Lack of interest [Suggestion] Updating your status in User Profile is confusing now

[Grover]

See here:

 

[dieketzer]

youre supposed to post replies on the other persons profile, not your own. otherwise how will the person realise you even replied???

if i had it my way, it would be impossible to post in your own profile, and a status update would be your only option and it would not show up as a post.

What has a reply-message to do with your status?





Yes, I get the first part of your explanation: '...it's a quick way for others who visit your profile to know what's going on your mind right that minute', but what about '...and for you it's a reminder of what you had said last'? I noticed indeed when I was on Facebook some time ago that somebody had some status message that just didn't make any sense. It just looked like a message that was a reply to someone. How is this a status? The same is happening on XenForo, look at this example:

View attachment 1127

I don't really get this behavior on Facebook, so I also don't get it on XenForo. What has a reply to someone having anything to do with your status? Imagine if she would have written: 'Hi Grover, how are you? Lovely to see Kier and the others...'. Then this will be on her status, but she is actually 'talking' to me when she replies in this way. Am I thinking to difficult, or how can I see it?

 

[Brandon_R]

Brandon, you CAN post on your own profile, and reply to posts made by others.

I really need to start explaining myself lol I mean isn't setting your status the same as posting on your profile?

 

[Grover]

But I can bet on the fact that a large part of my members will also not get this in the beginning. It seems a bit odd (yes, also on Facebook, because it works the same I understand) to you write something on your wall and this entry then becomes your new 'status'. I mean, wouldn't you expect some dedicated field to enter your status and just use the ability to post on your own profile for other stuff/comments?

I noticed indeed when I was on Facebook some time ago that somebody had some status message that just didn't make any sense. It just looked like a message that was a reply to someone. How is this a status? The same is happening on XenForo, look at this example:

[attachment]

I don't really get this behavior on Facebook, so I also don't get it on XenForo. What has a reply to someone having anything to do with your status? Imagine if she would have written: 'Hi Grover, how are you? Lovely to see Kier and the others...'. Then this will be on her status, but she is actually 'talking' to me when she replies in this way. Am I thinking to difficult, or how can I see it?

I guess I am indeed not the only one finding this functionality a bit 'confusing' (as I predicted), according to this solution: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/hide-status-update-editor-on-own-profile.8629/

I hope to see some kind of improvement in XenForo in the time to come. I think it's obvious that this will cause some confusion (at least in the beginning)... because not much new members will realize that not using the 'comment' (but instead the more visible textbox right under the [Profile Post]-tab and ditto [Post]-button) will lead to a status-update. Even if -indeed- there is a light-grey message inside that box saying 'Update your status...'. Having said all that... I am now perfectly used to it on xenforo.com, so it just takes some time. However, if most of my new members will need that time... it will keep being a bit strange and useless to see text meant as comments appear as status updates in the MemberCards and News Feeds.

 

[dieketzer]

youre supposed to post replies on the other persons profile, not your own. otherwise how will the person realise you even replied???

if i had it my way, it would be impossible to post in your own profile, and a status update would be your only option and it would not show up as a post.

at the time i wrote that i was labouring under the vb-esque profile assumption. the vb profile had no alert functionality at all, so if you commented on somebodies profile and they replied to you on theirs as well, not only would the 'view conversation' link not work, but you wouldnt even get any indication they had replied. so i did the same thing on vb, i made it impossible to post a reply on your own profile. ive always had to do that because ive always put a lot of effort into the profile aspect of my communities.
for whatever reason, im finding that even on xf having that status update editor doesnt work well.
those months ago, how much more obvious to you would the difference between a status update and a profile comment have been if there hadnt been a status update input at the top of page?

 

[Dominion]

Sorry for the continued necroposting, but...

I also feel this is confusing. The tab says simply "Profile Posts", and the user has to sort of figure out that a profile post can be either a "status" or a "message", depending on who posted it. I'm trying to think of a way to make it less confusing in Japanese, but I'm stumped.

I frankly don't feel the need for users to write messages on my profile. If they want to say something to me privately, they can start a conversation. If they want to do it publicly, then they can start a thread (and send a PC asking me to participate). If they want to comment on my status, well, that's what comments are for.

But if we have to have other users' messages on our profiles, this page could benefit from some sort of icon (or color-coding, or both) to differentiate between the two types of profile post at a glance. Better yet, you could do away with the term "profile post" altogether. Change the tab name to "Messages" and add a blurb that reads something like this:

Any messages you post on your own profile will be displayed as your current status.​

Even better than that, just put messages from others on a separate tab, so they don't get confused with status.

The bottom line is, you've got two things happening on this tab that are structurally similar but functionally very different. Trying to lump them together under a single name such as "profile posts" is only inviting confusion.