How to Find Active Discussions in the Forum and Avoid Duplicate Threads

[Cat]

Don't know about the rest of y'all but I'm still struggling mightily with finding things in this (not so new now) forum. Today I got scolded for commenting on a duplicate thread rather than the main thread - which I had no idea even existed. How on earth would I know about an active conversation happening on a thread that was started several months ago?

Well, I did some digging, and it turns out that the "recent" feature works differently on the Explore page https://community.zazzle.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/Explore (which is the only one I visit regularly) than it does on the specific forum pages. On the Explore page, sorting by "recent" gives you the most recently started threads - NOT the most recently commented upon. 

BUT if you go to the individual forum, sorting by "recent" gives you the thread with the most recent comments! Who knew? 

Well anyhow, I personally think it's a major pain in the rear end to have to check each forum separately, but I'm gonna try to force myself to get into the habit so I don't miss important conversations and/or create problems for the Zazzle mods by creating or participating in duplicate threads. 

Hope this is helpful to someone out there!

[Windy]

If we had the ability to delete and to edit our posts, there would be fewer duplicate threads.  

[LMGildersleeve]

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@Cat wrote:

Don't know about the rest of y'all but I'm still struggling mightily with finding things in this (not so new now) forum. Today I got scolded for commenting on a duplicate thread rather than the main thread - which I had no idea even existed. How on earth would I know about an active conversation happening on a thread that was started several months ago?

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Well, for one you could go to the Community Home page https://community.zazzle.com/  and use the Search function there. You don't have to go to each individual parent forum to search. If you use the search on the Community Home page the keywords you choose will be searched across all boards.

[Cat]

Thanks for the tip. I've avoided doing that when there's a problem that I want to report, because I thought if I commented on an old thread it would never get seen by the mods. Perhaps that's not how it works.

[LMGildersleeve]

@Catperhaps if you tag Scott with the @ sign on your new post he will see it. 😁

[tracytrends]

@Cat  RE: BUT if you go to the individual forum, sorting by "recent" gives you the thread with the most recent comments! Who knew? 
///////(Not sure how to make a BLOCK of that so you're quoted)////////
What is the URL for the "Individual forum" where you can click sort by "recent"?
- I am not finding it

URLs that I use:
https://community.zazzle.com/  list of boards
https://community.zazzle.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/Explore  latest conversations

But I am experiencing what you originally said, that "these don't show the most recent posts."
- I updated a thread yesterday that has never had a reply. Maybe it is not considered a "latest conversation" since I am only talking to myself in there?  Anyway, it does NOT SHOW in the Explore url which is what I use myself to view the latest news and issues.

(my post: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/store-management/fastest-way-to-trigger-index-and-or-re-index-produc... appears fine in Store Management Forum Board, but doesn't show in Explore conversations.)

So please what is the URL for "individual forum" to see the most recent POSTS vs CONVERSATIONS? Pls screenshot the "recent" sort button if possible. THANK YOU 🙂

[ColsCreations]

https://community.zazzle.com/t5/creators/ct-p/ssell

How to See Newest Comments/Replies 

[tracytrends]

Thank you, but that takes me to the boards when I click - I see each forum topic and no way to sort by newest post.

I'm wondering why I can't find my thread and I also noticed that despite us updating in here with some "Latest Updates", even THIS thread doesn't show when I go to the LATEST conversations here: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/Explore 

Maybe it is what it is and I will just have to always check each board section area, but I also just wanted to point out that when people don't get replies, MAYBE it's because the post has not been seen by hardly anyone.
***OR I am still missing how to get them to show, like where to click.
*I appreciate your time

[ColsCreations]

Sorry, I guess I don't understand what you're wanting. I've never seen that Latest Conversations feed. I just go to the link I posted, look for the bold items, read what interests me, and Mark All as Read on my way out. Your comment is here

https://community.zazzle.com/t5/store-management/fastest-way-to-trigger-index-and-or-re-index-produc...

I saw it and read it last night.

[Windy]

My experience in these forums tells me that when people do not get replies it's for one of two reasons, usually the former: 

1. They have not asked the question in any kind of an understandable way, and/or have used an (unintentionally) misleading title. 

2. No one knows the answer.

EDIT Now that I have read the thread to which you are referring, I can add a third reason:

3. Super complicated topic which most people have not themselves wrestled with already.

[Cat]

@Windy "Super complicated topic which most people have not themselves wrestled with already." Bwahahaha! Ain't that the truth!

[Cat]

Well, I'm not sure I'm the right person to give advice on navigating the forum since I totally suck at finding anything. As far as I know there is no general "latest comments" feed. You have to go check each board individually.

So, to get to each board I use the "Creators" menu at the top.

Then at the top of the individual board there's a dropdown that allows you to order by most recent (I think that's the default). This orders the threads by most recent comments, but you can't see any comments or anything unless you click on the thread in question.

But the individual boards seem to work differently. Some don't have a "most recent" option - at least the ideas and suggestions board doesn't. On that board the choices are "hot ideas" "top ideas" and "new ideas" - no clue what that means in terms of most recent.

Anyhow, I'm gonna go read through @ColsCreations post now. Honestly I find this whole forum to be quite overwhelming.

[BKMuir]

I have commented several times on the inability to find all of the RECENT comments in the IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS board. Lately it hasn't been too bad, but WHY can't this board be sorted the same as the others with the LATEST COMMENTS being what is sorted on?

NEW IDEAS should be the newest THREADS

HOT IDEAS  should be newest COMMENTS

TOP IDEAS - I have no idea what this would be - possibly ideas that Zazzle is taking to heart and actually working on?

[ColsCreations]

On same note, I was looking last night for the most recent / main thread of the many discussing indexing delays. Several have been locked now (great!) but you can't tell that until you open the thread. I was wondering if there is a forum option the Mod can turn on that will put a locked icon or whathaveyou on such threads so you can tell by looking at the main list they are locked/closed.

[CreativeLeahG]

I myself use forum thus (in this order)

1. Check Notifications
2. Check Latest Conversations

Anything specific I am looking for ( if I remember!) via main forum page I use search function.

Meanwhile, If duplicate threads once identified were locked, no possible way to make this error?