You’ve heard the rumorsin a few days, the webs most popular college-bound site will get even better! We surveyed College Confidential members, and your suggestions paved the way for a fresh new format that will enable you to:
<li>Tag other users with the @mentioning feature</li>
<li>Opt into Facebook/Twitter-integrated activity streams</li>
<li>Use customizable avatars to put a face to your CC presence</li>
<li>Organize discussions better with improved bookmarking</li>
<li>Get advanced notifications on the news you need</li>
<li>Safeguard your info with stronger password protection</li>
With all this excitement, College Confidential is still proud to offer the same great community forums, user support, and expert information that have made us a household name. Get ready to experience College Confidential like never before!
I’m not sure I know what it means to opt into Facebook/Twitter-integrated activity streams. I’m hoping “opt” is the operative word, and that we are not going to be required to use Facebook in order to post.
Meh to 1,2, and 3 for me, also. The sharing of info for FB/Twitter integration concerns me. What kind of info will CC get from permission to share? Exactly what is “news you need”? CC is going to keep me informed of news? (That’s not why I come here. News from posters is one thing, but CC doesn’t need to be sending me info on news they think I need!) Maybe it will be as short-lived as the greenies popularlty contest debacle.
I’d love to see a simple LIKE button on comments…many times, I’d like to give props to fellow posters but I don’t have to time to write a post and tell them.
In phase 2, I’d love to see a thread ranked by most LIKES.
Any social linkage is optional and entirely up to you. We named the site “confidential” for a reason! But, some members may prefer to integrate some of their activity here with social sites just as they do on many other websites.
I agree with SouthernHope that a Like button would be handy. However, ranking threads by the number of Likes would be a great way to bring back the Greenies war. lol
This is the direction every website is taking. It makes for a cluttered interface of options most never use. Stronger password protection? To protect what? Avatars? Seriously? The add nothing to discussion forums. If anyone was fan of the online magazine Slate before their redesign turned it into an unusable jumble, you’ll be quaking at the thought of anyone messing with the perfectly functional CC.
I would like to see a quote button feature. I’ve been going to other sites that have had that feature for years and I can’t understand why this site doesn’t. It’s 2014, for goodness sakes.
I have to agree with all of the above. I stopped using a few sites when it became “all about the avatars” instead of the conversation. The avatars just got bigger and flashier and took up most of the posts.
I share everyone’s concern about clutter, and we’ve tried to strike a good balance between features and visual overload. In forums, it’s a bit tricky - some survive with the same page design they had ten+ years ago. This can be comforting to long-term members, but off-putting to new arrivals. Changing forum design and function always produces painful reactions from some members, but we hope we’re building a strong base for future enhancements.
