I think they're should be (if it isn't in place already) a Topic popularity/ranking system. Ranking a Topic would have no effect on "karma" points or "armor" points. It sole purpose would be to allow users to see what topics are popular and what ones aren't or what topics were creative and what ones weren't. I'm sure the new forums will look quite different, but here's a picture of what it would look like, to clear things up.
You rated my thread a 2!?! I am so ticked off man, how could you do that? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! (Just kidding) Maybe the popularity is similar to how people rate games?
I think its a waste of time you can see how popular a thread is by seeing how many people reply in the thread dont you think>
What if I post in a thread, but really find the topic uninteresting?
How is it that a Youtube video can have 1'000s of views but have more dislikes than likes? You can't go by the view counter to determine how good the video was. Maybe it shouldn't be called popularity but instead thread quality.
A system that shows you: These threads are the best. These threads are really good. These threads are okay. These threads are poor.
I personally do not agree with this idea at all. Threads are supposed to eventually die, including popular and well made threads. How long a topic stays on the front page should depend on how interested the members are in the topic at the time, not how popular the thread is overall as a whole.
It has already been mentioned, but the best way to tell if people are interested in a topic is to look at the amount of replies as well as reading a few of the posts. If people dislike a topic, they avoid posting in it and it quickly gets bumped back to the latter pages.
Another post I saw earlier was one where members can flag duplicate threads. Each moderator acts differently on duplicate threads, but I personally have no problem with them as long as the original thread is bumped back. I would rather someone create a new thread talking about Puppies than for them to bump a 4 month old topic up that has 10 pages of conversation that nobody wants to skim through. It's like going on Youtube and replying to someone who posted their comment 8 months ago. It's just awkward.
I personally do not agree with this idea at all. Threads are supposed to eventually die, including popular and well made threads. How long a topic stays on the front page should depend on how interested the members are in the topic at the time, not how popular the thread is overall as a whole.
Yeah but then why have a sort threads by views or replies feature? Maybe make it so they only sort the last 2 weeks or less (or so of threads and not sort any threads after that. You could at least see recently popular or quality threads.)
The duplicate threads button would be at the transgression of the mods. Duplicate threads sepererated by large difference in times probably would be flagged by the mods as duplicate. (although even though I suggested the idea, I guess it would be pretty useless)