do i know you...?

[swedeheart]

Wouldn't it be a really nice feature if - when logged in - you could click on somebody's avatar and see immediately not only what questions they have asked and what answers they have given but also, on a tab of its own, on which threads your paths have crossed? Yes it would:) Anyone agree?

[snags]

Sorry but I'm not that bothered :-/

You can do something similar already: key in yours and another AB user's name in the Search box and all relevant threads where you have both appeared will be revealed. Apparently this is the first time you and I have ever conversed...

[4getmenot]

You can see what questions they have asked.

[boxtops]

No not really. I used to be mildly interested to see what had been zapped until I realised that zapping doesn't necessarily have to be the fault of the poster. For people who post a lot (both Q&A) seeing all the history would be huge!

[bednobs]

i would like to be able to see if someone is online

[China Doll]

Nah, not really... You can always just go back and look at the threads you were involved in if there's something you want to check.

[swedeheart]

Well there you go snags, now isn't that nice to know. (Don't think I haven't seen you, though!;-) I don't use the search box often as I have noticed it to be very arbitrary in its responses.

4getmenot what I'm suggesting is different. I do remember you though - you were the one who passed my good wishes on to bigmamma a while back:)

China Doll that doesn't sound very feasible if all I want to know is "Do I know you". When you have a poor memory - as I do - it's kinda embarrassing not to be sure whether you're supposed to know each other or not...

[snags]

''Don't think I haven't seen you, though!''

Or I you. I've had my eye on that beret...

[B00]

*pokes Swedey*

Stop coming up with new fangled ideas, you know the biddies can't keep up with this technology!

[swedeheart]

Possibly a good point boxtops - perhaps Spare could confirm whether that would be a problem?

bednobs yes why not - just as long as we are free to turn our online visibility off. (But how would you actually use it?)

[swedeheart]

He he snags, it's mine all mine.

*searches for dictionary to look 'fangled' up before I decide what to do with B00*

[karenmac60]

I agree, sometimes I have answered a post and then for one reason or another I want to go back to check something - but I can't find it without wading through all my answers. It would narrow things down if I could check for the person I had been talking to at the time. Oh, and I think we had a conversation about 'I will be the captain' :)

[swedeheart]

Indeed we did! :)

[AB Editor]

Morning All,

Nice idea - we've discussed something similar before.

I would like something which shows connections via rating/thanks system. So, rather than "friends" linked by social/tribal connection elements, your connections are based on the people you find "most useful".

I also think we should have a "Who is online" page/box on the front page.

Thoughts?

Spare Ed

[4getmenot]

ah yes thats me :-) she cant come on that often now :-(

[swedeheart]

Hi Spare, glad you liked the suggestion. And it's great to see you so on the ball, replying to posts everywhere:)

My suggestion is, however, very different from what you are describing. My idea springs from forgetfulness and all I want to know is "Am I supposed to know you? Have we met?"

The Best Answer system gives me the hives - sends me right back to school days. And it is a problematic system. We had it before (before you joined us, I think?) and (as others have pointed out before me) on countless occasions you would see OPs reward replies that rubbed them up the right way and ignoring those that didn't, regardless of how much effort and factual correctness was invested in the latter.

Another thing - that has also been mentinoned here by others before me - is the "problem" of new, excellent replies being added at a later date. You see that on Yahoo Answers a lot and it's hardly helpful, quite the contrary.

Somebody asked for thumbs up like on Facebook. Now that's kind of neat. Everybody - not just the OP - could do the thumbs up to any number of replies on a thread:)) Their own thread or somebody else's. That would be nice, I'd love that.

Question for you Spare: How would one actually use the Who's Online feature? Would it lead to a live chat room? Or a PM option? Possible problem: Lots of ABers stay logged in while they go to the North Pole and back:) Still, PMs would be great.

4getmenot: I'm sorry to hear it. We miss her.

[AB Editor]

Who's Online:

Probably just a "rogues gallery" on the front page of users who have posted recently. Possibly we'd restrict it to users with avatars. We'd possibly have it displayed in the member profile too. I think it would just be nice to know when someone has been on "today" or "this afternoon" - we'd keep it broad so it wouldn't be very stalker friendly.

I do understand your "I know you" feature idea, and I quite like it. I can't think of anything to add to it though - or if it becomes useful beyond saving forgetfulness?

Spare

[bednobs]

please dont limit it to people with Avatars. I don't have one for the very simple reason that i set up a fake email account to sign up here, because at the time when i had another username, i used to get loads of "you have a reply" shizzle emails, that i didn't want, so i never checked the email address. Consequently it has been shut down because i didn't look at it for over 60 days. So now i am either faced with getting a new username or not having an avatar

[AB Editor]

I was talking about the front-page Bednobs, it would just be more appealing than a legion of jelly-persons!

You can always change your email address in your profile http://www.theanswerb...user/edit_profile.php to allow an avatar.

As for the subscribed emails - you can unsubscribe from them by visiting them and clicking the "unsubscribe" button. Visit here to see you subscribed questions: http://www.theanswerb...ftype=user_subscribed (although, I admit, this looks a bit broken at the mo! Another one for the techies!)

Part of the draw would, of course, be to encourage users to have an Avatar.

Spare Ed

[vivandorron]

I agree SE.......although I wish people would stay with their chosen Avatars for more than a few days. I can think of one person who regularly keeps changing his and it does throw me when I wish to identify genuine ABers by their Avatars which I try to remember.

Ron.

[scotman]

Ron

I agree about the constantly changing avatars. It is much easier to scan the pictures than try to read the small print of user names.
Perhaps the Eds could look at limiting the frequency of avatar change.
Some of Swedeheart's suggestions make sense also.