Because the web should revolve around you
5499 fans
 Join this Club
Search Club:
 Invite friend 
fanpop > society & lifestyle > fanpop > articles > guide

Fanpop Updates: Forum Enhancements, Answers & Link Sharing

Guide by papa posted 8 months ago
4.9
 by 54 fans
save Bookmark and Share
Hello Fanpoppers. I know this article is late but figured I should still post it in the event that I hit on something that hasn't been covered by one of your fellow fanpoppers in an earlier article or forum post (however unlikely that might be).

Here's a little bit of insight into some of the new things that you might have run into on Fanpop in the past few weeks...




Video and image embeds
You can now embed a video or image in your initial forum post (and all of the subsequent replies). Just look for the "add an image" or "embed a video" link on the forum submission form. Each post is limited to one embedded item per post (we did this to keep things simple).

Hopefully this will help with some of the forum games (caption contests anyone?) going forward.


Save to favorites
You can already add forums to your profile updates "watchlist" (so that future thread activity appears in your updates event-feed). We have now added a "save" button that allows you to bookmark the thread to your list of "favorites". Your personal list of "favorites" can be viewed from your profile page.


Most replies filter
We added a filter to the "most replies" sort on the forum index page. When you have enabled the "most replies" sort order you can now view items with the most replies in the last day, last week and for all-time.






Answers launched a few weeks back at the beginning of March 2009. There are already several guides out there that are superior to anything I might write :-)

I will refer folks to the following unofficial user guides:
* Cinder's excellent guide to Answers etiquette
* Harold's take on picks, answers, quizzes and forums
(though I differ with Harold in that I think that questions with single valid answers are valid)

For the most part we had anticipated Answers being an area where a continuously updated FAQ could take shape. The questions would fall in that area between opinion/preference questions which would be asked in picks and the fact-based game that is the quiz. If you want to stump your friends by testing their knowledge, use the quiz. If you want to find out what your fellow fanpoppers' preference is for a given issue, make a pick. If you have a specific question that you don't know the answer to, you can use answers. It's really a way of allowing fans to tap into the deep knowledge-base of other expert fans. Wondering what the song at the end of an episode was? Ask a question! Want to know when a movie's release date is? Sure, that's a valid question (imho). Want to know the best way to poach an egg? Also a good question.

Of course if you want to know "Who is the hottest?", I personally think this is better served as a pick. And no, for those of you still wondering, the actual stars aren't reading and answering our questions (at least as far as I'm aware). So questions like "Miley Cyrus can you email me?" or "John Krasinski will you marry me?" are probably not going to ever be answered to your satisfaction :-)

Note that each user may select a single answer as "best" for a given question. Once a response has sufficient user feedback it may be elevated to "best answer" status so that future visitors to the site might benefit from particularly good responses.

Also, in time certain respondents with a solid track-record may be recognized as experts in their field of expertise in a given spot in the "top answerer" module.


(shameless self-promotion)
(shameless self-promotion)





Finally we added some new content sharing functionality to the site that allows you to better share cool content you find on Fanpop with your friends on other social networks and social bookmarking sites. Just click on the "share" button on a video page or an image or a quiz and you will see a larger popup menu with a host of choices (Facebook, MySpace and Twitter among others).





That's it for this latest update. Keep fanpopping and sending us feedback! And be sure to send props out to Michael and Cliff for all their hard work on these new features.

URL:   Bookmark and Share
28 comments
user photo
YAY!!! You guys made my year with the video and image embedding!!!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
smile
papa said:
We still need article/soapbox video embedding
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
harold said:
Aw, crap - I'm just about to publish my article that overlaps this one a fair amount. Oh well.
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Cinders said:
You and papa must be psychically linked, harold.

Great job with all the cool features you've managed to launch in the past month to GREAT success! And thanks for this handy-dandy guide, too! Very much appreciated!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
papa said:
Harold, you should post yours! I purposefully avoided talking too much about answers since both you and Cinders did admirable jobs of it previously.

Plus, whenever I try to define what I *think* answers should be and then I go in and see what is actually happening, I kinda just throw my arms up in the air :-)

I think I saw someone ask what url you use to get to the fanpop home page (!)
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
OMFG! Videos in soapboxes is gonna be EPIC!!! I can`t wait!!!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
LMAO papa, they use the answers feature in all the wrong ways . It`s makes me die a little inside .
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
smile
I was a little on the fence with the embedding images in the forums but now I like it! way to go, great job guys.
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
big smile
PotterGal said:
This is all so great! And YES. Videos in soapboxes were be so FANTASTIC!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
big smile
these all look like great improvements! i can't wait to try them out!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
big smile
Katreader said:
Thanks so much for the insight. I love the possibility of "top answerer", from Oracle to The Rather Wise. LOL!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
kiss
chel1395 said:
It all looks super! Thanks for continuing to update and advance Fanpop. :D
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
surprise
ha ha ha- i was a guru at some point and didnt notice?!?!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
mischievous
Cammie said:
Thanks for writing this, papa, as I know there are still some users who weeks later are still not aware of some of the new features.

Haha,yes I saw that question too about the url to the Fanpop homepage. For goodness sake, there's a highlighted box in the Answers section that clearly explains the difference between what should be asked in Answers,picks and quizzes.
Unlike Kathiria82, I don't die a little inside ... but I do want to kill a little everytime I see the Answers feature being used incorrectly!
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Amazing new features from brilliant creators! :)
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Thank you! :)
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
heart
astroasis said:
Thanks, Papa! Both for all you do for the site and for making this article! :D
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
khfan12 said:
COOOL! (I just noticed somthin different yesterday...)
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
laugh
Okay72 said:
Cool!I don't usually like changes but this is great! :D
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
cool all of yuo do such great jobs!!
btw is the fanpop pages changed to black or is it just my computer?
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
smile
vider69 said:
Fanpop just keeps on getting better, I love it.
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
hmmm
Ratdog said:
jennifer_02, Fanpop looks black on my computer as well. It's not that nice to look at tbh.
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
great changes! thanks. and Ratdog, it's pink on my computer now.
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Locita said:
I like the changes so far :)
the only thing that bothers me is that I can't rate one of my friend's stuff anymore :( It worked before, but now when I rate it the stars turn yellow at first but when I go back there later it's not yellow anymore it looks like never been rated
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Visitor said:
I was wondering, since answers keep being added to a question, why is there no way to change your choice of 'best answer'?

Or is it just my daftness keeping me from seeing the way to do so?

:)

posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Sappp said:
Visitor who is my very best friend, is sitting next to me right now, hitting herself in the head after I showed her the very simple way to change your 'best answer' vote.

For those who, like her, have not discovered it yet: Simply click the other answer you want to vote for and it will change.

I still love her :)
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
Locita said:
we still have not figured out why the rating doesn't work anymore :(
anybody has an idea why ? we live in the same city but different locations ! could it have something to do with me living in a students home where lots of computers are connected ?
posted 8 months ago.
 
user photo
harold said:
So I'm curious about an hypothetical situation which I haven't seen anyplace but still interests me: if an answer is elevated to "best answer", can it be bumped if enough users rate another answer "best answer"? Or is it that the first best answer is always the best answer?

As I say, I haven't seen this situation, but I have a fear of it happening with some of my Answer Requests, where the answers are often "I don't know". I'd really hate for that (or something similarly unhelpful) to be elevated to "best answer", on the off chance that someone might eventually answer one of my ARs.
posted 6 months ago.
 
related links
popular content
fanpop home - company blog - about us - advertise on fanpop - faq - sitemap - terms of service - privacy policy - contact us
connect with us on
Facebook MySpace bebo hi5 YouTube Twitter