Adding the clock icon next to the title of topics with timing in topic list

UX
1

just the same way that a closed topic is indicated in the topic list with a lock, it would be good if topics with a future timing can also be shown.

something like this, if the “Troubleshooting email on a new install” topic, was going to be closed in 1 hour from now:

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5 Likes
2

Not a bad idea but I feel it’s a bit visually noisy relative to the weak value of the information presented.

5 Likes
3

what about showing the timer when only less than 24 (or 12) hours is remained? this way the timer is only shown for less than 1 day (after that it’ll be a lock). Also it emphasizes to the users that:

there’s a little time remaining, if you want to contribute, please help yourself faster.

6 Likes
4

That might be OK. At SitePoint the majority of categories are set to “close 3 months after the last reply” so having the icon for every topic that had timing would be very

4 Likes
5

I’m not super convinced users treat it as a race to see who can reply before the topic closes. Usually the topic closing is background administrative trivia, it is not a contest with winners to see who can post nearest the close time :wink:

4 Likes
6

One interesting case where a similar concept would be very useful would be for buy/sell categories. When you have 1 day left you do want to call it out big time. But I wonder if “auto title updating” is a better type of feature here for a buy/sell plugin:

Red rockstar boots, $44 (Ending in 2 hours)

6 Likes
7

Usually you sort by ending soonest, instead.

3 Likes
8

some use cases which may fit this concept:

  • ideation challenges,

  • some community management topics, e.g. “what have you done this week?”

  • marketplaces,

  • moderation actions where something from the user side can undo the moderation;
    e.g. a bug is set to be closed after being solved, unless users report similar issues again in 12 hours.

  • our main use case is about some free discussion, where we choose a topic and discuss about it for 3 days. to keep these discussion organized, it’s a one discussion at a time. so every discussion is closed automatically after 3 days. since there’s no indicator in the topic list, sometimes users forget about the timing and their inputs are being dismissed, even if they have saved drafts to discuss.

    our use-case is not about the contest, but more about a notification.

5 Likes