Random Button on front page ?

Capt'n Midnight

How about a random button on the front page that jumps to a random thread ?

Doctor J

That's a pretty good idea

Sparky

like in the biki

CuLT

Heh, I like it.

Rabies

As long as it doesn't drag up old threads then it could work.

Hugh Hefner

I would definately use something like that. It could be programmed to only jump to threads on Page 1 of a forum.

Sparky

yeah i have something simular on mine where it will pick a thread in a certain catagory on any page you allow it to.

So i wouldnt say its a hard thing to implement

something simualr to the phpbb code:

$sql = "SELECT forum_id, forum_name
	FROM " . FORUMS_TABLE . "
	ORDER BY forum_order";
if ( !($result = $db->sql_query($sql)) )

secret_squirrel

Sounds like a good plan.

Would it be truly random or could it be based on say only the last day/weeks posts but wieghted towards the fora which get less traffic.

(on the assumption that there are some gems to be found off the beaten track)

Sparky

id have to say the one i have is truly random, but only in the catagory i allow it to select from

Chong

Sounds cool gets my vote.

CuLT

Sparky_S wrote:

id have to say the one i have is truly random, but only in the catagory i allow it to select from

Pah, no such thing as truly random with computers.

</anal>

danniemcq

CuLT wrote:

Pah, no such thing as truly random with computers.

</anal>

the time they crash is 90% of the time, the other 10 is just before you save something

simu

Well, it would certainly be handy for the uberbored. Cool idea!

Goodshape

Yea, why not.

Support++

joe.

I like this idea.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

masteroftherealm

Defo supprt here

radiospan

Maybe if it picked a "virgin" thread, or one with few replies (kinda like secret_squirrel's idea?)

Bard

God idea yes, as long as it, as said, doesn't drag up really old threads.

The Sweeper

Yeah, the bumpage factor could be painful... otherwise sounds cool.

Agent Smith

nice idea,

could it be labeled " do not press! "

regi

I'll put it on the list!

JackKelly

definitely a nice idea.

mike65

I like the idea but I'd want ancient threads to be bumped. Its interesting to see once-famous names that no longer post or topics that now look soooooo 1999.

Mike.

Cake Fiend

Regi wrote:

I'll put it on the list!

You're on my list now, buddy...

How about an accompanying button to choose a random thread from this day 5 years ago? Kind of like The Register. Or maybe better, the most popular thread of the day 5 years ago today.

Capt'n Midnight

For a very heavy bias towards recent posts a likely looking function to pick the post number is something like

p = n * Exp( (rnd-1) / s )

p = picked post or thread
n = total no of them ( - 100 cos they can be found in new posts anyway )
Exp = exponential
rnd = random number 0-1
s = skewness - let user pick a number 0-1 that is stored in their settings
( or maybe use the log of this number s= log( 1+ x/y) x=0-9 y=10 or something

0.1 - half of picks in most recent 0.7% of posts
0.2 - half in last 10%
0.3 - half of picks in last 19% of posts
0.5 - 2/3 of picks in last 1/3 posts
1.0 - nearly linear

seamus

select thread.threadid from thread,
(SELECT COUNT(*) as numrows FROM thread) tot_rows
where thread.createdate > RAND(NOW()) * 10000000000 order by rand(tot_rows.numrows) LIMIT 0, 1

Or something..

aidan_walsh

Use LavaRnd.

[Jackass]

agent smith wrote:

nice idea,

could it be labeled " do not press! "

Haha, I'd like that, only boards search would probably crash 'cause everyone would press it.

Great idea though...it could just choose any thread that has had a post in the last 7 days (or maybe 14? )

Gets my vote.

CuLT

DubGuy wrote:

Haha, I'd like that, only boards search would probably crash 'cause everyone would press it.

Great idea though...it could just choose any thread that has had a post in the last 7 days (or maybe 14? )

Gets my vote.

Actually I like the idea of random threads from yonks ago getting randomly read (but god help you if you reply to it O_O).

[Jackass]

heh..true I guess. But a lot of people who press it wont have read this thread or any thread regarding its use and wont read the dates in thread...and inevitably reply :rolleyes: But yeah, it would be cool for really old ones
Plus sometimes you'd love to reply to really old threads but cant if your searching through them for something.

Hugh Hefner

*Looks shifty* .... Ya knowwwww..... It'd be.. kinda cool... if there was a special forum for old threads.... Yeah... Sure would.....

*Fains surprise* What's this?! Very good.

Cloud

Erm, well the random thingy is harder than it sounds because we have so many threads and numbers missing in sequence (due to deletion etc.) you can't just pick a number between 1 and 350000 or whatever - and using a SELECT with the RAND() function in MySQL takes 5 seconds.

So for now what I've done is put a "Thread Of The Day" link in the main boards.ie menu up top - every day a new thread will be selected from the past day's posts. We might increase the duration to the past week or something, but it is random and better to have a recent post than some post from the dead...

J.
--

Hugh Hefner

Cloud wrote:

Erm, well the random thingy is harder than it sounds because we have so many threads and numbers missing in sequence (due to deletion etc.) you can't just pick a number between 1 and 350000 or whatever - and using a SELECT with the RAND() function in MySQL takes 5 seconds.

Ah well, it's not like it was a vital addition to the site.

Cloud wrote:

So for now what I've done is put a "Thread Of The Day" link in the main boards.ie menu up top - every day a new thread will be selected from the past day's posts. We might increase the duration to the past week or something, but it is random and better to have a recent post than some post from the dead...

Sexcellent.

Sparky

Cloud wrote:

Erm, well the random thingy is harder than it sounds because we have so many threads and numbers missing in sequence (due to deletion etc.) you can't just pick a number between 1 and 350000 or whatever - and using a SELECT with the RAND() function in MySQL takes 5 seconds.

So for now what I've done is put a "Thread Of The Day" link in the main boards.ie menu up top - every day a new thread will be selected from the past day's posts. We might increase the duration to the past week or something, but it is random and better to have a recent post than some post from the dead...

J.
--

yeah was thinking that alright, takes a good bit of server time to generate a page, especially with this size of site, and i could only imagine how big your sql database is.