Latest Comments On Top

[wizard2]

I love your boards, especially the one local to me. When new posts come in, I find myself having to scroll to the bottom of the page. This becomes time consuming & even more so on the mobile site. It would be great if topics could be read from top to bottom with the newest comments first.

[Davwud]

That's how mine displays.

DT

[wizard2]

The way I described or the way I wished for?

[Davwud]

I just clued into what you're saying I think.

When a thread is opened you want it so the most recent comment it right under the OP??
I thought you mean that the most recently commented/posted threads were at the bottom of your page.

So never mind.

DT

[Chuckles the Clone]

By now you've noticed that inside each topic replies can be posted to specific
messages. And those replies don't go to the bottom of the page, rather they're
indented below the specific message they're replying too. Like this one is.

Can you suggest some way of maintaining the ability to reply to specific messages,
while placing new messages on top, without introducing a huge mess of confusion?
It's not as simple as just turning everything upside down.

[wizard2]

It seems to me that many replies are directed towards the original topic. My suggestion is to have these replies run newer to older since many users have already read the older posts. Someone arriving for the first time or needing to be refreshed regarding the discussion will still be able to scroll down. In a case such as this with a reply to a reply, then a person would still have to look for it.

[Chuckles the Clone]

Only 2 of 7 are directed towards the original topic here. "Seems" isn't always what it seems.

So you are suggesting new posts go above old posts except in the case where the new post is replying to an old post that's not the original post in the thread?

In that case, in this thread, the thread would be listed -exactly- the same under your scheme as it actually is here. With the exception that your "posted on the wrong board" post from early this morning would be at the top of the list rather than the bottom. Even though it's older than all but one other post and we've all already seen it.

Draw it all out on paper. Keep in mind the two primary usage models: ongoing threaded discussion as well as a static reference read long after the discussion has ended. It's pretty hard to imagine a solution different from what they already have which isn't filled with a lot of special-cases and doesn't cause more problems than it solves.

[wizard2]

I think that I understand most of your points. I believe that many of the replies on a specific restaurant thread were intended to reply to the original post, but in any case wind up on the extreme bottom. Why would it be confusing to turn every thing upside down except for the original post?

[Chuckles the Clone]

Because notice that this is now the latest post in this thread and IT IS
NOT ON THE BOTTOM. See? If they "turn everything upside down" IT
WILL NOT BE ON THE TOP.

So if you want this latest post to be on the top, you're going to have to
come up with some more detailed rules for where posts go. If you want
the most simplistic new-on-top thing, then that eliminates threading. Which
you're not going to get a lot of support for, I don't think.

[Jacquilynne]

I think he wants something similar to how the replies were threaded in reverse-chronoligical order on the Chowhound of old, which went something like this:

Original Post
* 4. Fourth Reply to Original Post
* 3. Third Reply to Original Post
* * 3B. Second Reply to Third Reply
* * 3A. First Reply to Third Reply.
* 2. Second Reply to Original Post
* 1. First Reply to Original Post
* * 1C. Third Reply to First Reply
* * 1B. Second Reply to First Reply
* * * 1Bi. Reply to 1B
* * * * 1Biz. Third Reply to 1Bi
* * * * 1Biy. Second Reply to 1Bi
* * * * 1Bix. First Reply to 1Bi
* * 1A. First Reply to First Reply

[Chuckles the Clone]

Right, that's the pure "turn everything upside down" approach. Which
has something to be said for it. The problem is, it can always happen that
the most recent post in your arrangement is 1Biz, which will still be near
the bottom. So it doesn't satisfy the initial requirement: new always at top.

But looking down to wizard's latest post ( :) ) he brings up the point of
mobile usage. Where getting to the meat course first is really important
and indented threading on a tiny screen is horrible. Last-post-first-and-
screw-the-threading is probably a very useful option to throw into the
mix there.

[wizard2]

I just realized that I posted this on the wrong board & reposted on the technical board.

[queencru]

I don't think it's at all practical on a threaded site like this. It would be hard to tell to which post a person was referring if all the newest posts appeared at the top instead of after the post to which the person was responding. Even on non-threaded boards, the default seems to be oldest posts at the top, newest posts at the bottom. I don't think it's too much of a problem here since all the read posts collapse each time you come back to reread a thread.

[wizard2]

In suggesting that the newest comments appear on top, I was only referring to the original topic. In essence, I am saying to turn the whole thing upside down except for the original post. Actually, I was just on the mobile site (beta) on my Samsung Blackjack and I noticed pages. This is great & I’m sure it will soon allow the option of going to the last page.

[wizard2]

I have been an avid reader of one of the boards for over a year now. I never had a desire to post, so saw no benefit in registering. The other night I was browsing on my phone & noticed the new mobile website. This got me thinking about the full site & now using the mobile site. I registered in order to give what I thought might be constructive criticism. I now realize that a registered user has the new post feature available. This alone makes anything that I was thinking about moot. Thanks to everyone for all of your help.