Filtering "New Stories" page?

[ReiDeBastos]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but...

Is there any way to choose which story categories I am interested in, or the ones I am NOT interested in, so that only stories in categories I am interested in will be listed on the New Stories page?

For example, I have ZERO interest in "Text With Audio", yet occasionally have to wade through a bunch of them on the New Stories page. Same with several other categories.

I know that I could instead go to the pages for the Categories in which I AM interested, and look for what is new on each, but it would be much easier to just look at the New Stories page, if it could be filtered by user preferences.

-Rei

 

[Bramblethorn]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but...

Is there any way to choose which story categories I am interested in, or the ones I am NOT interested in, so that only stories in categories I am interested in will be listed on the New Stories page?

Not that I've ever seen, sorry.

 

[MatthewVett]

Not that I know of, but it's a great idea. I'd love to see it implemented.

 

[albertaboy]

If you just look in whatever category you want the new ones are listed at the top with their ratings.

 

[sr71plt]

I highly suspect that the answer is that, no, there isn't such a filter. And I don't see the need for one. Each category has its own "New" list and the categories are given in the general New list. I don't see that much effort is required to check the categories when scanning down the general New list.

 

[whywouldi]

you can go to the search stories page, in the advanced search tab, you can select the categories you're interested in; then you can sort the results by date.

 

[sr71plt]

Or with a fourth of the time and effort you can just scan down the New list with your eyes.

 

[ReiDeBastos]

Not that I've ever seen, sorry.

Oh, well - thanks for the reply anyway!

Not that I know of, but it's a great idea. I'd love to see it implemented.

...and it seems like it would be a fairly straightforward feature to implement. for someone already familiar with the system...

If you just look in whatever category you want the new ones are listed at the top with their ratings.

Thanks, but as I said in the OP,

I know that I could instead go to the pages for the Categories in which I AM interested, and look for what is new on each, but it would be much easier to just look at the New Stories page, if it could be filtered by user preferences.

I highly suspect that the answer is that, no, there isn't such a filter. And I don't see the need for one. Each category has its own "New" list and the categories are given in the general New list. I don't see that much effort is required to check the categories when scanning down the general New list.

well, given that criterion for adding a feature: "not much effort" is required to do many of the things the forum software does for us. I mean, why bother to have a "New Stories" page at all, when you can look at each of the Category pages and see what is new?

Yes, I try to remember to check the Category before clicking on a New Story, but I don't always remember, and it is aggravating to be intrigued by a Story's title and description, only to find out that it is in a Category for which I have no interest.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, I try to remember to check the Category before clicking on a New Story, but I don't always remember, and it is aggravating to be intrigued by a Story's title and description, only to find out that it is in a Category for which I have no interest.

Then look at the category first. Piece of cake.

Do you feed yourself, or does someone else operate the spoon for you?

 

[ReiDeBastos]

Then look at the category first. Piece of cake.

Do you feed yourself, or does someone else operate the spoon for you?

Classy question, but I will answer:

I feed myself, but...

I suffered a MASSIVE stroke in 2008, at 50 years old.

The docs told my wife they were surprised it did not kill me.

I was in a coma for 6-8 weeks.

After waking up, I was unable to speak for another 6-8 weeks.

I spent eleven months in various hospitals, physical rehab centers and a nursing home before being discharged back home.

The stroke made me what is called a "Left-side hemiplegic" (I have little to no control over the muscles in the left half of my body).

I have lived my life in a motorized wheelchair ever since, because my left leg does not function.

Neither does my left arm/hand, so I type every letter of every word using only my right hand.

And, since I have specially-made silverware, yes, I can feed myself, thanks for asking.

Fortunately, my cognitive abilities are still very high, but I do occasaionally have problems figuring out even simple web interfaces (especially frustrating because I made my living as a computer programmer/analyst for thirty years prior to the stroke).

Is this an instance of a simple interface which befuddles me? Sounds probable.

Either way, I still think that the filter I described would be a good and useful feature.

-Rei

 

[ReiDeBastos]

Reminds me of an incident I witnessed back in the pre-Internet, BBS Days:

A woman kept posting questions in a forum about some simple piece of software. After having explained the answer to her several times to no avail, one guy posted "COME ON, ARE YOU BLIND?!?"

To which she replied "Yes, I am."

Oops...

 

[lovecraft68]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but...

Is there any way to choose which story categories I am interested in, or the ones I am NOT interested in, so that only stories in categories I am interested in will be listed on the New Stories page?

For example, I have ZERO interest in "Text With Audio", yet occasionally have to wade through a bunch of them on the New Stories page. Same with several other categories.

I know that I could instead go to the pages for the Categories in which I AM interested, and look for what is new on each, but it would be much easier to just look at the New Stories page, if it could be filtered by user preferences.

-Rei

Sorry to hear of your physical difficulties.

One thing you could try is bookmarking the pages for the categories you read in and simply clicking on them and hitting refresh t update them. Stop you from having to scan all the titles.

 

[ReiDeBastos]

Thanks, Lovecraft!

Yes, I have bookmarked three or four of the categories in which I am most interested, but that keeps me from spotting New stories in areas which are neither my "favorites" nor "least favorites".

And yes, there are work-arounds, I understand this. It just seems to me that the optimum solution (for me, anyway) would be to allow stored, user-defined filtering of the New Stories page.

But if I am alone (or nearly so) in this thought, it would not be worth the developers' time to code, test and implement the feature.

I just thought that it might exist, and I had just yet to stumble upon it, so I asked here.

Thanks to all for their suggestions.

-Rei