It’s now 2.5 years since Loquax’s competition listings moved to the forums and as previously alluded to in another blog post we’ve been looking at how we can develop things. The forum format has been great for posting competitions but it’s now always the best for entering – especially when there are so many comps around. Our “thanks” tracker has also done a brilliant job – but it’s used for multiple things by different users. So can we put together a listing service that gives you direct links, an entered button, an ignore button, a thanks button plus link up forum posts and comps from the site site? And can we do all that whilst keeping the forum as it is and the legacy listing system?
Well yes we can!
As of now the new competitions, closing soon, prize directory and comps by type are in this new format. Going from left to right – there are new big icons to indicate the type of competition (Facebook, Twitter etc). The main link now takes you to the competition (not the post on Loquax) plus you can follow the link below to see more comps from that site/promoter. Next to this is the “thanks” button. Feel free to use it to “thank” the poster or as a legacy tracking option. Under the thanks button is the poster’s name. Follow the link to see the original Loquax post. Note numbers by the username (e.g. Jason (1)) indicate that a reply has been made to the competition post. At the end we have our duck and cross tracker back in play. The duck should be clicked for “entered” and the cross if you wish to “ignore”. In both cases the entry will fade. If you wish to untrack or remove the ignore just click the buttons again.
I Prefer The Old System
Firstly if you wish to stick to clicking “thanks” then that will still work and there are legacy links and listings on the site. The thanks button will do the same job on every page! However ideally we’d like you to start using the duck/cross for tracking. We appreciate that is a nuisance and adjustment time is needed. Basically though competitions you’ve already “thanked” will be missing a thanks button (so you’ve entered them). Also by selecting “list by date added” you can pull up the newest additions to the site. This should make life a little easier during transition.
I Want To Hide Comps
At the moment entered/ignored comps won’t vanish from view. We may do that in future.
I Want To Ignore Comps
You can! We have options in place so you can select to ignore twitter, facebook, rafflecopter, gleam and blog comps.
I Want Comps Listed By…
We offer that too! Each section will have options such as list by sitename, date added, closing date and category.
I See No Ducks
If you don’t see a duck to track then logout of Loquax! Then log back in but with the “remember me” box ticked. It should work then!
What Next?
This new system will allow us to be a bit cuter with the listings which ultimately should make your life easier. We have a few bugs to fix and then we’ll look at how things are going.
If It Ain’t Broke
Change is not always welcome but we think this change is more than worthwhile. It’s also the biggest change we’ve done since the site was reorganised at the end of January 2013. As one poster commented this is as close to old Loquax as it can get. That was actually our aim and we’re quite excited to continue Loquax’s evolution online.