Saif initiates a discussion on optimizing the “What should I read next?” experience at the end of topics, proposing options to consolidate or prioritize “Suggested” versus “Related” topics. manuel notes that Suggested topics are primarily useful for casual visitors on unfamiliar communities, while regular users rarely engage with them. Manuel also suggests improving the layout to reduce cognitive load by aligning the lists more subtly with the topic flow.
EricGT highlights the critical utility of Related Topics for moderation tasks, such as checking tags or finding similar topics, warning that changes should not compromise these workflows. He humorously suggests a graphical spatial interface for better visualization. Tris20 distinguishes the two features conceptually: Related Topics act as “Just in Time” search results that help users decide whether to search further or leave, while Suggested Topics support general browsing behavior. Tris20 advocates for prioritizing Related Topics to better guide users who haven’t found their answer.
Regarding the UI, AJ_Quick questions if the default can be set to display only one list, arguing that most users won’t manually toggle between tabs and would prefer automatic curation into a single list. satonotdead shares that they have already disabled the Suggested Topics selector via CSS, a solution AJ_Quick finds appealing. The consensus leans towards simplifying the interface, potentially by defaulting to Related Topics or automatically curating a single list to reduce noise for regular users while preserving functionality for moderators.
We are playing around with the idea of changing what you see at the end of the topic, right now that would include Suggested" and Related" topics. Some ideas we are thinking of…
Having only one option at the bottom of either Suggested or Related
Making Related Topics the default tab option while still having suggested
Having only Related topics at the end
Which option do you find most useful? why?
Suggested Topics
Related Topics
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The goal is to make the “what should I read next?” experience as easy and relevant as possible. Feel free to speak your mind and be honest. Some guiding questions I’m interested in knowing…
How often are you using either of the options? why?
I sometimes follow suggested links when browsing on communities I only visit rarely or am just for a specific topic. Here on meta where I’m more of a regular user I almost never even look at it. Not sure if that’s a helpful observation, or if it’s just obvious that the feature is more for casual users and visitors.
Layout-wise, I’d love to see any suggested lists align more with the flow of the topic width. Stand more in the back, rather than standing out widely. There’s a lot of options to process already at the bottom of the topic. The layout break adds to that cognitive load and makes the entire view feel more noisy.
For other use cases such as moderation, this is one of the most useful tools in the toolbox so while improving related topics for the general user, please be mindful of the other use cases.
Suggest topics - next to never now.
Related topics - depends on the need as moderator. Sometimes a few times a day but for actions on sets of topics such as checking tags, closing, changing categories, seeking keywords etc. may use it about a hundred times finding similar topics.
A graphical spatial interface with colored dots based on criteria such as text, similarity rule, e.g. cosine, distance, etc.
When I’m searching for something specific, and reach the end of the topic, this is what I do:
graph TD;
A[Did I find what I was looking for?] -->B[Yes]
B --> B1[Leave]
A -->C[No]
C --> B2[Search]
C --> C2[Navigate]
I would much rather have Just in Time search results(Related) at the end of a topic. Mainly because it nudges me towards searching a little harder, or gives me an idea of when I’m reaching a dead end.
Suggestions are also useful, but fall more into the Browsing Behaviours of the user. Maybe there is better location to make Suggested more Just in Time for Browsing users?
Is there any way to set the default or to display only one? Personally I think it should try to curate it automatically into one single list vs having people click one or the other. 99% of users aren’t going to click it to swap.
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