Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`ve noticed, being on this site for over six months, that when I click on a forum topic, I have to scroll down to see anything about the post other than the title. That`s a little annoying.

I realize the space limitations of having to run banners, etc., but even on a large flatscreen, scrolling is always necessary.

Can anything be done about that?

Yes, it can. I just thought of this. What if the forums took on a reverse
order, like a blog? The latest post is at the top! No more scrolling!

Now that blogs are part of internet culture, it`s pretty natural to read
content that way. It might be weird those first few times visiting the
forums after implementation but I bet people would catch on quick.
Some threads I follow pretty closely and enjoy being part of. It would be
quite refreshing to not have to scroll downward every time.

In addition, it would be great that when one clicks on the topic title (from
forum pages, inside their profile, search or community homepage), they
were brought to the latest page of responses, not the first one.

Wouldn`t  you be a little curious about what`s already been addressed (other than the primary post)? It might not be a bad idea to NOT reiterate someone elses`s point (unintentionally). Even if its original to you.

Besides, it doesn`t take very long to scroll-down (you might even notice a friend has posted just before you).  However, It might improve upon"disjointed" and "off-topic" ramblings.  As it appears the further away you are, (from the main post) the less relevant the input.

Either way, I wouldn`t mind.

Back to my original point: I don`t care about the order of the postings; I just hate scrolling down to see what the original post is about to begin with.

It makes this site less useful. Sure, it`s only a second, but most of us aren`t headline writers for a living. A great post with a mediocre title might not get read at all.

I vote for less graphics and more content. We all know we`re on Startup Nation. Why not reduce that graphic or otherwise reformat these pages to increase usability? Who knows, maybe this is addressed in the redesign, which by the way has been spun more than the Iraqi war, with no hard launch date. When does this thing actually appear?

Oh, I see. I missunderstood your original post. I work with a pretty
freakin` big screen so I don`t have that prob. But there sure is a lot of
header up there before the content. I`ll agree it probably can be reduced
some.

And my suggestion about reverse ordering the posts, it was just an idea.
I`m not sure it`s the best one but it came to mind. No, it really is not a big
deal for me to scroll down and yes, I do like reading who said what before
the next.

But here`s another idea. Maybe there can be a way on each page to show
or link directly to the original post, to help keep discussions on topic. If
you go to page 16 of a thread you are pretty far removed from the topic
at hand, which is not neccessarily a bad thing. Sometimes the
discussions evolve naturally and really aren`t about the first post
anymore. But sometimes it is nice to be aware of what started it all, or
the original question posed. I know one can go there through the scroll
tab (is that what it`s called?) to page one. I`m just brainstorming here.

See, I got off topic. Should I have started a new thread?

I do not understand. The site is free. Are you paying to be a part of this site? Startup Nation has to keep its image. I agree with you, but it is not all bad when it is free with knowledgeable professionals.

By the way, Startup Nation will be overhauled Monday. Read this post.

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp ?TID=4859&PN=1

So, free stuff should suck and not be functional to the end user, which results in fewer users, which lowers traffic counts, which attracts fewer advertisers? You mean like that?

Free has nothing to do with it. And by the way, each one of us on this site are customers to banner advertisers, even if it is just that we are all monitized in the rate card they are given when shown traffic numbers. This site wouldn`t be here without us; we provide the content and the advice. I guess that means we all work here for free. Good point.

It has nothing to do with free.

He is right though. It`s not just the banners, it`s the height on the whole package ... the baners, the header, the navigation buttons, the whole bit. It works for them because we`re regulars and we just do it anyway. If they were a shopping site, I would say that placing your content way `below the fold` is always bad design.

Looks fine on my 80-inch LCD panel. Only problem I have is I need to use a step ladder to read the top part of the screen, then climb down to read the bottom parts.