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Improved navigation for Idea Exchange

I am really thrilled that this Idea Exchange platform has been created, especially since some of the ideas have already been marked as 'Implemented'. But, unfortunately, is has turned out to be quite hard for local guides to keep track of what is going on in Idea Exchange (I hope it is easier for the Googlers as they have to follow up and judge the ideas).

 

The explanation at the top of the Idea Exchange section mentions "the community votes" and "popular ideas rise to the top", so I would certainly not want to miss good new suggestions, because I of course want to vote for them - and obviously I would like other local guides to easily come across the ideas I have posted [which obviously all deserve loads of votes 🤣]. But it is quite tough to figure out which ideas have recently been added: per sub-section (Google Map, Connect, Perks, etc) the board shows the 3 most recently submitted ideas (without indication of when they were submitted), which is fine as such, but does not bring any value if someone just added 3 spammy posts in one of the categories (as was the case earlier today).

 

Upon accessing the total list of Ideas per sub-section (by clicking See more), however, it is completely unclear in which order the posts are shown - and also there: no indication when the idea was submitted (if a comment is added, this comment does get a timestamp). To go through the list, you have to click More every few posts and quite surprisingly: posts that were in the list higher up tend to appear again as you scroll further down.

 

So, my question: please reconsider the navigation/searchability options for Idea Exchange, preferably by providing sorting features (sort by most votes, most recent, etc) and a timestamp.

Check out LetsGuide Podcast | #LGCTM | Please always @Mention me so I see your reply
6 Comments
Level 10

@JanVanHaver The issue you describe was brought up during the beta test earlier this year. What the testers discovered was that if you clicked on one of the filter options at the top, for example "Voting Open" it will properly sort the results, with the newest being at the top.

 

The "random" order only seems to appear when looking at "All Ideas", but I agree, it needs to be fixed.

M. W. Jones -- Former Map Maker Regional Lead, United States
Connect Moderator

Thank you very much @MWJones for adding that information. It has helped me to figure out a workaround that has an 'acceptable' amount of clicks:

  1. Go to Idea Exchange
  2. Open any post
  3. On the post click the arrow next to the menu icon (that brings you to the complete list with 'label.' marked on top)
  4. Click 'Voting open' (the default status for newly added ideas)

That way you can indeed see all of them in chronological order. Clicking the other statuses then enables you to check if existing ideas have been accepted or rejected.

Check out LetsGuide Podcast | #LGCTM | Please always @Mention me so I see your reply
Level 7

@JanVanHaver

Most of my exploration of this forum is done on the desktop rather than on my smartphone as the new "navigation" system is far too much of a pain to deal with at the moment.

If after paging through a list of comments you find one which you wish to read then clicking on it will open that entry but when you try to go back to where you were in the paged list you find that you've been sent right back to the top and have to work your way though as many pages as it takes to pick up where you left off.

How did all this mess possibly get past the beta-testing phase ?

😞

I also notice that the new look Connect 2.0 manages to push all of the "real" parts of the forum off screen onto the tend of a horizontal list which can only be accessed through scrolling.

And, as you have pointed out in another post ... in almost every respect "helping others has become more difficult" now ...

By the way, you really deserve to be high up on the list of Local Guides who have helped others.

You will most definitely be thanked publicly by me once I get around to adding a list of accolades to that thread.

I can appreciate that some of the Local Guides would very much like this to become an online showcase for their photography and lifestyle reviews but that it a world apart from a serious discussion forum particularly at a point in time when there are so many complications arising from the redesign.

Perhaps the interactive discussion forum and the nouveau lifestyle magazine will need to be entirely separate at some point.

My main purpose in joining the Local Connect Forum was to find answers and workarounds to some of the problems I was experiencing with Google Maps and the only useful information I have received has been from you and from other Local Guides who have explored most of these issues in greater depth.

In contrast, the disappointing and discouraging responses that I have receives from more than one of the appointed Forum Monitors have effectively put a halt on my own contributions to Google Maps.

I hope that sooner or later things will change and that I will be able to  regain my original enthusiasm and motivation as a contributor to Google Maps because I used to enjoy being a part of it.

If it were not for the help that fellow Local Guides like you and  @LucioV had given me I would have probably closed my account by now ...


...

 


■ "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?" ■ "Who watches the watchers ?" ■ the satirical poet, Juvenal ■ 1st century Rome ■
Level 7



@JanVanHaverwrote :

To go through the list, you have to click More every few posts and quite surprisingly: posts that were in the list higher up tend to appear again as you scroll further down.

That is precisely what I found so tedious and confusing and it still makes absolutely no sense to me why it was implemented in this way ... particularly when you see some of the same entries popping up time and again as you continue to click on the "more" link ...

😞


■ "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?" ■ "Who watches the watchers ?" ■ the satirical poet, Juvenal ■ 1st century Rome ■
Level 8

It makes no sense whatsoever that we should not have a means of keeping track of new added ideas in the exchange versus the ones we have already reviewed.

Being able to sort ideas by posting date, would give us that possibility. I am struggling with this in all areas of LGC.

Former Google Contributor
Status changed to: Closed

Hello @JanVanHaver, thank you for sharing this idea with us. It is not something the team is able to implement at this time but we will consider all ideas, regardless of status, in future program iterations. Thank you!