Quick idea for you–make the portal work like Digg (http://digg.com/).
How to implement:
-Initialize every thread on the forum (and every new thread created) with 0 “diggs.”
-Add a button to every thread (or integrate a menu option into the “Thread tools” drop-down menu). Said button would add 1 to the thread’s number of “diggs” every time it is clicked.
-Calculate the thread’s popularity based on the time since the thread was created: POPULARITY = DIGGS / TIME. The popularity calculation could also include the number of posts in the thread, the number of times the thread has been viewed, the rating of the thread, the health of the thread (percent recent posts), etc.
-Based on the user’s choices in their control panel (for example the user may choose to display all of the general forum but none of the chit-chat), display a list of threads in the portal, sorted by popularity.
-Add a button or link on the “Recent Activity” bar so that the user could switch between traditional portal behavior and digg-based portal behavior.
Of course, you would have to rename the “digg” feature to something a lot more FIRST-like.
Problems this might solve:
-Quick question-and-answer threads, as well as some of the more banal and mindless discussions, would recieve few “diggs” and would be less likely to appear in the portal for very long.
-Very interesting and informative threads would be more likely to appear in the portal for a long time.
-It would be harder to resurrect very old threads.
-Users would be able to see the quality of a thread before even entering it.
-Users would see where other users are focusing their attention, not just where they are making their posts.
I do have plans to make the portal [strike]better[/strike] different. I’m envisioning more of modular/customizable interface, to let people have whatever they want to see show up. Want to remove all the pictures? Go for it. Want all threads? Go for it. Want two blocks of threads … one just for the Programming forum, one for everything else? Go for it. Want a block of just pictures tagged ‘robot’. Go for it.
Oh yeah, I forgot. Besides having the portal list sorted by popularity, you could also watch it’s change in popularity by adding a small arrow next to the thread title. If yesterday’s popularity < today’s popularity (or an hour ago, or five minutes ago, or whatever), then display an up arrow (in green?) next to the thread title. If previous popularity > current popularity, then display a down arrow (in red?) next to the thread title.
I like the customizable setup and being able to change what threads show up how since thats mostly how I use the portal Customization is awesome and I bet everyone will love you for it.
Customization is awesome and I bet everyone will love you for it.