723011 - Default sort order should be by post date of original post, not last change

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(support.mozilla.org :: Questions, task, P1)

Description

[[:Cww]]

We really need a sort order that is by date of original post which will make paging through threads easier and avoid missing any as other contributors are commenting and bumping stuff up.  I think this should be default (and called "recent") and we can add a "Last post" sort order which is the current behavior.

Comment 1

[:ibai]

Yes please!

This will help contributors to focus in recent questions and not lose time in follow ups (with little to no content) in old threads. I hit that wall almost every day and it's quite frustrating.

Comment 2

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/708139

The "My Contributions" filter should stay sorted by last updated.

Comment 3

[Kadir Topal [:atopal]]

This should be done as an option on top of the forum listing. It should flip between "most recent questions" and "most recent replies". Forum discussion about default post order is here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/708159?last=45161

Since this will not fit into the space on top anymore, we need to change how we are displaying "sort" and "show". Bram, we could use some help on how to do that.

However let's not block this on ux and please add the functionality so Cheng can at least for himself switch to it by adding ?sort=date to the URL.

Comment 4

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

To confirm, the default sort order will be by question created date on the main list and by last updated on the "My Contributions" filter. Adding new links to the UI can be a new bug if it doesn't make it.

Comment 5

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

(In reply to Kadir Topal [:atopal] from comment #3)
> Since this will not fit into the space on top anymore, we need to change how
> we are displaying "sort" and "show".

What if we reworded a little to: "Sort by: Posted | Requested | Updated" ?. Screenshot: http://cl.ly/21012f0B2U0Y2L0e3B1F

Thoughts?

Comment 6

[:ibai]

I like it. It's way more clear.

The actual copies are somehow confusing at the beginning. I think that Requested could be re-branded as "Popularity"

Comment 7

[Bram Pitoyo [:bram]]

Attachment: Sort and show interface

The two methods, “sort” and “show”, currently do two different things. One sorts, the other filters. We can assign a different interaction model to each and this will solve the need for more space.

“Sort” can be implemented as a <select> dropdown menu. Let’s change the wording to “Sort by”. Making “post date” a default sort state is a good idea. The other menu items on this dropdown list will be “most popular” (alt: “rating”) and “last comment”.

We can keep the “show” interface intact as pipe-separated links on the right-side of the bar. But let’s change the wording of “All” to “All question” or “All post” to clarify what we’re showing.

Comment 8

[Kadir Topal [:atopal]]

Thanks Bram, makes a lot of sense to me. Please only change the default sort order when implementing this UI too, not without it, because some of our most active forum contributor depend on the current sort order. Of course the sort order should also be remembered per person, so you'd set it only once.

Comment 9

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

(In reply to Kadir Topal [:atopal] from comment #8)
> Thanks Bram, makes a lot of sense to me. Please only change the default sort
> order when implementing this UI too, not without it, because some of our
> most active forum contributor depend on the current sort order. Of course
> the sort order should also be remembered per person, so you'd set it only
> once.

Can we skip all this UI and just add the "?sort=posted" option for now then? Remember that different sorts will have a different URL so it isn't as easy as "remember everybody's last selection". We link to /questions everywhere and that implies a default sort which will be the same for everybody.

Some contributors seem to want to go to /questions?sort=updated and others may prefer /questions?sort=posted. I don't want to add a redirect based on a user's last sort selection. It seems we still need to think more about this.

AND... Making this a <select/> is a non trivial change because now we have to write javascript to handle the change event and build up the right url to send the user to.

Comment 10

[Michelle Luna]

Based on the thread in the contributors forum, the individuals who answer the majority of questions do not want a new default sort order. We asked them their opinion and they have given it, so we need to listen and be sure not to change the default sort order. 

We have no data to suggest that new forum helpers will use any particular methods to answer questions, but we do have data about what existing contributors do and what they want, so we should use it.

Also, we already spend time to educate new helpers about how to use the forum and what questions to focus on (no replies), so this change seems unlikely to do a better job of that and also has the risk of frustrating an already fatigued contributor base.

Comment 11

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

Swapping out of current sprint for Bug 730065

Comment 12

[Tanay Gavankar [:tgavankar]]

Backend support done in https://github.com/mozilla/kitsune/commit/953a77a.

Add ?sort=created to the url and it will do the sorting by question creation date rather than default.

Comment 13

[Ibai Garcia [:ibai]]

I'll say this is invalid considering that we have done a major overhaul of how the forum works.

Ibai