Part of my paid-for offering involves the buyer’s topic being pinned for a few days.
One or two of those buyers have asked why their topic isn’t showing as pinned. This is because of Discourse’s auto-unpin feature, which un-pins a topic when a member has read it (only for that member). Auto-unpin happens immediately for topic authors, so they never see their topic pinned.
So, I explain how the system works, every time.
It would be handy if the auto-unpin didn’t happen for the author specifically on topics they have authored.
If auto-unpin didn’t happen for topics the member is watching, this would neatly solve the issue.
I’d like to keep auto-unpin enabled for all other cases as it’s a good feature.
Disable automatically unpin topics and default topics automatic unpin in your site setting.
All the topics I have created (as author) remain pinned and the auto-unpin setting disappears from the user profile.
Users can only unpin a topic manually.
I’m aware of the existing settings available, thanks.
My case is maybe a bit subtle. I do not want to disable auto-unpin for all topics. Just those a member is watching.
Think about it - this is a general case of UX “feedback.” You create a topic. You pin it. You expect to see that topic pinned. Principle of least surprise.
Someone else pins a topic that you’re not hugely interested in. You read it. It’s unpinned. That’s reasonable behaviour I’d like to keep.
But my own topics, those that are pinned - I care about seeing those pinned. And my advertisers who are paying for pinned topics - they definitely care about seeing their topic pinned.
I am uneasy about this. I don’t see the tight coupling between watching and not unpinning. Watching implies you care A LOT about new stuff, it does not imply you are asking to see the topic first up in the list every time. That would be a “per user pinning” feature which is a can of worms I don’t want to open.
I wonder if you should just go ahead and disable the auto unpinning altogether in your forum? Isn’t that the simpler approach to take.
The important thing about a pinned ad is that it is seen by everyone.
It’s fine to auto-unpin when a user has clicked and fully read the advert. There’s no reason to keep presenting the same advert to a user once they’ve clicked and read it once.
The important thing for an advertiser is that they see some evidence that their topic has been pinned.
Because of the way auto-unpin currently works (without my fix), the author of a pinned topic never once sees it as pinned — and naturally this is disconcerting for advertisers who have paid for the privilege.