Improve Read Time/Detection

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#1

Hello!

I’m not exactly sure how to word my title. But I think the DevForum could improve all post/topic read time and detection. By “detection” I mean detecting if the user is actually reading the post, and not just scrolling by.

  1. Once I clicked on a topic, and went to grab something, and when I came back the topic was marked as read, even though I hadn’t read a single word yet. The topic was also added to my stats “Topics Viewed”

  2. This could also make user stats more accurate, and the number of posts read by a user would be more accurate and actually read by the user. I’m sure there are people out there that will cheat/abuse the read detection system. (I am not pointing anyone out, just saying that this is happening.) They cheat so that posts and topics are marked as read, even though they didn’t read a single word from it.

DISCLAIMER: I will not mention particular strategies they use to cheat/abuse the system. I feel like that may give users ideas and motivations to further cheat. (They are cheating, not exploiting)

  1. Some users have mentioned this, but make sure not only does a post mark as read after literally reading it, but make it actually work. Sometimes I will read a post, and it will still be marked as unread, even if I stay on it for like 5 minutes.

  2. Once I created a topic asking for a solution to a problem I had. Then there were people who mentioned one particular solution to my problem. What they didn’t realize was that I had clearly mentioned that solution in my topic beforehand and said that it didn’t work. So clearly they just ignored it, didn’t have other answers, or just didn’t read that section. So I clarified that as a reply, and then? The next day there were more people who brought up the same solution, and I had now mentioned twice that the particular solution they brought up didn’t work. I mean, generally the longer your topic is the less time and effort people will spend reading your entire topic. And the topic I wrote was decently lengthened. (But that doesn’t act as an excuse.)

I am not trying to aim this at anyone, just saying that the above happens (pretty commonly) and should be fixed.

I know this can be bypassed, but maybe create a system where instead of just marking a topic as read after a few seconds, mark it as read if after the user reads the entire topic from top to end, meaning they will have to scroll down.
Don’t know if this is already in place, but make it so that the user can only reply after reading the entire topic.
Also maybe create certain buttons a user must periodically click that is randomly generated on the screen, and the user will be kicked out if he/she doesn’t respond after a certain time. This may be pretty annoying, but I can’t really think of any other solutions. (That’s why you guys should share yours!)

Anyway, sorry for the long post; I wanted to be as specific as I could to address this issue.
Anyway, have a nice and fantastic day!

27 Likes
#2

Right now entry requirements is just read a fixed amount of topics and replies (and have a certain amount of hours reading?). This is terrible, someone can just be 1 topic away from promotion and be inactive for an entire month or so, and decide to come back and read 1 topic and instantly get promoted. The requirements should not be a fixed amount and instead be based on how often you are visiting the forum and how long. If you are weeks inactive then you should be required to read more, but if you are consistently active then the requirements should not be bumped up.

Every day of inactivity should add more to the requirements.

14 Likes
#3

Right. I agree with you. Because you only have to stay on a reply for a few seconds to mark it as read, new devforum people can easily just use the middle mouse button to auto-scroll through the replies for them while they can be doing something else. This makes it easier for them to get in the forum quicker, even though they didn’t ready anything at all. Devforum needs to add something to check if the user is really reading the post.

12 Likes
#4

You should request this on meta.discourse.org. This is forum software level.

20 Likes
#5

I agree by actually reading the post. New users just like alt accounts could easily (didn’t know to to write that lol) join the DevForum and may spam or do something else. Users should read and hopefully learn from topics, to actually get somewhere.

18 Likes