Comments in Posts

[Digital Doctor]

We've discussed this before.

RvG brought it up :

Guys, I am using Discux!X1 on one of my sites and one of my favorite feature on it is the subcomment inside the thread.

I see that vBulletin 5 has this feature.

vBulletin has always had a mod that does this: Reputation comment in post - karma for 3.5.


Here is an example of vBulletin 5 comments in posts.



I think a major benefit of comments on ("in") posts is that if people just want to comment on a small aspect of a post ... they can just add their 2 cents without junking up the thread with "Great Job", etc.

To me, comments in Posts will allow people to comment, without sprawling a thread over more and more pages.

 

[Arty]

I don't think it is a good idea.

Whenever someone posts a comment someone else might want to reply to it, creating thread within a thread. That basically changes linear thread into a tree.

That creates whole bunch of issues. How to properly display that list, how to track new comments? Each comments list might require additional pagination. What if someone comments on post on second page of 5 pages long thread? Should other users then read second page and last page to see new posts? That would be a mess.

 

[Chris D]

I hate the idea.

 

[Jarod]

Bad idea i think

 

[Shelley]

*Cringes at potential clutter*

 

[MagnusB]

It is a mess, and users wont differentiate between comments and posts, meaning you will fragment your content, especially over long threads.

 

[Sadik B]

The only place where I think this can be a good idea is in Question Answer Sites. Something like stackoverflow. Someone asks a question, people post answers. Someone wants to say something about the answer someone else has posted, but he is himself not submitting an answer, so he "comments" on the answer.

Other than this and similar variant applications, I do not see a place for in-post comments in regular forum discussions. It would become impossible to follow a thread, and people not used to forums (they are still the majority! ) would just get confused and admins would have a tough job explaining to people when to use comments and when not etc. etc.

It's good that there's an option in vb5 to turn them off.

 

[Digital Doctor]

It is a mess, and users wont differentiate between comments and posts, meaning you will fragment your content, especially over long threads.

You mean they will comment when they meant to reply ?

 

[Banana Pup]

I would love to see a mod created for this.

 

[MagnusB]

You mean they will comment when they meant to reply ?

I mean they wont separate between a comment and a reply. And the smart ones will only comment on the first post, to have their post placed high in a thread listing. For some it might work, but I would think this is better suited as an addon rather than a core feature.

 

[Carla Birch]

That's what a 'Quote' is used for, to me this meaning more content will be missed and over looked because people will comment inline and not use the quote system. This means to see the latest views in a big thread or any muti page thread in that case a user would have to check for new comments to each post and not just check the last page for new posts.

 

[dtmcl]

*Cringes at potential clutter*

 

[Digital Doctor]

you will fragment your content, especially over long threads.

Almost the entire reason for having "Comments in Posts" is to reduce fragmentation.
You comment on a post .. in the post .. so you don't clutter up the entire thread.
I think it could make threads more readable.
And I think it could help reduce thread sprawl (where a thread gets too long with short useless replies).

Time will tell if this feature for vBulletin is a success or not. It is a VERY prominent feature of vBulletin 5.

 

[Naatan]

Imo for the "fast response" there is the like button, if you want to add anything more you can respond as you normally do.

Adding another method of responding which works slightly differently will just be confusing and ugly. If your concern is people going off-topic or different conversations forming within the thread then maybe a threaded replies system would be more desirable (like Slashdot or Reddit).

This just feels all kinds of wrong, and saying "vb5 does it" is all the more reason we should not.

 

[trilogy33]

^ Naatan's pretty much nailed it there guys.
Now, you could go down the path of: "is this feasible?" or "is this evolution?"; we already have thread_id / post_id, a nice easy reference back to posts. Adding comments, now I'm kinda sure I've got this right, but doesn't this make the whole current system, x times more complex? Both to follow these comments, relate to them by way of a URL?
The mind boggles it really does. Try as I might, I just can't see any doable implementation.
Not broke, don't fix.

A new installation, yeah maybe it might work, maybe not depending on one's needs.
The notion of side-engineering this into a current installation by either way of a modification or a core code change would fill me with dread. A hell of a lot of things could break.

 

[FredC]

I think for this to work most would have to build a new community around it.. Replys in posts looks good on paper but i dont think it will translate well.

 

[Russ]

The whole point of a thread is to reply to the previous post or the original post. This kind of clutter would just create mass side conversation, image if every post had 5+ comments on it, would just look tacky.

 

[FredC]

To a degree XF already does this with status updates and replies.. Yet i still cant get my members to use it as designed.. Never a comment but always a new post to a status message. Complicating the forum structure is not what XF is about, and this most definatly would complicate things for the average end user.

 

[Digital Doctor]

If your concern is people going off-topic or different conversations forming within the thread then maybe a threaded replies system

Excellent point.
But I've never met a threaded replies system I liked !

 

[Naatan]

Excellent point.
But I've never met a threaded replies system I liked !

Be that as it may; it's not an argument in favour of the comment system "suggested" in this thread.