Local threads behaving strangely - not sorted by time

[noisyminer]

Potential re-platforming issue?:

Normally, Talk thread forums are sorted by time, with the most recently active threads at the top. However, now when I visit a Local thread forum, some threads that were active before the replatforming are no longer visible - or at least not on the first page - I haven't looked further. Many of the threads that are on the first page of the forum seem unusually old. If I reply to one of them, it doesn't rise to the top of the thread list as it normally does in other thread forums. Is there a sorting issue?

This problem occurs on all the local forums I've looked at, not just one.

Hi OP

Thanks for flagging this.
Just had a look at my local talk board and nothing is in order!
We'll look into this ASAP and thanks again.

I can't find the Local threads at all - when I click on the folder it just asks me to search on an area and then brings up a random collection of threads with the name place in the title. Is this the same issue?

Hello!

It doesn't sound like it - we'll need some more info to investigate.
Could you possibly email us on [email protected] and let us know what location you're putting in?

Yes, I have that issue too, but I assumed it was a deliberate attempt to present users with threads based on their search area, rather than having fixed local forums. If so, its not working well. Some of the results mention a local area and some don't. And some obviously local threads don't appear in any local searches (but that might be because I only skimmed thr first page of results and they're not ordered by time).

I'm searching on Richmond UK and looking for a long running thread which always used to be there, called Richmond Borough Schools Chat.

I mean I can find it ok using the regular Search function, but its not appearing when I search on Richmond in Local.

@noisyminer The threads in Local are sorted by their distance from the place you search for.

When a thread is created in the Local topic, you are asked to add a location for it (as shown in the screenshot attached).

Then, when you search for a specific location, it orders the results based on their distance from the searched point.

In hindsight, whilst this makes sense for a lot of cases, it would probably be good to give the option to either search by distance or by the most recently updated threads within the search area.

I'll discuss this internally, and see if we can add this option.

I don't understand that @MattTech . Do you mean that, if I put my postcode into the search field, you return threads that were created by Mumsnetters who live near to me, in distance order? Surely not!? That has huge implications for privacy!

Oh, sorry, I see now. You enter the location when you create the thread, so its optional.

So there is now only one local forum, rather than one for each location. That is a huge change! I think you may need to put some instructions at the top to explain it to people.

And yes, it needs to be possible to see the most recently active threads, because otherwise there is just a list of zombie threads on page 1 of the search results in most locations I have searched on.

@noisyminer Threads are tagged with a location of the user's choosing - we don't automatically add a location to a thread. So it's entirely up to the individual whether they tag with a general area (Richmond, for example), or a more specific location. All threads from the old individual local boards were tagged with a general area during the migration.

The exact location of threads are never publicly visible.

If you put your postcode into the search field it will return threads that are tagged with a location near to you. It's not the physical location of another user - it's threads that have been tagged with a location within the given radius.

We should communicate this better, and we will sort it ASAP.

@noisyminer Sorry - you replied as I was writing my reply and I didn't see your response.

You're absolutely correct!

We should have communicated this better and we will make sure that we fix that ASAP.

Thank you again for raising 😄

Hi. Sorry, I didn’t see your request but I do now understand what’s going on. I agree some explanation would be helpful. I did also find that when I navigated back from one thread I had to search on location again which got tiresome so I stopped.