New Message Center Feedback

[OldAdam12]

Unread threads should float to top of list

Whenever you enter / refresh a tab of messages ("Guild", "Social", "Official"), all unread threads should be listed before other threads, even if some of the other threads were newer than the newest unread thread.

E.g.:

1. Initial State
   • (u) Msg-A 2020-10-13@11:01
   • (u) Msg-B 2020-10-13@09:03
   • (u) Msg-C 2020-10-13@03:05
   • (u) Msg-D 2020-10-12@17:07
   • (u) Msg-E 2020-10-12@15:11
   • (u) Msg-F 2020-10-11@22:13
   • (u) Msg-G 2020-10-11@08:17
2. First Pass Processing
   • (r) Msg-A 2020-10-13@11:01
   • (u) Msg-B 2020-10-13@09:03
   • (r) Msg-C 2020-10-13@03:05
   • (r) Msg-D 2020-10-12@17:07
   • (u) Msg-E 2020-10-12@15:11
   • (r) Msg-F 2020-10-11@22:13
   • (u) Msg-G 2020-10-11@08:17
3. Desired Refreshed View
   • (u) Msg-H 2020-10-13@11:09
   • (u) Msg-B 2020-10-13@09:03
   • (u) Msg-E 2020-10-12@15:11
   • (u) Msg-G 2020-10-11@08:17
   • (r) Msg-A 2020-10-13@11:01
   • (r) Msg-C 2020-10-13@03:05
   • (r) Msg-D 2020-10-12@17:07
   • (r) Msg-F 2020-10-11@22:13

In the existing system, the view from "First Pass Processing" will stay as-is, and newer messages will appear above and eventually the unread messages will no longer be visible when you first enter the thread-tab. The proposal is that un-read messages should be sorted first before read messages when refreshing the view of the thread-tab.

I am not advocating for automatically sorting the threads while you are reading through them, just whenever you enter a thread-tab (whether because you are clicking between Guild and Social, or because you closed and re-opened Message Center)

 

[webyankee]

The Message Center is a good tool but FOE just made it worse by sectioning it off into different topic titles I would rather have it go to all the messages I get then be able to sort them myself. Every time I open the message center I have to open the social topic to see all the messages I get, I NEVER OPEN THE OTHER TOPICS.
I hope FOE will see the error of this new format and make improvements instead of what they made this time.
Another thing that irks me is that if you play FOE on a phone you can make a group to message all the players in your friend's list but you can not do this on PC, WHY?
FOE PLEASE make it so PC players can message their friends in a group without having to list each every time because that is a PITA.

 

[Xenosaur]

This was posted originally in NEW IDEAS, but achieved DNS status because it should have been here (I guess??). I'm putting it here.
******************************************************************************************************
Adding partial name searching to "OTHER" type choice, for a NEW or existing Message TOPIC


Have you Checked the Ideas section for the same idea posted by someone else? Is this idea similar to one that has been previously suggested? I made a fair and reasonable search here to see if this was previously suggested, and could not find anything focused on this same issue.


Reason: On the mobile platform (and I assume, Browser...) , Friends, Guild Members and Neighbors are ALL choices that all employ partial name matching to help the user in the selection of the right people to add as recipients to a new message.

The Other selection, does not. It requires the message creator to know the EXACT name, with no system assistance. The exact name. If someone has the name N4weGo 12Quest, you have to type it all to get him invited. You can't mistype anything - or miss a space, or add a space, etc It has to be ... always PERFECT.


Details: Simple fix: Unbolt the code attached to the current OTHER dropdown box and selector, and bolt IN the SAME code that mobile users would use to find new friends. In fact, that code uses partial searches and is a perfect solution for this.

Just swap out the "you must get it perfectly right by typing the exact FoE name" code, to "we'll give you a little help and present you some choices for what you typed".

Visual Aids: Can't really create any. Everyone does have the same Create Conversation, ADD new recipient screen with 4 choices, as dropdowns. It's in the message center, Social tab - CLICK "NEW", then start adding people via OTHER. Can you remember their exact names so as to get the ability to add them to your message?


Balance: No other impact. This facilitates gameplay.


Abuse Prevention: Cheating or exploitation via this feature isn't a factor any more than not addressing it.


Summary: This would facilitate finding people that are NOT friends, or guild members or even hoodies - to add to a message. It's not a difficult fix, and makes all 4 choices consistent and ergonomic.

 

[Agent327]

This was posted originally in NEW IDEAS, but achieved DNS status because it should have been here (I guess??).

What Not To Suggest?

• Ideas or suggestions about new features. Those need to be put in the feedback thread created to share your thoughts about that feature.

 

[Tony 85 the Generous]

• Ideas or suggestions about new features. Those need to be put in the feedback thread created to share your thoughts about that feature.

No matter how long ago the feature was released or how old the feedback thread is.

 

[RaveWolf]

I read through all the comments (at least I hope I did) and do not see these Ideas mentioned.
This appears to be the Feedback Thread for the Message Center, so posting here as requested, as my 'New Suggestion' post was removed.

Some Suggestions for the Message Center:

1. Have an option where you can TAG @someone or #someone and Highlight that thread for them so that they can see or reply to the tag / mention.
2. Have the original post / message in a thread pinned (maybe with a drop-down arrow or have a button to make it pop out so that anyone who joins the Guild or sees the thread after 1000+ comments can view the Original post instead of spending hours clicking on 'Load more Messages' or slowing down their system.
3. I like to give feedback or points in threads based on various topics and sometimes these require a neatly structured layout. So my suggestion here is to perhaps use a Monotype Font or have some form of better formatting for the text so that we can better align the text.

Example Image for 2 above:



Example Images for 3 above:
It looks like Arial Regular is the default font (subject to correction) which leaves text misaligned. If you look at the hyphens in the first example they do not align. This can get worse and look horrible as more are lines are added.
[below images are not the best example, but the best I have for now and hope it at least give a good enough example].


As you can see, the below (Using a Monotype font), is a lot neater, easier on the eyes and perfectly aligned.

 

[Xenosaur]

Wow Rave, that's music to my ears. I've written some game math software, and spent more time an TONS of extra code just for aligning variable width-sized characters to have some semblance of vertical uniformity - such as your example above clarifies.

Monotype would be a dream come true. I've even had to employ non-integer partial-width unicode characters, in search a bit of "extra" spaces for alignments than a normal space provides.

the width of 3 "1" digits ≠ 3 of any other (0, 2, 3, 4... etc)

 

[RigbyTheGreat]

Get second confirmation before leaving ALL threads
(follow-on perhaps to ggrrjj's posting on 2020-09-02 - 2nd to last paragraph)

The other morning I found that I had somehow accidentally left a whole bunch of [social] threads in my guild. I did not recall doing so - but based on what I no longer had access to it was my "favorites", and I'm guessing that I somehow clicked on "Leave All" instead of "Mark All As Read".
I also know several other folks who have managed to do the same, none remember intentionally leaving all the threads.

I've never intentionally used "Leave All" - and don't plan to try it out now to verify - but I'm pretty sure there's at most one prompt for confirmation.
My feeling is that there should either be two prompts for confirmation - the second being something like:

"Are you SURE you want to leave ALL these threads?"​

Alternatively, it could be a single confirmation, but one that requires that the user actually type something like "yes" in a dialog box before performing the operation - a simple click on an "OK" button is way too easy.

Once you leave threads, the only way you can get back on is if someone else on that thread has administrative abilities and re-adds you. If you accidently left threads you created with no other administrators - you're SOoL because there's no way to get back to that thread.

Thus, leaving ALL threads is way too powerful an operation for a simple, single "OK" button click to confirm.

This is only intended for the "Leave All" option, this is not for leaving individual threads on a one-by-one basis.

Know this feedback is pretty dated, but just wanted to greatly add my support to this one. Accidentally confirming "leave all" has not only bitten me multiple times but many others I've learned while trying to re-establish mistakenly lost comms. Very frustrating. This would seem to be something that would be quite easy to 'fix' as per other suggestions here so hopefully it's on the devs list for some update soon.

 

[Xenosaur]

Know this feedback is pretty dated, but just wanted to greatly add my support to this one. Accidentally confirming "leave all" has not only bitten me multiple times but many others I've learned while trying to re-establish mistakenly lost comms. Very frustrating. This would seem to be something that would be quite easy to 'fix' as per other suggestions here so hopefully it's on the devs list for some update soon.

Yup, it's not a good design, or code practice - As a software engineer, we are all taught to not put "nuke" buttons into general high-traffic button population centers. Leave all is analogous to "DELETE city" and has no business being where it currently is. I can't tell you how many people do this by mistake, and I don't think there is any recourse for doing it (your message stack and permissions are unable to be re-constituted).

It belongs more "buried" in a section of the game where options affect "drastic choices".

 

[Tutankhamen]

Yup, it's not a good design, or code practice - As a software engineer, we are all taught to not put "nuke" buttons into general high-traffic button population centers. Leave all is analogous to "DELETE city" and has no business being where it currently is. I can't tell you how many people do this by mistake, and I don't think there is any recourse for doing it (your message stack and permissions are unable to be re-constituted).

It belongs more "buried" in a section of the game where options affect "drastic choices".

Big +1 for this.
Has bitten me twice.

 

[gergor]

I absolutely agree, this should either not be an option in the first place (it isn't nearly as hard to delete the threads individually as it is for the guild admin to put them all back) or it should at the very least have a much different fail-safe prompt from the "Mark all as Read" option. Not requiring positive confirmation either by checkbox or text entry for massive, irrevolkable deletions is simply a poor or lazy programming practice. INNO has been very good about doing that elsewhere, like in cancelling reconstruction; there is no reason not to do so here where the user mistake also affects others.

Like Xerosaur, I was in software design/programming for 35 years; I learned to find and remove sources of user error from system design. This is a textbook example.

Also, if you happen to be a guild admin and make this mistake (like I just did), your ability to manage message threads accidentally deleted requires a guild founder who may not be very active (because they were both out sick) to restore.

 

[gergor]

It doesn't look like anyone at INNO reads this topic anymore.

 

[Agent327]

It doesn't look like anyone at INNO reads this topic anymore.

This topic is being read and your feedback is being forwarded. That does not mean suggestions will be implemented immediately or even at all. In the end, the devs decide.

 

[Tutankhamen]

I just deleted myself from all social threads again, by accident. Second time this has happened to me. I've heard from plenty of others - seems like it's quite common.
INNO -- please please please get rid of that awful button!

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

I just deleted myself from all social threads again, by accident. Second time this has happened to me. I've heard from plenty of others - seems like it's quite common.
INNO -- please please please get rid of that awful button!

Or...quit clicking/tapping it.