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MNHQ

New features: Acronym translation and content linking

6 replies

JanineMumsnet · 18/03/2019 15:38

We often get feedback from new users to say that they are bamboozled by all the weird and wonderful acronyms you use used on the boards. With this in mind we have now enabled a feature whereby a 'translation' will be shown next to an acronym. This will be set to 'on by default' for logged out users of the site, and for new users who sign up from this point forward. For existing logged in users of the site, the feature will be off as a default. You can turn this feature on or off at any time by going to your talk preferences here. At the moment we are only testing this in a few specific areas: conception, pregnancy and antenatal clubs, so you shouldn't see this across the entire site yet.

The second feature will hopefully help users to find useful content on a specific topic as and when they need it. For example, if a user posts about heartburn or SPD the tool will highlight this word and link to useful content about this topic. Again, for now this feature will only appear in the conception, pregnancy and antenatal clubs topics and you can turn this feature off at any time by going to your talk preferences here.

We hope you find these new features useful, but as ever we appreciate your candid feedback, so please let us know in the comments what you think.

Thanks
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MNHQ

JanineMumsnet · 19/03/2019 08:54

Hi @syncope and @beckyboop1

Thanks for raising this. I will get this fixed and let you know when it's done.

MNHQ

JanineMumsnet · 21/03/2019 10:30

@AuntieStella thanks for your feedback. You are right, there may be instances where the 'translation' is wrong in the context of a conversation, so we will be monitoring this and amending the logic of the feature as we go to improve it.

@Olissa8 Thanks for adding that feedback on 'oh' and 'op' - I will get that translation amended.

The reason for introducing this feature is because we have had overwhelming feedback over the last couple of years that suggests new visitors to the site are confused/put off by the acronyms. This is particularly noticeable in the pregnancy and conception sections where people might enter the site from Google looking for advice about a specific symptom or issue.

The feature will be default off for logged in existing users, but on for logged out and new users. It is possible to turn the feature on and off by going to your talk preferences - so hopefully it won't be too disruptive to your experience.

@prequelle is it possible for you to tell me which browser you are using and device? I will get that looked into for you.

MNHQ

JanineMumsnet · 21/03/2019 11:25

@paxillin it's more likely that unless the two letters are uppercase, we won't translate the two letters at all.

MNHQ

JanineMumsnet · 21/03/2019 14:02

@paxillin we did consider doing this, but the majority of our traffic is on mobile and that wouldn't work. We aren't wedded to always having it work in this format, and we might explore other options in the future if this doesn't work well.

It's possible to turn off, so the majority of logged in users shouldn't see it, and for now we are just restricting to very specific topics. So hopefully it isn't too annoying.

And you're right, the community has thrived with people using and understanding the acronyms, which is why we want to keep and encourage the use of them. But if we want to be welcoming to new users, it feels like a nice thing to offer to make their lives easier.

MNHQ

JanineMumsnet · 01/04/2019 13:23

@Weathergirl1 oops! Have asked for that translation to be updated.

@NicciLovesSundays that's really useful feedback. I wonder if there's anything we can do here with the we identify as acronyms.

MNHQ

JanineMumsnet · 16/04/2019 15:10

@GoldenTrumpets Thanks for the feedback. Will add in these changes

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