Related Topics

Holy macaroni! When did you add this? It's really neat!

About 30 minutes ago?

Edit: changed 10 minutes ago to 30, as I ment, about 10 minutes before your post

Oh, that's the related topics section. I thought it was just some.. random topics or something. Cool.

I can't really think of a nice way to say this: this is nothing but a waste of server CPU.  Don't add random extensions just for the fun of it.

I agree with minmay: I can't find any practical use for it, either.  Pardon me if there is indeed a legitimate use for it that couldn't be accomplished through the search function, though.

Plus, are the topics even that related to each other?  From the looks of under this quick post thing, it's just searching for related words in topics, which is hardly useful at all.

What related? oh there it is. I don't know about this, it's a forum, not a wiki.

I see no reason to suddenly remove it. I added it because it is very handy (atleast for me it is).

I'm not going to remove it unless it seems that the server can't handle it.

2Minmay: if you can't say something nice, then you need more time to think things through, or perhaps not say anything at all? What you do is plain insulting and it could provoke a negative response from my end. (Seen the Official Forum Rules lately?)

I have to take the contra-stance too.
It is disrupting the theme, and it really doesn't actually give relevant/related topics.
thus, I don't see that there is any reason to have it. it would maybe be sort of alright if it were collapsible like all the other categories, but as it is, it seems useless and cluttering, not neat at all.

sorry lp, but i kinda have to agree. scrolling to the bottom of the window, it really does take up a little too much space. just add a collapsible fuction to it and that would be great

I'd be fine with it if it were collapsible or togglable in the UCP, but otherwise I hate it so very very much. I'm used to holding mouse3 and dragging down to quickly get to the quick-reply, and now the quick-reply is at the top, which just looks awful. Maybe it's just the OCD in me talking, but really, it's horrible.

I see no reason to suddenly remove it. I added it because it is very handy (atleast for me it is).

If you don't tell us why it's handy for you, it doesn't help us.  Obviously you know of some use for it, and obviously some of us don't.  Share this use with us if you don't want us to think this is a pointless addition.

2Minmay: if you can't say something nice, then you need more time to think things through, or perhaps not say anything at all? What you do is plain insulting and it could provoke a negative response from my end. (Seen the Official Forum Rules lately?)

Please try not to be offended when given honest advice.

I'm with the majority. None of these "related topics" are related to this topic.
Going to a random thread yields the same irrelevance.
My main qualm is just that they have nothing to do with anything, except they apparently share some words or something. Not only that, but they're mostly very old and dead threads.

I'll think about the advice given in this topic.

Please try not to be offended when given honest advice.

Honesty and respect are not mutually exclusive. In that wording, I see only the former but a total lack of the latter.

Minmay, that could've - and should have - been worded better. Things like "Don't add random extensions just for the fun of it" looks like a memo from boss to a subordinate, and that tone certainly doesn't fit the situation here. If you find it difficult to voice your opinion without using a terse, bossy tone, perhaps it may help to consider that there is a real person behind the username, and using the forum is a privilege.

My opinion on the new feature is that its usefulness depends on the situation. For example: right after posting this, I will go and post to a topic where the staff discusses this in detail. Now I can do so directly by clicking on the related topic that's been brought up by the new feature. Compared with the old method (back to the forum mainpage, get into the right forum, find the topic to discuss, click to open, scroll to bottom and post), it's a time-saver. Okay, not much time, but if you're a power-user, that time will add up quickly.

A potential disadvantage is that some people will be more likely be drawn to old topics and post useless stuff there (ie. increase in necro-posting). But I'd say, let's wait and see whether the problems outweigh the advantages.