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24 replies

by jdclyde

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Currently, when a discussion gets so deep you get the "Max message level has been reached" note.

This is rarely the end of the discussion.

Put the "Post a Reply" back on the page and just keep it at that level. Having to go up ten posts to get to the previous level is a real pain, and of course now you need several tabs open from the same discussion so you can refer back to the person you are replying to.

The other thing that would be "nice" would be if you could colapse any of the discussions that you are not interested in. Would make it a lot eaiser to navigate the 300 post discussions.

Last Idea, but a real stretch. If there were a way you could index a few key spots in the discussions, so you don't have to keep bebopping back and forth to follow a few discussions.

OK, this really is my last idea.
A way to have spam posts bounced in an orderly method in a reasonable time. Anyone becoming a member should have to have a REAL e-mail address to register to try to reduce this activity. Even if the address is masked so the general population can't see it, many would be spammers would be more reluctant to do this here if they couldn't do it anonymously.

24 replies

by smorty71

Thanks for all of your suggestions. The flow of the discussion threads has been an area of much thought and debate over the past few months.

One of the things that we've considered is providing an option to do a more linear view where you can view 10 or more posts per page.

In this view, all new messages would be slapped on the end of the thread. This would eliminate the need to scroll up and down the tree to look for new posts. You would use a "quote" feature to show which post you are replying to.

That's one option we've kicked around.

As for the valid e-mail address, we do require that a user has a valid e-mail address. We send them a confirmation mail with a link that they must click to show that the address is valid.

Thanks again for the feedback,
sm

by matthew moran

Is this something I am missing? I don't get notified of replies, so if I want to know what is happening in a discussion, I have to come all the way back and review the discussions.

I looked at my profile and there is nothing there on this issue. Is everyone just re-checking the site after taking part in a discussion?

Matthew Moran
Blog: Notes From The Toolshed
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/career

by Jay Garmon

Below each post, just to the right of the Post A Reply button, there is a Subscribe link. Clicking this will sign you up for an e-mail alert that will notify you when a discussion is updated, and include links to the individual update posts.

You can track which discussions you've subscribed to by clicking the My Discussions link at the top of any discussion thread.

by house

Do not implement the linear view that has become the norm on so many other forums.

When max level is reached, simply allow the response to be submitted on the previous level (like we do now). Rather than us having to go back and respond to the previous level in order to submit our post, simply offer some type of automation.

Please - no linear view

by tony hopkinson

The easiest option is post to parent when you reach max level. Could certainly fit more levels across my monitor. But without some way of collapsing them, you'll just be scrolling both ways instead of one as now.
Linear view would be horrible. All these nice off topic side conversations we have would be impossible, not to mention you'd never know who was flaming you

by deepsand

Quite simply put, the only elegant solution is to remove the restriction on the depth of sub-threads.

by house

I don't think that is an option. The pattern will pass the border of the page and stretch this site to your speakers.

by jdclyde

Just that you have to go back ten posts to get to the previous level to get a reply going.

Just a reply button that allows you to reply and stay at that level, just slapped at the end.

by deepsand

displayed in upper right, is garbage data.

For example, at the moment it lists 4 individuals have have nary a single post to this discussion!

by house

...not this particular thread. The ratings are based on an average over a period of a month or so The user ratings where a much discussed and much anticipated feature on TR - "bubble burster"

Of course, there are probably a few glitches, but it adds a slight novelty value to TR without coming across as cheesy.

by jdclyde

What I meant by "valid" I guess was a misspeak. What I intended as to not allow the disposable accounts from hotmail or yahoo or whatever.

As for the new messages going to the end, sometimes I go back three or four steps to see if I had posted something that could be confusing or misunderstood before replying to people that are WAY OUT THERE with their responses.

The linear sounds interesting.

by bhunsinger

Personally, I spend more time clidking back and forth to read a post. I would prefer to have the text available as an option.
Also, If I could see where I was on the list instead of having to scroll down to it, that would be helpful
Finally, colapsing or filtering all posts that I have read would also be a help.

by av .

if there were alot of posts. I think you need the ability to customize and limit your view - such as limiting what posts you want to see by date or name. Dates are very important because some discussions go on for months.

I've used the search capability that is already on the site once or twice and have gotten good results, but it would be a nice thing to have a search tool that was more advanced and would allow you to narrow your search criteria.

You mention being able to search by quotes, but will it search the entire post and is it capable of using wildcards or fuzzy search? How do you determine what a quote is, is it any words in the post or just the title of the post?

I think TR is a great site the way it is already. Any improvement would be icing on the cake.

by deepsand

The lack of a reasonable allowable sub-thread depth is already forcing us to choose between either linear, interleaved posting, or beginning a new sub-thread, which brings with it a different problem, that of mutilple cross-referencing.

by deepsand

as a notification of a Reply to your own post.

Such notification would be very specifically targeted to the one whose post elicited a response.

Of course, this would require an unlimited depth for sub-threads in order for the posting of a reply to be linked to the post which evoked the reply.

by house

I never realized the difference in terms... but yeah - that's what I am saying.

by deepsand

I, too, never interpreted "Topic" to mean one level above the "Discussion."

However, after your prior post, I did so experimenting with the search function, & empirically confirmed that a search within "Topic" actually functions at the "Category" level.

So much for uniformity!

by jdclyde

Where the flames come from. Seen you tied to the spit more than once roasting away with a nice apple in your mouth. (not from me though)

by tony hopkinson

I seem to remember one or two unless you were ansering the wrong post. Not above taosting one or two people myself. I like to target the correct recipient though. Linear view would take all the fun out of it.

by deepsand

All that does it institutionalize the problem caused by having multiple conversations interleaved into a single sub-thread, which is why so much time is needed to determine if & where a reply was posted to one's last post(s), and requires that the Title of a reply include the identity of the person to whom the post is directed..

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