The Boards System Sorely Needs Updating
It's been a few years now since the new Boards have been up and running, but I feel like it's getting to be about the time to update it further.
I feel the primary issue of the Boards is the lack of constructive discussion, many posts are simple complaint threads, others are arguments, and many valid threads are downvoted simply because people don't agree with the person's opinion (Even though you're supposed to vote according to the constructiveness of the post). There is further I could go on the subject, but I've yet to find a person that really enjoys the current system we have, so I'll save everyone time and hop right into the crux of the post
The current Up/Down vote system isn't cutting it.
We, as players, need to have more ways to self moderate, and right now the up/downvote system (a la reddit, what a wonderfully cheerful place) isn't doing it's job well. we need options to express basic agreement/disagreement that is separate from the "Relevancy" of a comment or thread, and we need a way to thank people that express something that we were thinking or make us laugh, etc.
Here are the buttons we need:
Agree/Disagree - Mutually exclusive, you can either agree or disagree, and change your vote if you change your mind. If you agree and disagree with a statement at the same time, it probably warrants a comment instead of a vote.
- These should be individually counted and easily visible to anyone reading a comment. This should be the primary form of feedback people receive. I'd rather know that 501 people agreed but another 500 disagreed, instead of seeing a "1" next to my post. It makes me feel like nobody gives a crap about what I just poured possibly hours of my time into, and more importantly, seeing those numbers lets posts like "Nerf X Champion" allows people have a visible opinion on the subject without needing to construct a post that may not be appreciated or outright attacked, thus avoiding much of the toxicity generated by disagreement.
Relevancy - Serves the current purpose the up/down votes do right now. If the comment is relevant to the original post, upvote, if not, downvote. by separating Agreement and Relevancy, we can sort by popularity or relevance more effectively. Relevancy should be more important than popularity for most threads, and treated as such.
-
Original posts (new threads) should not have a regular relevancy vote option, as all posts within should be vaguely relevant to that one. The Original posts, at their end, should have a "Constructiveness" vote. This vote is intended to indicate how constructive a post is towards stimulating discussion. Simple compliant threads that don't offer any reasonable solutions should have a lower constructiveness vote (which can be sorted when browsing through threads), while those that offer well thought out solutions should rise to visibility more easily this way.
-
On one's profile, the average Relevancy of a person's posts can be shown, as well as hovering over someone's icon while in discussion view. (This score is per section, so Relevancy can't be farmed in say, Memes and Games, and equate to a high score in Gameplay and Balance. It will show the player's Relevancy score when you hover over their icon for the particular category that the thread was posted in. Going to someone's board profile will show you their scores in each section of the boards.) Having a high Relevancy Score (that can only be shown by someone actively hovering over your icon, to prevent immediate dismissal of low scored individuals) should indicate that the individual generally knows what they're talking about when they make statements.
Thanks - This button is for those that wish to express gratitude towards someone for a post, weather it be insightful, funny, or otherwise. This option should cut down on a lot of unnecessary posts ("Lol!" or "I was thinking the same thing"). We can have something akin to the current honor system with this, giving thanks for someone being helpful or courteous making us laugh, with a lifetime count much like our current "lifetime vote count".
- For this, other people can see how many have thanked a person for their posts, but the owner of that person can see who thanked them, allowing Rioter's to have a presence on the boards without needing to comment on everything, and getting flooded with replies asking random questions each time they post, derailing a conversation. I really feel like this would cut down on a lot of issues with communication that the community and Riot has by adding this feature, more than any other.
Any more than those three systems will begin to overcrowd the interface and confuse people. These buttons need to have clear effects (a boards tutorial of sorts would be great.) it should be obvious what these buttons do. Example format for a regular post
| Name/Icon | |---------- / ---------|
------ Icon ------ --------[ /\ ]------- - Relevance - --------[ / ]------- ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------[Agree] or [Disagree]---------------------------------[Thank You!]-------------------------------------- ----(# Agreement) (# Disagreement)-------------------(# Thank You's)-----------------------------------
As the post owner, hover over "# of Thank You's" To show a list of those that thanked you for your post. Others can only see how many people thanked you.
Anyone can hover over the Name and Icon area to show the player's average Relevance score for their posts for the board that that comment currently resides in. Relevance is an average of recent posts, so someone who stopped playing with a high relevance score will start back at 0 if they stay off for long enough. This is not intended to be used as an argument ("Your relevance score is low so your opinion doesn't matter") but more of a general indication of how in tune the player is with current strategies and champions when they give balance feedback. Rioter "relevance" votes should hold more weight in my opinion, as they normally have the information to confirm statements that players make.
It is my fervent hope that the boards is upgraded as soon as possible. Opening up a better communication channel between Riot and the community, as well as improving communication between players needs to improve, and I simply don't see it happening with the current system we have.
