Suggestion [...]

[fa21212]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

[...]

 

[Lawpy]

Would it be possible to implement technology such that forum posts can be upvoted and downvotes and then the most upvoted posts are shown first? Similar to what reddit has? The technology that the SDN forums use feel like they are from the 1990s and the biggest reason that Reddit MCAT, premed, medical school, and Step1 have taken away a lot of market share from SDN is due to SDN’s outdated technology. An update would be more useful and time efficient for people to quickly find relevant information rather than having to read through bundles of mediocre info to get to some nuggets.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

where are you getting this from

 

[Lawpy]

Look at the number of users on r/Mcat and the number of users live at a given point in time, then look at the number of users live on SDN. Reddit has gone from nothing a couple years ago to being a more active, robust forum today. I think the major reason for that is the better algorithm for presenting the most useful comments. SDN had the big advantage of network effects, but given the growth of Reddit (and the continued exponential growth in users), I think SDN has clearly been giving up market share. You can guess as to why, that's my guess.

Reddit and SDN serve different purposes. Reddit also has subreddits for basically everything. SDN has a wealth of resources that keep them popular.

It's already straightforward to look for the most useful advice in threads. Just look at posts from members with Physician and Faculty badges with Resident/Fellow/Attending statuses. Advice from them can be easily verified to be true and accurate. Not to mention, important and highlighted threads and facts are indexed in directories that are regularly updated.

 

[Lawpy]

Thinking about this again, having the ability to sort posts by 'Most Liked' would help get the most use of each thread and put the least liked and most trolly posts in the bottom. The first post would need to be separated from rest of thread for sorting to work.

 

[Lawpy]

Also, I think you guys need a downvote button as well as a like button similar to reddit. There's a lot of trolls on here, would be helpful to not have to waste time reading their posts.

You can report the trolls.

 

[Lawpy]

Yes, I think more effective to also put a downvote. You can also report on Reddit as well, but it helps to see when comments have been massively downvoted and do not add anything to the conversation.

Downvotes tend to get abused more often, especially when used in flame wars or to retaliate against valid criticism. Troll posts are countered by smart posts that get more likes and are often autodeleted. Not to mention, Ignore User function is effective in hiding posts from offending users.

 

[Stroganoff]

fa21212, I see your point and do see how the Reddit mechanism of upvoting/downvoting both threads and posts has utility, but I've just never gotten used to it myself. I find it incredibly confusing to really follow a Reddit thread's natural discussion, and I'm very partial to the chronological order of traditional discussion forums. Re: downvotes, many traditional forums have Reputation systems, including vBulletin (where SDN was for much of its life prior to a several years ago), but... it can rapidly make things more cliquey than usual and turns threads and even entire subforums into petty popularity contests and retaliatory downvoting. I'm very "meh" about reputation systems, whether it's done on a user-basis or a post- or thread-basis.

Both of these are very much my own opinions and to each their own. I respectfully am not a fan of the Reddit format -- and heck, when I click on a thread title in Reddit, often times it links directly to a 3rd party website or image instead of to the thread itself. Maybe I'm old[er] and stuck in my ways. I can follow the chronological format of traditional discussion layouts like what SDN uses, and with the use of avatars/labels/verified badges/etc, I can quickly identify who is doing the posting (or how new they are to the forum) and that can alter my perception of how reputable their advice is.

I see reputation systems used very often in the comments sections of various news outlets and blogs -- Disqus being one of the popular platforms. With as many... "vulnerable," worried, anxious students as this forum attracts, I wonder just how useful downvotes could actually be... would it cause more harm than good? Would it discourage new users from visiting the site if a totally innocent question or concern gets downvoted to oblivion?

Sorting a thread by most likes to least likes seems more technically feasible and might be useful to get at the most upvoted or popular responses.