maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I was just curious if it is possible to make the forum display comments in a manner that's easier to follow. Because in threads with hundreds or replys it's almost impossible to figure out who is replying to who'se coment.

This is an example of what I'm proposing it should look like:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/...cc234102_o.png

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

But not in Russian :)

I think that encouraging long threads was a mistake. This wouldn't make it that much easier for me. But I don't know what would, except briefer exchanges of comments.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

i agree...that would make things a lot easier, then if someone replies to my post, I would know about it

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

How about people just learned how to quote properly?

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

And how exactly do you quote consecutive replies, genius?
If someone is addressing a reply to a reply to a reply there is no way for anyone outside of that discussion to know what the original comment was that the replies are being made to.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I agree. Many times though, we need to edit out the really long quotes and only leave what relates to our post.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

You don't, you just click on the arrow which brings you to the quoted post and gives you all of the contextual information required to understand what is being discussed.

Rince and repeat until thread is consumed.

You can subscribe to the thread which will email you of any new posts. That is, if you care about the thread and not just about people replying to your inputs...

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

And the search-function could be improved, when matching posts would be displayed instead of whole topics as it is at the moment...

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Repeated quotation doesn't make things any easier, only wastes people's time by having to read longer comments.
With the branched structure you know exactly who's referring to what. Not only that, you can easily and quickly pick what you need to read out of the entire thread.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

because if someone asks a question, and 4 pages down someone answers it, how the heck can can people find that solution? Not everyone has time to sit here for hours going through 50 pages of posts. Its also good for newcomers who need a quick answer to a question that someone else has also asked. the answer will be right below it, and not 4 pages away. This is one of the reasons why I like creating new threads instead of posting to old ones. Its new so itll be a lot easier so see others posts and reply to them, where is in old posts its a pain going through all those pages looking for a certain reply.

Well im sorry to say but I dont always care about the rest of the thread, not everyone is talking about the same topic that I am so why should i have to read through all that? Sometimes I ask very specific questions and only care about whats replied to my input. If its a big thread, it will have at least 10 posts an hour, my email will be blown up by the time I get to it, and in the end I wont even find the reply im looking for

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

So how do we get them to change it?

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I have to say I really do prefer indented threads. The concern has been that users will depend on Quick Reply most of the time and that could result in confusion. I'm sure there's a solution though...

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Maybe by default Quick reply replies to the last post in the thread?

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Sounds too easy. I thought of that, too, but surey so has Reggie... so maybe there's a catch.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Quick Reply can use your webcam to see what post you are looking at, and automatically reply to that one. ;)

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Dude, I envy your creative genius.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

There was a bit of a discussion about the use of threaded view on tmo in this thread.

I've never found a forum where it was popular, but there seems to be some demand for it here.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Maybe those of us who prefer structured forums are mutants. More likely just ADD/ADHD sufferers (guilty :o).

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I think it's more that the discussion here is of a rather different nature. Sometimes it's fine for it to be the rambling, chatty stuff that happens on other fora, but sometimes you almost feel like the conversation is so serious you should direct all remarks through the chair. Threaded view if a 'formal' way of conducting discussion.

Personally, I find it a perishing nuisance. I'd rather people used the quote function properly, and addressed specific items to people using the '@' tag (@texrat!). But then, I've done more than my fair share of chairing meetings - more than enough to prefer the informality. I also prefer a more 'female', networking-forcused way of communicating.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Ooo, that just provoked a thought: I want threaded view on for the Brainstorm subforum!

/me runs off to make a lot of noise

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

@RevdKathy
So are you for or against my proposed branched comments view?

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Or maybe people just long for mailing lists?

/goes into hiding after this cheeky troll :P

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

My question is - will this thread reach the appropriate people that are in charge of the site's web design?

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

There's really just one, and he's aware of the issue.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

For myself, I hate threaded view. But my understanding is that where it is applied, in most cases it's an option you can choose or not. I would turn it off - though having it it would make discussions harder to follow as people would make less use of the quote function.

But this board is (strangely!) not all about me and what I like. If a decent number of people would like this option enabled, then I would support them being offered that option. On previous boards I've been at where it's enabled, it's been used by less than 1% of the readers. My point was that the needs here might be rather different from those of a chat type board.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

wait... I must be missing something,, I thought the whole point was that if we had it enabled people would make *more* use of the quote function... since thats what the thread is built from???:confused:

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I've yet to hear an explanation for how threaded posts on a pull system like a forum would work. It works great for email because my email client is designed to push new, unread messages at me.

However, on a forum I get one notification of a reply and then - at some later point - use newsub.php to read through, from my last read point, new posts in threads of interest.

How would I not end up reading old posts (and without checking the dates, not be sure about whether or not they were old) or missing posts?

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I don't understand that comment Jaffa. I've seen it work on numerous forums. IMDB is one.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Sorry, I'm not asking if it does work; I'm asking how it works. On IMDb how do you avoid re-reading old posts or missing posts when trying to do a daily catch-up?

The online fora I've used which had threaded comments I always ended up having to either sort by date or re-read large swathes of it again.

Or, perhaps, I've not explained the problem well. Consider the following post tree:

As of Monday, you've read the whole thread. And then there's three posts:

In our current layout, with chronological layout and good quoting, you'd see posts J, K and L at the end of the paged list of posts; since there's a link which takes me straight to post 'J' (the first unread), it's then trivial to start reading to the end of the thread and be fully caught up.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

@Jaffa

Well.. in the *current* system, there is a "Go to first unread" button that sits next to the thread title. It's a small black box that will take you directly to the last post you read.

I am not sure if similar could be implemented in "tree" or "list" view.. or whatever the mailing list one is called.

Subscriptions would also send you emails about people responding to threads. The only time subscriptions don't work is new posts.. but once you've read one and decided you're interested in following it you can just subscribe to it.

ETA: I just realized this probably only exists in the old Dark Theme.. I have no idea if it was implemented in the new orange one..

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

Thanks, Jaffa, for perfectly explaining why I personally hate threaded view.

I think what people are saying is that they might be interested in the tangent thread where J replies to C, but not the one where K replies to H, and they don't wish to have to read both. Nor are they interested any more in L's comment to the overall thread.

To me, it's about how a conversation would actually happen in a real time conversation, where two or three topics branched off and I was trying to follow them all. Eventually, if one tangent strand became important enough, it would be scheduled for another meeting (Get its own dedicated thread) but in the meantime, people would be talking about a few different areas of the main topic. I guess that's partly because I don't have a problem following several strands of conversation at once - I can see that for some people it's a challenge. There's also the question of time/effort spent reading the material on a topic one is not interested/involved in.

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

I think there's merit to this request:

- For those who are new to the system, it'll be easier to follow the conversations.
- For those who are here on daily basis, it'll be easier to follow multiple conversations within a thread.
- For administration and general site upkeep, it'll be easier to identify forks (of spam or OOTness or of a seed that's worthy of its own thread) and act accordingly.

I've also seen forum packages (or plugins?) that enable selection of multiple view on reading threads:

- linear mode
- threaded mode
- hybrid

So everyone can set their own defaults and switch to whichever view is most suitable depending on what they're doing. Have your cake and eat it too...

Exhibit A: (click on 'option' button on the top-right-ish area)

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/ind...owtopic=166967

Re: maemo.org needs better discussion layout
 

@ysss
The two extra viewing options, other than 'standard' on that site seem pretty useless. They aren't intuitive at all. Especially under the outline view with the collection of links to replies. How to know which to click if you have no idea what the content is?! And the 'linear+' I don't even understand what it does.

I would love to see the branching the way it s in the picture I provided in the beginning of the thread. It's an extremely clean and intuitive layout. You know exactly who's talking to whom. You know exactly what you're interested in reading, and it saves you a lot of time. What would be even cooler is if the branches were collapsible and the collapsing is remembered if you return to the thread. Saves you the scrolling through boring/useless stuff again.