Last Call on Comment Survey

If you haven't already completed the survey on Reason.com commenting features, please check it out here.

Comments

[sage]

Can the dancing mammoth tell us whether they can enable an option for threaded or chronological comment ordering?

[Johnny Longtorso]

End

[Johnny Longtorso]

Threaded

[Johnny Longtorso]

Comments

[Johnny Longtorso]

Now

[Johnny Longtorso]

Now

[JW]

Now

[db]

NOW!

[Xeones]

Oh, i completed the fuck outta that survey.

[John Tagliaferro]

I completed it 69 times and we still do not have the threading toggle option!

[prolefeed]

So "threading toggle" is the new slang for 69ing?

[John Tagliaferro]

Not exactly. It will be in the future. Will try to work it into a book. Now, to think of some technology to go with it.

[P Brooks]

I'll restate my comment from the other day:

Threaded comments allow LoneDipshit to come swooping in from left field and tack his inane, superfluous blather to the top of the comments page. Don't give him that prime real estate.

[sage]

This.

[prolefeed]

We're supposed to give up a useful feature because you can't scroll past LW's comments unread?

Oh, and that problem goes away if they go with my suggestion to allow individual INCIF-type banhammer lists.

[SugarFree]

I'm with prolefeed.

I also like the idea of reporting comments as "abusive." Mostly so that I could aspire to be the most abusive.

[Reformed Republican]

It is not a useful feature. It is a shitty, annoying feature.

[prolefeed]

A "shitty, annoying feature" you choose to use instead of posting unthreaded?

Sorta like bitching about how we shouldn't spend money on public libraries while you're in line to check out a book at a public library located right next to a private bookstore.

[The Gobbler]

Lose Suderman.

[Richard Holder]

Suderman is the new Weigel.
And you're not the real Gobbler.

[Episiarch]

Why is reason so invested in threaded comments, when a vast majority of commenters seem to hate them? Can a reason staffer answer this question please?

[John Tagliaferro]

It is what is best for you. Stop that or you will be stoned.

[CTHORM@IBIS]

This is more of a bribe than a threat.

[prolefeed]

"Vast majority"?

Maybe the ones who hate threaded comments are just whinier about minor inconveniences.

But, yes, toggle threaded / unthreaded so everyone can choose what works for them.

[Episiarch]

I'm down with options, prole, but I don't think I'm reaching when I say that a hell of a lot of people detest the threaded comments.

[John Tagliaferro]

It is Reason's stealth support for the public option that keeps threading here.

[prolefeed]

I'm not arguing that many, maybe most, people here hate threaded comments. Dunno if it's 80% - 90% hating them. I like both -- threaded for first pass reading through a thread, unthreaded for checking later comments.

You do realize the huge irony of telling me about your hate of threaded comments, in a comment where you chose to reply to me threaded rather than unthreaded?

[J sub D]

A quote button does everything positive that threaded comments do.

[Episiarch]

Look, I'm not a Luddite; if they insist on having threaded comments, I can't do much about it, and I'll use them. Doesn't mean I have to like them.

And I'm always aware of the irony, dude. I'm, like, Iron(y) Man and shit.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

How would that work? For example, if this comment section could be viewed unthreaded, my comment would appear at the bottom, and it would not be clear which comment I am replying to. How do you get around that?

[Warty]

Just have the software quote the post being replied to if the thread option is off.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

That'll work for shorter comments, but what about long screeds as in the Sarah Palin thread? Also, what about sub-threads?

[SugarFree]

Well, there is also the @ idea. When you reply, the post is still thrown at the bottom, but with a tag saying who you were replying to.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

But then its got to be something like @SugarFree 3:58. And then you have to go upthread and see which of your many comments that was. Its so much simpler with threaded comments.

[Pro Libertate]

I have an idea: Why don't we ban everyone who likes threaded comments, then get rid of threaded comments? That way, 100% of the commenters will be happy!

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Is it true that opponents of threaded comments are actually Feministing sockpuppets? Probably not, but how can we be sure? I would hate to have this site ruined by the nefarious plans of Feministing sockpuppets.

Vive le commentaire filet?!

[Pro Libertate]

You're just being difficult.

[robc]

It worked just fine until recently.

[A Proxy for the Reason Staff]

We did it for kicks.

[Pro Libertate]

Hate is too tepid a word.

[JW]

"Hates thems?"

Yeah, that's 2 words.

[John Tagliaferro]

"Like hate hate."

3 words

[Pro Libertate]

Wasn't "Hate, Hate, Hate" a song by Paul McCartney and the late Michael Jackson?

[John Tagliaferro]

Sorry, I am hetero, wouldn't know. Check with SugarFree?

[Pro Libertate]

It's a joke. The song was "Say, Say, Say" and it was and is an abomination.

[SugarFree]

Agreed.

Ebony and Ivory
Hate each other whith red hot enmity...

[Pro Libertate]

There's also "State of Shock", which involves Mick Jagger.

[prolefeed]

How would that work? For example, if this comment section could be viewed unthreaded, my comment would appear at the bottom, and it would not be clear which comment I am replying to. How do you get around that?

Like this. Copy the comment you're replying to, italicize it, then post it unthreaded.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

So to prevent LoneWacko's comment appearing near the top of the thread instead of the middle, we have to go to all that trouble?

Fuck. That. Shit.

Vive le commentaire filet?!

[J sub D]

How would that work? For example, if this comment section could be viewed unthreaded, my comment would appear at the bottom, and it would not be clear which comment I am replying to. How do you get around that?

Like this. Copy the comment you're replying to, italicize it, then post it unthreaded.

Or use blockquote tags.

[prolefeed]

If you can figure out how to do fucking blockquote tags.

Help, anyone?

[SugarFree]

Spell it out. {blockquote}{/blockquote}

With greater than and less than, of course.

[John Tagliaferro]

"How would that work? For example, if this comment section could be viewed unthreaded, my comment would appear at the bottom, and it would not be clear which comment I am replying to. How do you get around that?

Like this. Copy the comment you're replying to, italicize it, then post it unthreaded.
Or use blockquote tags. "

Or quotes.

[SugarFree]

Every time you reply in a thread, you are voting for threaded comments.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

+1

[Pro Libertate]

There is no thread but the sequential thread. . . .

[Xeones]

Yo, fuck threaded comments.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

You know who else supported sequential comments? joe. joe loves sequential comments, which is why he comments so prolifically on the sequential-commenting blog of Matt Ygglesias. Why do so many stalwart H&R commenters support a system so beloved of joe? What other interests do they share? Do they also think ACORN is doing God's work?

I don't know, I'm just asking the questions.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I will internet-fight anyone who wants to do away with threaded comments.

[JW]

RIGHT! HAVE AT YOU!

[SugarFree]

Fist, be careful. Xeones is only expert in "monkey steals the peach," but it is a hard move to recover from.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Okay, I give. I didn't really have a horse in this race anyway; I just like to be contrary and have people pay attention to me.

Which is why, as soon as this libertarianism takes hold, I'm going Bolshevik.

[Pro Libertate]

That's an excellent point. If libertarianism actually became popular--I mean Oprah popular--how many amongst us would lurch leftward, rightward, upward, downward, etc. to avoid the taint of popularity?

I wouldn't, but I think some of you might. [Glares meaningfully at his monitor.]

[Fist of Etiquette]

It wasn't an excellent point and I will internet-fight anyone who says it was.

[Pro Libertate]

[Smashes monitor with conveniently located club.]

[prolefeed]

"The taint of popularity" would be an excellent name for an alt-indie band.

[Pro Libertate]

You're on, buddy.

[Xeones]

Threaded comments are the worst.

[Pro Libertate]

The only thing worse than threaded comments are those who defend them.

[Big B]

+.5

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Only an evil reptilian kitten eater from another planet would want to bring back sequential comments.

[Xeones]

Threaded comments are the worst abomination visited upon Hit'n'Run since... since SugarFree started writing slash fiction.

[SugarFree]

Some people just like to bitch.

[Pro Libertate]

Be careful. SF is quietly lobbying for the ability to post images in the comments.

[SugarFree]

Quietly? That's a new one for me.

[Pro Libertate]

Quietly and loudly.

[P Brooks]

We're supposed to give up a useful feature because you can't scroll past LW's comments unread?

I can, and do, scroll past LoneWanker's blather.

But, I'm...

you know....

THINKING OF THE CHILDREN!!!1

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

I just don't get people who want to bring back sequential comments. I mean, what else do you want to bring back from the Dark Ages, smallpox?

[P Brooks]

I'll be pissed if my comments get rated as anything but "off topic" or "useless".

[Pro Libertate]

Meh. Threaded comments are, frankly, a pain to track. Conceptually, they could work, but I give them a big fail in their Hit & Run iteration.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Yeah, its hard to track new comments on a post with threaded comments. But it is hard to follow parenthetical conversations in sequential comments (even with your blockquotes and your quotes and your @s). On the whole, I think threaded comments are a good thing, and the sooner you lot stop whining about them, the better.

[P Brooks]

what else do you want to bring back from the Dark Ages

Having first crack at the tenants' hot female offspring would be nice. Since you asked.

[P Brooks]

Here's a compromise. All newly posted comments will get the FlashTags.

In GREEN.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

I could get on board with this.

[Death Panelist]

I see a civil war brewing. How delicious.

[Big B]

Has it ever occured to anyone that this is exactly how the last days of Rome went?

No? I guess that makes sense, actually.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Well, if the goddamn Optimates had stopped their whining about returning to the "good old days" and accepted the Marian reforms, none of that need have happened.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, please. Marius was a thug.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Better a thug than that goddamn elitist Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and his minions.

[Pro Libertate]

Let your constitution breakdown and all sorts of bad things will result. I wonder if we could learn anything from the collapse of the Roman Republic?

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Well, thats very well for you to say, but who was going to fight Rome's wars, loot her enemies and garrison her colonies when the peasant class that made up the pre-Marian army disappeared? The mos maiorum was broken before Marius and Caesar came onto the scene. The civil wars were just the denouement.

[prolefeed]

The last days of Rome were marked by a genial squabble over the use of threaded comments on a libertarian internet site? 😉

Wow, I gotta get me an updated history book.

[Pro Libertate]

It's true. Sulla and Marius used to comment on the Gracchi brothers' old blog, Using the Common Man to Act Extraconstitutionally. Most blogging historians believed that the blog failed due to its long and unwieldy name.

[Citizen Nothing]

No real Libertarian supports threaded comments.

[Big B]

Libertarians actually WOULD supported your use of threaded comments. Just don't force them to use them.

And that, my friend, is why Randians hate them.

Or something.

[Pro Libertate]

I have seniority here, dammit! It's in my Commenters Union bylaws!

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

If we're going by seniority, why don't we just let joe decide?

Oh, wait. That's what you want, isn't it?

[Pro Libertate]

He surrendered his union rights last year.

Actually, that's a good question. Who has been commenting here the longest? It's not me, though I've been here for a long time.

[SugarFree]

I lurked years before I commented. The editors could clear this up. Or do I remember something about a server crash deleting all the early blog stuff years ago?

[Pro Libertate]

You know, I lurked for a while, too. I can't really remember when I first started commenting. I was reading the magazine back in the 90s for sure, including the on-line material. Hmmm.

[JW]

Sorry ProL, but you were on your mandatory commenters union break when you made that comment. You need to resubmit your comment while off of break for it to be valid.

[Pro Libertate]

Crap. I'm always screwing that up.

[Citizen Nothing]

Couldn't we just, you know, stop using threaded comments?

[JW]

We've tried, but once you've gone threaded, you'll never go back.

[Pro Libertate]

CN,

Maybe we should. I figured too many of us would go along to get along, being slavish devotees of the powers that be and all.

[SugarFree]

Xeones rolled off the bed and onto the hotel room floor. All his teeth felt loose and his bulbospongiosus muscle spasmed against a full bladder. The room smelled like shit and Tang and rancid spunk.

"Where am I," he thought. "Where are my clothes," he thought. "Why not go ahead and vomit just to get it over with," he thought. He rolled off of his left arm, trapped under him when he instinctively cupped his genitals to protect against the fall. They were sticky and his testicle felt drained.

A guttural bubbling queef sounded from the bed as its occupant rolled over. Xeones scrambled to the bathroom to vomit in the toilet. With every shuttering heave, more came back to him. The limo ride. The party. The key tucked into his tuxedo's cummerbund. Shot after shot of bourbon, sickly sweet and fiery. The key in his hand. Oh, God. Oh, God.

He fell back from the toilet, cracking his head on the lip of the sink. He had to get out. Maybe she was still asleep. He felt the warm tickle of blood worming down his scalp. He crawled past the acid reek of the toilet, afraid to flush it. The light sneaking around the closed curtains was just enough to make out his clothes. On all fours, his anus puckering in the hotel's freezing air conditioning, he found pants and shirt. Enough to make his escape.

As he reached for the door, she mumbled something. He froze, still naked and holding his clothes. She stirred on the bed. "I didn't know," she said. Her small, yet sagging breasts lolled as she rolled over. "I didn't know it could be like that," she said, scratching absently at a dark patch of pubic hair populating up to her belly button.

"Uh, yeah, baby," he said. "I'm going to go get some ice."

She belched as she reached for her think-rimmed glasses. "Come back to bed. Teach me more."

"Sure, uh, Rachel. I'll be right back."

[Pro Libertate]

Thanks for leaving out Pelosi.

[P Brooks]

And you want this depraved fiend to have the ability to < blink >illustrate< /blink > these tales?

[Pro Libertate]

I don't want him to have the blink tag.

[JW]

I know. And we're worried about Iran getting the bomb?

Dear god, this kind of slashfic in the wrong hands....I don't want to think about the consequences.

[prolefeed]

Look, I'm not a Luddite; if they insist on having threaded comments, I can't do much about it, and I'll use them. Doesn't mean I have to like them.

Epi -- You can do what I'm doing right now -- copy what you're replying to italicized, then post your comment NOT using the "reply to this" button, so your comment winds up outside the thread.

[JW]

You know, we could go for a thread-free day. Declare it and see who goes along.

Violators will be shunned, but in the most libertarian way.

[JW]

BTW, threadjack...Dollhouse being canceled? Pissed. At Fox. Again.

It's almost like Whedon *likes it* when Fox treats him badly.

[Death Panelist]

Faith the Vampire Slayer, here we come!

[JW]

Yeah, the show was WAY too Dushu heavy, but it was her project, so I can see why she had the screen time. As much as I like looking at her, and she did put on the Mistress suit for one scene godblessher, it was getting even too much for me.

I think they saw that and made it with 40% less Dushku this season, focusing on other characters who are just as interesting, if not more so, but it was too late.

At least they get to wrap it up neatly.

[prolefeed]

"Dollhouse" fucking deserved to be cancelled. Talk about taking an awesome premise and then totally tanking and not making it work ...

[Pro Libertate]

Whedon doing anything but Firefly is a sin.

[JW]

I was keptical about it at first (I didn't even watch the first season and caught in on DVD), but I liked it. It had decent potential, once they got off of it being "Dushku's show."

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Every time one of youse whines about threaded comments, Ezra Klein has a boner.

Go ahead, he wants you to do it. He needs you to do it.

[Pro Libertate]

I oppose threaded comments even if such opposition would result in Chairman Mao becoming a regular commenter here.

[P Brooks]

Let a thousand unthreaded comments bloom.

[CTHORM@IBIS]

If we get any sort of comment rating system, we need a "LoneWacko" button. Something to give us a canned response, like "Shut the Fuck Up, Lone Wacko!!!!11." I predict this will greatly improve productivity, saving us trillions in $Z.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You old farts just hate change.

If you disagree, reply to this comment.

[P Brooks]

You can't trick me that easily, Herr Fist.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, I'll get somebody.

[robc]

But it is hard to follow parenthetical conversations in sequential comments

No it isnt.

[Lamar]

What do people think of the comments at Alternet.org? (The format, folks, not the gibberish they call analysis.)

[Lamar]

The answer is "nothing" I guess.

[Abercrombie and Fitch]

Good!

[essays]

Very good )))

[ghambir]

If we get any sort of comment rating system, we need a "LoneWacko" button. Something to give us 70-271 a canned response, like "Shut the Fuck Up, Lone Wacko!!!!11." I predict this will greatly improve productivity, saving us trillions in $Z.

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