The explanation of the rules at the top of each section take up too much space. The sticky posts like “read this first!” take up too much scrolling down time. The explanation is within the thread, so much space does not need to be used. Most posters here already are familiar with the rules and do not need to see all this crap at the top of each page. Condense them down to tiles only.
I understand that these rules and explanations are necessary, but they take up space that a regular user does not need to read to have to scroll past, it is just clutter. Shorten them to titles only and separate them from the body of that section in some way. In the old site it was clear where the rules were at the top of the page, and where the post began.
It is a minor complaint, by in my view it lacks eye appeal.
You can unpin them yourself by tapping on the pin.
Click on the little pin–it will turn upside down and after that it’s gone for you.
Or the site managers could just fix it as the default. If a poster would like to read the rules for each thread, then they can click on the pin to expand those.
Like I said, it is a minor complaint. Asking your user/customer to take extra steps to enjoy your product is just a poor business model.
Once read, they automatically unpin. So folks who are familiar with them can unpin them, but new folks should be encouraged (by having them be somewhat in your face) to read them. Just a title may not be obvious enough. Once they do, they’ll unpin and disappear. Mod should err on the side of making them obvious and easily accessible. Everyone else can customize it as they like. Win-win.
Except they are there for newbies who don’t know the rules. Once you know how to play, you skip the tutorial. You know how to play, so click the damn thumbtack and skip the tutorial. Much quicker and easier than having a bunch of otherwise decent people join the board and make honest mistakes causing a flurry of moderation to link to the rules over and over again. And certainly far less effort than starting this thread.
How do you re-find an un-pinned thread? I unpinned a few here and there but now I find myself wanting to re-read the rules of a forum.
Go to the advanced search page. Under ‘Only return topics/posts…’ you’ll find ‘are pinned’.
Or type ‘in:pinned’ into the search box.
Link to all pinned topics, sorted by latest:
https://boards.straightdope.com/search?expanded=true&q=in%3Apinned%20order%3Alatest_topic