This may not apply to the newcomers who read the site in AJAX mode. I prefer the classic mode (yes, I'm that old).
When reading comments I would appreciate a toggle to "expand all comments" so that I can see comments ranked below my default viewing threshhold. It mostly applies when I'm moderating and would love to be able to browse at 0 or -1 to catch the good comments that were late to the first post party; given that you can only see "Re: [parent post title" instead of the body of the comment, you tend to not bother clicking on them to avoid an endless dance of "click, hit -Back" to see what they wrote.
There are also occasionally discussions where I would be interested to see the back-and-forth between others because they seem particularly well-informed or even funny but their subsequent replies aren't modded as highly as their originals, so you have to enter the "click, hit -Back" game again if you want to see the whole thing.
I still love Slashdot, but having that "expand all comments" option would improve my experience.
I've always thought the AJAX code was intentionally terrible to force people to login and get a tolerable UI.
I don't think anyone likes the ajax crap and even though it's been complained about more than anything, it's still forced on us. So I doubt anyone is actually "listening to us".
I like it. It works well for me, and avoids constant page loads/back navigation.
That said, I suspect they look at usage patterns - of course a vocal minority will complain because a vocal minority always complains. The question is what the silent majority (and if/. is like any other forum, the vast majority of people read plenty but never post a single comment) do. If the changes had caused readership to actually drop off, they would have revisited them.
Expand All Comments (Score:5, Insightful)
This may not apply to the newcomers who read the site in AJAX mode. I prefer the classic mode (yes, I'm that old).
When reading comments I would appreciate a toggle to "expand all comments" so that I can see comments ranked below my default viewing threshhold. It mostly applies when I'm moderating and would love to be able to browse at 0 or -1 to catch the good comments that were late to the first post party; given that you can only see "Re: [parent post title" instead of the body of the comment, you tend to not bother clicking on them to avoid an endless dance of "click, hit -Back" to see what they wrote.
There are also occasionally discussions where I would be interested to see the back-and-forth between others because they seem particularly well-informed or even funny but their subsequent replies aren't modded as highly as their originals, so you have to enter the "click, hit -Back" game again if you want to see the whole thing.
I still love Slashdot, but having that "expand all comments" option would improve my experience.
Re: (Score:2)
I've always thought the AJAX code was intentionally terrible to force people to login and get a tolerable UI.
I don't think anyone likes the ajax crap and even though it's been complained about more than anything, it's still forced on us. So I doubt anyone is actually "listening to us".
Re: (Score:2)
I like it. It works well for me, and avoids constant page loads/back navigation.
That said, I suspect they look at usage patterns - of course a vocal minority will complain because a vocal minority always complains. The question is what the silent majority (and if /. is like any other forum, the vast majority of people read plenty but never post a single comment) do. If the changes had caused readership to actually drop off, they would have revisited them.