Lack of interest Index for forum content.

[GJM]

I'm a member of a forum on which members put considerable amounts of information for others to use, but the problem is finding the information. Using the search function is useful but doesn't always work. Would it be possible to create a system that allows members of the forum to create an index, just like the sort of index you get at the back of a book, not to replace the search function but to complement it

All it would need would be for an 'index' button to be put on threads and posts, next to the 'like', 'Quote' and 'Reply' buttons. If a forum user wanted to add a post or thread to the index they would simply click the button, fill in a box for heading and maybe subheading, then a short description and then click another button to finish. The entry would then be automatically added to an alphabetical index and over time the members could create something like a book index that could be browsed. The index buttons on the posts could change colour when they were indexed, but that's the sort of detail that XenForo could sort out if this was thought worthwhile.

Instead of bookmarking pages (and then losing the bookmarks!) members would create an index entry that would be just as easy to access and take no more effort to create than a bookmark.

 

[TPerry]

Really better addressed by an add-on...
Oh... look


There's a bookmark one out there! It allows each individual user to have their own personal bookmarks.

 

[erich37]

I'm a member of a forum on which members put considerable amounts of information for others to use, but the problem is finding the information. Using the search function is useful but doesn't always work. Would it be possible to create a system that allows members of the forum to create an index, just like the sort of index you get at the back of a book, not to replace the search function but to complement it

All it would need would be for an 'index' button to be put on threads and posts, next to the 'like', 'Quote' and 'Reply' buttons. If a forum user wanted to add a post or thread to the index they would simply click the button, fill in a box for heading and maybe subheading, then a short description and then click another button to finish. The entry would then be automatically added to an alphabetical index and over time the members could create something like a book index that could be browsed. The index buttons on the posts could change colour when they were indexed, but that's the sort of detail that XenForo could sort out if this was thought worthwhile.

Instead of bookmarking pages (and then losing the bookmarks!) members would create an index entry that would be just as easy to access and take no more effort to create than a bookmark.

1)
The solution are "Keyword Tags" which are already build into the latest XenForo-version.

However, the "Keyword Tags" need to be implemented in the Sidebar (or at other locations) in order to easily access this "Index" (just like the sort of index you get at the back of a book).

https://xenforo.com/community/tags/

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/show-tag-cloud-at-forum-home-for-each-forum-node.100340/



2)
The feature of "Watching Keyword Tags" would be similar to watching any additions which have been added to an "Index" of a Book and thereby receiving a notification.

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/watch-thread-tags.100311/



3)
User Collections (Personal User Bookmarks) would help to index your personal favourites and have been suggested previously.

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/organizational-needs-structure-bookmarking-collections.48370/

 

[Mouth]

Create a sticky thread, with an index and linking to all the useful threads. Forums users can post to the sticky thread with a suggestion for an addition, and moderators update the OP in the sticky thread with each new entry.

 

[GJM]

Hi, all of these options have been looked at, but none of them create an index that can be accessed and searched by all forum users. The moderators have looked at using Tags but that depends on users tagging things, something they rarely do.
The idea of having a user generated index is so that we don't give the moderators more work, the index is created by the members. There's a lot of content on the forum that could be usefully indexed, to much to ask volunteer moderators to index, so better to let the 600 members do it themselves.
The aim here is not to find ways of working round not having an index, but to enable indexes to be created by all forum users and accessed by all forum users.

 

[Martok]

Tags but that depends on users tagging things, something they rarely do.

so better to let the 600 members do it themselves.

If a forum user wanted to add a post or thread to the index they would simply click the button, fill in a box for heading and maybe subheading, then a short description and then click another button to finish.

Tags are very easy to add and much simpler than your proposal. So if your users would rareli add tags (which are just some single words in many cases), why would they fill in a much longer heading, subheading and short description? I think they'd probably be even less likely to do this.