i think stickies are under utilized....i feel they would greatly reduce redundant threads...thus reduce some of the newbie bashing...reading other non-basketball bbs..they have more stickies to give newbies a primer of content..kinda like a faq... i was thinking common questions/issues such as:why does yao wear red string braclet, why doesnt francis pass more, trade mobley, fire rudy, hakeem vs shaq..... should be made stickies...maybe "must read" articles such as frans big O article or edc's rudyt mp3 shows too.....they would be the first thing posters see logging into the bbs....and should reduce redundant threads... the problem with stickies is how do you determine what is "important"...i guess that would be the admins judgement...but if possible you could automate some by using the reply count like the "hot topics" section on the front page....say grab the top 5...and make them fall off the sticky list of they dont get any posts after say 3 days... also maybe clutch, jeff, doc rocket, olipere threads automatically become stickies...since everyone wants to read their stuff...
Personally, other than board announcements, I don't really like stickies. If something's important enough to be stuck at the top, people posting in the thread tend to keep it on the front page of the forum as long as it needs to be near the top.
Stickies can collect and consolidate common conversation. It is not necessarily a measure of what is important. The Game Thread is a great example of this. Like bukaroo said, stickies at other BBSs are more about popular, long-lasting conversations than late-breaking news. The big news threads, as you say, generally stay on top by themselves. Stuff like the Chronicle's article regarding new uni's could prevent further threads about uniforms. The problem seems to be coming up with 3 or 4 common threads to make as stickies, which would make sense for keeping as stickies for a prolonged period. what would they be?? That's what makes it tough. The State of Uni's The State of IR or DNP Players (as in, How's Rice? Why is Boki not playing?) Anyone Know of any Trade Rumors? (not for posting trade rumors, but for asking about them for those who missed them.) I can only think of stickies that answer common questions. Not breaking news stickies, but rather "old news" stickies. The argument "but I don't want to read through a huge sticky thread to find out what was already discussed" is irrelevant. Just post and ask in that thread. That is much better than starting a new thread to ask. Personally, I'd like a sticky to collect photos from the internet, to collect images from the season in one thread. It frustrates me when I remember a photo but can't find it again. just my long-winded .02 cents I think properly done stickies could provide a great service, especially in a world of no Search Function.
I guess I've just gotten used to Clutch really never using them. I don't know how excited I'd be about surfing in one day and finding the front page of each forum full of stickies.
versus surfing in everyday to find a bunch of rehashed threads about "Where's Boki," "What's up with Rice?" "Anyone know any trade rumors." and "What about the uniforms?" "Is the Rocket game on TV" "What's up with Dish Network and Channel 51" obviously, it is a matter of balance, and buckaroo and I just think the sticky feature is underutilized, especially in a world of no searching.
thinking some more about it...maybe just a clutch city FAQ would suffice....it could include links to "definitive" threads on particular topics..btw a good sticky for the feedback section would be "search fuction"....
on another bbs..i saw another interesting way stickies were used. they created a sticky for interesting threads. the thread was locked but contained links to other threads of interest...
This is actually a good idea. Have a 1-post locked up sticky in which there are links to threads about common topics. The admins can update it as necessary. So everybody can find the hot topic he likes very quickly. That can be a good substitution for the search function.
I think that is an excellent idea. Just have links to like 15-20 of the most commonly-discussed/rehashed topics...I think that would save a lot of bandwidth in the long run.
