The thread about Directories made me think of this (and it's kind of a multi-parter)...

What if GMs had the ability to sort threads that weren't seeing player activity in their games? Sometimes, the last posts in threads jumble them up in a way that makes rereading them difficult to follow, or at least the order less than intuitive, and since GMs see everything, sometimes threads that aren't always relevant (like GM notes threads) wind up mixed in-between IC threads.

(Part 1)
What if the GM control panel had the following options as tick-boxes?

'Sort Notice threads Alphabetically by Title'
'Sort Closed threads Alphabetically by Title'
'Sort Notice threads by Group'
'Sort Closed threads by Group'

(Part 2)
As Notices are pushed to the top of the game thread menu, set Closed threads to fall to the bottom of the game thread menu.

(Part 3)
To prevent Closed Notice threads from borking that up, set Notices to default to being locked simply because they're Notices. (Alternatively, give precedent to 'Notice' over 'Closed', if a thread has both characteristics. I don't personally ever see Notices that allow posting in them, but that might be useful for some.)

This leaves the active threads that players are able to post in to fall into the current system of newest-post-to-the-top, so that game activity doesn't get lost or shuffled out of the way, while allowing GMs a way to clean up threads that aren't being used and make it easier if/when someone needs to locate one for rereading.

Part 1: sorting threads by group
This sort of already exists but it's a pain to access. There is a feature that will post threads for only one group at a time.

When it comes down to it, while an Alphabetical sort might be handy, group sorting really only helps the DM. As a player you only see groups you're in. Of course, i suppose if you're playing a lot of characters in a game, sorting threads by group is a way to sort characters by group.
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part 2: closed threads falling to the bottom.

This already happens automatically. Closed threads aren't able to be used anymore (except by the GM) so they fall because they don't get new posts.
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Part 3: Notices being closed

Aren't notice threads already closed?

You're assuming that Group is only used to differentiate between different character parties. Sometimes it's also used to clump together different action segments, or older portions of games that may have been rebooted, or even things that are happening in different places. Many times, characters are in more than one group because their roles overlap, such as when a game's Werewolves are all in Group 1 and their CIA agents are in Group 2, but a player has a Werewolf CIA agent.

For someone who wants to be able to sort (as in the thread discussing having a thread directory) all of the threads that include a certain location - like a Circus - those threads could all be put in Group C (for Circus!) to keep them together without having to re-name their thread titles to all go together alphabetically. Changing groups behind the scenes is more subtle (and less likely to interfere with player memory) than changing thread titles.

And of course, if both 'Sort by Group' and 'Sort Alphabetically' were checked, you could sort alphabetically within the group!

Note, too, I am specifically only asking for the ability to sort threads that players are NOT able to post in, just to give GMs the option keep the 'past history' of the game a little neater and easier to reread when you need to locate something that happened previously. For some games, that's a non-issue. For other games, trying to find anything that happened previously can be a right mess, because they have years and years of threads to go through.


Only if ALL non-closed threads get new posts more-recently than a thread was Closed.

I have plenty of games that have old, unclosed, threads that are scattered around closed threads. The point is to be able to manually close a thread and force it to the bottom, below open threads, regardless of whether or not other threads see new posts.


Notices are currently only Closed if you also set them to be Closed.

The suggestion to have Notices be automatically locked for non-GMs (instead of having to check the box to make them also Closed) is just to have an easy way to prevent the sorting from being unable to tell whether a thread should be considered 'Closed' or a 'Notice' by eliminating the need to make a Notice also Closed.

True, I assumed closed threads of whatever group aren't gemaine, and that a charcater won't be in more than one place at a time. I'm often wrong for some reason.

And open threads where no one is posting generally only need to be accessed by the person suddenly looking to post. It'll pop to the top for everyone else. I don't see a need for a programming mod fo that, but that's me.

Um, I Notices quite a bit and they always seem closed automatically to me. Maybe something has changed since the new format, but I hadn't thought so.

I suppose I am wording it incorrectly.

Yes, you are correct, that if you post a Notice it posts it as Closed, giving it the 'Notice' and 'Closed' traits. BUT...you can currently remove the 'Closed' trait by editing the thread and unchecking that box.

So, a Notice doesn't have to be Closed, and isn't automatically locked against non-GM posts just by the nature of being a Notice. Locking it also requires it to be Closed.

So...you're asking for the option to open it be removed? Or am I misunderstanding?

If you want it closed, and it starts closed, I don't see a need for a fix (as it's already doing what you want), and the ability to open it later seems to be a bonus, not a detriment.

I'm asking for Closed threads to sort to the bottom of the thread list, just like Notice threads sort to the top, and a means to sort those thread types among themselves.

CURRENTLY (as you pointed out), Notice threads can also be Closed threads, and I anticipated someone pointing that out as a reason that sorting Closed to the bottom wouldn't work - because Notice threads already sort to the top, so what would the code want to do with a thread that was both 'Closed' and 'Notice', besides get confused if it couldn't decide whether to shove it to the top or to the bottom?

To avoid THAT potential issue, I suggested that both 'Notice' AND 'Closed' threads COULD translate to 'non-GMs can't post here' threadtypes, because it seems both A) easier, and B) more useful, since (as you said) most Notice threads seem to remain locked against player posts anyway. (Although I HAVE seen player-postable Notices, they are few and far between.)

It was a multi-parter suggestion, where the parts all feed into each other, not three separate suggestions all in one post.

I'd say it's more common than you seem to think.  There are quite a lot of GMs who make OOC threads Notices, and others who give players their own individual "journal" threads, which are also Notices.  Neither of those two sorts are "GM only", but they are Notices as they're intended to be easily located by the players.

What does this mean?  Where do you access this feature?

Above the right upper corner of the thread list is a button marked "Filter". It will sort out 1 group at a time, assuming you have access to those groups.

Interesting... thanks!