Hi, a couple thoughts here. First, thanks to timothy for reaching out like this - it's the result of the #fuckbeta protest, so good job to everybody. But if we have a better avenue for communicating our concerns then we can tone down the protesting I think. At least maybe not destroy the comment threads any more.
My biggest concern for the beta is it seems to destroy the tools needed for a robust commenting and conversation, including notification of new posts, easy ways to quote prior posts, easy way to lin
My biggest concern is that frankly, the beta just plain sucks. It sucks in every single possible way. I get that they're saying it isn't ready, but the concern for many of us isn't just that the beta is just bloody horrible now, but that the direction its going suggests that it will never be an adequate replacement for the current "classic" Slashdot.
I wouldn't say it sucks in EVERY way. It does seem to work better on my tablet, except for when I login and have to expand every single comment to read it. Hence the reason I am posting anonymously, I wouldn't be able to read the comments if I logged in.
Change for the sake of change is of no benefit to the user. UI designers don't seem to get that. Slashdot is not Facebook, it's not Twitter, it's not even Usenet. Its job is to present the reader with a headline, a story, and an ability to read comments and post comments. The mod system works fairly well to curtail the worst abuses, and it's quick, easy, and intuitive to use.
Dice would do well to heed the lessons that Microsoft is learning now, the hard way. For MS, Windows 8 has proven to be a huge
Exactly. The look doesn't really need improving. It has stood the test of Internet time. Plenty of new sites have come and gone yet/. remains. If you want to make improvements then consider asking the users what they would consider improvements. Examples of something you might want to discuss: the ability to edit our posts.. even if for a short time.
No matter what - if you do decide to change the look anyway then be sure to leave an option for existing users to keep the classic interface.
And Unicode support! Maybe some subtle color-coding of the nested-comment boxes to make divergent conversations easier to follow. Maybe even a "jump to parent"/"return" button pair wen you want to go back and double-check something in a particularly prolific parent post (especially nice if it would retrieve comments down-modded to oblivion to provide the context that inspired a particularly worthy reply)
I can think of lots of tweaks that would add a world of functionality to the comments, if they actually want to do so.
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Cue the flood of flame . . .
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
Hi, a couple thoughts here. First, thanks to timothy for reaching out like this - it's the result of the #fuckbeta protest, so good job to everybody. But if we have a better avenue for communicating our concerns then we can tone down the protesting I think. At least maybe not destroy the comment threads any more.
My biggest concern for the beta is it seems to destroy the tools needed for a robust commenting and conversation, including notification of new posts, easy ways to quote prior posts, easy way to lin
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
My biggest concern is that frankly, the beta just plain sucks. It sucks in every single possible way. I get that they're saying it isn't ready, but the concern for many of us isn't just that the beta is just bloody horrible now, but that the direction its going suggests that it will never be an adequate replacement for the current "classic" Slashdot.
Re: Why? (Score:5, Informative)
I wouldn't say it sucks in EVERY way. It does seem to work better on my tablet, except for when I login and have to expand every single comment to read it. Hence the reason I am posting anonymously, I wouldn't be able to read the comments if I logged in.
That said, I do think it sucks overall.
BoogeyOfTheMan
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
Dice would do well to heed the lessons that Microsoft is learning now, the hard way. For MS, Windows 8 has proven to be a huge
Re: Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. The look doesn't really need improving. It has stood the test of Internet time. Plenty of new sites have come and gone yet /. remains. If you want to make improvements then consider asking the users what they would consider improvements. Examples of something you might want to discuss: the ability to edit our posts .. even if for a short time.
No matter what - if you do decide to change the look anyway then be sure to leave an option for existing users to keep the classic interface.
Re: Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
And Unicode support!
Maybe some subtle color-coding of the nested-comment boxes to make divergent conversations easier to follow.
Maybe even a "jump to parent"/"return" button pair wen you want to go back and double-check something in a particularly prolific parent post (especially nice if it would retrieve comments down-modded to oblivion to provide the context that inspired a particularly worthy reply)
I can think of lots of tweaks that would add a world of functionality to the comments, if they actually want to do so.