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Draft Saved feature

  • 12-01-2022 3:38pm
    #1
    Boards.ie Employee Posts: 12,597 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Boards.ie Community Manager


    Since we moved to the new platform in July 2021, we have had a feature that automatically saves your draft posts in case you lose connection, want to leave and come back to a post, think about your post before publishing it, etc. There is also the 'Save Draft' button which you can use to manually save the post yourself to post/edit/re-read later. With the automatic draft saving there is a pop up every few seconds while you are typing which some users have reported finding annoying or sometimes disruptive.

    On mobile

    On desktop (my screen is quite large so it will probably be in a different position on other screens)


    We have the option to switch this automatic draft save off but keep the 'Save Draft'. This way you can choose whether or not to save a draft, however if you move away from the page before publishing a post and without clicking 'Save draft' it will be gone forever.

    This will either be on or off for everybody, there is no possibility to choose at a user level. So before I hit any switches, I'm asking which you would prefer.

    The poll will stay up until next week and we'll decide then. Thanks!


    If you had no idea about drafts, you will find yours here: https://www.boards.ie/drafts where you can delete or post them.

    Draft Saved feature 485 votes

    Switch off auto save and keep the manual 'Save Draft' button
    58% 286 votes
    Keep both auto saving drafts AND the manual 'Save Draft' button
    41% 199 votes
    Post edited by Spear on


«134567

Comments

  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    The saving of drafts has saved me a bunch of times. Honestly one of the best things to come from the new site



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 21,731 CMod ✭✭✭✭Ten of Swords


    ^^Same

    I never use manual save draft, I'd be curious how many do, but auto save is the most useful aspect of this functionality. Without it (imo) you might as well not have 'save draft' at all



  • Registered Users Posts: 10,419 ✭✭✭✭28064212


    Is the obvious alternative not to keep auto save and simply hide the unnecessary message? The majority of complaints around the auto-save are about the message displaying - hiding it has little-to-no negatives

    Boardsie Enhancement Suite - a browser extension to make using post-migration Boards on desktop a better experience (includes full-width display, keyboard shortcuts, and a dark mode setting)



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 8,963 Mod ✭✭✭✭greysides


    There's nothing worse than writing a long post only to have it lost unexpectedly. The next one is usually a lot shorter and not as detailed. I can live with the prompt, though it would be good if it could be modified, with it positioned off the reply box. Even if it were removed, but the functionality continuing in the background.

    The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress. Joseph Joubert

    The ultimate purpose of debate is not to produce consensus. It's to promote critical thinking.

    Adam Grant



  • Registered Users Posts: 33,543 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato
    Golgafrinchan 'B' Ark


    @28064212 No because the site is too slow. When the auto-save happens, your typing freezes. Also if you change your mind and decide not to reply, you end up having to delete the draft.

    Here's what you could have won.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 10,419 ✭✭✭✭28064212


    The site being slow is a separate issue, which should obviously be fixed - it's slow in other areas too (although it doesn't affect all users), not just when typing.

    And I don't really see how draft-deletion is an issue - if it's a reply to a thread you're going to post in again, you just clear the reply box when you're writing your new reply. If you're not going to post in the thread again, it makes no difference

    Boardsie Enhancement Suite - a browser extension to make using post-migration Boards on desktop a better experience (includes full-width display, keyboard shortcuts, and a dark mode setting)



  • Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 7,635 Mod ✭✭✭✭delly


    On mobile I can't reply when quoting a post, the auto save keeps losing focus on the reply. So on that basis I'm voting to lose it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 9,716 ✭✭✭thesandeman


    The problem is that on mobile it covers the reply box so we cannot see what we are typing.

    I either have to wait until it goes away or scroll back until I can see what I've posted.

    It happened after a few words of this post and four or five more times as I was trying to write it.




  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Regarding the above post @Boards.ie: Niamh , is it possible to simply turn off the pop-up notification but retain the functionality?



  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,023 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    There should be an option to delete the draft from the comment box. Sometimes I go to write a post and change my mind about it half way through. Then I have to go to the drafts page to delete it.



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  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,167 Mod ✭✭✭✭CatInABox


    As others have said, a button to clear the comment box would be great, particularly as you can't select all and delete it (this might just be if you've got a quote in there).



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,904 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    It annoyed me a bit at first but I now like it as it has saved several posts for me. Its just the pop-up is a pain sometimes (I'm on desktop). If I want to abandon a draft I just select/clear the type (or just abandon it) and then occasionally go into drafts and clear them all.

    So: keep it but get rid of/move the pop-up.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,036 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    1. Button to clear the draft next/within comment box (badly needed)
    2. User preference option ON/OFF for auto-save (needed)
    3. Delay of initial saving or user time preference (if possible)
    Post edited by smuggler.ie on


  • Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,052 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    I don't mind it automatically saving the drafts but a "Delete All" or a way to select a few to delete together is badly needed imo. Having to do it individually is annoying if a lot have built up.

    Maybe the feature is already there and I have just missed it?



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,617 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    Another vote to keep the auto save feature, but lose the pop-up.

    It's not a problem (that I've noticed anyway) on desktop, but is a huge PITA on mobile.

    Seeing as desktop and mobile are basically different sites in terms of functionality, can the pop-up be lost on mobile, or be set to pop up somewhere other than right on top of text box you're trying to type in?

    I haven't voted in the poll, because if that pop-up on mobile has to stay then I'd vote to switch the auto off and just get used to using manual draft save.

    I'm indifferent either way on desktop.

    Is this an option?



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,212 ✭✭✭Tork


    I detest it so I've voted to get rid. I'm fed up of having to manually delete half written replies. It's a horrible feature. If I write something I don't want to lose, I simply copy the text onto the clipboard.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,723 ✭✭✭Polar101


    I really don't like the auto-save feature. I often start a reply, but don't finish it for some reason (decide not to post, replied to wrong post, realise out the point I was going to make isn't any good) - but since whatever rubbish I've already written is instantly saved, I keep having to go to my profile and deleting drafts there. A manual button to save would be much better, I'd use that if I have a fairly long reply typed and don't want to lose it.

    Most of the time the draft saving isn't really needed at all, so there's no particular need for an auto-save either.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1 Lusty4567


    Im new here, trying to find my way around being who I am, could do with a bit of help.



  • Boards.ie Employee Posts: 12,597 ✭✭✭✭✭Boards.ie: Niamh
    Boards.ie Community Manager




  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    The drafts are upoaded somehow, as they appear across devices. And sometimes images cannot be deleted. Until that is fixed we should remove the feature.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 27,904 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I think there is a bin that appears at the top of the image, but I am a bit hazy about that. (Desktop)



  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Yeh but that was buggy for me. I managed to delete the draft.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,326 ✭✭✭✭Deja Boo


    I do not like the feature: draft

    I do not like, before or aft.

    I do not like it here nor there.

    I do not like it anywhere.

    ...It's been known to cause posting mishaps 😉

    as has this double spacing craaaaaap 🤪



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,102 ✭✭✭MrMusician18


    Given everything else that's broken with the site, it's this rather innocuous feature is up for discussion?

    Strange priority tbh.

    Post edited by MrMusician18 on


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,309 ✭✭✭✭wotzgoingon


    I hate that feature and once before I said I will use the feature the damn thing never saved what I was writing so yea get rid of it.

    Another time it saved what I was going to say in draft a week so so later I replied in the same thread and I never realised that there was a draft as well as what I wanted to post and never copped it and was in the thread later in the day and realised I had posted garbage from the draft and then below what I had wanted to say.



  • Registered Users Posts: 20,322 ✭✭✭✭Rikand


    Can't fix all the broken stuff but this is something they actually have an on/off switch for


    Off for me



  • Registered Users Posts: 22,052 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    I don't want to be reminded off all the poorly thought out and pointless posts I was writing and then decided not to post for the previously mentioned reasons

    I only want to be reminded of those when I was also drunk enough to hit the Post Comment button

    I vote to lose the auto save draft feature

    It has caused me to have to delete things a lot more often than it has saved me from losing a long thoughtful post



  • Boards.ie Employee Posts: 12,597 ✭✭✭✭✭Boards.ie: Niamh
    Boards.ie Community Manager


    It's not ncessarily a priority, it's something a number of people have complained about (the draft saved pop up on mobile) and is a very simple on/off button that I can change in a moment. The only reason I am asking before making a change is that I want to be sure the people who have complained are in the majority and that people are given a choice before we do/don't change it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,617 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    Is turning it off on mobile only an option?

    It's a much bigger problem there than on desktop - it does sometimes block the corner of the text box on desktop, but you just have to nudge the box up the page. It also takes much longer to kick in on desktop (I'm still typing here and - it's just appeared! but not on top of the text I'm typing).

    On mobile it pops up almost immediately and completely blocks out the text box.



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  • Boards.ie Employee Posts: 12,597 ✭✭✭✭✭Boards.ie: Niamh
    Boards.ie Community Manager


    At the moment the only options are the ones I gave in the original post - autosave on or autosave off. Anything further will require going to Vanilla and asking for adjustments to their Draft feature which could take quite a while.



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