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usernames linked to wordpress.com blogs

  1. timethief
    Member

    Because wordpress.com usernames are not linked to wordpress.com blogs as they were with our previous forum software those bloggers voluntarily trying to help on the forums cannot see the blogs and provide speedy assistance. Consequently, when bloggers ask questions on the forum there is often an unnecessary exchange of posts causing frustration and delay when it comes to getting answers.

    Provided the blogs are not "private" I want to see that wordpress.com usernames are linked to wordpress.com blogs as they were with our previous forum software.

  2. drmike
    Member

    I have asked staff for at the very least the ability for moderators to see a list of a user's blogs on their profile page but have been told that that would be a policy violation as those blogs may be marked as private.

    Never wanted to see the blogs but just being able to see the output of get_users_blogs(); would be helpful.

    A quick check of how long a member has had their account usually helps.

  3. timethief
    Member

    (1) Sometimes the date helps but lately that isn't a frequent occurrence.
    (2) Sometimes we can type in the username and locate the blog by adding .wordpress.com to it.
    (3) Often clicking on a username links us to a commercial website rather than a wordpress.com blog.
    (4) All of those tactics are unnecessary time wasters that cause frustration and delay getting answers.
    (5) Providing the two Moderators with lists may be helpful to Moderators but it certainly would not be helpful to the rest of the volunteers who frequently serve while there is no Moderator online.
    (6) Regarding the forum profile the website field ought to be changed to state wordpress.com blog url . As it is now with bloggers linking to commercial websites rather than their wordpress.com blogs it means that wordpress.com is in essence allowing them to use their wordpress.com usernames to drive traffic to third party sites.

    The former forum software we used linked usernames automatically to primary blogs. Is this software we have now not able to do that?

  4. ryannjenn
    Member

    Another few options would be to add a mandatory field (not optional like the tags field) when creating a new forum thread that asks for the blog in question that the user is having difficulty with. If it's marked as private then it would obviously just go to the main wordpress website or it could keep it hidden and state private as such.

    This field could also be a drop down list of all of the users blogs so they could select the blog in question and not have to type it and then create more confusion with bad links, extra www, etc. Similar to the drop down on the dashboard.

  5. timethief
    Member

    @ryannjenn
    Great ideas!

  6. raincoaster
    Member

    That would be a great idea.

    The one problem I see with these suggestions are with blogs marked as Mature. It was requested that they not be linked to in the main forum, which is I think one reason there's no automatic linkage. What if they have a question to ask?

  7. timethief
    Member

    IMO the bloggers with "mature" content blogs simply have to unlink their blogs from their profiles in the forum and say my blog is NSFW (not safe for work)when they post to the forum. It's the same as those who have "private" blogs. They just unlink their blogs from their forum profiles and say NSFW or private blog. Then if answers to their problems are not forth coming from volunteers answering questions on the forum Mark can deal with them.

  8. raincoaster
    Member

    They won't. You know that. It won't even occur to them. Hell, half the time people don't even know that their blog has been marked mature, because they don't get an email.

    If we impliment ryannjenn's solution, there could be a tickbox or an automatic redirect same as for private blogs; that would work.

  9. timethief
    Member

    You're right the automatic re-direct that ryannjenn suggested would work - problem solved.

    I don't know where you're getting the number that 1/2 of those who have mature blogs don't know they have been categorized under "mature". I'm of the opinion that it's very likely that the vast majority of bloggers posting sexually explicit images would not be likely to show these images to their children or their grandparents. And I sincerely doubt that those who were posting images of people engaged in sexual activity in their sidebars that were linked to porno sites didn't know that the content would not be considered suitable by all viewers.

  10. timethief
    Member

    I'm bumping this because I'd like to hear what others have to say about ryannjenn's suggestion before I send in a feedback request.

  11. judyb12
    Member

    i think ryannjen's idea is a great one. Could fields be added for OS & browser, too? They wouldn't necessarily be drop-downs, but at least including a field might prompt people to consider including that info.

  12. ryannjenn
    Member

    I like the idea ;)

    I think a field asking for browser, version, os, security software running, etc would be overkill for most threads started here, but having it as an optional field might be a good compromise.

  13. drmike
    Member

    With all due respect, we can't get folks to put their posts into the correct subforums around here. I've moved six so far today.

  14. raincoaster
    Member

    That's right but IF they had no option but to fill in the form before posting to the forum, that wouldn't be so much of a problem, would it? It would screen out the really dumb ones, for instance.

  15. judyb12
    Member

    @drmike:
    oftentimes, people just don't consider what kind of information might be needed in order for others to properly help them. At least adding the fields to the rather sparse posting form would jog a few people into providing it.

    Frankly, i don't think the issue with correct sub-forums is valid, because as far as i can tell the sub-forums are useless anyway (all posts go to the main page).

    No one is claiming that this would be the end to the problems, but it might mitigate them.

  16. engtech
    Member

    ryannjenn is spot on.

    That would also solve the "your blog isn't hosted on wordpress.com" issue that pops up AGAIN and AGAIN

  17. sulz
    Member

    the nicest discussions always happen when i'm asleep!

    yes ryannjenn's idea is good. i also think the idea of putting more questions when filling out the form to start a thread here will definitely help users to better describe their problems and also to filter our the wp.org fellas.

  18. raincoaster
    Member

    It could be stored as a cookie so they only have to do it once per session, or even made a part of the Profile so it automatically comes up and they only have to do that once at all.

  19. timethief
    Member

    Put on your thinking caps and bring it on bloggers!
    When it looks like no one else has anything left to suggest then I will write this up and send it in to staff.

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