New features coming to N4G

I wanted to provide a quick update on our development roadmap. It has taken a while to get things stable and migrated to our own servers but this has been completed!

Now onto implementing some of your great suggestions. If you haven't visited the N4G product roadmap please do head over there as this is where we can gather your feedback and suggestions to improve the site.

Quick links
Wish list - https://n4g.productlift.dev...
Roadmap - https://n4g.productlift.dev...
Updates - https://n4g.productlift.dev...

We are starting with the 'quick wins' and we are pleased to announce we have removed the 3-day limit for commenting and have increased the comment/user from 10 to 30.

The next set of tasks will focus on improving the site experience. These include

- Redesigned top Navigation
- infinite scroll on article pages
- Single Sign On (with 2FA)
- Open zone Forum (dependent on SSO)

There are longer terms projects focusing on moderation admin, search, tags, comments voting, @mentions, email notifications, personalisation, redesigned channel pages etc. We are currently reviewing the best long-term solution as these features were created when the site was first built and thus on legacy code! This is an area that we know is a critical part of the site so we want to ensure that we implement a solution that is scalable going forward.

One particular change I would like to get your feedback on is the Top Navigation redesign https://n4g.productlift.dev...

Some of you may be aware that we launched N4G Unlocked which allows us to create original gaming articles. We have intentionally kept this independent of the main site and now we will make this visible on the main site.

[Sonic1881]

What about the bubble system 🤔

[andrewkirkcaldy]

Please tell me more! This isn't something that has been suggested.

[-Foxtrot]

Trust me man it’s better if you forget all about the bubble system it was awful and easily abused.

You’ve got some good ideas here, I’d focus on them for now. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

[Sonic1881]

@Foxtrot

There's a certain group on here that needs the bubble system. Sometimes it gets out of control

[TheEnigma313]

the bubble system sucked. You would get flagged even if it was something they didn't like. I quit the site a few years ago when they had that system.

[S2Killinit]

The voting system was implemented so that we didnt have to limit the number of comments a person made, but everyone’s comments could be rated. It was a way to regulate without having to regulate. People who trolled or were overly biased gained a reputation that followed them. It worked very well.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

You don't want the bubble system, it was good for silencing some of the worst commenters, but it also hurt everyone else (collateral damage baby!), because like Foxtrot said, it got abused, hence why N4G moved away from it.

The worst commenters want it even less than the rest of us do.

[xHeavYx]

I've visited this website for the past10 years, one great thing about the bubble system is that people who were clearly trolls would have limited comments, unlike what's happening today, and right now there is no way to control the obvious trolls. The issue about comments being reported is a different issue and had nothing to do with bubbles.

[BehindTheRows]

Thank you for listening!

[Sonic1881]

It worked for trolls and fanboys

[RauLeCreuset]

@S2Killinit

"The voting system was implemented so that we didnt have to limit the number of comments a person made, but everyone’s comments could be rated. It was a way to regulate without having to regulate. People who trolled or were overly biased gained a reputation that followed them. It worked very well."

Correct, but then some of those people would ask mods for and be granted changes to the name of their account to avoid accountability for their past behavior and start it all up again under a new identity.

If anything, increased accountability would be welcome. How many times, for example, do known agitators try to antagonize by gloating prematurely about future events, something different happens, and the people who call out the agitators get moderated?

The idea of profile signatures and signature bets might help. The profile signature would be visible on the user's comments.The users could make signature bets with each other over how future events will play out. The loser has to change their signature to whatever the winner suggested when agreeing to the bet. The signature would still have to comply with rules for appropriateness. That's one idea. Too many people say things with no accountability for their prior arguments.

[S2Killinit]

@RauLeCreuset
Yes. As long as the rating system is in place, any improvements on it would be a positive in my opinion. Your idea is actually quite useful and would only increase engagement with the site on a level that is not available elsewhere. I like it.

[coolfool]

it sounds like people want a troll silencing feature? doesn't have to be the bubble system.

[DarXyde]

Sonic1881,

"There's a certain group on here that needs the bubble system. Sometimes it gets out of control"

There might be some trolls, but that's dangerous territory to suggest suppression. It was always easy to abuse where the site becomes an echo chamber where dissenting opinion gets lost. Hard disagree to that. That's just authoritarian.

Side note: I had no idea there were content restrictions after the bubble system. Apparently, I've never come up against them. Interesting.

[neutralgamer1992]

Bubble system had its pros and cons because the system was abused and those who had more bubbles weren’t always making mature conversation. It was a matter of which side you align yourself with

I don’t know about a perfect system but a bubble system with open zone might be the best of both worlds. Open zone was a great idea when I joined because that’s where most trolls would stay and have their fun

[ArmrdChaos]

You want to limit the toxicity then create the different areas of the site (nintendo, sony, microsoft, pc, open, general,,,,etc.) and make it so members subscribe to a specific area. In that area you can post all you want but outside that area you can only view. Give people the means to vote people out of an area if they are an asshole which locks them out. Make it so you can only change your area every so many months and if you get kicked out of an area you have to subscribe to a different area before you can come back. Make the account creation painful enough to where people don't want to create multiple accounts.

[Nitrowolf2]

The bubble system sucks, and this is coming from a 10 bubbler user.

Sure it limited trolls, but it also sucked we couldn't reply past a certain amount

[BehindTheRows]

Agreed. Certain users run rampant and are huge troublemakers and leashing that, I feel, would help a ton!

That said, I respect N4G’s decisions in design, just as a feedback point, I dread to think what giving those particular sorts of users an additional 20 comments will mean for the future!

[darthv72]

you can always just ignore them if you dont want to see what they have to say.

[BehindTheRows]

@darthv72

You’re missing the point. It’s not about the bubble system. Yes, it was inefficient. The sentiment that troublemakers should be thwarted from causing problems is what people are saying.

[andrewkirkcaldy]

thanks for the feedback. It is a balance and spam/trolling is certainly a challenge to manage. We wanted to give you the genuine engaged N4G member more ways to comment. We will keep a close eye on it!

[Golfcoachh]

Problem with bubbles is if you just said anything that was against the most popular narrative you were silenced. I stopped coming here for a while and then they got rid of it and I was back. So today if someone said something that was negative toward sony, you would lose bubbles. Period, because people are whack like that. Back then anything against 360 would lose bubbles too. Good riddence.

[DarXyde]

The problem with this is that you're not in that person's head. Someone can say something you find delusional (not uncommon here) and you're depending on the judgment of moderators and administrators to make that call. Sometimes, it's VERY obvious, like spambots. That's low hanging fruit. I think the current moderation strategy is often fair enough because spam and personal attacks get flagged. I just don't think moderating perceived trolling is feasible. Best to say "it's whatever" and ignore it, or take that person at face value as someone giving their opinion and responding to it. That's all.

Common stress test of your personal belief is to flip the argument and see if you still agree: if you said something that you honestly believed that was believed to be trolling by a moderator, would you be okay with that?

I just don't see how you can feasibly moderate this.

[TheEnigma313]

Nah the bubble system was about controlled speech and being silenced. The spam report comments work just fine.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Xbox and Ninty fans would have like 3 bubbles while PS fans would have like 30 bubbles.

No thanks

[BehindTheRows]

You have examples that this was the case before?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

@BehindTheRows

I don’t have screenshots if that’s what you’re asking.

[TheEnigma313]

Nah, Nintendo fans would have the most. You are right about xbox fans though.

[BehindTheRows]

Right. It’s an exaggerated statement. And not every Xbox fan went through it.

Besides, if you were here during the PS3 days, it was ANYTHING BUT a safe space for PlayStation fans.

[Hofstaderman]

I remember the exact opposite of this.

[Ps5conehead]

You’re wrong it was the opposite that was during the ps3 and 360 gen. And ps3 was behind for a while .

[darthv72]

given the statement about changing user comments from 10 to 30... Id say there will never be bubbles again. Remember, the bubbles were replaced by the limit of 10 comments per person. Now that limit has increased to 30 so make of that what you will.

[BehindTheRows]

Bubbles, not particularly, but a way to reign in on certain behaviors.

[RauLeCreuset]

Exactly. Honestly, enforcement of existing rules would be a start.

[NatsuXTheMaxspeed21]

Lmao the good old days .

[I_am_Batman]

I doubt that system would work very well these days. Pretty sure fanboys would simply downvote any comment they don't like. That'll just lead to people self censoring on potentially controversial opinions, because they don't want to lose their bubbles.

[JackBNimble]

The bubble system is all about censorship and limiting speech, is that really what you are about?

[Sniperwithacause]

I just enjoy visiting this site for all my video game news, and reviews. You guys have done an amazing job at keeping me well informed on all sorts of gaming information. So I just wanted to say, keep up the great work you all have been doing!!! Trust that it doesn't go unnoticed.

[andrewkirkcaldy]

Thanks for your kind words we are looking at ways to improve, so please, if you have the time put some suggestions on the wish list.

We are on the lookout for some community members to help with testing the general forum. If you are interested please drop a comment and I will reach out to you.

[Sniperwithacause]

I'd wish I was able to help, but when it comes to online community, I'm more of an introvert. I'm just along for the ride. I really only comment on a spur-of-the-moment type situations. I just like to read others opinions wether they are the same as mine or not.
Thanks for the gesture, but I don't think I would have any ideas better than what you all would come up with.

[bloop]

@andrew: I understand you guys need to make money, but these floating video ads are overkill and are completely ruining the experience. Not to mention the player is glitching and audio is on when the page loads. A lot of people, including myself, stopped using N4G in the past when similar video ads were implemented and went to other sites for their news instead.

[shinoff2183]

I wouldn't mind testing out the forum.

[RedDevils]

Can you add ignore option. I want to add people to my blacklist.

[MontyeKristo]

@bloop - Agreed.. especially on the mobile experience. It really is a drag and makes me hate visiting the website when all I have is my phone. The other ads I don't care about - it's just the floating ones in the bottom right. They don't work and are just simply in the way; very frustrating.

[Stanjara]

Maybe less censorship on this updated N$G roadmap. Moderators going willy nilly with bans.
Also...top navigation changes... this is not an issue at all.

Whatever you're doing is not needed... also it can't be seen.
-The designs are attached to this ticket... what ticket? jpeg? png? where? You want feedback?

Single sign on? ok... So now I will be banned across all sites. Cool.

How about edit your own posts... without time limit? Hmmm? With edited time...ofc.

[andrewkirkcaldy]

Please tell me more about how you would like it to work, as we are looking at the moderation tools and guidelines so would be great to get feedback.

[Stanjara]

I wanted to edit this...but my time 15 minutes has passed.
On YouTube you can edit or delete your comment without time limit.

Now here because of discussions, ...it wouldn't work I know. I didn't think about it... but maybe extend that 15min to a half an hour... if the feedback is bad... or ratioed user can still do something without moderators.

Anyways... where can I see your new Top Navigation design?

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I actually wouldn't mind a 1 hour timeline to edit my comments, sometimes I don't notice a grammar or spelling mistake until it's too late.

[andrewkirkcaldy]

Hey. Here is the link to the designs. https://productlift-product...

I will note down the time limit. There are some features that we are discovering since taking over the site. thanks

We know that the commenting/blog posts functions are quite limiting at the moment. It is something we will be addressing in the future.

Oh I couldn't reply to your reply below! This is another feature we want to improve!

[dumahim]

That's the redesign? I use dark mode, and I legit can't tell what's actually different other than some menu for N4G Unlocked.

[Stanjara]

It's good, design is great. I like it. Everything is nice... great job. I see It now from your reply.
I like it. Dark mode is up there... very good!

Comment section... reply's, edits, moderation... that needs something.

Like this... now someone has to put this reply into context. Put it below your comment... see?

[darthv72]

I get what you say about edits, however... if someone responds to a comment and that comment is then edited and the response remains the same, then it looks out of context. this does happen. and yet if people can edit their comments without limit then there would be no proper dialog between users. Just a single comment / response with a constant stream of edits for the back and forth.

I tend to edit due to grammatical errors. If i am factually wrong on something, I leave it as such and just address the error of my ways in another comment.

[Stanjara]

Ya ya... I didn't think about it. True... but longer time limit would be useful.

[RauLeCreuset]

Solution: Populate all versions of the comment in the user's comment history. That way dishonest editing can be revealed and pointed out.

[MontyeKristo]

Yeah, as RauLe said.. just add an option near the flag or by the reply button to see what the edited changed are. Simply just add a button to see all edits on that comment; should take care of any 'conversational' issues.

[aconnellan]

Why will you be banned across all sites with single sign on?

[Stanjara]

This new acquisition included all sites... Techspy, Filmwatch... ok.

My guess is, if my login is account wide and it gets banned for writing TiLU2 is trash, which I did and got two weeks (what's up Estevez how's your day buddy?), then probably that ban will also be account wide.

Maybe I'm wrong? But I'm not... I can be?

Oh, and I learned my lesson and will never write TiLu2 is... what it is again. Let's not click buttons ok guys. This is just real example so people know what I am talkin about.

[Kaii]

Mainly related to the amount of TOTK guides, just going to C/P my comment from the other day.
Why this website can't allow users to block seeing guides is beyond me, add the tagline "guide" and allow users to not see articles related to that tag

[andrewkirkcaldy]

Hey, thanks for the feedback. One of the suggestions was around creating personalisation tools so you can filter in/out tags so you see what you are interested in as a priority. We would like to try and retain some discovery elements to the site, so you can stumble across a new topic that you haven't explicitly listed but we will look to make sure this doesn't get in the way of the core topics you are interested in.

We will be looking to get this feature ready for Q3.
thanks for the feedback

[Vanfernal]

Could you please stop ads with audio from auto playing. It's extremely intrusive and it stops other audio sources so I could be scrolling while listening to a podcast just to have the ad play audio and auto pause my player...

[andrewkirkcaldy]

Hey, definitely.

Is it the video ad player in the bottom right-hand corner. The default behaviour is to have it muted. If this isn't happening then I will speak to our ad tech team.

[Asplundh]

Yeah it's not always muted by default

[Vanfernal]

Yes. I just tested it out and without headphones connected they are muted. If I go to a page while using headphones the sound will play even though the ad visually shows the audio is muted (the speaker with the X). I believe this is some sort of bug.

[andrewkirkcaldy]

@vanfernal @asplundh thanks for testing that. I will send a message to our ad tech team as this is something that shouldn't be happening. (I had to reply to my own comment)

[Profchaos]

Yeah for me it's not muted all the time