Allow nested replies in Q&A Threads

arn

Well-known member
Context:

The Q&A thread naturally lends itself to "post comments". Now, I never thought threaded conversations really worked well in the traditional forum setting -- I recall vBulletin's attempts at it. But, when you are talking about a Q&A where the A's are pieces of votable content itself. There is naturally going to be discussions around the A's.

The problem with the flat structure is what happens when someone replies to an Answer? That answer's reply gets its own Vote button, which doesn't make much sense. And what happens when people sort by Vote? These strange replies will be floating around with no context.

Since we're already being a little loose with post order anyway in these Q&A threads -- IMO, the best solution would be when someone replies to an Answer by hitting Reply or Quote on that Answer itself, that reply gets nested under the Answer, and not in the thread somewhere.

I'd like to suggest nested replies for Q&A threads. A single level of nesting would be sufficient with some way to "expand more" that hides excess replies after N replies.

This is how the other major Q&A forums works: StackOverflow, Quora.

Answers get their own independent thread of replies.
Example: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13316966/css-checkboxes-radio-buttons-when-input-is-inside-label

Screen Shot 2020-06-18 at 2.01.54 AM.webp
 
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Upvote 137
So you mare kind of stuck with the addon - or else if you disable it you end up with a load of replies that should have had a quote but don't :(
Why? A converter can be smart enough to convert adding quotes.
I believe they mean pagination of comments. What if you have 500 comments to a post?
They are not posts they are Q&As!

Please take a look to stackoverflow 500 comments doesn’t exists in any Q&A.

Q&A are not discussions.
 
This really seems like a no-brainer on Q&A forum types.

I love the idea of replying to specific answers to potentially expand on them further without cluttering up the top level items. Having an up/down arrow on a comment geared towards a specific answer that isn't answering the question doesn't make sense to me. It'd be a useless and potentially confusing function when the replies focus isn't to answer the main question but to critique an answer.
 
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Not petitioning against I have real concerns like:
Would a comment bump a thread? If so, would it take you to that comment in that post? Would this not upset some users that want to be taken to the newest reply? If it is not bumped and most people are using the "side chat" don't you feel the content would be lost or not as popular due to it not resurfacing?
Sure, it could be optional but if we don't voice concerns XF will not see those concerns, and this could be something we actually end up using if those are addressed. ;)
 
Here’s a very simple thread but sort by vote presentation can become a bit off, if people upvote the answer to an answer (as I did here :) -- though someone else did first ) It’s such a short thread it’s still easy to figure out, but still... it's just to prevent this type of situations.


I’d like to get q&a threads turned on elsewhere so we can really test it.
 
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"Off" is subjective, it's better to fire a moderator than to ignore one that is starting fights with you. The best answer is at the top. ;)

Yes I voted that lol.
 
I posted this thread to test out the new q&a thread type:


Have at it.
 
Not exactly, I can not choose to go to page 22 that way.

I mean there's no reason you couldn't design each 1st tier comment thread as it's own stand alone thread UI-wise. So, threads inside of threads. I just think it's probably overkill.

arn
 
Another way to look at it is...


This Xenforo Suggestion forum is the equivalent of the suggested threaded Q&A thread. The individual threads are like individual replies. And the replies to threads are comments to suggestions.

- Xenforo Suggestions Forum
-- Suggestion #1 Thread (Vote up/down)
--- replies to suggestion #1
-- Suggestion #2 Thread (Vote up/down)
--- replies to suggestion #2

I don't see anyone suggesting it would be better if Xenforo instead created a single Q&A Thread titled "Xenforo Suggestions" and all the suggestions and replies go under that single flat thread? That's what you are essentially saying you'd prefer.

- Xenforo Suggestions Q&A Thread
-- Suggestion #1 Reply (Vote up/down)
-- Suggestion #2 Reply (Vote up/down)
-- Reply to Suggestion #1 (Vote up/down)
-- Reply to Suggestion #1 (Vote up/down)
-- Reply to Suggestion #2 (Vote up/down)

arn
 
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That's my point. On a discussion forum people will discuss no matter the "format."
Q&A is not for discussions but for find answers. Comments need to be very specific about the question it self or the answer so the questioner can edit the Q to improve it. The same for answer, some one could simply comment and answer to improve it without “duplicate” it with only a little improvement or correction. This behavior will only add clutter.

i think that in Q&A you don’t need pagination... all the answers need to be in the same page.

and yes even in case comments will be implemented, moderators will need to be patient and present and permissions need to be set as best as possible to avoid cluttering or misuse, but well it’s our job right?
 
Q&A is not for discussions but for find answers. Comments need to be very specific about the question it self or the answer so the questioner can edit the Q to improve it. The same for answer, some one could simply comment and answer to improve it without “duplicate” it with only a little improvement or correction. This behavior will only add clutter.

i think that in Q&A you don’t need pagination... all the answers need to be in the same page.

and yes even in case comments will be implemented, moderators will need to be patient and present and permissions need to be set as best as possible to avoid cluttering or misuse, but well it’s our job right?
I don't think he's questioning the intended purpose at all. He's saying that on a discussion based forum (so pretty much every XenForo install) that users will still discuss inside of the Q&A thread types.
 
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