ajot

Linking TOB forum profiles to Review and Ads

11 posts in this topic

I can't seem to find a way that this is active so maybe it's overlooked: Why not link (or allow them an easy option) the providers in the forums with their ads and review profiles? I see a provider answer a post, but when I go to their profile I can't get over to their ad and review profile.

I think it would really help new providers and those answering ISOs. If it exists, it should sure be more prominent cause I can't find even a simple link they should have at the top of their forum profile!

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I can't seem to find a way that this is active so maybe it's overlooked: Why not link (or allow them an easy option) the providers in the forums with their ads and review profiles? I see a provider answer a post, but when I go to their profile I can't get over to their ad and review profile.

I think it would really help new providers and those answering ISOs. If it exists, it should sure be more prominent cause I can't find even a simple link they should have at the top of their forum profile!

Awhile back we incorporated the Signature Line, which would allow linked info to be included so as to not Advertise in a Forum Post.

Note to Providers: Your signature may contain text links to your website, your reviews, and/or a link to your P411 page or similar pages. Contact information such as phone number or E-mail address is also permitted in your signature. No other information that could be considered advertising is permitted in your signature line & Posts or implementing Tags to promote yourself. Quotes/other text is ONLY permitted if you choose to have no contact info or links in your signature. You may upload your picture to use as your avatar only.

 

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I can't seem to find a way that this is active so maybe it's overlooked: Why not link (or allow them an easy option) the providers in the forums with their ads and review profiles? I see a provider answer a post, but when I go to their profile I can't get over to their ad and review profile.

I think it would really help new providers and those answering ISOs. If it exists, it should sure be more prominent cause I can't find even a simple link they should have at the top of their forum profile!

we are looking at ways to tie these things together

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Cool. Maybe as a stopgap, just add a field for a link to profile when providers sign up? So far I think I've only seen Justina and one other gal use their signature properly like you mentioned.

Good to know its an item on the list.

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On November 11, 2015 at 11:38 AM, ajot said:

I can't seem to find a way that this is active so maybe it's overlooked: Why not link (or allow them an easy option) the providers in the forums with their ads and review profiles? I see a provider answer a post, but when I go to their profile I can't get over to their ad and review profile.

I think it would really help new providers and those answering ISOs. If it exists, it should sure be more prominent cause I can't find even a simple link they should have at the top of their forum profile!

We have added a TOB profile link to providers handles in the forum

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Nice try, and thank you for the effort, but you missed the mark. 

As I see it:

1) I think of the TOB Profile as being for the discussion boards. This is the profile one gets when you tap on their name or search the members list on the discussion board. Considering the recent addition, perhaps this should be referred to as a Forum Profile.

2) Then there's the Review Profile, which one gets when tapping the provider's name in the ad or review boards, or tapping the author's name on a review. 

And never the twain shall meet!

The new "TOB Profile" field to the author's block of providers' posts on the discussion board takes you to their Review Profile. But it only works for providers, not for clients. There is no field for the Review Profile in the display of a Forum Profile.

There does not appear to be a mechanism for getting from a Review Profile to a Forum Profile, other than a search, for either providers or clients. 

So much for the "unified login" of the new system.

It was generally understood on the old system:

  • that folks had a Forum Profile, clients & providers alike
  • that clients had a separate Review Profile (w/separate login)
  • that providers did not have a (visible) Review Profile for the Ad board

What you have cobbled together from these three sections of the old boards (discussion, review, & ads) appears to be (as we used to say) a system programmers' wet dream.  "If you stand on your left foot, grasp your right ear with your left hand, and tap the keys with your right pinkie ..." then you might get the answer to the question you asked. 

You are in serious need of a systems analyst who understands K.I.S.S.

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Thanks! Despite Bit's follow up post, which I may or may not agree with parts of, this is at least generally what I was looking for. 

While I would of course love everything under the sun, it's good to know you are taking some steps and improving. And Maybe listening to some people. Good step forward.

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I didn't mean to imply that the new field isn't helpful, but that it's a kludge, a consequence of poor initial design. 

Having just one login is a good idea. It addresses one of the complications of the old system and one of our complaints (hiding behind a different handle for reviews). But there should only be one profile for all users, with flags to indicate status and permissions and with links to chains of posts, ads, and reviews.

The board transition was a perfect opportunity to sit down, design a complete system, run gestalt experiments, solicit comments, check for consistency and ease of use BEFORE the first line of code was written. Yes, Whisperer & crew have been responsive, but they missed their chance to make a good first impression. 

I await TOB 4.0. 

BTW, they're in good company. How many tries did it take Microsoft to get a functional Windows?

Note: I spent 25+ years in the trenches, participating in the design & implementation of numerous new systems. Design methodology was a specialty of mine when I retired. 

Edited by Bit Banger
Added credentials.
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I still find it unwise and unnecessarily incriminating to have the provider ads anywhere near the play-by-play reviews.  But whatever...

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Over the last few weeks we have been working on a few changes. The most notable is the review area. The reviewer can now add their own stats on the provider. We have also added the ability to search 3 DNRs , however, there are 2 others that need to be added Caught self reviewing and Caught self reviewing multiple times. We also need to correct the DNR results page to remove the duplicates.

We have also added a few user interface improvements throughout the site.

We added fields to the 411 forum that will allow other users to provide information in a more structured format thus aiding the researchers

In addition, We modified the advance search to search all forums including the modified 411 forum

In the next few weeks users will be able to Delete their post if they don't want to edit it. The same time limit the edits have will still be in place.

We were planning on integrating a site wide search, but the forum, other website framework, as well the way specific pages were coded presents significant challenges thus making that too problematic to do:( we will look at other options when researching a redesign in 2017

Thank you for all your feedback and support!:)

 

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