Esri Community’s migrated to a new platform on Monday, August 24th. If this is the first time you’re hearing about it, feel encouraged to review these resources that were published and distributed in advance of the move.
Our team approached this migration with a parity-first mindset by achieving workflows and processes in the new platform that feel familiar. There are some changes, though. In some cases this is due to differences between available features, and in others we’ve taken opportunities to make improvements that reflect user feedback we’ve received over the years.
Our Esri Community Feature Parity Chart provides a detailed breakdown of similarities and differences between the former platform Esri Community had been hosted on since 2020 and the new platform. There’s a lot to be excited about and we’ve assembled this list of new features and updates that we expect Esri Community users to find useful, and that will be available at launch.
All Members
Improved Home Page
Featured News and Featured Places components have been added to the Esri Community home page, making it easier for members to connect with highlighted content and focal points of the Community.
Improved navigation
We’ve reconfigured the top navigation bar to make finding high-use categories simpler. Place Lists no longer involve many paginated pages, making it more possible to quickly locate what you’re looking for with a quick scroll or Control/Command + F search. A Quick Links widget included on most Esri Community pages makes finding a number of useful areas—such as your posts, drafts, and more—a breeze.
Improved spam prevention
New back- and front-end features build on previously used spam prevention methods that are expected to reduce visible spam attempts further. Will all spam be stopped? Probably not, but new capabilities that make posting illegitimate or malicious content more difficult are always a plus.
Simplified Place structure and posting process
With a limited number of exceptions, the new platform will not feature individual boards for Questions, Blogs, Documents, Ideas, and Events. Instead, nearly all post-types will be available to create and live at the Place level. This approach reduces a layer of overhead and the number of clicks to post, while more closely reflecting the experience our longtime members will recall from the GeoNet days of the Community. It is better aligned with the typical online community structure.
New post-type: Discussions
Where past posts were largely relegated to very specific posting goals (asking a question, sharing a blog article, documenting a process, etc.), the new platform features a Discussion post-type that is intentionally broader in purpose. Discussions give signed-in members the opportunity to expand the conversation while making sure that their message is relevant to the Place they’re publishing in and follows Esri Community Guidelines, Terms of Use, and Etiquette Expectations.
Post and comment sharing options for Private Message and email
Posts and comments feature a share button that can generate a copied permalink, start an email containing a permalink, or insert a permalink into a new Message (Private Message).
OP (Original Poster) now identified in comment threads
When the author of a post comments or replies in the thread of their post, a pill with the letters “OP” appears beside their username to identify them as the original poster.
Accounts with the same email address are merging
Addressing a perennial pain point for many users, it is now possible for the Esri Community team to facilitate the merging of multiple accounts belonging to the same member. And when it comes to accounts that already use the same email address (this can happen in the case of accounts created before 2020), these have automatically being merged. What’s more, members whose ArcGIS Public Account usernames change will no longer need to work through the Esri Community team to get their account’s SSO ID updated to match it so long as their email address hasn’t changed. So what if your email address does change over time? No sweat. You can still get in touch with our team at esricommunity@esri.com and we’ll get your Esri Community account updated.
Save any post-type as a draft
In the new platform, it isn’t just Blog and Document posts that can be saved as a draft. Every type of post includes this feature so that you can start writing and then come back to finish things later if needed.
Easily locate your post drafts
While it’s technically been possible to locate unpublished Blog and Document drafts, few people would have described the process as easy. Where Blog and Document authors were required to locate the individual Blog or Document board they’d saved a draft to for further editing or publishing, the new platform includes prominent buttons to each members’ My Drafts area where they will find their unpublished posts. Even better, there's a built-in auto-save system that creates drafts of your work automatically in case you forget to save it yourself.
New notifications controls
We think badge and rank notifications are a fun way to track achievements in Esri Community, but our team understands that some members would prefer not to get notifications of these. The new platform includes notification preference settings that give members control over these two features.
New profile Activity Wall
In the new platform, member profiles include an Activity Wall with Rich Text Editor so that members can publish general status updates, thoughts, and personal news for others to see. The communication goes both ways—members can also leave public messages for others by making use of the Activity Walls in their profiles.
Rich Text Editor simplified
The Rich Text Editor in posts has been cleaned up for a simpler posting process. See our Features Parity Chart for a full list of what is and isn’t in the new Rich Text Editor. We’ll mention a few improvements here:
- Kaltura MediaSpace videos now supported
Using the embed feature, members can now add Kaltura MediaSpace videos directly to their post rather than being forced to link to it for external viewing.
- New <iframe> embed capabilities
Want to embed an ArcGIS Survey123 form in your post? An ArcGIS Online map? An *ArcGIS Story Map? Now you can with the new platform’s embed feature.
*At this time, ArcGIS Story Map sidecars don't fully display when embedded in Esri Community post iframes.
- Auto language detection for inline code
The inline code feature automatically detects and formats code based on what is entered.
- Toggle Block enables collapsed text and elements
Got a lot going on in your post? The new Toggle Block feature collapses content beneath a title, letting viewers reveal sections relevant to them.
Follow other members
Going live the same week as Esri Community's launch on the new platform, members will be able to follow others to receive notifications when those individuals they follow publish new posts. This new feature enables members to keep track of thought leadership, insights, ideas, and questions that from individuals whose input has proven useful.
Esri Community MVPs (and higher roles)
Simplified prohibited post removal process
MVPs and Esri staff play an important role in helping identify and remove inappropriate content (like spam) from Esri Community when it manages to slip past other safeguards. Now, these two groups can use the Report feature to combine the notification and removal process, easily porting posts out of view until they can be reviewed by Esri Community moderators.
New post-type: Polls
Polls are a new type of post that let permissioned members take stock of what their audience thinks or wants.
Esri General Staff (includes Esri Distributors)
Schedule any type of post to publish in the future
No longer limited to just Blog posts, Esri team members can schedule posts to go live at any future date and time. And if changes are needed, finding scheduled posts that haven’t published yet is as easy as visiting your personal Manage Drafts and Scheduled Content area.
Ideas Managers
Bump posts
There are times when high-value posts are published but disappear down the Latest Activity feed without having received enough visibility. Use the Bump feature to temporarily place them back at the top of the Latest Activity feed of the Place they’re published in.
Post and comment triage
The new platform includes an optional triage filter that permissioned Esri staff can use to review and manage post activity in their Place(s). This triage filter can require individual setup assistance by Esri Community Administrators. If interested in learning more, please contact the Esri Community team about it: esricommunity@esri.com
Access to escalated and reported posts
Primarily meant for use by the Esri Community team, permissioned Esri staff can now access and posts in the backend that have been reported and/or escalated for future review or action. Only the Esri Community team should engage in disciplinary moderation; however, there may be cases where the Esri Community team or other staff escalate posts to Place Managers or Ideas Managers for review and other forms of follow-up.
Place Managers (everything above, plus)
Prominently pin posts by making them Announcements
A new Announcement feature lets permissioned Esri staff pin select posts to the top of their Places’ Activity Feeds and make use of the new component that highlights announcements at the top of their Place pages.
