I noticed on several discourse forums that over time they attract people who love writing very long posts about all sort of details which do relate to the topic, but are not an immidiate reaction to the topic.
These are not posters with any bad intentions, but such posts do disrubt the conversation, because not everyone has the time to filter long posts to see how they relate to the discussion.
There is nothing wrong with long posts. But it becomes an issue when the post only sums up loats of rather irrelevant facts, without bringing anything new to the discussion.
There is already a function to âreport this post as off-topicâ. When a couple people report a post as off-topuc, the post is hidden/collapsed by default, wich hints other users to not bother reading that post unless they want to be thurough.
The issue at hand is that the name of this button doesnât fit the situation; the post is not exactly off topic, so most users wouldnât report a post because it seems inapropriate to do so.
I propose either
rename that button âreport as off-topicâ to âreport as not helpfulâ.
Or
add a new button ânot helpfulâ, which works very similar to âreport as off-topicâ.
I also propose to not place that button in the category âreportâ. Reporting feels like marking a post as something wrongful. It seems like a heavy measure. I would rather see this as a seperate button; a way of voicing an opinion about the post to help other readers.
I hope you recognize the need for such a feature, and I hope succeeded in explaining the importance of the choice of words for such a button. It is important that both the reporters and the one who wrote a ânot helpfulâ post recognize that it is not a punishment, but just a way to keep the discussion on point.
Can they also change the text shown to replace a hidden post? âThis post has been marked by the community as probably not helpful. Click here to show it anyway.â
And can it be moved out of the ânotify the staff privatlyâ submenu, as the staff should play no role in voicing an opinion.
Apoearently someone here at meta.discourse already saw a need to add such an option so people wouldnât use any other report function to give feedback about the quality of a post.
Doesnât that illustrate that there is a significant need for such a flag as a default function on any discourse forum?
Let users help eachother by marking posts as distracting from, or not helpful to the intended topic.
I get that youâve probably read many feature requests like this one before, but besides joking about it please give me an explanation why it doesnât seem like a useful addition to you.
I donât really see a need for âNot Helpfulâ as this is a forum not a help group of sorts.
You can easily add such an outlet using a plugin of sorts but for the core, there is a very vast spectrum of customers and users who use discourse for all types of purposes. Not helpful isnât the most promising piece of text. Itâs just like adding a Dislike/Down vote button which is very resisted by discourse.
And by reporting not helpful youâre just adding useless load to the mods and admins who would have to review those posts just because you find them not helpful.
Off-topic replies are very common, and thatâs the default option we find suitable for most sites. As discussed earlier, if you find different wording more suitable for your site thatâs something you have control over in your site settings.
âSomething elseâ or âSend a messageâ (if PMs are enabled) are also possible alternatives.
If someoneâs often disruptive to conversation in your community, talking to them about (regardless of flagging options) it is likely the best option because you can explain why their post isnât helpful.
We have no plans to change our flagging options for the foreseeable future, and I think weâve covered everything here.
