Playlists! - on the roadmap

Website Meta Discussions Roadmap
1

Hey everyone this is a ROADMAP post which means you can vote for ideas that you want to see sooner, this will help shape the future of the site!

Playlists is a really oft-requested feature, and a really big, complicated one so I want to get it right.

The idea is that anyone can make their own playlist which is a set of stories in the order they choose. They can publish them and other people can find these playlists.

Then you can track a playlist just like a Set, and complete it in the order as intended!

Some issues with this include:

  • What happens if you’ve already completed a story on the playlist? The intention would be to repeat it. So this ties into the repeat stories feature which also needs updating
  • What if several people make similar but slightly different playlists? What about naming? Will it get confusing?

You get the idea. I need to spend more time figuring this out. For now, it’s food for thought!

15 Likes
2

I think this will be a really cool way to recommend stories to people, and also a fun way to collect stories that all wrap up into a story in a complicated way - I of course immediately think of the MR prerequisites to Gallifrey.

14 Likes
3

Of course, Prerequisites is another feature I’m about to talk about…

9 Likes
4

This could be handy for stuff like the Evelyn Arc or Hex arc.

9 Likes
5

I think it would be cool to do it where you don’t know what is next in the playlist. It hides spoilers etc. Have the next blurred out until you have completed the one before it.

Also having them tag-able, a style guide for public descriptions etc.

10 Likes
6

Definitely something I would use. In terms of duplicating someone else’s list, could you do it like on ebay where you can basically use someone else’s list because the system finds ones with similar titles and gives you the chance of using that one - that’s probably a nightmare to sort though.

11 Likes
7

This seems like a really cool feature! In terms of names, I feel like it might be easiest to just attach people’s usernames to those? So you could for example have both jae’s gallifrey playlist and sircarolyn’s gallifrey playlist. Would also allow you to compare those rather easily that way. And you’d definitely need to be able to track/save other people’s playlists, I think

12 Likes
8

This is a great idea. I second tracking and saving other people’s playlists. I would definitely use this feature a lot

9 Likes
9

Ok here’s a thought though, something I have to think about when building…

Let’s say there is a member let’s call him Bob the Fish, and he makes an amazing playlist and everyone is tracking it.

What if:

  • He changes it and makes it worse, while people are using it?
  • He deletes it
  • He deletes his whole account :scream:

Should playlists, once they start getting used, become immutable to prevent this?

This is why it’s a difficult feature haha

7 Likes
10

Instead of tracking Bob’s playlist, I’d like to be able to make a copy of his Amazing Playlist 20xx.xx.xx, and track if he updates the list, then decide if I wanna update

Say I love and copied Bob’s
Amazing Playlist 2024.12.20, and he made a update, a more popular Amazing Playlist 2024.12.25 but with some stories I’m not able to get. I can still track the older version while everyone else update.

If he deletes it, just don’t cite his name on the pages of other people’s copy? You can make both public and private playlists and people can only copy a playlist if it’s public.

11 Likes
11

I’ve been wanting something like this for ages!

I would definitely use this!

4 Likes
12

This was what I was about to suggest - make the playlist something you can copy to your profile so you can follow it, check it off etc. That way, you might also avoid being confused if two people have similar lists. Just copy over the one you prefer - or both.

8 Likes
13

Ok it’s definitely got more complicated to build now but that’s fine I want it to be right!

7 Likes
14

This feature is an exciting prospect. Ideal for marathons of the show where you want to add in other elements such a minisodes or supporting material.

8 Likes
15

how did you know I would make a Gallifrey playlist :smiling_face_with_tear:

8 Likes
16

Is there another order than the set from start to end?

4 Likes
17

You may be slightly predictable :laughing:

8 Likes
18

We are talking about a time travel show! Do it in the Doctor’s style! You know, like a jigsaw puzzle. Grab random pieces and try to guess the whole picture in your head :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

7 Likes