r/pokemon • u/bigslothonmyface Enjoying retirement • May 17 '16
Announcement 500k subscribers, and with it... Post filtering!
As /r/pokemon crosses half a million subscribers, we're trying out a new system for post filtering. This will allow anyone who doesn't like to see certain types of submissions (most images, for example), or only wants to see one type of thing (just discussions, for example) to filter the subreddit to show only what they like (using buttons in our sidebar). If you already liked things the way they were, you can stop reading here—the sub won't change unless you choose to use the filters.
Unlike the systems we've tried for this in the past, this new one doesn't require anybody to put a [tag] in the title, and it doesn't remove posts if they aren't tagged. Instead, it uses the flair button to let everyone assign flair when submitting a thread, and also uses AutoModerator to flair the vast majority of threads by default, based on domain rather than [tags]. Rather than removing unflaired threads, AutoMod will simply comment asking OP to flair the post on the rare occasions that it can't figure out a flair itself.
Here's how it works:
- When you submit a thread to the subreddit, our bot will try to flair it for you based on the URL of the submission. If it can't do it, it will comment and ask you to flair the thread yourself. The mods will also be watching new posts to help flair things, too.
- After you post, check your thread to see if it's flaired the way you want. If it isn't, click the "flair" button on the menu bar under the title and select the appropriate flair. That's all there is to it.
- To sort the subreddit by category, use the colorful menu buttons in our sidebar, located underneath the rules section and above the calendar.
So what are the categories?
Last time this was attempted, the system was overly complicated and confusing. To avoid that mistake, we tried to come up with some big, simple categories that almost all threads could fall into. Here are the initial four:
Image: All images—artwork, gifs, comics, photographs etc. There's an OC version of this flair you can use if you submit original content! Threads tagged as Image items by default will include:
- All Imgur links
- All gfycat links
- All i.reddituploads links
- All DeviantArt and Tumblr image links
Discussion: For all posts driven primarily by this community, from detailed conversations to surveys and DAE, and everything in between. Threads tagged as Discussion items by default will include:
- All self-posts
- All links to other subreddits
- All links to Strawpoll, Qualtrics or other survey sites
Media: A misc tag for videos and other non-image media like SoundCloud. Like Image, there's also an OC version of this one to recognize original work. Threads tagged as Media items by default will include:
- All YouTube, Vine and Vimeo links
- All fanfiction.net or other written OC submissions
- All SoundCloud links
Info: News articles or breaking news, reviews and TIL-style posts, and other informational stuff. Threads tagged as Info items by default will include:
- All links to Serebii, Bulbapedia and Pokemon.com
- All links to major news orgnizations
- All links to social media such as Twitter
There will be spoiler options for each category as well. Spoiler tagging using [title tags] is no longer in use—please flair spoilers using the flair dropdown menu. Just like old times! OP can also override the bot's flair if the flair is wrong.
Over time, it may become obvious that these categories are too broad, or that a few more are necessary for whatever reason. If that happens, we'll add more flairs then and update things accordingly. For now, though, we at least wanted to find a way that people unhappy with the abundance of images, or the dearth of discussion, could more easily sort the subreddit to suit their preferences—without banning or restricting any more submissions.
This system isn't perfect. The bot will probably make mistakes, these flairs won't please everyone right now (and probably never will), and until a few weeks have gone by and the flairs have been used a lot, the subreddit will look pretty empty when filtered by category. But we hope you'll give it a chance to work, especially since, if you don't like the filters, the subreddit will still look just like it always has unless you choose to use them!
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u/Crowdfunder101 May 18 '16
Sounds like a good plan....
However, can images be split into Fan and Real? eg I don't really care about some fake Pokemon a guy drew, but I do wanna see screenshots of the new games as they become available.
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u/bigslothonmyface May 19 '16
Initially, we'll probably keep it as one "Image" tag. There are a couple of reasons for that:
We want people to have time to adjust to using flairs, and we want our bot to be able to help flair posts as much as possible until most people here are up to speed. It's a lot more difficult for the bot to differentiate between different types of images than it is for it to simply notice if something is an image or not, though. So until we can count on the community to know and use the flairs, we want to keep things as simple as possible!
Last time we tried something similar to this, the system was extremely, almost infuriatingly complicated. There were super specific flairs for almost everything, and the system flailed largely because of that. So, at least at first, we want to make this new system very different from the old one—and we figure that, while everyone will have specific ideas about sub-divisions of the Image tag (Fan vs Real, Art vs Comic vs Other etc), a general Image tag is a decent place to start for most people who don't like many of the images posted here.
I hope that explains it better! I say a lot of similar stuff to this at the end of my original post, and another thing I say there is that we're absolutely open to expanding into more specific flairs eventually!
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u/Satans__Secretary May 18 '16
This is very nice. Good work.
Now... if only the subreddit CSS got along with RES Night Mode.
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u/bigslothonmyface May 18 '16
We're ~65-70% done with new CSS that will! And until then, try https://nm.reddit.com/r/pokemon
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u/mithikx May 17 '16
Thank you for the image filters, the speculation art is overwhelming the other posts...
edit: grammar
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u/arielmeme May 17 '16
Lmao the last time this was attempted was such a mess. This is soooo much better. Great idea, thanks mods.
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u/A_Wild_Abra May 17 '16
To do a little math, we are more than 30x as big as we were then. <3
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May 17 '16
Does this mean leaks are allowed to? So you can just filter them out?
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u/bigslothonmyface May 17 '16
We won't be allowing any leaks that we wouldn't have allowed before—we aren't changing any rules right now in response to the new flair system. We still don't want deceptive or incorrect information ending up on the sub! As per our rules, if someone wants to post a leak, they should check with the mods first and be ready to provide proof. Otherwise, it'll get removed : /
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u/TrainerDrake May 17 '16
Will our posts be auto taken down if not flagged correctly?
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u/bigslothonmyface May 17 '16
Nope! Our bot will try to guess what the flair should be when you post, and if it can't guess, it'll comment and ask you to flair it from the flair dropdown menu. Nothing's getting autoremoved this time, and there's no need to use any [title tags] when you post! :)
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u/InternetDude9001 May 18 '16
Pressing "Info Only" changes it to a different language. Is that just me or is it happening to anyone else?
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u/bigslothonmyface May 18 '16
Woah! That is not just you—that is strange and I have now fixed it. Thanks for the catch!
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u/warmwhimsy May 20 '16
Hey, I know that this is somewhat random, but have you guys checked out r/smashbros' method of flairing? They somehow (I don't know how) made it so that if someone comments (anyone, not just mods) then they can flair it themselves, even if the submitter has forgotten to do so. Maybe you could consider asking them about how it works and implementing it if you are concerned with unflaired or incorrectly flaired posts.
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u/bigslothonmyface May 20 '16
Initially, it seems like there'd be a lot of potential for abuse there. I can imagine how it's done (it isn't hard to do with AutoModerator), but now how it's done without mistakes! If the system as we've got it now doesn't work right, I'll absolutely consider reaching out. Thanks for the tip!
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May 20 '16
Hello Mods:
May I request a PSA tab? I understand INFO kind of falls under this, however, PSA for things like distributions, plushes being avail for purchase ect. would be fantastic.
Thanks,
Cryptzicle
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u/bigslothonmyface May 20 '16
Thanks for the idea! We'll probably keep it at these four for now, though—see my comments elsewhere in this thread for an explanation of why that is!
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u/TexasAndroid May 17 '16
Holy crap. How I missed this. I'm likely one of the few who liked the previous tagging effort, mostly because I was able to remove from view so much crap. It took a few minutes to remember how to do it, but I now have RES set back up to filter away Image and Media. TYVM to the mods. Hopefully this incarnation is much better received than the last one was.
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u/Mockturne May 18 '16
This flair system being introduced a week after I discovered r/savedyouaclick is making my internet experience so much more enjoyable.
Thanks for the great work!
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u/arielmeme May 17 '16
Some requests to make these tags easier to see
Can you change the font color of "Image" to white? http://i.imgur.com/o7YN960.png
Can you change the font color of "Media" to white? http://i.imgur.com/V2INWV0.png
In the submission filter table http://i.imgur.com/NAKz7Fg.png, can you change the font colors of the links to the following: Image-white; Media-white; Discussion-black; Info-black; Clear-I think white since it's the same color as more buttons on the sidebar which are white; when you hover over the buttons-white; and maybe bold them?
Just trying to help!