Hot Topics and Pinned Topics

[.KICK]

I don't know why it was removed, it wasn't a problem in the first place!

[Calum Veteran]

Whilst I agree that having the pinned topics stand out does make the forum more organised and much clearer to tell the pinned topics from the normal threads, it didn't work efficiently on Neowin. Obviously. I mean, take Grand Maester for example, most (if not all) of the questions in his many topics in this forum can be found in the FAQs and other pinned threads in Neowin forums, however, this user obviously didn't read these pinned threads before he asked some of his first questions.

It is because of issues like this why Neowin have decided to take out one of the indicators which was there, but still leave in the needed and obvious indicators - an icon of a pin and paper and the text "Pinned:".

To me, it's very obvious which topics are pinned, straight away and whilst it doesn't look as neat as it does with the separators, you can't really blame Neowin for this move can you?

Joel is just doing his job and trying to inform you all of this. You can still easily tell which threads are pinned and which are not, but this move means it will save everyone on Neowin (especially the staff) a lot of time as it will decrease some of the unneeded threads which tend to appear.

[magik]

This is because even with the indicators its still not easy to determine which is which. The way it was before was much better.

Maybe instead of adding headers then is it possible to make the "Pinned" text bolded? Or maybe in a bigger size or even all in capitalized letters; anything to make it stand out just a bit more.

Funny thing is, when I look at that vBulletin example, it's perfectly fine; but when I come back to Neowin, the transition doesn't seem to be as clear.

I'm in agreement here. The new way is much harder to see and, although not unusable, is somewhat counter-intuitive. Not sure why a simple thing like this can't be addressed? ;)

[Joel]

Not sure why a simple thing like this can't be addressed? ;)

It WAS addressed, because it was obviously done on purpose. ;)

You know, this is the board that cries over every lost pixel; you'd think people would be thrilled that we removed 2 headers.

[Matrix XII]

haha so true Joel :rofl:

What a picky community we are... that might also be the reason we have the best maintained and best looking forum on the web..

[Fred Derf Veteran]

The whole point of pinned topics is to get people to read them. If they aren't important then they shouldn't be pinned.

This was a conscious change because far too many people were skipping over the pinned topics and beginning to read the list of non-pinned topics. If you prefer the old way then you can still use an old skin but this will be the change going forward.

[dead.cell]

I honestly can't see what the big fuss is about. This is common to most forums. Why you need an entire bar to state that it is "Important" is beyond me.

To tell you the truth, I never even knew it existed until people pointed out what was missing...

[Calum Veteran]

I think you'll find the majority of users on here either don't care about the 'dividers' being removed or are just accepting it, as it doesn't bother them :) I am one of those.

[+shift. MVC]

The whole point of pinned topics is to get people to read them. If they aren't important then they shouldn't be pinned.

This was a conscious change because far too many people were skipping over the pinned topics and beginning to read the list of non-pinned topics. If you prefer the old way then you can still use an old skin but this will be the change going forward.

Really all I wanted was an explanation as to why it was removed, rather than a straight up "No it's not coming back, why do you need more anyway?"

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Really all I wanted was an explanation as to why it was removed, rather than a straight up "No it's not coming back, why do you need more anyway?"

Well, that's the reason then. When they were off on their own little island then people were ignoring them.

[magik]

It WAS addressed, because it was obviously done on purpose. ;)

You know, this is the board that cries over every lost pixel; you'd think people would be thrilled that we removed 2 headers.

Then our definition of "addressed" seem to be varying here. :p

The header removal is fine, but something like a more prominent and/or more obvious "Sticky" indication is really all that's needed to create a visual distinction.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Then our definition of "addressed" seem to be varying here. :p

The header removal is fine, but something like a more prominent and/or more obvious "Sticky" indication is really all that's needed to create a visual distinction.

You see though, the problem here is that you want more visual distinction so that you can skip over them. We don't want people to skip over them because we consider them to be important.

[magik]

You see though, the problem here is that you want more visual distinction so that you can skip over them. We don't want people to skip over them because we consider them to be important.

They are important, but frequent visitors know what's in them and know when to go to them. Although I see your argument for new members the fact of the matter is this site strives on those who frequent.