PFB Articles Thread

Probably better than Dunks and Doinks

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I mean, I get it. But this format is complicated and confusing. Yes, there were some annoying trolls in the original comments, and the Les Miles guy was getting annoying and worn out, but I always scanned the comments on articles to kind of gauge the pulse of how fans felt in general. The comments section was surprisingly insightful and yielded good conversation most of the time. I wish there was an easier way to read specific comments and reactions to each article with this new system.

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nice lookin forum yā€™all got here.

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I might be in the minority here, but Iā€™m not sure how I feel about this. I actually enjoyed the comments. Despite the frustration incurred by the ā€œtrollsā€, they did bring up some good points at times (Les in particular, as much as I hate to say it). Also, I would often just skim an article but read the comments more thoroughly to see how the fans at large felt about the topic.

From an SEO perspective, I honestly thought the trolls were helping PFB in a way. I found myself spending more time on the site (more than once or twice) just to reply to them or to see how they would react. For a time I even suspected that one or two were planted, but judging by recent developments, I now seriously doubt that. Of course, PFB will be able to detect a +/- in revenue after this decision and adjust accordingly (if necessary).

After making an account and taking a quick look at the list of posts in the forum, it looks like over half of the posts are PFB+ only. This is a bit frustrating, and it may make me less inclined to spend time on the site. While Iā€™ve considered joining, itā€™s honestly a bit steep for me. From the outside looking in, it seems like a major goal behind this change is to get more people to join PFB+.

Nowā€¦I get it (borrowing a phrase from the siteā€™s creator, whom I do respect greatly). PFB is not a charity. Itā€™s here to make money, albeit doing something the staff enjoys at the same time. But am I missing something here? Is it easier to gate-keep against the trolls via Discourse (the forum platform now used) rather than through Disqus? Does it really make conversation more centralized and more friendly? I honestly donā€™t care if the goal of the change is to encourage more people to sign up for PFB+. I am just a little puzzled by the explanation.

Addendum:

Discourse is far superior to Disqus, so I like that change. And if I did pay for a subscription service on any OSU fan site, thereā€™s absolutely no question that it would be this one. I really appreciate PFB, and I do click those ads on purpose from time to time :wink:

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This is all well said, fair and will be taken into consideration. Maybe thereā€™s a middle ground here. I know thereā€™s a way to embed the comments from here into the space below an actual article. Texags does this, and itā€™s cool. Hereā€™s an example of how it works with Discourse.

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I personally think closing the Comments Section is a mistakeā€¦, this allowed your fans/readers to comment specifically on each article and it provided a transparent means for everyone to see the feelings/mood towards a subject. In my opinion this was an extremely value-add service you provided!

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So far I miss them too. But I am still open to see how it will all work out. I bet it will be interesting to see page view changes due to this. I go to PFB less frequently now, which could be bad for FPB advertisers. But I do go to the Chamber more frequently.

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Bricks & Buckets is outstanding! :clap:

The comment section being disabled is a huge disappointment. The only treads with a meaningful comments are the PFB+ ones which is completely fine if there are also threads open to everyone that are of interest. There just arenā€™t any. The daily threads open to everyone get minimal amounts of comments. I for one do not like the change because of the major reduction in comments for non paying viewers. The closing of the comments section is a huge loss of value in my opinion.

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A fair criticism! Also, can we give this more than like three days to play out and see how it goes?

Itā€™s totally up to you to decide how long this goes for. I am just voicing my opinion about how this is effecting the interactions.

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I just learned it today! Click on your profile settings->preferences->at the bottom thereā€™s a category that says muted and you can mute the pfb+ thread

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I actually just learned this today, too.

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@kyleporterCBS not sure how I feel about each article getting individual threads. I feel like itā€™s clogging up the forum especially given 90% of them donā€™t have any comments. I also feel like Iā€™m having to scroll through everything to find the threads I usually want to read while before they were really the only ones and usually at the top.

I know weā€™re in the early stages and I am willing to wait and see how it works out, but my initial thought is that individual threads for each article arenā€™t the way to go.

Regardless love the forum but just wanted to provide my opinion!

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Appreciate that @Pokesby90. I donā€™t know how I feel about it either. Weā€™ll continue to figure it out and let it evolve throughout the rest of 2019. Appreciate the feedback!

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Youā€™re the real MVP. Thank you!

We kept Nate, heā€™s all we really need.

@kyleporterCBS The comment thread at the bottom of the articles from the forum looks great, so much better than the old Disqus stuff. Nice work.

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Weā€™re still styling it, but as of now itā€™s pulling comments with 2+ likes with a link to the individual thread. This rewards good comments, helps control the chaos and provides an outlet for commentary. Now we need to figure out the thread situation on the home page. Thanks for the feedback @scolemann.

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yay, i got me welcome badge! been working a lot so havenā€™t checked in. hi!