Increase visibility of the vote button and count

Contribute UX

AI-generated summary

The discussion focuses on improving the visibility of the vote button and count in the Discourse platform, particularly in the #feature category. Canapin notes that the vote toggle is often overlooked due to its placement and lack of visual cues, and that the counter is not visible when scrolling or when opening previously read topics. They observed low vote counts in recent topics, with most at zero. lindsey provides context, explaining that vote limits based on trust level and the relatively new nature of topic voting on Meta may contribute to the low engagement, while acknowledging the validity of the suggestion for better visibility.

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The screenshot is from a forum discussion on the Discourse platform about integrating account creation and subscription settings. (Captioned by AI)
The screenshot is from a forum discussion on the Discourse platform about integrating account creation and subscription settings. (Captioned by AI)1353×724 61.4 KB

Maybe it’s because I’m used to regular topics without this feature or something, but my brain completely ignores the vote toggle on the top left. This is not where my eyes go when I open a topic.

:arrow_up: :thinking::question:

There is also no visual clue that clicking the button increases a counter. No icon, arrow, or something similar.

Out of curiosity, I opened the last 30 topics from Contribute > Feature to check the vote counts, since meta doesn’t use Alternative Voting Category Style.

The highest vote count was 4, the vast majority being at 0 (not even self-upvoted, since it’s a thing).

Also, as soon as you scroll, the option and counter aren’t visible anymore.
And anytime you open a Contribute > Feature topic you have already read, the timeline is automatically set to the end, where the option isn’t visible.

So, this option should be more prominent, and maybe available when not reading only the first post.

5 Likes
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We limit the number of votes someone can cast on Meta based on their trust level. Topic voting is also a relatively new feature on Meta. You can read a little more about that here: Topic Voting enabled for our #feature category! 🥳

This isn’t to argue against the validity of your suggestion, just a little extra context that may partially explain some of the low vote counts.

6 Likes