Unifying user flair templates on old and new Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/bjjz7x/unifying_user_flair_templates_on_old_and_new/

created by crxpy on 01/05/2019 at 17:35 UTC*

198 upvotes, 24 top-level comments (showing 24)

Managing user flair is tricky right now because we have two platforms with different tools to support them. The old site uses css_class and stylesheets, and the new site uses Flair Templates. Assigning user flair on the old site wipes out any previously set flair on the redesign, and assigning user flair on the old site may or may not impact user flair on the old site, depending on if you’ve given it a `css_class` and setup that class in the stylesheet. All of this to say, user flair is more fragmented and complicated than it needs to be.

The ultimate goal is to simplify the two systems and make it easier to manage flair, and we can get there by unifying the way we store user flair. Now when a moderator assigns user flair on the old site, we’ll do a couple things on the backend. If you specified a css_class, we’ll try to find a matching Flair Template with the same css_class, and:

If we find a match, we’ll assign that template to the user
~~If we don’t find a match, we’ll try to create a new Flair Template with that css class and assign it to the user~~
~~If we can’t create a new Flair Template (i.e. if you have hit the max number of flair templates allowed per subreddit), we’ll proceed as usual with no template~~
If you didn’t specify a css_class, we’ll proceed as usual with no template

These changes will help us maintain a single notion of User Flair, without significantly impacting the way you manage Flair. You can still assign and style User Flair on the old site via CSS, and you can still use the flair picker on the redesign to manage Flair Templates. The only difference is if you assign user flair on the old site, we’ll try to help you style this flair on the redesign as well. This will be the first of many other changes to simplify and unify user flair.

Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.

TLDR: if you assign user flair on the old site, we’ll try to attach a matching Flair Template ~~or create a Flair Template for you~~ at the same time.

Edit: after some user feedback, we've decided to pull back the auto-template creation, the post has been updated to reflect those changes.

Comments

Comment by MajorParadox at 01/05/2019 at 17:46 UTC

20 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Oh, also, does this mean we no longer need the template_ids in automod? As explained here.

Comment by MajorParadox at 01/05/2019 at 17:39 UTC

13 upvotes, 1 direct replies

If we don’t find a match, we’ll try to create a new Flair Template with that css class and assign it to the user

Does that flair template become accessible to other users to select? Subreddits might have left it out of the old flair templates because that was the only way to make it "mod only" at the time.

Comment by [deleted] at 01/05/2019 at 19:11 UTC

9 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by 20Points at 01/05/2019 at 18:37 UTC

7 upvotes, 1 direct replies

So I'm a little confused, if we haven't got anything flair-wise set up on the redesign, but a *very* carefully managed old design flair system, what's this gonna do? We have a third party bot that manages user flair since it's linked into their personal scores for a particular game and regularly refreshed and updated with the current score, including images of their current rank.

Comment by beelzeybob at 01/05/2019 at 21:19 UTC

6 upvotes, 2 direct replies

So what will this mean for the subreddits like r/DragonAge that use hacky 3 classes in the css class field?

This was a method we used for old reddit to give users triple flair with bots, are we going to have to switch over to the new system completely?

Comment by qiyi at 01/05/2019 at 18:17 UTC

11 upvotes, 1 direct replies

So will this allow us to do custom CSS to flairs in redesign?

Comment by Glamdring804 at 01/05/2019 at 17:49 UTC

7 upvotes, 1 direct replies

So if our sub uses the old flair template, we'll still be able to do so, correct?

Comment by Justausername1234 at 01/05/2019 at 21:45 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

When is search by flair coming out?

Comment by SquareWheel at 01/05/2019 at 18:52 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

the new site uses Flair Templates

What does that mean, exactly? What is a flair template and how does it compare to the old system?

Comment by starfleetbrat at 02/05/2019 at 02:33 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Just curious, and perhaps you can't answer this, but will we ever get some form of unified sidebar? That's the biggest issue with the redesign I am finding, the lack of sidebar content in the redesign. You can mail the mods and ask them to update but if I had a dollar for every sub I come across that needs to be updated I'd be on my way to my dream vacation right now. Not to mention as a mod, it's an extra step I have to take to update both old and new sidebars with information.

Comment by raicopk at 01/05/2019 at 19:58 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Will those future changes include the option to use non-english letters (ç, l·l, ñ, etc.) when uploading (and naming) emojis? This seems to be, however, a broader incompatibility: just for example, it also bugs Wiki editions when said letters are used on the `edition reason`.

Comment by ZadocPaet at 01/05/2019 at 21:53 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Thank you for working on this. The issues described are the only reason why I haven't implemented new flair on any of my subreddits.

I have a situation where thousands of my users have their own flair. How can you help me assign them new flair based on the CSS class? 'Cause, that's what we really need.

Also, does this impact a user assigning themselves flair?

Comment by 3dsf at 01/05/2019 at 23:57 UTC

3 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Hey crxpy,

If you update the flair template, it should update previous flairs with the same template id; is there a reason this doesn't happen in practice?

thx

Comment by randoomguy666 at 01/05/2019 at 21:46 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

After testing, it seems that if users write a flair text themselves, in the old version of reddit, the emoji associated with the template is lost in the new reddit. It is working as intended if users don't customize the text, however.

Comment by silentmarine at 02/05/2019 at 00:52 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I am currently involved in helping a subreddit redesign and one thing we want to do is have as much parity between old and new as possible.

If a subreddit flair was created before the redesign, is there a way to "reset" so the style matches as if newly created?

Comment by [deleted] at 01/05/2019 at 19:45 UTC*

3 upvotes, 2 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by thoughtcrimeo at 02/05/2019 at 03:43 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Is there a way to do this with flair for posts?

Comment by tethercat at 02/05/2019 at 05:40 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Note to self as reminder to ask for help or straighten /r/relocating flair later

Comment by citricacidx at 02/05/2019 at 10:27 UTC*

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Any chance that we’ll be able to customize the flair text and border colors like the old css? I recently overhauled my flairs to be pretty close on the redesign to the original.

Comment by ilikereddit1234 at 07/05/2019 at 11:05 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

That's pretty cool!

Comment by FelixAndCo at 28/05/2019 at 08:09 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I had noticed some unexpected automatic flair synchronization, but I still don't get what is supposed to happen *exactly*. I'm on two subreddits who both are thinking about "porting" the old flairs to new flairs. Could you explain with all the technical grit from the beginning step-by-step how this new feature works? I have the feeling, that, if we don't understand the details of this new feature, it will actually hamper our subreddits' efforts to get consistent flairs across platforms.

Comment by flounder19 at 24/09/2019 at 15:22 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I still really hate this behavior. Would prefer there were better tools for mass changing flairs to this system of reddit trying to guess what i want to do and making massive flair changes because of it.