The Nonlinear Library EA - Forum update: 10 new features (Oct 2023) by agnestenlund
Oct 2, 2023
04:50
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Forum update: 10 new features (Oct 2023), published by agnestenlund on October 2, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
What's new:
React to posts
Explore featured content on "Best of the Forum"
Redesigned "Recent discussion"
Right sidebar on the Frontpage
"Popular comments" on the Frontpage
Updated recommendations on posts
Improved author experience
Add custom text to social media link previews
Linkposts have been redesigned
Prompt to share your post after publishing
Useful links on draft post pages
Most of these changes are aimed at broadly improving discussion dynamics and surfacing more high quality content on the Forum. I'd love feedback on these changes. You can comment on this post or reach out to us another way. You can also share your feature requests in the feature suggestion thread.
React to posts
Reactions on comments have grown in popularity since we launched them two months back, and we've now added reactions to posts. One of the goals of post reactions is to allow readers to share feedback with authors without the effort of leaving a full comment.
Just like for comments, agree/disagree reactions (and regular upvoting/downvoting) are anonymous, while other reactions are non-anonymous.
Explore featured content on "Best of the Forum"
We have a new "Best of the Forum" page that features selected posts and sequences curated by the Forum team. It replaces the Library page in the left navigation on the Frontpage (you can still explore all sequences on the old Library page).
New users often feel overwhelmed by the amount of content to choose from; I'm hoping they will be able to use the page to find highlights and get a sense for what the Forum is about. Experienced users who visit the Forum more rarely might also be able to use it to catch up on top posts from the last month.
Redesigned "Recent discussion"
I've redesigned the "Recent discussion" section on the Frontpage to use a timeline UI to highlight what type of update you're looking at (new comment, post, quick take, event, etc.).
The "Recent discussion" section is popular among heavy users of the Forum - helping people keep up on recent activity and find discussions they've missed. But we've found that many Forum users were confused and overwhelmed by it. This redesign aims to clarify what "Recent discussion" is about, and make it easier to parse.
Right sidebar on the Frontpage
We've added a right sidebar to the Frontpage to highlight resources and make it easier to find opportunities and events (we'll add and remove resources based on usage and feedback). Logged in users can hide the sidebar, and you can update your location to get better event recommendations.
"Popular comments" on the Frontpage
Users sometimes miss out on great discussions taking place on the Forum. To help surface these discussions we're trying out a "Popular comments" section. It features recent comments with high karma and some other signals of quality.
You'll find the section below Quick takes. As with most other sections on the Frontpage, you can collapse it by clicking on the symbol next to the section title.
Updated recommendations on posts
Below post comments, you'll now find:
More from this author
Curated and popular this week
Recent opportunities
We've been experimenting with recommendations on post pages. We've tried a few things (we decided to get rid of right-hand side recommendations since usage was low and a few users found them distracting) and are now adding recommendations to the bottom of posts. Like previous recommendation experiments, we'll monitor user feedback and click rates to decide next steps.
Improved author experience
Add custom text to social media link previews
Authors can upload an image to use for link previews when their post is shared on social media (or elsewhere). Now authors can also set the text...
What's new:
React to posts
Explore featured content on "Best of the Forum"
Redesigned "Recent discussion"
Right sidebar on the Frontpage
"Popular comments" on the Frontpage
Updated recommendations on posts
Improved author experience
Add custom text to social media link previews
Linkposts have been redesigned
Prompt to share your post after publishing
Useful links on draft post pages
Most of these changes are aimed at broadly improving discussion dynamics and surfacing more high quality content on the Forum. I'd love feedback on these changes. You can comment on this post or reach out to us another way. You can also share your feature requests in the feature suggestion thread.
React to posts
Reactions on comments have grown in popularity since we launched them two months back, and we've now added reactions to posts. One of the goals of post reactions is to allow readers to share feedback with authors without the effort of leaving a full comment.
Just like for comments, agree/disagree reactions (and regular upvoting/downvoting) are anonymous, while other reactions are non-anonymous.
Explore featured content on "Best of the Forum"
We have a new "Best of the Forum" page that features selected posts and sequences curated by the Forum team. It replaces the Library page in the left navigation on the Frontpage (you can still explore all sequences on the old Library page).
New users often feel overwhelmed by the amount of content to choose from; I'm hoping they will be able to use the page to find highlights and get a sense for what the Forum is about. Experienced users who visit the Forum more rarely might also be able to use it to catch up on top posts from the last month.
Redesigned "Recent discussion"
I've redesigned the "Recent discussion" section on the Frontpage to use a timeline UI to highlight what type of update you're looking at (new comment, post, quick take, event, etc.).
The "Recent discussion" section is popular among heavy users of the Forum - helping people keep up on recent activity and find discussions they've missed. But we've found that many Forum users were confused and overwhelmed by it. This redesign aims to clarify what "Recent discussion" is about, and make it easier to parse.
Right sidebar on the Frontpage
We've added a right sidebar to the Frontpage to highlight resources and make it easier to find opportunities and events (we'll add and remove resources based on usage and feedback). Logged in users can hide the sidebar, and you can update your location to get better event recommendations.
"Popular comments" on the Frontpage
Users sometimes miss out on great discussions taking place on the Forum. To help surface these discussions we're trying out a "Popular comments" section. It features recent comments with high karma and some other signals of quality.
You'll find the section below Quick takes. As with most other sections on the Frontpage, you can collapse it by clicking on the symbol next to the section title.
Updated recommendations on posts
Below post comments, you'll now find:
More from this author
Curated and popular this week
Recent opportunities
We've been experimenting with recommendations on post pages. We've tried a few things (we decided to get rid of right-hand side recommendations since usage was low and a few users found them distracting) and are now adding recommendations to the bottom of posts. Like previous recommendation experiments, we'll monitor user feedback and click rates to decide next steps.
Improved author experience
Add custom text to social media link previews
Authors can upload an image to use for link previews when their post is shared on social media (or elsewhere). Now authors can also set the text...