i would to know: when you are on the forum, do you browse the different categories individually, or do you use the 'recent posts' page?

i ask because i am trying to get a sense of how most users (literally) see the site in order to make some minor adjustments. all feedback would be appreciated.

my answer: i rarely go into the different category pages, and usually read via 'recent posts'.

tarin

if there are lurkers reading this who would be willing to answer the survey question but just not publicly, please send me a private message.

tarin

I ALWAYS use the "recent posts" page as that shows me the most discussed topics at the moment. But sometimes I go through the different categories to see if there are any insightful discussions from the past.

Hi,

I always use "recent posts" also. My "favorites" link uses it directly as opposed to it being pointed at the DhO home page or whatever.

Trent

Hi,

Recent Post but I have also found Category useful especially when looking into something

cheers
Jeff

I click on 'Recent Posts' and read from there.

Recent posts always.

Recent posts.

"Recent Posts", but I rarely scroll to the second or subsequent pages.

So in order not to miss new threads in the forums of particular interest to me, I also check those categories on a regular basis, because sometimes due to high volume, and when I don't check on a daily basis, new posts get buried on the second page of "recent posts".

Cheers,
Florian

Recent posts mostly, occasionally topic specific.

Almost only via "Recent Posts".

And, by the way: Great site, I really appreciate it, helps me a lot in my practice! And I still have hope that my first "real" post will emerge soon.

Mostly use 'recent posts'.

Thanks

I start with recent posts which sometimes leads other topics and threads

Recent posts now. When I found DhO ages ago, I would seacrh the categories for specfic info, on say 'how to get stream entry?, What the hell is a formation?" etc

Recent posts via RSS feed.

Btw, won't anyone who only rarely (if at all) looks at the recent posts page completely miss this survey? I mean, most people don't hang out in the "dho itself" category, there's not much going on there...

The vast majority of the time, I read recent posts. Rarely, I'll search for specific words/phrases, or browse the categories.

"Recent posts" is my favorite way of lurking too



Agreed. Maybe make this topic (temporarily) sticky in all sub forums?

i used to go to category specific, until i realized there was a recent posts tab (a couple months ago). now i just use recent posts.

I'm an occasional reader who mostly uses "recent posts".

The main software annoyance for me on this board is that there does not appear to be a way of jumping to the first post of a thread that I have not read. So if I come back after a few days I have to read through the threads I'm interested in and try to remember where I got to last time...

I'm surprised about this, since almost every other board I've used has a button to jump to the first unread post in the thread (assuming you are logged in, of course!).

Mike

When I joined DharmaOverground I subscribed to all discussion categories so I get all the messages delivered to my email inbox. I read them there. If a message is interesting, I click the link at the bottom of the message that takes me DhO website where the whole thread is displayed.

Paul

I occasionally check the recent posts. I rarely go into category pages.

Constance

Recent posts is clearly where the action is at. I'm a recent posts man, if that wasn't obvious enough

If I don't have something to post, I look to see what others are discussing to see if anything takes my fancy.

I have looked at categories but only by accident as I find there are too many for me to process so I just scan for one I already know ... Invariably the AF one

One thing I've noticed is that when a thread gets too long it's hard to find the new posts that I've seen in recent posts and are the reason I've opened the thread.

Craig

Occasionaly, I look at "My posts" if I'm looking to see if any of my posts have been responded to. Otherwise, almost always recent posts. and, I will scroll to the second page of recent posts if it's been a while. I only go to the specific categories if I'm gonna make a fresh post in that category. Usually when i read a post, I don't have any idea which category it's from, as it usually doesn't matter much to me.

Thanks for all the great moderation here - to whomever the crew is that helps maintain this website.
Thanks!

- Daniel

As many others seem to, I go to the Recent Posts... A suggestion - how about something which would take you immediately to the last post of a thread? This would be convenient for those long threads which re-surface with occasional postings, and save scrolling all the way down once you have the thread up.

Depends on why I stop by.

When I pass through out of curiosity or to see if there's something I can help with, I go via Recent Posts.

When I'm looking for a potential practice point to address an aspect of my practice, I dive into the category(ies) that I guess are closest to my current situation.

Recent posts, with the page size set to 75 threads. I rarely read past the first page, preferring to keep to current discussions.

Recent posts, always.

[Edited to add...]

I should add that I would probably prefer to keep an eye on things via categories, because there is plenty that does not interest me, but that the categorization is too finely grained to be useful in that regard.

Recent posts. And sometimes a month goes by when work and family make it hard to check-in, so I try to look at categories but I would agree with what Tom wrote ("I would probably prefer to keep an eye on things via categories...but that the categorization is too finely grained to be useful.") Broader categories would make it feasible to filter for my practice intention/direction.

Is anyone archiving the best threads? A tall order, and time consuming, I know. (or maybe that's happening somewhere and I'm missing it). A few of these threads are ones I return to repeatedly because they are so well stated and so fundamental. For instance the exchange between Florian and you (Tarin) "Helicopter". Others also...

as far as i know, no one is gathering 'the best threads' together anywhere, however all threads remain accessible in the dho archives (including the ones which were moved over, in 2009, from dho v.1 hosted at wetpaint), which can be browsed either by category or searched by keyword or string on the main discussion page.

there is, in the wiki section of the site, a 'best of the dho' page. this has not been updated in a long while, and i currently have no interest in updating it, as i think that what discussions are found valuable to read depends on who appraises them, the context they find those discussions in, the stage of their practice they are generally at, the circumstances they currently face, the thing they happened to be thinking about last before reading, etc. generally speaking, i find the conversation that happens here to be well-focused and carried by sincere practitioners, and to require little moderation to keep the signal-to-noise ratio favourable. as such, almost every thread is likely to have some pratical value. there are some threads which are almost entirely repetitions of themes and issues already dealt with in previous threads, and while certain questions do get posted time and again, and are questions their posters mightn't write if they had searched through the archives to find them already previously asked and answered (sometimes numerous times), i think this process of repetition is to some extent inevitable, and further, there may be some value in posters sharing openly with others that these are the particular questions they had on their minds.. and further still, if previous iterations of those questions (and their answers) were difficult for those posters to find in the archives for whatever reason, then others who lurk and have similar questions may also be unable to find them in the archives and so may get something from seeing those old questions asked (and answered) again. (hi lurkers.)

supposing that there are threads likely to be either very helpful to a wide range of readers or very helpful to a select demographic, however.. how would we know them? what are the defining characteristics of the threads you recognise to be of particular value to you, as well as of those you either have noticed or have surmised to be of especial value to a group of others? for example, what do you get from the 'helicopter' thread?

tarin

Most views? Since Liferay does not allow this kind of sorting automatically, it could be a handy thing for someone to collect the top threads based on popularity.

Hmm, I wonder why Liferay doesn't do that?

Tarin, I always use "recent posts".

Cheers
Sven

recent posts

what is common for me is to take long breaks from the entire internet

so, I show up here

occasionally

check a page or two of recent posts

look for posts by folks from ancient times

like dho 1.0 and the like

-peace out
nathan

"supposing that there are threads likely to be either very helpful to a wide range of readers or very helpful to a select demographic, however.. how would we know them? what are the defining characteristics of the threads you recognise to be of particular value to you, as well as of those you either have noticed or have surmised to be of especial value to a group of others? for example, what do you get from the 'helicopter' thread?"--tarin

Like I said, "a tall order." Editing is a challenging job and separating the wheat from the chaff is time consuming. I agree that there is value in seeing the same questions asked repeatedly. And I recognize that many threads here have some value to someone, at someplace, or at some time. However, some threads address the oft repeated questions/themes in notably lively, attentive, thorough and lucid ways. For every one like that there seem to be ten on the same subject/theme that are basically informative but perfunctory and fragmentary (or that eventually refer to the more lively thread).

It is just something that has been on my mind because there are some real gems in here. Internet forums have a way of generating those jewels and then burying them in an oblivion of posts. "Just asking."

Regards,
Bruno

Discussion - Search - Pce or Actual Freedom, now after ive read this thread i recognized the Recent Posts button since then used it each time.

Hiya

When I first arrived here I stuck to the archive stuff that was interesting to me. I am drifting towards Recent Posts. But still spend a lot of time in specific categories.

Howard

The archives when I have questions and/or looking for inspiration, and the recent post to keep updated.

I second this.

Also, had no idea 'recent posts' exists. that explains a few things...

Most of the time individual categories, and sometimes recent posts (by individual users).

Only now I realized there is a overall 'recent posts' for the whole forum.

Since so many use 'Recent Posts' it might be an idea to include a 'Category' column on that page?

I always check "recent posts" first or post in the appropriate category if I'm opening a new thread. Other than that, the search facility is always useful especially for browsing the older Wetpaint material but it'd be unusual for me to browse by category unless there's a particular reason.

I know this is an old thread, but I'll toss in my vote that I generally click "Recent Posts" as well. What would be really nice is if there were a way to ignore certain categories/subcategories when listing recent posts. Barring that, at least another column in the thread list indicating which category the post is in. I'm really not very interested in the AF threads, and there's often no way to tell if a thread is from the AF section unless the original poster happened to put "AF" in the title.

Hi Tarin...
in the beginning i browsed according to interest / caregory
then , after a while started picking out jewels, whether topics or personalities
each new (interesting) topic is investigated, dug into, emptied
then the winnowing process continues into the new posts...

old timers must tend to go directly to the new posts due to their deeper knowledge / familiarity with the site and its contents.

btw - thanks for your inspiration and wisdom

I mirror the entire site and keep it pretty up-to-date in case the internet goes down but no internal selectivity

I first check "My Posts" to find out if I need to answer any specific questions, then go to "Recent Posts."

i have asked ingram to look into this.

meanwhile, if there are any programmers here who are, or wouldn't mind becoming, familiar with liferay, and and are interested in seeing this feature implemented sooner rather than later, please send me a private message.

tarin