Is there anyone using the forum who doesn’t realize this link is these topics?
This was posted 2 hours ago and 17 people had looked this topic in that time with 3 people clicking on the link to visit Armorama and view the feature. I just want to get a feel for how many people don’t realize this is how it works.
And FYI “Show Full Post” does nothing. Ignore it. I would get rid of it if I could but that is not possible.
Thanks,
Jim
I think it would be much better if at the opening of the topic it would be directed directly to the link page, not to a sterile message with a link to click and then go to the actual article … it is one of the few things that really I do not understand and do not like in the new forum
Thank’s Jim. I get how the links work and have been using them frequently to navigate the site. However, I do concur with Vicious.
—mike
That sort of linkage is not possible. The topic has to exist for their to be a discussion capability for the article page. Actually this is the way it worked in our old forum as well. The only difference was I was able to (over time) add in more things like preview images to the forum topic. However I don’t have any control over how this functionality works, unless the developers opt to make it do a one box preview like this:
A box like this would be something … better than a kick in the teeth 
Well I have been taken by the “See Full Post” button more than once. 
And me. Fool me once shame on you… 
I regularly view this type of post, read the intro-text and then decide if I want to click the link or not.
Sometimes the topic/title in itself is sufficient to make up my mind if I want to view the post or not.
I have wondered this myself. I know how the hyperlink works and have been using it to go to the main article, but noted few others appear to be doing so compared to what I thought was a hit rate on the old forum.
Like Robin, I decide whether to move on or not based on the info-text and I guess a lot of others do so too.
The system generated post is far from ideal.
IMHO the ideal title should show the title, but also the type of content (news story / review / feature article) and the manufacturer. The forum post itself needs an image showing what the content is all about, similar to what Jim displayed in a post above.
I really hope the developers would address this issue, as more informative system generated posts would provide a better connection of the content site and forums.
Mario
I’m with Robin and Peter. I generally base my interest on the topic title (that gets me to open the post) and the brief description (that gets me to open the website article). As Mario suggests, these two items really need to be complete and accurate.
Like a lot of folks, I’m pretty biased towards a couple of particular scales, so, if that’s missing when it’s otherwise appropriate, I can get a little “miffed” after clicking on several links only to find a “site content” article that’s about stuff I actually have very little interest in.
I also suspect that I might be missing out on some interesting new stuff since there’re so many “site content” posts and only so much time to visit.
However, be that as it may, as long as the post title has the complete nomenclature of the item and the post has a brief description that provides additional details, I’ll follow the link if my interest is piqued.
I don’t find the overall “system” particularly cumbersome or awkward, but the post title really does need to grab my attention right up front as I scroll through the main topic-post listing.
Yeah… I get that approach to it. Still… now 70 views and 16 clicks. You would think the title was enough to let people know if they were interested or not as it did include the scale, tank type and manufacturer.
Ahh, but this topic right here might have generated a few extra views as well.
At least two that I know about …
Or it could be that not many people are interested in a 1/16 Panzer 1A. I know I have no interest in one.
I imagine that a lot of folks are still getting used to the new format, and without the preview box, there does seem to be more perceptual “distance” between the websites and the forum. Before it felt like you were just navigating around within the same site, but now it feels like (what it is) leaving the forums to go to an altogether different internet location. Sure, it’s not really hard by any means to navigate from the forums to one of the network sites and back again, but it’s now pretty obvious that you’re leaving the forums to go look at something on one of the sites. Add to that that every link clicked on one of the new sites takes you just that much farther away from the forums. Before they essentially felt like one place, but now it’s clear that they’re totally different internet places.
It could be that there’s just some hesitation to do that (perhaps even an unconscious hesitation, at that). Leaving the forums might “feel” like leaving a comfortable and familiar place, like stepping out of a warm room full of people you’re socializing with to go into another room by yourself to look at something. Then, when you return, you’ve seen something but no one else back in the first room has shared that, so there’s less motivation to bring it up in discussion.
That is, the issue might be more about the psychology of the shared social experience of the forum place and less about the specifics of the way the notice about the new item is made. Perhaps the issue is the perception of the integration of the review-announcement article with the forum.
I don’t know what the technical remedy could be to increase the perception that the forum and the website(s) are a seamless whole, but perhaps that’s what needs to be changed?
4 now! 
But those aren’t included in the tracking on the other topics link. The article on Armorama itself has 540+ views so clearly most people still viewing the site via… the site.
When people want to read site content they go to the sites.
When people want the topics, discussions and banter in the forums they go to the forums.
What is the view count for the Armorama post?
How many have clicked the link?
Mike… that was deep.
I think you are likely correct though that some of those are clearly the issues involved. Sadly I doubt there is much of a technical remedy based on the platform changes. There are other commenting systems I can use for the content sites though. Facebook, Disqus, etc. Then the forums would really be separated though.
19 clicks on the forum topic (with 83 views), 4 on this one
The article has now been viewed 551 times on Armorama.
Is there a dark theme option on those pages? It’s like a flash going off in my face when I visit. I’ve resorted to shielding my eyes or looking away when I navigate from here to there.
And speaking of those “clicks”… It takes more of them to get there.
IMHO.
Still love the new site.
—mike
