PSA: We're planning to remove the Community Notes tool

We're planning to soon (probably v32) remove Community Notes from Logos Desktop.

The idea of Community Notes was to help users share their Bible Study insights with other users. But after a lot of initial interest when we launched the feature ten years ago, very few people are using Community Notes today. Most of those who want to share notes find that a Shared Notebook is a better option for them. (Shared Notebooks didn't exist when Community Notes were launched.)

We've already removed Community Notes from biblia.com, and they'll be removed from the mobile app in v30. We're planning to remove the ability to create new Community Notes in v31 (early January) and to remove the tool entirely in v32 (mid-February).

Your Community Notes won't be deleted. You'll still be able to view them at faithlife.com. But you'll no longer be able to access them from the Logos Desktop app. We're also planning to decommission the web service that supports Community Notes, so older versions of Logos would no longer be able to access the feature, either.

As always, your feedback is welcome.

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Comments

Rosie Perera

Great. I never used the feature anyway, and found it just got in my way. I didn't want to see what other users had commented.

Kiyah

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277461#Comment_1277461

I never used that feature either.

Whyndell Grizzard

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277463#Comment_1277463

Thank you- it was a nuisance to me.

NB.Mick

Your Community Notes won't be deleted. You'll still be able to view them at faithlife.com. But you'll no longer be able to access them from the Logos Desktop app.

This is unfortunate and unnecessary - unless you build a converter from Community Notes into "normal" notes. Some people may have invested a lot of time and effort into Community Notes. I personally think I did, and I know that other people did (such as sharing typos or missing/corrected links). Not being able to access those from the desktop app is functionally identical to deleting them.

Mark Barnes (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277465#Comment_1277465

This is unfortunate and unnecessary - unless you build a converter from Community Notes into "normal" notes.

Part of the reason for this announcement now is to determine whether that work would be truly valuable, or just a nice-to-have.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277469#Comment_1277469

I think deactivating without converting them to regular notes would set a very bad precedent - people need to feel secure that their work will not be lost. Even if it is only a handful of people who truly NEED them to be converted, the uproar from the unaffected but fearful users is not worth the cost.

Mark Barnes (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277469#Comment_1277469

Those who are asking for notes to be converted into standard notes so as to remain visible in the app: do you think this is important for all the Community Notes you have access to or just the notes you have authored?

Thomas Pape

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277487#Comment_1277487

This is a great pity - our Bible study group uses the note-taking tool to stay on the same page.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277490#Comment_1277490

our Bible study group uses the note-taking tool to stay on the same page.

Would a shared notebook still meet your needs? If not, what functions are needed to make it work?

Brandon Early

We're planning to soon (probably v32) remove Community Notes from Logos Desktop.

I love the idea of Community Notes. The best use of this idea was in YouVersion. I loved seeing quotes from pastors on specific verses, I wish it were used better by both YouVersion and Logos users. Sad to see it go, sad it did not get used better.

GaoLu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277498#Comment_1277498

A great idea whose time has ended.

NB.Mick

The idea of Community Notes was to help users share their Bible Study insights with other users. But after a lot of initial interest when we launched the feature ten years ago, very few people are using Community Notes today. Most of those who want to share notes find that a Shared Notebook is a better option for them.

While the original idea may have been overtaken by other technical opportunities in Logos, the tool of Community Notes (CN) allows for user collaboration that other features don't. It does allow for real interaction (discussion, refinement) and sharing of work load between users much easier - or even allow it for the first time - than other Logos features such as shared documents. I understand that this potential has not been realized in the past, however, there is a number of things on some places of the Logos drawing board that are (or could be) labelled "highly desirable, but beyond Logos team's ability to produce within existing budget limits, can only done by harvesting free user collaboration". Those things would include creation of missing links between resources, fixing the plethora of typos, errors etc. respective to single large, complex new resources as well as the whole library. CN is currently the only tool within Logos that can be used for this.

Doc B

your feedback is welcome

My interaction with community notes (CN) lasted about 2 minutes. I then turned them off and don't recall turning them back on anywhere.

The shared notebook (SN) feature is a much better option IMO, and I use several of those.

FWIW, I *do* like being able to see community tags in the library...it sometimes is the best way to find out the background/POV of an author or the focus of a book.

Mark

Most of those who want to share notes find that a Shared Notebook is a better option for them. (Shared Notebooks didn't exist when Community Notes were launched.)

I dont use this feature. But it does seem as if it is redundant if you can do the same through shared notebook

GaoLu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277559#Comment_1277559

FWIW, I *do* like being able to see community tags in the library...it sometimes is the best way to find out the background/POV of an author or the focus of a book.

I do find value in community tags. If I remember correctly, we won't lose that..., right?

Mark Barnes (Logos)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277645#Comment_1277645

Community tags in the Library are a separate feature. That’s not going away.

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277472#Comment_1277472

I think deactivating without converting them to regular notes would set a very bad precedent - people need to feel secure that their work will not be lost. Even if it is only a handful of people who truly NEED them to be converted, the uproar from the unaffected but fearful users is not worth the cost.

I completely agree!

Tobias Gerbothe

I'm all with NB.Mick, for the same reasons. Just last moth (had not seen this announcement) I recommended the typo and fact checking group to a colleague, who was happy to hear about it.

There was a lot of work done in these groups, but it would be as good as lost, if I couldn't see it in the desktop app. Esp. typos: If I only report them the "official" way it takes weeks (months?) till a new version of a ressource is published. A CN is/was visible immediately.

To answer the question: I would need all of the notes from specific groups, not just my own.

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1277487#Comment_1277487

Those who are asking for notes to be converted into standard notes so as to remain visible in the app: do you think this is important for all the Community Notes you have access to or just the notes you have authored?

Thinking again over this today, the most logical step for me would be that Community Notes are converted into Notes in Notebooks that are shared with exactly the same Faithlife group that currently has access to the CNs. This means, don't go after them by creator, user by user, but by potential reader, group by group (after all, they are Community Notes). Of course it would be nice actually necessary to see the original creator(s) listed - I'm using the plural here since CNs have the ability to be answered and thus create a short sequence like forum posts in a thread (although to my knowledge this was not used much and I don't think it ever went very deep) - for me it would be okay to run these "mini-threads" into one note, attributing the parts to the respective users.

This way, the data wouldn't be lost.

Tobias Gerbothe

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1282502#Comment_1282502

If I see correctly, there is an icon besides the text, informing me, that there "is" (better: was) a CN to this verse. I can neither see in which group the note was posted, nor by whom. In the notes tool, there are only my own CNs. But even if I guess which group it was posted to, there is not a search function for me to find the specific verse...
In effect, a lot of work and knowledge is lost.