siteupdate is one of the most important forum groups, most likely the most important. Many changes go on that many users will not know happened just because they aren't a member of this group. Wouldn't it make sense if everyone was a member? That way, there are no redundant threads asking "when did this happen?" or "why is this like this now?" People could still leave the group if they were not interested in the pings. I think not enough people know about this group, and everyone should.

Even though forum groups are glitched and certain people still do not get pings from certain groups, this should not be a reason that this doesn't happen. The glitch may get fixed eventually (hopefully?)

[edit] perhaps take a different approach to this, have a separate tab in the news with all of the site updates, or trigger a "new site update" bar whenever a site update happens. these ideas come from below.

the ultimate goal here is a better way for staff to communicate directly to the users who these changes impact. I don't really care how exactly this gets done.

The biggest roadblock I can see with this is that when the ping group gets large, it takes FOREVER for the ping to go out, if it goes out at all. Until ping functionality is addressed so that it's workable to ping very large groups, I don't see this working well if an entire site is added to a ping.

I wouldn't mind a blurb in the newbie walkthrough or the FAQs or something, that says "Hey, if you want to know about what happens on the site, click here to join this ping group". Getting the knowledge of the ping group out will probably help.

I agree that a lot of people are missing the pings, but instead of making everyone a member, it would make more sense if every thread posted in the Announcements and the Site Update forums appeared as the "There's a new announcement" bar. Stuff like the new GA perk is important and it should be seen by everyone. This would leave the siteupdate ping group for minor, less important updates.

True, a new "There is a new site update" bar or something or even just a new announcement would be great. I think it would make more sense to do it that way.

edit: except there are the siteupdates that happen on existing threads and in different forums, which can also be important.

Maybe it can be better if the news page will be divided by 2 tabs: news and announcements. The news is the default one and every new site update will have the top bar "there's a new announcement" that will take us to the announcements tab..

Or simply to send an event to the sidebar "there's a new site update check it out" linked to the topic..

Or a widget that shows all the site updates topics..

I don't know, but you are right, the ping group is not enough and there must be a solution that will fit for everyone and will give everyone the opportunity to know about new updates..

tbh if we're talking mandatory subscription to a ping group (which will absolutely break the ping group and people will miss out on anouncements anyway), then this is really something that ought to just be moved to the news page, where they should have been from the beginning.

i think flight rising does a pretty good job of integrating small fixes with major news announcements on their front page, where every user can see it (which i appreciate, as i dont use the forums on that site). here is what i'm talking about: major announcements and small fixes, side by side. i think subeta would do well to adopt a similar means of communication, since the current siteupdate ping group (mandatory or not) really isn't the most efficient thing in the world

something like that would probably work well, I like it. :) I just want everyone to be able to see the changes that get made, I don't really care how it happens in specific.

oh i completely agree with you on that front. ultimately as long as we end up with a clear means of communication readily open to everyone, i'll probably be satisfied regardless of the means of delivery.

not enough people utilize the admin posts feature to see what staff is saying, and then when something like the interest thing pops up on the news, they are clueless of the reasoning behind it. communication and clarity is something that would help everyone on the site, and it is probably the thing I hear complained about most in general about staff.

What if every siteupdate ping was also added to a sidebar on the newspage. I think FR has changed their ways for minor changes, and they're noted on the front page of the site.

Something like this. I can see this working very well.

EDIT: Wow, someone else already mentionned it. D: I'm slow.

isn't that what said? :P I agree, I like this. I think it would work well.

edit: I am slow too, posted before I saw the edit xD

this is me this is you

:D

What FR does with their site update sidebar I like very much, and I feel informed every time I log in. I wouldn't mind seeing the same thing done here.