Suggestion: Remove the Newsbox

Crushing Our Enemies

Crushing Our Enemies

TNPer
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COE#7110
Seriously, does *anyone* like scrolling past that eyesore on every single page of the TNP forum?

Since lots of people can edit, there is rarely any consistancy in format/coloring/font size.

It's not like anyone *reads* the damn thing because we're all so used to scrolling past, no one notices any changes to it ever.

Attempting to "hide" it causes bugs with the Forum Statistics section at the bottom being hidden as well, and it doesn't stay hidden for long.

The presence of the newsbox on every page makes it impossible to see how many people are viewing a given forum or thread, which is a nice feature.

If there's anything that everyone really needs to see, it can be put in the WFE, or made an announcement thread.
 
I second this suggestion, wholeheartedly! I don't think I've ever read the Newsbox. My biggest interaction with it is to mutter to myself in irritation at having to scroll past it all the time.
 
I agree with COE and SS. I scroll past that thing so darn fast, and it has become such a habit, that I hardly even realize it is there. I certainly don't read it, I read threads to be informed.
 
PaulWallLibertarian42:
I swear, I think Grosse is right, there is a sillystring/coe tag team.
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First, due to space limits, the WFE probably a very poor alternative. Some of us rarely look at the WFE.

Second, I think the issue is more content than presence. There are way too many items in the news box and some of the items are rarely updated or changed. It is mostly there for the benefit of the Delegate and Cabinet and it crowds out the possibility of drawing attention to major RA votes or to elections.

Perhaps some discipline about the news box content is in order?
 
I honestly think that even with more discipline in content, the Newsbox would remain essentially useless. Its ubiquitous presence as a scroll-by feature of the forum means that we train ourselves not to read it, and will not notice changes in content. Furthermore, the active browsers of the forum are going to be aware of newsbox items before they're even highlighted, because we read the forum. If all the newsbox does is point to threads in the forum, it is truly redundant.
 
PaulWall - finally noticed that did ya. They share many perspectives on how they approach problems but they do not always agree.

...back to the point, I really have no preference at all on this one. I have noticed that at times it goes unupdated for a bit and truthfully the person I see as the last edited by is usually r3n.
 
I think we could agree to some uniformity in formatting and colour :P Admittedly I am not very good at colour coordination.

I think the news box is useful although mainly for newer people who can use it to link them to new/important threads that might draw their interest to a particular area of the government.

The presence of the newsbox on every page makes it impossible to see how many people are viewing a given forum or thread, which is a nice feature.
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I am not aware of this... I have often seen the names of people at the bottom of threads/forums when I am reading them.
 
When someone has the newsbox hidden, their name will appear, and one's own name will always appear, but no one who is viewing the newsbox will appear.

And if it's only there for the benefit of new members, why not just create a auto-PM when new accounts are created that gives them an overview of how they can get involved?
 
So if I see you, SillyString or GBM reading a thread and I have the newbox enabled. Does that mean the rest of you do? Or just that you cannot see me...

I did suggest that actually (re:auto PM), unfortunately it is still waiting approval due to security concerns Eluvatar had but did not elaborate on. :eyeroll:
 
I don't really read the box but I don't know if that's a reason to remove it or not.

It's probably more an issue of formatting than anything. Perhaps the communications minister could be in charge of formatting it?
 
Could there be a single link to a "News" thread? One in the cabinet area that all the cabinet has moderation power over? And perhaps *major* announcements, like elections, war or threats.

I think we need the announcement about new accounts as annoying as it is, so that someone registering knows what's going on. But maybe it could be made shorter, with less of a reason given?

Also, have a I missed a reason why just minimizing the box is bad? If the main intent is for newbies then that shouldn't really be an issue.
 
The problem is that items go up into the News Box and never come out. There needs to be "drop dead" dates for government items and then have those items promptly removed.
We had talked about putting an image of the flag in there this week for the 10th anniversary celebration, but with all the clutter there now, that was obviously impossible.
I do wish the Delegate and Cabinet ministers would do some culling of the current content, especially if the item has been there for 30 days or more. That would make a difference.
The admin were more than glad to set up a system so non-Admin could add, edit, and remove items from the news box, it reduced the amount of requests to admin over adding and removing items from the web page maker version that had to be accessed from the ACP, But I suspect if it were up to admin as a group we'd have already pruned the thing. Is that asking too much?
 
Don't know if it'd help, but as a 'new member', I took up the ancient TNP custom of scrolling past it as fast as a Jamaican running the 100m dash.

Looked it at once, I don't think I ever will again. :P

I find this idea of a news thread better though,
 
FEC, the problem with hiding the newsbox is that doing so also hides the forum statistics box at the bottom, including the online users list. In addition, a hidden newsbox seems to come back now and again without the user doing anything to unhide it.

Maybe there should be a *single* government official that curates the newsbox, and other officials should submit entries to that person. That official could then decide when items were no longer relevant, or should be temporarily or permanently replaced. I think the main problem with the newsbox at the moment is that there are too many fingers in the pie, and no one feels comfortable removing something that someone else put up.
 
Crushing Our Enemies:
FEC, the problem with hiding the newsbox is that doing so also hides the forum statistics box at the bottom, including the online users list. In addition, a hidden newsbox seems to come back now and again without the user doing anything to unhide it.

Maybe there should be a *single* government official that curates the newsbox, and other officials should submit entries to that person. That official could then decide when items were no longer relevant, or should be temporarily or permanently replaced. I think the main problem with the newsbox at the moment is that there are too many fingers in the pie, and no one feels comfortable removing something that someone else put up.
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Ah, okay, I never actually bother looking at the bottom list, so missing it doesn't impact me a lot.

Minister of Communications still exists, no? Shouldn't that be their job? To me, the current stuff seems mainly designed for new people, which to me could easily be put in a "Welcome Thread", linked to in the newsbox. Older posters either know where threads are located, don't care, or are capable of asking someone. But, for example, the questions from MoC, if they're meant to be a temporary thing could be put up for some length of time.
 
I repeat that the items in the news box should not remain for more than a set period, be that a day, a week, a month. When admin use the news box it is for a legitimate forum reason, which is the case with the current notice about new forum accounts. We have no idea when the problem it addresses will be resolved, and it is necessary to let them know before the start the forum registration process.

Even if the Minister of Communications is the point person, it is still fundamentally the charge for the Delegate to address.
 
indeed. A lot of the newsbox is not "news" any more.
Sort that out and the newsbox could be an effective tool. Certainly when we did not have one we were asked for one often enough.
 
mcmasterdonia:
I think we could agree to some uniformity in formatting and colour :P Admittedly I am not very good at colour coordination.
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Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! :D

I am not aware of this... I have often seen the names of people at the bottom of threads/forums when I am reading them.
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This still happens no matter what, I believe - it's this that fails.

And I will echo it being really annoying that hiding the newsbox also hides the list of who's online or not - because that one I reference relatively frequently.
 
When I find time, I will work on making the news box A) not conflict with the statistics and B) be hideable permanently. (The default hide will still be to hide until it is next updated, however).
 
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