Forum Content Scheduling

[Shawn Gossman]

How do you feel about forum content scheduling?

This is where you create forum topics/threads and schedule them to post ahead of time.

It's a way to keep your community active behind-the-scenes and focus more on engagement.

If you practice this, how far out do you schedule ahead of time?

 

[frm]

How do you feel about forum content scheduling?

I wouldn't mind it at all, except there's no viable way of doing it, for me at least, as I have ADHD and can pick up on subtle things other people might not notice.

This is where you create forum topics/threads and schedule them to post ahead of time.

Sure, but when speaking for XenForo at least, when you create a scheduled thread or post it goes into xf_thread and xf_post automatically, getting assigned the next incremental thread or post id.

If you practice this, how far out do you schedule ahead of time?

Now, say you schedule content for a month, one post a week, at that. However, you have 100 other threads/posts every week for the same month.

Now, you have thread id 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... 100, 111, 112, 10, 113, 114, 115, 116, etc., with the same applying to posts.

No creator or add on that I know of places the threads/posts in, say, xf_future_thread/xf_future_post that moves them into xf_thread and xf_post on a cron job where the ids would be in incremental order along with the dates.

If I see thread id 4 pop up with a date after thread id 12, it makes me question things...

Now, this might seem inconsequential to some, but think of it from a user point of view that has or is developing a parasocial relationship with the forum and community. If they every picked up on that, they could feel misled that you weren't actually active when they were, believing that they were an active participant at the same time and creating a real connection, when the fact is, they were essentially replying to "nobody" but an idea that was created in the past.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

This is probably the best reply I've ever seen for a post like this

 

[frm]

This is probably the best reply I've ever seen for a post like this

I've brought this up several times, but never added the psychological component that a user could feel if they noticed that, and also why it's logical to put it in another table before moving it.

My words have gone unheard though. No add on does it like I mentioned how they should.

 

[frm]

One thing I forgot to mention is scheduling posts over threads.

Sometimes, as we all know, threads can stray from the original topic. If you schedule a post in a thread that drifts into a new "truth", while still remaining on topic thread-wise, while still staying somewhat on the original subject, and you schedule a post that was accurate when the thread started but isn’t anymore, you might end up looking like you’re not keeping up or don’t know what you’re talking about.

A very niche example of this could be the viewing of the Milky Way. It's visible from March to September. You schedule a post in that thread from, say, a part of Florida on May 5th saying how beautiful it is. However, Florida currently has a hurricane. So, how is it that you have a beautiful view of the Milky Way during a hurricane? You would need to schedule very broad posts that could be applicable at any time in that thread. I would think scheduling posts would be more difficult to think of, content-wise in some scenarios than actually making a post on that date.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I'd be more about scheduling the actual thread itself. I don't think posts would be a good thing (replies that is).

 

[JoelR]

For community managers looking to maximize their efficiency, the ability to schedule threads is a must. This is built in as a core feature to IPS.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

For community managers looking to maximize their efficiency, the ability to schedule threads is a must. This is built in as a core feature to IPS.

Interesting. IPS is doing what it can to still be a forum software but have a lot of modern features.