# Front page: only categories or latest topics?

**URL:** <https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123>\
**Category:** SDL Announcements\
**Created:** [April 3, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123 "2021-04-03T18:26:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/icculus/32/81_2.png) [@icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/icculus)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/1 "2021-04-03T18:26:53Z")

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So it’s useful to have commit notifications drop into Discourse; the downside is it absolutely drowns out conversation if you mix it in with everything else.

So I was thinking of changing the front page to look like this:

 ![2021-04-03_14-23](https://discourse.libsdl.org/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2cc50c0329746c704b46c0299e7939feb81e9604.png)

…instead of like this…

 ![2021-04-03_14-24](https://discourse.libsdl.org/uploads/default/original/2X/3/3e1a1d57e6cfde1b718b3cc11b6a24c577796d76.png)

The upside is this no longer looks like a flood of commit messages with an occasional human interaction, but it also looks like _nothing_ is happening unless you click through to a category you want to read. I’m torn.

Have an opinion? Please vote!

_Poll ([view on site](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/1))_

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/icculus/32/81_2.png) [@icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/icculus)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/4 "2021-04-04T04:46:15Z")

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**Author:** ![sjr](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/sjr/32/5749_2.png) [@sjr](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/sjr)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/5 "2021-04-04T05:43:50Z")

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I mean, could it be made so that SDL commits don’t show up on the front page, but still go to the “SDL Commits” section?

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**Author:** ![icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/icculus/32/81_2.png) [@icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/icculus)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:22pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/6 "2021-04-04T15:22:11Z")

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Not that I can see, but I’ll ask if this is possible on the Discourse, uh Discourse.

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**Author:** ![icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/icculus/32/81_2.png) [@icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/icculus)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/7 "2021-04-04T16:08:59Z")

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As usual, there’s a 100+ comment thread that says “this used to work and you took it away” interspersed with Discourse devs willfully misunderstanding the problem. But fortunately, someone wrote a plugin that lets you mark a category as “don’t show this in the latest topics” which is exactly what I needed.

So disregard all this, we’re up and running without commit spam now. 🙂

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**Author:** ![icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/icculus/32/81_2.png) [@icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/icculus)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/8 "2021-04-04T16:17:41Z")

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**Author:** ![Mason\_Wheeler](https://discourse.libsdl.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mason\_Wheeler](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/Mason_Wheeler)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/9 "2021-04-05T14:06:20Z")

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> [@icculus](#):
>
> As usual, there’s a 100+ comment thread that says “this used to work and you took it away” interspersed with Discourse devs willfully misunderstanding the problem.

I tried to warn you guys…

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**Author:** ![icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/icculus/32/81_2.png) [@icculus](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/icculus)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/10 "2021-04-05T14:25:20Z")

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> I tried to warn you guys…

I do find this way of dealing with end-users frustrating as an end-user, but as a developer (even an SDL developer), I _also_ deprioritize some bug reports and choose to ignore others, so it’s not an entirely alien concept to me. They seem to do this most over small details (can we add a basic setting here? Can we change this string here?), which makes things feel more frustrating because it doesn’t _feel_ like these are big asks, at least from where I’m sitting.

But overall, my complaints with Discourse are pretty small…it’s been rock-solid and useful even when I can’t successfully advocate for my specific use-cases of small details. But in this instance, someone wrote a plugin to fill the gap, so it’s solved anyhow.

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**Author:** ![Daniel\_Gibson](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/daniel_gibson/32/3010_2.png) [@Daniel\_Gibson](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/Daniel_Gibson)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/11 "2021-04-05T14:40:23Z")

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> [@icculus](#):
>
> I do find this way of dealing with end-users frustrating as an end-user, but as a developer (even an SDL developer), I _also_ deprioritize some bug reports and choose to ignore others, so it’s not an entirely alien concept to me.

I think there’s a difference between deprioritizing (or even ignoring) and willfully misunderstanding.  
The former is often necessary, while the latter is not and shows total disrespect (maybe even contempt) for the user.

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**Author:** ![Mason\_Wheeler](https://discourse.libsdl.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mason\_Wheeler](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/Mason_Wheeler)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/front-page-only-categories-or-latest-topics/31123/12 "2021-04-05T14:51:11Z")

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> [@Daniel\_Gibson](#):
>
> I think there’s a difference between deprioritizing (or even ignoring) and willfully misunderstanding.  
> The former is often necessary, while the latter is not and shows total disrespect (maybe even contempt) for the user.

Yes, and that was my point way back when: the discourse devs have a long and ugly history of “contempt for the user,” particularly when the users _dare_ to offer bug reports or suggest that their product is not perfect.