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Addressing Issues I've Found with Freesteading Site
I am just now finding this forum as I didn’t know it had been moved to the FORUMS/Q&A section.
I have been having the same issues as described in previous discussions. I know Freesteading is in the BETA stage where all bugs/kinks & other quirks are noted & hopefully be resolved so the site will run smoothly once it goes fully operational. I’ve noticed less interaction in the last few weeks, not many new activity posts, and fewer responses on discussions in Forums, especially those with long threads. It seems the same people are the ones liking activity posts, or commenting/replying on discussions in Forums. I am assuming people are either not tech savvy to easily navigate the site yet or are frustrated when trying to navigate, difficult to find Communities/Groups/Discussions, especially for the newbies. (Some are in subgroups as with the STATE “Community” group). Tech-savvy folks want instant results and don’t want to spend valuable time searching the site for Forums, Discussions and it taking many unnecessary steps to complete a task.
The following are a few of the quirks I’ve noticed over the last few weeks. If some of the issues I’ve addressed below have since been resolved, I apologize in advance.
1. Fix the NOTIFICATION section. I sometimes don’t get notifications. Sometimes they come up ON SCREEN when I’m on Freesteading and if I don’t click on THAT popup notification, I miss out if it doesn’t appear in my NOTIFICATIONS. I have my settings set to notify me via Email, Web & App and also to notify me via Chrome since I use Chrome. I get SOME notifications (when I do get a notification) but other times I get nothing. I also SUBSCRIBE to FORUM DISCUSSIONS or Community Groups.
When you click on a notification it will take you to the thread then jump back to the beginning of the Discussion thread. If it is a LONG THREAD, you have to then scroll thru every single reply/comment to find the REPLY or COMMENT you received via the NOTIFICATION. Have this fixed to take you directly to the link you received the notification for. I’m sure MANY get frustrated and never SEARCH the entire thread for a response/reply they received via notification and move on or exit Freesteading.
2. When someone posts a link to an article/video in the Activity Feed or Forum Q&A Discussion, if you click on the link, it opens in the Freesteading Tab removing the Freesteading site. In order for you to get BACK to Freesteading you have to use the BACK ARROW to get back to the Activity Feed or Forum Q&A Discussion. (I use a PC with Freesteading PINNED to my TABS). Sometimes I want to click on the link to pull up the article/video to read/watch later (in a separate Opened Tab) while leaving Freesteading open in my PINNED TAB. Not sure how it works on a cell phone. This can be aggravating when you’ve lost your connection/link to Freesteading and some (may) have to log/sign back in if they don’t know to use the back arrow. Aggravating to me that I can’t save the article/video in a new tab for viewing later when I have more time.
3. What TIME ZONE is the server/host site using for Freesteading. The time stamp seen on a post is HOURS in advance of when a post is actually made. This is a major issue with me knowing exactly WHEN a post/reply/comment is made on this site.
4. When you get a CONNECT request from someone via notification, I suggest you put in a VIEW PROFILE access so you can check out someone before you accept their CONNECT request. You now have to click on that person’s profile, check it out then go BACK to YOUR PROFILE & click on CONNECT REQUEST to either confirm or deny. Too many steps to go thru before connecting with someone. Can’t go back to the notification because once you click on it, it is gone as being read. You have to go to your PROFILE and click on CONNECT REQUEST to complete the request.
5. Notifications. When you click on a notification it is deleted automatically by the system. You can not find it again if you wanted to go back and either edit or make an additional comment/reply. Once you click on the notification it disappears as being read. I suggest you leave the ones that have been clicked on & read IN the notification section. Let the USER delete their own notifications if so desired. I have wanted to go back to a few lately and had NO IDEA where I had made the reply/comment (especially when you’re actively using Freesteading Communities/Forums Q&A), etc. Keep the ones you haven’t read in a different color/shade and unhighlight the ones you’ve read or clicked on or mark it as read but DON’T REMOVE IT AUTOMATICALLY. Don’t suggest if you’ve got the settings to have notifications sent to your email, go to your email to find it. All the email says is SO & SO REPLIED/COMMENTED TO ONE OF YOUR FORUM DISCUSSIONS (OR UPDATES). Any comment/reply made on a Forum Discussion is sent to my email whether it is related to MY PARTICULAR DISCUSSION/REPLY/COMMENT OR NOT. I will check my settings to see if I have marked to receive all notifications for Discussions in Forums Q&A/Communities or if there is such a setting for that.
I suggest letting the user delete their own notifications instead of the system automatically removing them once they are clicked on.6. In the FORUM Q&A discussions, I suggest you put a LIKE button so you can acknowledge the reply/comment without having to “REPLY” if you have no further response.
7. In the activity feed when a post/reply/comment that is lengthy is made in a FORUM Q&A DISCUSSION and you want to “READ MORE” open the rest of the post in the activity feed rather than taking you to the FORUM DISCUSSION. You do have the option to JOIN DISCUSSION but if it is something you don’t want to reply to after reading the whole post you now have to go BACK to the Activity Feed to continue browsing. Wasted time in some instances. By taking you to the FORUM DISCUSSION, you then have to reclick the ACTIVITY FEED or arrow back to get back to it and it starts you all over from the beginning of the Activity Feed. You then have to scroll to find where you left off, and sometimes that is WAY DOWN in the activity feed.
I will update you if I remember any other quirks or concerns.
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