. (I didn't know about it till a couple of days ago when @Glory1  mentioned it)

On the home page there is a section called Top Contributors. The information it displays is nonsense (with due respect)

See here.

The reason it's nonsense, is that it changes by the MINUTE.

So, I came online this morning, have posted on a few threads and I have moved to the 'top' of the leaderboard. Big Deal.

'Joe Bloggs' who hardly posts at all, could come online now (or yesterday as it was month end) do a sweep round to increase his post count and he would be the Top Contributor. Ridiculous. Gives a completely wrong picture.

If that section is to be meaningful, it should only be updated every 24 hrs (or better still, once a week)

Personally I can't see the point of it at all. @Martin-O2 @Marjo  @EmilieT 

[Glory1]

Nor can I, to be honest. And yes, I know, I'm agreeing with @Cleoriff  again but she makes a very valid point. It is nonsense. I doubt anyone cares who the top poster is, except you guys at month end when you're doing the rewards. Why exactly is it there? And why is it misnamed top contributors because it bears no relation to who actually contributed the most!

And the other point she makes about someone coming on at month end, not having posted much, if anything, during the month, doing a round of filler posts and appearing 'top of the leaderboard' is also valid. She and I both saw it yesterday.

[Mi-Amigo]

---

@Cleoriff wrote:

There is another issue which is bugging me constantly. (I didn't know about it till a couple of days ago when @Glory1  mentioned it)

On the home page there is a section called Top Contributors. The information it displays is nonsense (with due respect)

See here.

The reason it's nonsense, is that it changes by the MINUTE.

So, I came online this morning, have posted on a few threads and I have moved to the 'top' of the leaderboard. Big Deal.

'Joe Bloggs' who hardly posts at all, could come online now (or yesterday as it was month end) do a sweep round to increase his post count and he would be the Top Contributor. Ridiculous. Gives a completely wrong picture.

If that section is to be meaningful, it should only be updated every 24 hrs (or better still, once a week)

Personally I can't see the point of it at all. @Martin-O2 @Marjo  @EmilieT 

---

Totally agree with @Cleoriff 

In the example shown, I ( @Mi-Amigo ) am shown as 3rd contributor in the ranking. As a new member, this is embarrassing. Many members, who have been members for a very long time, contribute to various topics regularly, sometimes several time in one day, but this "snap shot" does not accurately reflect that and, as said, is meaningless.

On a personal level, I contribute because something someone has said interests me and want to join in, or provide info, or give answers to a quiz. I contribute because I want to, because I am pleased to be a part of the Community. I admit I was pleased when I posted my 100th post, but no way am I interested in any competitive "top contributor" placing, which could (I am not saying this has happened because I don`t know) encourage members to blitz the forum with posts to "up" their ranking.

[pgn]

Hmm. It does seem a bit "obvious" - one post and I am on the list, despite there being many users logged on... 

4 mins and one post later:

And what does the unmoving stat at bottom right mean below, "25 questions solved"?? 

[Cleoriff]

This is my first post of the morning. So I will check and see where I move to.

However, as I said, the whole section is ridiculous. Proves nothing and has no purpose whatsoever, other than show misleading information.

If it has to be there at all, then it should update weekly. Then it would be more meaningful.

[pgn]

I agree. And who are the 458 users connected but not logged on?  Was just me here earlier. 

[Glory1]

Well I've just looked and the heading's there but the names of the 'top contributors' as well as the latest topics have disappeared.

And to answer your question @pgn the 458 users are logged onto the O2 website, not necessarily logged onto the forum. The figure shows total users on the website including the community forum not just the forum 

[Cleoriff]

Nope, still there (on laptop)

and latest topics...

[Glory1]

Ok it's back again and you are 'top of the leaderboard' @pgn.