Introducing the New Follow Feature

[jpishgar]

Hey there friends!

We've now launched a beta for the cool new Follow feature that will eventually be a major part of the new customizable forum homepage. This timeline feature will show you all the articles and forum threads you've followed as your interests, and make it much easier to review subjects that you read and interact with on a more frequent basis.

The Follow feature remembers your filters, and you can use it to follow new topics and tags with ease, and it will be especially a help for those of you who are industrious badge hunters. Tags in the Follow feature are a great way for being able to see cross-categories and aggregate content to a one-stop area for browsing.

You can access it now live from the "My followed tags" link near your profile link in the upper-right hand corner of the forum page, as well as directly at this link:

http://www.tomshardware.com/follow/

We'd like to continue receiving your constructive feedback on it here, and open things up to questions and comments. We appreciate any feedback you have for us on this exciting new feature.

-JP

 

[inzone]

I can see users liking this new feature as you can set up your forum browsing experience to your specific needs or tastes.

 

[randomizer]

2 points after taking a quick look at it:

1. It would be useful to have the "Find a tag" box on the tag management page as well.
2. If you filter by "New answer" then it would be good if it only showed one result for any given thread. If the thread is very active, it will show many results and drown out everything else. Perhaps just show the most recent new answer, or perhaps the first unread new answer.

Here's an example of the issue I was describing. Note that this isn't an extremely highly active thread itself, but it's much more active than other threads with the selected tags:

 

[mactronix]

I took a look so as to keep an open mind, its not loading for me though. To be honest the Tags hold zero interest for me and its something I don't see myself using at all.

I tend to search forum headings and look down for subjects that I have knowledge in and have limited answers.
I have searched the forum this way for many years now and don't see anything changing.


Mac

 

[jpishgar]

2. If you filter by "New answer" then it would be good if it only showed one result for any given thread. If the thread is very active, it will show many results and drown out everything else. Perhaps just show the most recent new answer, or perhaps the first unread new answer.

Showing the latest, most relevant content is what we have in mind with this. The devs haven't concluded between the Last Read Answer / Last Answer, so they are looking for more feedback before making that determination.

 

[inzone]

I would say the last read answer would be the better option as you want to see what's been said and not be repeating what someone else has already just posted.

 

[Y0GI]

"My Timeline" is showing zero content today. Blank page where the content usually shows.

Wassup?

Yogi

 

[inzone]

It appears to be a glitch as what sometimes happens with the forum software.

 

[Gzav]

"My Timeline" is showing zero content today. Blank page where the content usually shows.

Wassup?

Yogi

Hey there Y0GI,

Are you still having the problem ? I used to, last monday, but it came back today.

 

[Y0GI]

Yes, I'm still having a problem. It appears to be related to Firefox again.

Thanks,

Yogi

 

[Gzav]

Hey there Yogi,

I really can't reproduce any issue with the Timeline (Windows 7 / Firefox latest version). What I experienced last monday was a constantly loading, until the "pending" icons froze.

Would you mind providing me with :
- The URL you're experiencing the issue on
- A screenshot of what you see
- Your browser / OS & versions
- If you use Firebug, the detail of the ajax call, especially if it's an error (starts with GET http://www.tomshardware.com/follow/timeline/ajaw/?activity? ... )

THanks for your help !

Additionnaly, should you have any feedback about "How can I make your timeline better ?", feel free to let me know, I'm interested

Gzav

 

[Y0GI]

"Hey there Yogi,

I really can't reproduce any issue with the Timeline (Windows 7 / Firefox latest version). What I experienced last monday was a constantly loading, until the "pending" icons froze.

Would you mind providing me with :
- The URL you're experiencing the issue on
- A screenshot of what you see
- Your browser / OS & versions
- If you use Firebug, the detail of the ajax call, especially if it's an error (starts with GET http://www.tomshardware.com/follow/timeline/ajaw/?activ... ... )

THanks for your help !

Additionnaly, should you have any feedback about "How can I make your timeline better ?", feel free to let me know, I'm interested

Gzav

Thank you for your help on this problem, Gzav!

URL: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/

I would normally embed an image of the screenshot in my post but for some reason, in both IE8 and Firefox 26, the Icon Toolbar at the top of the reply window is not appearing. Here is a link to the screenshot: http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg267/acyogi/Computers/Toms%20Hardware/Timeline.jpg

I am using Win 7 SP1, Most of the problems are with Firefox v. 26.0. I am able to see My Timeline in IE 8 though.

I'm not familiar with Firebug and as far as I know, I am not using it.

Thanks again!

Yogi

 

[Gzav]

Hey there Yogi,
Thanks for your quick reply.
I have been trying on many computers, with different browsers, and really, couldn't reproduce. You might probably have done it already, but did you empty your cache?
Is the "loading" icon moving ? Is it stuck ? Is it not appearing ? Do you use any Firefox plugins / extensions? (such as ghostery for example)

Let me know

Thanks

Gzav

 

[randomizer]

Ghostery can definitely cause problems. It breaks many of the AJAX refresh or "load more"-type buttons because the button calls some tracker method that has been stripped out.

 

[Y0GI]

Hey there Yogi,
Thanks for your quick reply.
I have been trying on many computers, with different browsers, and really, couldn't reproduce. You might probably have done it already, but did you empty your cache?
Is the "loading" icon moving ? Is it stuck ? Is it not appearing ? Do you use any Firefox plugins / extensions? (such as ghostery for example)

Let me know

Thanks

Gzav

I disabled all plug-ins, changed extensions to "Ask" and emptied the cache. Restarted Firefox. One of those items fixed it! Timeline is now working in both Firefox and IE. I feel that it was emptying the cache that did it.

Thank you, Gzav!

Yogi

 

[Gzav]

Hey Y0GI,

Please let ME thank you. Seems your issue comes from tutorials in the timeline. They sometimes make the service return a server error, leaving the timeline empty.

Gzav

 

[Y0GI]

Hey Y0GI,

Please let ME thank you. Seems your issue comes from tutorials in the timeline. They sometimes make the service return a server error, leaving the timeline empty.

Gzav

You're quite welcome, Gzav! Glad that raising my issue helped in some small way.

Yogi

 

[EasyLover]

Just checked it out. I've tested it with two tags: Graphics Cards and CPUs. It can display the time line of one tag at a time or is there something I'm not doing it right?

 

[Gzav]

Just checked it out. I've tested it with two tags: Graphics Cards and CPUs. It can display the time line of one tag at a time or is there something I'm not doing it right?

Hey EasyLover,

The list of tags you follow are displayed above your timeline.
Clic on one tag (de)activates it. A black button means it's active. Greyed out means it isn't.

Hope this helped.

Gzav

 

[EasyLover]

Just checked it out. I've tested it with two tags: Graphics Cards and CPUs. It can display the time line of one tag at a time or is there something I'm not doing it right?

Hey EasyLover,

The list of tags you follow are displayed above your timeline.
Clic on one tag (de)activates it. A black button means it's active. Greyed out means it isn't.

Hope this helped.

Gzav

That would mean live feed of only one tag at a time can be view/available?

 

[randomizer]

No, they are all active by default. You have to explicitly disable a tag for it to be excluded from the timeline.

 

[EasyLover]

When I select all tags and activate them, I get this message

Your timeline is empty ! Follow tags to build your timeline and see articles and threads corresponding to your interests.

It would be much better if tag feeds interface is built like the interface we get in our Tracked Threads.

 

[Gzav]

Hey again EasyLover,

I'm wondering if you didn't deactivate them all instead of activating them all ?
What do you mean precisely with "built like the interface we get in our tracked threads" ?

Gzav

 

[EasyLover]

In my case, I'm getting feeds of only two tags a time. If I activate more than two, it gives me the message:

Your timeline is empty ! Follow tags to build your timeline and see articles and threads corresponding to your interests.

Would it not be better interface if Timeline Tags page shows exactly the similar interface like one gets in his Tracked Thread area in which There are three columns per row: Thread, Replies (Total count, Last activity time with concern user id)

 

[Y0GI]

Would it not be better interface if Timeline Tags page shows exactly the similar interface like one gets in his Tracked Thread area in which There are three columns per row: Thread, Replies (Total count, Last activity time with concern user id)

I agree. I feel that it would be easier to read the status of Timeline threads if there were columns, as with Tracked Threads.

Yogi