A Request for Updates to NumisForums: Especially for Mobile Users!

[Curtisimo]

I have made a lot friends through coin collecting over the years and I am happy I get to continue to interact with many of you that are here on NumisForums.

I have to be honest though that there are some things that cause me to participate here far less than I otherwise would. Almost all of these things are related to the User Interface, particularly for mobile. More than 95% of the time I read and post on NF from a mobile device. Including compiling and posting write-ups. I know many here will find that strange, but with my current situation it is either participate on mobile, or not at all.

My specific requests for UI updates are:

• Allow the ability to edit or add the following text items from mobile: Size, color, alignment and bullet points. It would also be nice to have an indent feature (ie shift whole paragraphs from the margin) which is not an option on either mobile or PC.
• Fix issues with inconsistent line spacing or make line spacing editable. This is a problem for the PC interface as well. This is a big one for me! There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how spacing after a line works. This function also behaves differently between mobile and PC.
   

To show some specifics 

The left is what I see on mobile. Note the limited options compared with the PC version on the right. I would like to be able to control size, color, alignment, bullet points and indent on my mobile device.

This shows some random tests on the logic behind the spacing below a line. On mobile a period-space-enter seems to remove the spacing. Waiting a certain amount of time before hitting enter seems to do it as well. Neither of these actions produces the same results on a PC as you can see in the test above. This issue can crop up with images too (though the space between photos doesn't bother me). I much prefer there not to be an automatic space between lines of text.  If I need to add a space I can just hit enter twice. There seems to always be a space between photos and text which makes captions look less clean.

Where this really becomes unmanageable is when I copy in whole sections of my notes on my mobile device.  The results can be rather... wild, and I have no way to fix the issues with the tools available to me.  See below for an example.

There is simply no way for me to make the copied in text on the right look like the left (or even make it particularly readable with the spacing issue).  The above is just a random sample and doesn't even include issues with things like bullet points and numbering. Copying in snippets from websites can also produce some unexpected results.  Note that even on the write up I posted from a PC on the left, I still wasn't able to remove the annoying space underneath "Background."

...................................................................

Some Additional Requests

While I’m at it, I might as well go “all in” with a few other items I have been thinking about.

A Homepage for Highlighting Great Topics

I think NF would benefit from a home page where particularly interesting articles are highlighted. I have noticed many great and informative posts get only a handful of comments and then drop off the first list page never to be seen again. I know that there is a desire not to look too much like another website that many here have participated on in the past. However, that site doesn’t own the concept and doesn’t even use it to its full potential. A better example of what this might look like is @Sulla80 ‘s blog. This site has been rightly called out recently as a wonderful and entertaining resource for numismatics. It is a clean, clear and entertaining way to highlight good content. This will serve as encouragement for members who might otherwise be discouraged when their topics fly under the radar. If a homepage were implemented, NF would get the benefit of an informative blog-like home page coupled with the more casual conversation format in the wider forum. Win-win.

We could even think of novel and fun ways to nominate and choose topics to highlight?…

Allow Users to Set a Specific Number of Votes Allowed for Polls

This one is a bit niche but it is one that I would much appreciate. I would like to sponsor games of various types in the future the way I used to do on CT. There is a method to allow “multiple choice” votes but that allows an unlimited number. So currently you can either specify 1 vote or infinite votes for a poll. It would be nice to be able to specify a number in between.

If this request (plus the mobile UI request) is granted I will register my thanks by sponsoring an entertaining game with many prizes and much fun!

Allow Users to Search by Author With a Blank Search Term

I am aware this can be done from the member’s profile page, but first you have to manually search for a post by the member to navigate to their profile. This would be much easier and seems like it might be pretty simple to implement?

 

So what do you all think? Any feedback on my ideas are welcome.

@Restitutor , does any of the above sound like it could be doable?

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Curtisimo

[John Conduitt]

I would guess the spacing issues are to do with what the system thinks are paragraphs and how each device is set to indicate a paragraph. I don’t get quite the same behaviour (using an iphone) but it is annoying that all these systems add space when you don’t ask for it. Microsoft products seem hell bent on forcing you to add lots of line spacing.

If you press shift before enter, it always removes extra line space. To re-format extra spaces, you can delete the space and then add a shift-enter instead. This also works for the space between photos. You can also paste as plain text, which doesn’t add extra spaces.

Pasting as plain text also resolves a lot of other odd behaviour, where I think Numisforums interprets some copied text as a table in html. Pasted text seems to just disappear if it comes after another set of pasted formatted text, and the post becomes unusable.

Obviously, these solutions can also be a pain depending on what you are trying to do. With the limited formatting options on a mobile, pasting plain text isn’t ideal.

Edited October 4, 2023 by John Conduitt

[Kaleun96]

I was thinking the toolbar customisation may be beyond Restitutor's control and it would need to be something the developers at Invision add but seems like they've already thought of this and allow site admins to change which options are included in the toolbar depending on device:

I second your point about "A Homepage for Highlighting Great Topics". The biggest reason I don't contribute more to NF is because the homepage is either filled with one of a dozen "coin games" or people using clickbaity titles for their write-ups that are purposefully vague (so people click on them) and I simply do not care enough to find out what the topic is really about. Others are great at using quite specific titles so I know exactly what the topic is about, it's just a shame that most of the write-up threads are about Roman coins where I have less of an interest.

[Curtisimo]

5 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

You can also paste as plain text, which doesn’t add extra spaces.

You are correct that pasting as plain text resolves some of the issues with erratic behavior but not the most annoying and definitely not the spacing issue.  The example I give for my Corinth coin above was pasted as plain text. After you paste something on mobile, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom and there is a banner that lets you post as plain text (see below). This banner disappears after a short time so if you miss it you have to delete the whole thing and paste again. In this case at least there is a way to do it. I would prefer that text in mobile paste as plain text by default if it can be coupled with more edit control.

As I said though, this still does not fix many of the issues that I highlight and there is currently no way to edit when it does strange things.

[Curtisimo]

6 hours ago, Kaleun96 said:

was thinking the toolbar customisation may be beyond Restitutor's control and it would need to be something the developers at Invision add but seems like they've already thought of this and allow site admins to change which options are included in the toolbar depending on device:

Thanks for posting this. That looks promising that the items I highlighted can be addressed.

7 hours ago, Kaleun96 said:

I second your point about "A Homepage for Highlighting Great Topics". The biggest reason I don't contribute more to NF is because the homepage is either filled with one of a dozen "coin games" or people using clickbaity titles for their write-ups that are purposefully vague (so people click on them) and I simply do not care enough to find out what the topic is really about. Others are great at using quite specific titles so I know exactly what the topic is about, it's just a shame that most of the write-up threads are about Roman coins where I have less of an inte

I think adding a homepage could prove to be a big benefit to engagement. There is so much good content here (including Greek and eastern) that gets overlooked. Perhaps it’s just me but I’ve noticed participation starting to go down a bit on all topics other than the handful of games/set-building topics. I think those threads are great but I also really enjoy the well composed articles from members that seem to be posting less.

 

[DonnaML]

10 hours ago, Kaleun96 said:

I second your point about "A Homepage for Highlighting Great Topics". The biggest reason I don't contribute more to NF is because the homepage is either filled with one of a dozen "coin games" or people using clickbaity titles for their write-ups that are purposefully vague (so people click on them) and I simply do not care enough to find out what the topic is really about. Others are great at using quite specific titles so I know exactly what the topic is about, it's just a shame that most of the write-up threads are about Roman coins where I have less of an interest.

You're certainly entitled to post or not post for any reason you wish. But I do believe you're being a bit hyberbolic: out of 22 non-pinned threads on the front page, exactly 3 -- not "a dozen" -- involve coin games. One of which affords people an opportunity to post  Greek coins, your area of interest. (Speaking of which, it's hardly news, and shouldn't be a surprise, that it's easier and more common for people to collect ancient Roman coins than ancient Greek coins. There are more posts about the former than the latter on every general ancient coin forum I've seen.) Like it or not, this forum has never pretended to be a so-called "serious" numismatic venue (for those who remember the accusation from another forum concerning the old Ancients forum on Coin Talk), and has inherited the show-and-tell aspect (which I personally enjoy) from CT.

I also don't think it's necessary to impugn people's motives by presuming that thread titles that don't spell out a thread's exact subject -- which I don't think are nearly as common in the first place as you claim -- are "purposefully vague (so people click on them)." To me, "clickbaity" implies some sort of monetary benefit. Which obviously doesn't apply here.  In any event, I don't see anything wrong with trying to spice things up a bit by using a title such as "The perfect gift for your favorite megalomaniac!" instead of "Coins from cities named by emperors and other rulers after themselves or their wives."  How long does it take to find out the exact subject anyway, five seconds?

Edited October 4, 2023 by DonnaML

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Upgrading some of the mobile functionality would be nice. I do all my work, sans reaction and commentaries on other folks' posts, on my laptop.

I don't post new topics or upload photos from my phone. But it would be nice to be able to do so. 

With regard to the editorial focus of Numisforums and the placement of topics I think it's basically fine, but it would be helpful to pin topics that are outstanding in some way so they get more traffic and cred from visitors, sort of like the Featured Article thing on the other forum. As far as how folks present topics with some people being more skilled than others in making coin collecting come alive, rather than being dry and academic, I have no problem with that. Afterall, the underlying history kind of adds meaning and depth to our understanding of ancient coins and reflects the propagandistic intent of the temporal powers at the time.

[Kaleun96]

12 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

You're certainly entitled to post or not post for any reason you wish. But I do believe you're being a bit hyberbolic: out of 22 non-pinned threads on the front page, exactly 3 -- not "a dozen" -- involve coin games. One of which affords people an opportunity to post  Greek coins, your area of interest. (Speaking of which, it's hardly news, and shouldn't be a surprise, that it's easier and more common for people to collect ancient Roman coins than ancient Greek coins. There are more posts about the former than the latter on every general ancient coin forum I've seen.) Like it or not, this forum has never pretended to be a so-called "serious" numismatic venue (for those who remember the accusation from another forum concerning the old Ancients forum on Coin Talk), and has inherited the show-and-tell aspect (which I personally enjoy) from CT.

Sure there's some hyperbole but I do also include threads which are simply "Post x type of coin". So, recently, the following topics are crowding the homepage (since they often get the most engagement) at various times:

• The Alphabet game, for anything Greek
• Post your latest ancient!
• The perfect gift for your favorite megalomaniac!
• I think we need our own 'Post an Old Coin and and an Old Tune' thread
• Anyone up for a game of coin UNO?
• Post it and pick it! 
• Show me your Tetricus
• Post your latest medieval!

I have no desire to post in these threads (whether they're related to "my area" or not), I just personally don't find them worthwhile. While you say this forum never intended to be "serious", early on there were discussions around organising a curated forum section for member "articles" of sorts. Alas, that hasn't come to fruition and you're right that NF is mostly for non-serious discussion, which might be why Curtisimo and I are sharing our opinions on how one could change that slightly if there is interest in doing so. As someone who is most active on Discord, I'm quite fine with non-serious discussion but when there is more serious discussion on Discord than a forum, I do wonder why I keep coming back to the forum. Ideally, I'd like a forum that is a bit more serious than the average public Discord server as forums are generally better suited for that. But I'm well aware I may be in the minority here, which is fine, it just means I don't feel as compelled to invest time on here versus other platforms. 

I'm not sure how to interpret your intended tone when you said "it's hardly news, and shouldn't be a surprise, that it's easier and more common for people to collect ancient Roman coins than ancient Greek coins". Naturally I'm quite aware of this, why the need to point it out in what feels like a patronising way? I never said anything bad about Roman collectors, Roman coins, or the fact that collecting Roman coins is more common so I'm frankly at a lost as to why you felt the need to say this. I only said that there are more topics about Roman coins so I don't find the opportunity to engage as much, which is a shame (for me) because that means most of the good write-up content is about Roman coins. I do find some areas of Roman coins interesting but again it's not usually what is written about here.

I didn't make any judgements about the people who like these threads either so I didn't expect this kind of reaction to my comments to be honest. I was just expressing my opinion that I think these threads can crowd the homepage because they get frequent engagement and push better content (whether Roman or Greek) off the homepage.

Quote

I also don't think it's necessary to impugn people's motives by presuming that thread titles that don't spell out a thread's exact subject -- which I don't think are nearly as common in the first place as you claim -- are "purposefully vague (so people click on them)." To me, "clickbaity" implies some sort of monetary benefit. Which obviously doesn't apply here.  In any event, I don't see anything wrong with trying to spice things up a bit by using a title such as "The perfect gift for your favorite megalomaniac!" instead of "Coins from cities named by emperors and other rulers after themselves or their wives."  How long does it take to find out the exact subject anyway, five seconds?

I really don't feel like arguing about the definition of clickbait but there does not need to be any monetary benefit, people post clickbait to boost engagement whether it results in a monetary gain or not. I also don't want to point fingers and name-names so won't share examples about thread titles I am talking about. Again, people are free to post using whatever title they please but as a matter of principle I don't waste my time opening threads where the subject matter is not clear from the outset. I'm sure the people who post these topics won't mind in the slightest, I just have better things to do and I don't like rewarding what I see as clickbait. I take the same approach with blog posts, news articles, reddit threads, etc. 

I will add that the specific thread you mention wasn't really one of the ones I was talking about. Sure it's a bit clickbaity but it at least tells me enough upfront for me to know that I'm not interested in it. That's not intended as a slight against the thread's author either - it just doesn't sound like my cup of tea. Though the alternative title you suggested would've at least told me that it was another coin game thread. I split my online time between reddit, Discord, and NumisForums when it comes to talking coins while others may only read this forum. Given a fixed amount of time one spends reading content about coins in a day, if one spends that full hour here they're probably not going to prioritise what they read as much as if they were splitting that time with other platforms.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Perhaps an improvement would be to add a forum section for "game" threads so I and others can easily filter them out. Alternatively, have a dedicated section for longer write-ups, essays, articles etc. This is something the Discord servers I'm active in use to separate general discussion (which can be serious or non-serious) from a longer form contribution that would otherwise easily be buried.

[Prieure de Sion]

I think the idea of having a section for more serious topics or professional discussions is generally quite good. Or should the "game" topics be separated into a separate area?

[DonnaML]

55 minutes ago, Kaleun96 said:

Sure there's some hyperbole but I do also include threads which are simply "Post x type of coin". So, recently, the following topics are crowding the homepage (since they often get the most engagement) at various times:

• The Alphabet game, for anything Greek
• Post your latest ancient!
• The perfect gift for your favorite megalomaniac!
• I think we need our own 'Post an Old Coin and and an Old Tune' thread
• Anyone up for a game of coin UNO?
• Post it and pick it! 
• Show me your Tetricus
• Post your latest medieval!

I have no desire to post in these threads (whether they're related to "my area" or not), I just personally don't find them worthwhile. While you say this forum never intended to be "serious", early on there were discussions around organising a curated forum section for member "articles" of sorts. Alas, that hasn't come to fruition and you're right that NF is mostly for non-serious discussion, which might be why Curtisimo and I are sharing our opinions on how one could change that slightly if there is interest in doing so. As someone who is most active on Discord, I'm quite fine with non-serious discussion but when there is more serious discussion on Discord than a forum, I do wonder why I keep coming back to the forum. Ideally, I'd like a forum that is a bit more serious than the average public Discord server as forums are generally better suited for that. But I'm well aware I may be in the minority here, which is fine, it just means I don't feel as compelled to invest time on here versus other platforms. 

I'm not sure how to interpret your intended tone when you said "it's hardly news, and shouldn't be a surprise, that it's easier and more common for people to collect ancient Roman coins than ancient Greek coins". Naturally I'm quite aware of this, why the need to point it out in what feels like a patronising way? I never said anything bad about Roman collectors, Roman coins, or the fact that collecting Roman coins is more common so I'm frankly at a lost as to why you felt the need to say this. I only said that there are more topics about Roman coins so I don't find the opportunity to engage as much, which is a shame (for me) because that means most of the good write-up content is about Roman coins. I do find some areas of Roman coins interesting but again it's not usually what is written about here.

I didn't make any judgements about the people who like these threads either so I didn't expect this kind of reaction to my comments to be honest. I was just expressing my opinion that I think these threads can crowd the homepage because they get frequent engagement and push better content (whether Roman or Greek) off the homepage.

I really don't feel like arguing about the definition of clickbait but there does not need to be any monetary benefit, people post clickbait to boost engagement whether it results in a monetary gain or not. I also don't want to point fingers and name-names so won't share examples about thread titles I am talking about. Again, people are free to post using whatever title they please but as a matter of principle I don't waste my time opening threads where the subject matter is not clear from the outset. I'm sure the people who post these topics won't mind in the slightest, I just have better things to do and I don't like rewarding what I see as clickbait. I take the same approach with blog posts, news articles, reddit threads, etc. 

I will add that the specific thread you mention wasn't really one of the ones I was talking about. Sure it's a bit clickbaity but it at least tells me enough upfront for me to know that I'm not interested in it. That's not intended as a slight against the thread's author either - it just doesn't sound like my cup of tea. Though the alternative title you suggested would've at least told me that it was another coin game thread. I split my online time between reddit, Discord, and NumisForums when it comes to talking coins while others may only read this forum. Given a fixed amount of time one spends reading content about coins in a day, if one spends that full hour here they're probably not going to prioritise what they read as much as if they were splitting that time with other platforms.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Perhaps an improvement would be to add a forum section for "game" threads so I and others can easily filter them out. Alternatively, have a dedicated section for longer write-ups, essays, articles etc. This is something the Discord servers I'm active in use to separate general discussion (which can be serious or non-serious) from a longer form contribution that would otherwise easily be buried.

OK, I see what you're driving at, even if I don't share your outlook, and don't agree that threads like "post your latest ancient" or "latest medieval" are really the same kind of thing substantively as "game threads," even under a broad definition. After all, they're designed to avoid clutter on the home page with multiple "new coin" threads that don't really justify individual treatment in the posters' view. Not to increase it. So if "game threads" were going to be placed in their own forum rather than the "general" forum, to facilitate filtering them out,  I don't think such threads should be included.

I don't think it's really feasible to separate "serious" writeups in their own forum. I think  there's a major definitional problem that would have to be dealt with, and even if it could be resolved, I think it would be a shame to remove such threads from the forums where they are now, e.g., "Roman Republican." I don't have an issue with the idea of a separate home page highlighting interesting threads, equivalent to the "featured" threads on Coin Talk, but again there's a question of how and by whom threads would be chosen to be highlighted in that way. I'd hate to see it end up with any competitive or "popularity contest" elements. I would hope that the forum wouldn't keep track of "who has the most highlighted posts," which Coin Talk did with the featured posts and which I didn't really like, even though I imagine I had as many as most people.

And I apologize for being defensive; I think it was the use of the words "shame" and "clickbaity" that bothered me about the Greek vs. Roman and the thread title issues, even though I understand that you're speaking only for yourself. 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by DonnaML

[Curtisimo]

I should have probably said from the outset that I posted this thread with the intention of making suggestions that I think will strengthen the forum overall and add to engagement. I enjoy the in-depth articles and discussions and I also enjoy the the light-hearted, casual and playful threads. If this forum lives up to its potential I think there is more than enough room for both to co-exist here to mutual benefit.

I also know that the in-depth articles take far more time and effort to compose and therefore I think there should be a mechanism to highlight them... or else people will stop posting them. To me a blog-like homepage is the best way to do this. I don’t think a separate section for in-depth articles hidden away somewhere would be optimal. Interesting, unique or helpful threads that are playful and lighthearted could also be highlighted on the homepage to help give a balanced flavor of really exceptional threads on the forum.

For what it is worth I don’t think any of the above comments so far are meant to be intentionally antagonistic. I genuinely hope to get wide feedback from the board as this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I am confident we can do so without getting upset at one another. 🙂 

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Edited September 6 by Curtisimo

[John Conduitt]

20 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

I also know that the in-depth articles take far more time and effort to compose and therefore I think there should be a mechanism to highlight them... or else people will stop posting them. To me a blog-like homepage is the best way to do this. I don’t think a separate section for in-depth articles hidden away somewhere would be optimal. Interesting, unique or helpful threads that are playful and lighthearted could also be highlighted on the homepage to help give a balanced flavor of really exceptional threads on the forum.

This is the issue, really. If you write an in-depth article, most people are not interested as it is not close to their specialist area. A thread where no-one replies disappears very quickly despite taking hours to write. So the article is made lighter and gets a clickbait title to at least get it noticed.

Perhaps we could have a sort of index of in-depth articles pinned under each category. So on the Roman index you would have headers like Flavians, Mints, Deities etc. and a list of links to articles underneath, perhaps with a short summary. (Not unlike Sulla's blog but without so much space per article, and more structure to the list). These would be available as long as you wanted them to be, so you can come back and find them in a year when they matter to you. This would be better than the CT 'chosen posts' format which is artibrary, doesn't show up under certain views, isn't in any structured order and your post still disappears quickly anyway.

This can be self-maintained i.e. the writer adds their article to the index under the relevant heading (although this would mean everyone would have to be able to edit the pinned post). Or maybe we have someone gatekeeping each forum's index but that's less desirable.

Edited October 4, 2023 by John Conduitt

[Restitutor]

Curtismo, I appreciate your thoughtfulness and thoroughness in outlining some of the pain points on mobile. I have a feeling some of these changes are implementable and others will be hamstrung by Invision limitations, but let me digest the request and investigate over the next 48 hours (just had an out patient surgery on my arm today so a little sore typing/coding 🙂) . I do agree with everything you’ve outlined so I’ll do my best to make the changes. 

As regards the home feed look and view… this was probably one of the discussion points when we first launched and I know the community was pretty evenly split at the time whether to have this fluid feed or a traditional forum feed. There is the ability to toggle the view by selecting a different button here:

The middle button, the four squares, will alter the forum feed back to a more traditional forum layout. I do like the idea of featured posts and will look into this as well! 

 

[Prieure de Sion]

27 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

I should have probably said from the outset that I posted this thread with the intention of making suggestions that I think will strengthen the forum overall and add to engagement. I enjoy the in-depth articles and discussions and I also enjoy the the light-hearted, casual and playful threads. If this forum lives up to its potential I think there is more than enough room for both to co-exist here to mutual benefit.

I also know that the in-depth articles take far more time and effort to compose and therefore I think there should be a mechanism to highlight them... or else people will stop posting them. To me a blog-like homepage is the best way to do this. I don’t think a separate section for in-depth articles hidden away somewhere would be optimal. Interesting, unique or helpful threads that are playful and lighthearted could also be highlighted on the homepage to help give a balanced flavor of really exceptional threads on the forum.

For what it is worth I don’t think any of the above comments so far are meant to be intentionally antagonistic. I genuinely hope to get wide feedback from the board as this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I am confident we can do so without getting upset at one another. 🙂 

 

I think I understand Curtisimo. And he certainly doesn't mean it "badly". 

I would like to try to describe it from my point of view. For me, the forum here is also an oasis of well-being. The atmosphere here is relaxed and easy. There are also a lot of hobby collectors in the forum. I think there are more hobby collectors than scientific people (numismatists). But that has the advantage (from my point of view) - as I just wrote - that the atmosphere here is very relaxed and light. Which is positive.

What is missing here - I have to agree with Curtisimo - is numismatic / scientific information and exchange. This can be found more in the German forum, the Italian forum or the Numiswiki forum. I think Curtisimo basically likes to be here - but he (as an expert) also misses the "scientific" exchange a bit more. 

Of course, I also have to say that in purely scientific forums things often get "heated". I also often find the atmosphere there to be acrimonious or cool. Mistakes are often quickly pilloried there. 

Here in the forum there are many hobby collectors who simply want to have fun with their hobby. Scientifically profound topics and information are not in the majority here. On the other hand, the forum is very relaxed - which I like very much.

It would be nice to find a balance here so that hobby collectors and numismatists can find a home. But of course the balancing act is not easy. On the one hand, the relaxedness of private collectors and then, of course, the seriousness when it comes to (scientific) numismatic topics. But in general, I would also be interested in more profound topics.

But Donna is of course right when she writes, how do we define the topics? Who decides what is more fun and what meets the requirements for a scientific numismatic topic? This could also lead to a point of contention at the end.

 

--- Edit

A nice example is the thread "mythologically interesting coins" in the German forum - Peter is one of the users who keeps the thread alive, but other users are also "allowed" to write and share information here.

Link:

https://www.numismatikforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11926

Such a thread would soon disappear if there were no new contributions all the time. Therefore, a section with purely numismatic information topics and exchange would be worth considering. But I don't know how best to implement this - unfortunately.

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Prieure de Sion

[John Conduitt]

10 minutes ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Therefore, a section with purely numismatic information topics and exchange would be worth considering.

In a forum format with no structure except it is based on the time of the last reply, these posts also disappear. A pinned index for each forum might overcome this.

I agree with everything you say, though.

[Prieure de Sion]

One more addendum and one comment.

One example (of many) is the interesting thread by Donna with Trajanus Decius and the Pannonae. I'm sure that in 1-2 weeks the thread will be way down the list. Which is a pity, because Donna has again (as others have done in their threads) made a lot of effort and also provided interesting information and stimulated discussion (Milan). But in a few weeks this thread will have "disappeared". Like other interesting discussions.

The more I think about it - maybe we should really make several sections in the forum. At least a section where coins can simply be presented in different threads. Like the Faustina Friday threads or Uno or post your latest coin etc. So if you just want to present coins. Or let's say - threads where you just want to have a superficial conversation.

[Ryro]

Excellent ideas @Curtisimo and thanks so much for looking into their viability @Restitutor!

I do miss the featured articles. Being a specialists specialist it's disappointing spending the time to do an in depth write up on something I'm passionate about and watching it float down the page/drain. Maybe something like "Restitutor's Recommendations". Or if you're too busy to stay up on it, putting together a small board of folks who utilize the forum most to point out those well done threads?

That said, please don't put the fun, member engaging and stress releasing, game threads on their own in a corner. No good will come from this. 

Ps, it's silly to call something imaginative, creative or a bit puny "click bait" just cause you don't get it. Nobody wants your clicks. We want to engage with knowledgeable, likeminded collectors, enthusiasts and numismatists. THIS IS FOR ENJOYMENT. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Ryro

[Curtisimo]

5 hours ago, Restitutor said:

just had an out patient surgery on my arm today so a little sore typing/coding 🙂

Sorry to hear this. I hope you get to feeling better soon Res.

5 hours ago, Restitutor said:

I do agree with everything you’ve outlined so I’ll do my best to make the changes. 

I can’t express enough how big of a game changer some of the changes would be for me and my ability to participate more. I appreciate you looking into them!

5 hours ago, Restitutor said:

I do like the idea of featured posts and will look into this as well!

Very excited to hear this!

One aspect I didn’t point out earlier that I think is worth noting is the impact that a “homepage” of exceptional articles can have on new readers visiting the site for the first time. Not only does it make the website look polished but it can also be a good way to get more people interested in becoming members. Near the very beginning of when I started reading CT I remember an article that was featured on the front page written by @TIFthat talked about an extinct animal on a Roman coin. I remember thinking “wow that is so cool.” I became a supporter and visited the site almost everyday after that. We shouldn’t underestimate the impact of first impressions for the future growth of the site.

[Restitutor]

Toolbar updates implemented on desktop and mobile 🙂 Feedback welcome!

[John Conduitt]

25 minutes ago, Restitutor said:

Toolbar updates implemented on desktop and mobile 🙂 Feedback welcome!

Wow, way more choices!

[Curtisimo]

Crusaders, Duchy of Athens 
Regency of Helena Angelina for Guy II de la Roche (AD 1287-1291)
BI Denier Tournois, Thebes mint, struck ca. AD 1287-1288(?)
Dia.: 19 mm
Wt.: 0.82 g
Obv.: + ⦂ ThEBE ⦂ CIVIS ⦂ Chateau tournois
Rev.: + ⦂ G ⦂ DVX ⦂ ATENES ⦂ Cross pattee
Ref.: Malloy 86, Tzamalis GR105

This is Great!
@Restitutor, so far these changes are a night and day improvement from my perspective.

I will be traveling for the next few hours but I’ll take some more time this evening to play around with the new capabilities both for mobile and PC.

The one item that I still struggle with is the spacing following a line of text. I was able to make the above look how I wanted it on mobile by pasting text in as one line then pressing, period->space->return where I wanted line breaks. Then I went back and deleted the periods. It works on mobile but it takes a lot of time. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Curtisimo

[John Conduitt]

23 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

Crusaders, Duchy of Athens 
Regency of Helena Angelina for Guy II de la Roche (AD 1287-1291)
BI Denier Tournois, Thebes mint, struck ca. AD 1287-1288(?)
Dia.: 19 mm
Wt.: 0.82 g
Obv.: + ⦂ ThEBE ⦂ CIVIS ⦂ Chateau tournois
Rev.: + ⦂ G ⦂ DVX ⦂ ATENES ⦂ Cross pattee
Ref.: Malloy 86, Tzamalis GR105

This is Great!
@Restitutor, so far these changes are a night and day improvement from my perspective.

I will be traveling for the next few hours but I’ll take some more time this evening to play around with the new capabilities both for mobile and PC.

The one item that I still struggle with is the spacing following a line of text. I was able to make the above look how I wanted it on mobile by pasting text in as one line then pressing, period->space->return where I wanted line breaks. Then I went back and deleted the periods. It works on mobile but it takes a lot of time. 

Not a solution to the spacing but if you press shift->return it will do the same as period->space->return.

[Roman Collector]

The obvious solution to people not being able to find the informative or "interesting" threads is for people to USE TAGS. Tags have the potential to be used as an index of sorts and I put tags on almost all the threads I start so I can find them again. TAG that mint. TAG that deity. TAG that issuing authority.

[DonnaML]

3 hours ago, Roman Collector said:

The obvious solution to people not being able to find the informative or "interesting" threads is for people to USE TAGS. Tags have the potential to be used as an index of sorts and I put tags on almost all the threads I start so I can find them again. TAG that mint. TAG that deity. TAG that issuing authority.

If I want to find one of my old posts or threads dealing with a particular coin or deity or emperor or anything else, I simply do an "all words" word search, limited to myself as the author.  I'm used to doing Boolean word searches from 45 years of doing computerized legal research that way on Lexis and Westlaw. I'm not sure how using tags would make that task any easier or more effective.

[Curtisimo]

In order to test drive the new edit controls on mobile I posted a short write up I compiled using my phone while on a flight earlier today.

My Newest Gold Coin: Murad III

The thread itself will probably not appeal to many here because it falls in the non-western category but I think the layout turned out good. It was WAY easier to post than before. I got around the spacing issue by downloading a plain text editor app and copy and pasting from there. (Thanks for the suggestions about line breaks / paragraph breaks @John Conduitt)

I haven’t had the time to test out the changes on PC yet but I will do so when I get a chance and circle back to this thread.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Curtisimo