Forum Changes -> Web User Group on August 3, 2022

[Arielle Popstar]

3 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

mmhm... And yet, while maybe we should have a mechanism installed in our cars that prevents them from accessing a drive thru window... we don't.

Surely could program a Tesla to bypass all McDonalds so why shouldnt we be able to program the forum software to bypass threads?

Edited August 4, 2022 by Arielle Popstar

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

5 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Surely could program a Tesla to bypass all McDonalds so why shouldnt we be able to program the forum software to bypass threads?

As long you don't read the mboard on the Tesla's screen --- or try to install SL on it!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

27 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

I know this has been seriously requested, both now and in the past, but I fail to see the need for it. One simply doesn't click on the discussion! Or don't click the follow button. Or... you know, you do your own "ignore" software, with your head and hands?

Yeah, honestly, I don't get this either? I seem to have no problems not reading threads that don't interest me, or posts by people I don't particularly want to hear from. I've never really understood this.

But if it will make people less likely to gripe about threads they don't like or approve of, it might be a good thing.

[Seicher Rae]

8 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Surely could program a Tesla to bypass all McDonalds so why shouldnt we be able to program the forum software to bypass threads?

(smiles) Well of course we could. Both. But... really? I suppose someone out there can clamor for it. I prefer just going to the drive-thru, getting a large fry and chocolate shake and then hating myself days later for it. Like a normal person. Same for threads. Exactly the same.

[Seicher Rae]

26 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Yeah, honestly, I don't get this either? I seem to have no problems not reading threads that don't interest me, or posts by people I don't particularly want to hear from. I've never really understood this.

Well blocking individuals is one thing. I fought against it for years, but it does have its values and the folks I blocked 2 years ago, well I haven't changed those yet. Seems ok to me.  The need to "block" threads though, I don't get it. And to bring it back on topic? I guess these are things that could be brought up at other use group meetings? Along with the common software for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Seicher Rae

[Seicher Rae]

8 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

But if it will make people less likely to gripe about threads they don't like or approve of, it might be a good thing.

Or, apparently less likely to gripe about threads they don't read and/or comprehend... So yes, might be a good thing to bring up at September's user group.

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Seicher Rae

[Istelathis]

I've enjoyed the ability to block some threads on other forums, as far as to why it, comes to being out of sight, out of mind.  When it comes to controversial topics which I have a strong opinion on, the temptation is pretty strong to participate when I should know better to involve myself in.  Often my own curiosity gets the better of me, I will read a few posts and feel a desire to respond.

What can I say?  I can be weak willed at times.  Having the ability to block threads gives me a tool to combat that weak will, and leave any temptation behind from involving myself with a variety of topics.  With that said, most topics I can completely avoid with no desire to be part of them, there are certain topics I do feel passionate about though.

With the new forum rules I don't think it should be much of an issue anymore though, plus those threads are almost always doomed from the start.  It would still be nice to have though, when an obvious troll starts spamming the forums repeatedly with the same topic.  

[Seicher Rae]

2 minutes ago, Istelathis said:

I've enjoyed the ability to block some threads on other forums, as far as to why it, comes to being out of sight, out of mind.  When it comes to controversial topics which I have a strong opinion on, the temptation is pretty strong to participate when I should know better to involve myself in.  Often my own curiosity gets the better of me, I will read a few posts and feel a desire to respond.

What can I say?  I can be weak willed at times.  Having the ability to block threads gives me a tool to combat that weak will, and leave any temptation behind from involving myself with a variety of topics.  With that said, most topics I can completely avoid with no desire to be part of them, there are certain topics I do feel passionate about though.

With the new forum rules I don't think it should be much of an issue anymore though, plus those threads are almost always doomed from the start.  It would still be nice to have though, when an obvious troll starts spamming the forums repeatedly with the same topic.  

I appreciate your reasoned discussion to this, even though as I've said above, I don't get the need. So perhaps "need" is a strong word, and it would be a nice thing to have in your view? As I quipped, but meant it, I understand the weak will of doing the "thread" version of going to the drive through and regretting it afterwards. I do get "out of sight out of mind."

[bigmoe Whitfield]

40 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Surely could program a Tesla to bypass all McDonalds so why shouldnt we be able to program the forum software to bypass threads?

Forums like this are off the shelf solution, while they can be customized to a point,  there are certain things they will never be able to do without a full rewrite and LL can not rewrite another companies forum software.

[Arielle Popstar]

Just now, bigmoe Whitfield said:

Forums like this are off the shelf solution, while they can be customized to a point,  there are certain things they will never be able to do without a full rewrite and LL can not rewrite another companies forum software.

No but most forum software has premade modules for standard features, which thread blocking is fairly standard.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

No but most forum software has premade modules for standard features, which thread blocking is fairly standard.

That depends on the forum software it's self too,  but there is the item of placing people in specific roles which disallow view, but that's a top end job and not something that's easily given to users. 

[Arielle Popstar]

Just now, bigmoe Whitfield said:

That depends on the forum software it's self too,  but there is the item of placing people in specific roles which disallow view, but that's a top end job and not something that's easily given to users. 

No but thread blocking is normally a user feature and Kimmi already confirmed previously that this particular  software should have it but just not turned on.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

31 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

Well blocking individuals is one thing. I fought against it for years, but it does have its values and the folks I blocked 2 years ago, well I haven't changed those yet. Seems ok to me.  The need to "block" threads though, I don't get it.

Blocking individuals is a necessity, if only as a form of protection against harassment.

Ignoring threads? Don't get it, but have no objections to it either.

Honestly, there are some people I wish would ignore me and my threads -- I seem to disturb.or annoy them, and at the same time they're not contributing to the discussions except to gripe about them, so . . . win win, as I see it!

[bigmoe Whitfield]

5 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

No but thread blocking is normally a user feature and Kimmi already confirmed previously that this particular  software should have it but just not turned on.

I'd will have to go setup a demo of this and see if it's a feature or not.   my xenforo does not have it unless we put people into specific user groups.   I'll go setup a sales demo with these guys.   I'll report back once I'm done playing.

[Seicher Rae]

8 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Honestly, there are some people I wish would ignore me and my threads -- I seem to disturb.or annoy them, and at the same time they're not contributing to the discussions except to gripe about them, so . . . win win, as I see it!

fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.... I'll add yours to this list of those I ignore. sigh.

[CandyCole]

The 'Invision Community' forum software is commonplace for fora out on the interwebs and THIS is the only IC forum I know which does not employ the 'Ignore Topic' feature. What I do not know is if is a paid-for extension to the forum. I suspect that it is. On other fora I do ignore certain topics not pertaining to the overall subject of a forum, such as politics, Covid etc.. on a sports forum.

My shortcut to this forum is for a 'View New Content' link in which I have weeded out some of, in my opinion, irritating areas of contribution. For example; the Events section where someone posts an almost daily topic in CAPITALS about some LION CLUB or something. I got rid of that spam-like contribution a few weeks ago. My view new content has been cleansed.

I don't want to be exposed to absolutely everything on this or any other forum. Being exposed to every contributor is part and parcel of forum life. If you block an individual then it doesn't make them disappear, the system subsequently reminds you of the fact that you've blocked them by offering an option each time to view what they posted anyway. This is more of a distraction than actually not ignoring them in the first place. 

I only ever visit THIS forum when I have an issue or opinion or simply fancy reading what's currently on people's minds in SL. I do not visit for off-topic banter. The recent changes will not impact me in the slightest.

[June Starlight]

Has anyone ever filed a Jira for an option to ignore forum topic to be added?

edit: I am on a go right now and can't go look myself, but might do so later if it wouldn't come up otherwise.

Edited August 4, 2022 by June Starlight

[panterapolnocy]

6 hours ago, Innula Zenovka said:

I've never tried it, but if you have a subscription to Office 365, I think you could record the meeting using something like Audacity or OBS Studio and then use MS Word's Transcribe feature to upload and transcribe the meeting that way.  

YouTube itself is adding transcription to the videos - all of them, where voice (English) is present. Yes, it is automatically generated and takes time to get created, but is more than sufficient and fully understandable. I am pretty sure that the linked Web User Group meeting will get one in a few hours as well.

Edited August 4, 2022 by panterapolnocy

[Qie Niangao]

2 hours ago, June Starlight said:

Has anyone ever filed a Jira for an option to ignore forum topic to be added?

edit: I am on a go right now and can't go look myself, but might do so later if it wouldn't come up otherwise.

Yeah, just a couple years ago, @Chaser Zaks submitted https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-228954 that was closed with a comment:

Quote

This particular suggestion, unfortunately, cannot be tackled at this time. However, we regularly review previously deferred suggestions when circumstances change or resources become available.

I believe it could be re-opened with a pointer to this discussion, and a case could be made that with the other changes to the forums, now might be the time to revisit thread blocking.

(Personally, if I could change how blocking works, I'd like an option to block an individual completely. Once I've decided they truly have nothing to contribute but aggravation, I don't want to see which reactions their loathsome little mouse-claws have twitched on.)

[Dafadilia Wayfarer]

6 hours ago, Innula Zenovka said:

I've never tried it, but if you have a subscription to Office 365, I think you could record the meeting using something like Audacity or OBS Studio and then use MS Word's Transcribe feature to upload and transcribe the meeting that way.  

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/transcribe-your-recordings-7fc2efec-245e-45f0-b053-2a97531ecf57

ETA:  Alternatively, this looks as if will do real-time transcription, and has a (limited) free version:  https://otter.ai/pricing

I do appreciate your feedback, but this really doesn't address the issue that LL needs to come up with tools for deaf/hoh users so they can also experience real time voice meetings and events so we can participate and have a voice.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Dafadilia Wayfarer

[Dafadilia Wayfarer]

6 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I am certain this has been raised before. It's really odd, and more than a little embarrassing, that LL hasn't addressed it. 

Voice-to-text software has been around forever. Another simple solution would be to have Lindens respond in text rather than voice.

In any case, I'm sorry Daf. 😞 

Thank you Scylla. It is what it is though and I realize that.

A long time community I've been part of in SL even uses a tool during their voice events that puts voice to text. They've used that since at least 2009 when I joined their community.

[Qie Niangao]

I really wish Linden user groups were text-only, with transcripts uploaded to the wiki readily accessible to search, as they were ages ago.

YouTube may generate transcripts and it is an Alphabet property, but I don't know of a way to google all the Web User Group transcripts on YouTube to find references to the forum software. Text makes it trivial.

For deaf or HoH residents, user groups must be the least of it. Speaking of Alphabet, though, I gotta say that Android real-time transcription is pretty amazing. Not sure how one goes about routing the SL voice audio into Android; maybe just through the microphone? I clearly have no idea what the real challenges are here.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

34 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

I really wish Linden user groups were text-only, with transcripts uploaded to the wiki readily accessible to search, as they were ages ago.

YouTube may generate transcripts and it is an Alphabet property, but I don't know of a way to google all the Web User Group transcripts on YouTube to find references to the forum software. Text makes it trivial.

For deaf or HoH residents, user groups must be the least of it. Speaking of Alphabet, though, I gotta say that Android real-time transcription is pretty amazing. Not sure how one goes about routing the SL voice audio into Android; maybe just through the microphone? I clearly have no idea what the real challenges are here.

I have to wait for one of the bloggers to do this, I prefer the transscripts myself as it's hard to follow along with these videos at times.

[blissfulbreeze]

Since LL wants to sanitize the forums, which I don't blame them, why doesn't someone start a discord group to discuss anything? Why doesn't someone start an in world discussion?

Instead of trying to overturn things, would be less stressful to make your own platform.

[CandyCole]

39 minutes ago, blissfulbreeze said:

why doesn't someone start a discord group to discuss anything?

Naria Panthar has an SL place on Discord - here. I watch her YT channel but not part of her Discord.

I don't personally go there as I have no interest in the bulk of media platforms. I recognise names such as Discord, TikTok, Instagram, Flickr and others but I've never participated as I'm not interested in inviting nonsense into my life.