Why can't ATS arrange comment replies in staggered form like reddit? Have that option at least.

a reply to: fictitious

Well if they told me that they didn't like a place they keep going to, yes I would tell them maybe you should stop going.
Or at least ask why they go if they don't like how it is ran.

Quick question, do you know the coding it would require to make the change?

originally posted by: fictitious
a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

This is a perfect example of why the content is lacking here.

Do you speak to friends, family, and coworkers this way when they ask a question?

Yes I do I tell them to their face if they think being some place else is better then go be there, so, the only thing that is lacking is you are still here.

I would rather ATS not change to that format. I guess we all have our own preferences.

I think something more along the lines of the comment section of YouTube could be nice. The collapsibility of specific responses below its corresponding quote seems to give the thread more organisation. Making it easier to follow... at least, for me it does.

A thread here is like a box o cho o lates. Reading every post gives a person different points of view, interesting tidbits you wouldn't have looked at if you just checked out your favor ite choc o late, and enlarges your understanding of the world by taking you in directions which surprise or maim. If the conversations were stacked, like in fedit, we'd miss all of that and be stupider for the experience. Besides, the flow here is just right for the ultimate internet experience (but only if you're logged in - ATS lurkers don't realize how nice it is to see everyone's avatar and other member perks).

a reply to: Firewater

Youtube seems about right structure wise. I don't know anything about reddit other than it seems to be quite juvenile, but it do think there is a happy medium that would make threads on this site more coherent.

Nothing is perfect. It might encourage threadjacking, but at the same time, you could just ignore that subthread or one where two people are just going back and forth on a sidebar. The OP would remain more pure and accessible.

It would also bring the need to quote down to almost never.

Personally, I really enjoy ATS's style. It truly is one of a kind, due to the structure and design, posts feel more personal than they do on other sites. This isn't a site for mindless data and quick shot responses, it's a unique online community and I think the site designers have done a great job in making it feel that way.

It isn't 1998 anymore, if you're really wanting a stripped down soulless feel, there's plenty of alternatives out there.

originally posted by: rexsblues
Personally, I really enjoy ATS's style. It truly is one of a kind, due to the structure and design, posts feel more personal than they do on other sites. This isn't a site for mindless data and quick shot responses, it's a unique online community and I think the site designers have done a great job in making it feel that way.

It isn't 1998 anymore, if you're really wanting a stripped down soulless feel, there's plenty of alternatives out there.

Absolutely right!
You just summed up my thoughts - nothing needs to change.

I like reddit but I hate their format. I don't like staggered comments. I don't like how posts under a certain amount are automatically collapsed. I generally want to know what everyone has said.

I like the format how it is, though can see merit in what you suggest.

My only main beef tends to be with humongous mega threads, often when something is happening in the world in a breaking news type of way, people like to comment and key in 'whats happening now' so to speak, it can either get lost or be duplicate posted and can often take a while to pick out the juicy facts rather than opinion (which is great to read I must add) .

Ive always thought there must be a way of having a section that can be used to highlight key facts that appears on yhe thread no matter what page you are on. Im not sure how that info gets nominated onto it.

originally posted by: fictitious
a reply to: Reverbs

If it were collapsible, it wouldn't be an issue for me. It would be great to collapse the sub comment threads I don't care for. A lot of the comments here, we can certainly agree I'm sure, can be overlooked. Same as anywhere. It's not always a conversation here. Rarely actually. It's usually a few people going back and forth with each other, not 5-6 people bouncing back and forth.

I agree, similar to the IMDB forums, you can tailor it to how you like, and they already have that level of customization here with the lite/dark themes, desktop/mobile modes.. but I don't know how the code here is done as it's all inhouse, so it may be just not possible.. dunno..

But I do agree that following threads can be difficult when you want to keep track of a specific thing, when threads are a living thing that evolves from the first post to the last post - often becoming entirely separate from the OP, so having the ability to limit replies to specific posts and not tacked onto the end in a potentially off topic section of the thread by that point, just makes sense to me. Have nested indented view and inline view..

I know when a thread is 10 pages long, it's pointless to bother reading anything but the OP and then skipping to the end, as any new replies to the old content just confuses things even more.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

This is a user content generated site. Without users, there would be no site, no advertising, and no money for the owners.

This site has evolved specifically to tailor user wants and needs. If it never evolved to what users might like, it would have died long ago.

As a user, I'm entitled to ask questions and have an opinion. Just because I don't like grocery shopping at Kroger doesn't mean that I will stop going. It's convenient. I'm entitled to fill out a comment card, am I not? Without shoppers, no store would exist.

This isn't a dictatorship.

originally posted by: fictitious
a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

This is a user content generated site. Without users, there would be no site, no advertising, and no money for the owners.

This site has evolved specifically to tailor user wants and needs. If it never evolved to what users might like, it would have died long ago.

As a user, I'm entitled to ask questions and have an opinion. Just because I don't like grocery shopping at Kroger doesn't mean that I will stop going. It's convenient. I'm entitled to fill out a comment card, am I not? Without shoppers, no store would exist.

This isn't a dictatorship.

just ignore him. people are discussing your ideas civilly. that's good enough.
I do see the pros and cons.

I personally think the pace of reddit and ATS are completely different, I don't think that style would be a right fit.

---one easy fix for the current style of replying to a specific post is to simply automatically parse the url to the post being replied to. or when clicked on to view the post being replied to, a basic html text pop up of the post being replied to comes on the screen. ----

edit: I just realized that is how it is already.

a reply to: fictitious

If I understand you correctly, I believe I made the same suggestion one year ago:

At the time only one member cared about that and he really couldn't help:

Take a look:Suggestion - 'Forward Replies Viewing'

Edit: I support your suggestion! It helps to have a better debate clearing out the "noise" (troll, etc) from the really important questions/statements!

a reply to: voyger2

I guess my concern came about because a few years ago new threads and "live topics" could keep me reading and interested for hours. Now that the threads aren't as great anymore (I hardly ever see any even reach 50 flags, which used to be standard), I find myself searching old ones. The great old ones are so, so hard to follow with pages and pages of noise to sort through. I wish I could collapse entire sub threads and move on.

Maybe I'm the only one who sees that the content here has not been up to par with what it was in years past. It's more like regular news from Mainstream.

originally posted by: fictitious
The great old ones are so, so hard to follow with pages and pages of noise to sort through. I wish I could collapse entire sub threads and move on.

I don't understand it, wouldn't you need to go through the posts to know their content in the method you're talking about?

a reply to: ArMaP

Let's say I was reading a 9/11 WTC 7 thread. We know those can get super long. Say 5 people are replying to USER1 about timing and 5 people are replying to USER2 about the building's structure. I'm only interested in the side conversation USER2 is talking about. It would be nice to minimize everything people had to replied to USER1.

USER1
> Reply by USER22
> Reply by USER800
>> Reply by USER15
>>> Reply by USER716
> Reply by

It's just an easy filter if on long threads you could collapse some of it. Of course you would have to read a little to know if you want to collapse that section. Again, my opinion!

Because its not freaking reddit

a reply to: fictitious

OK, I understand it now.

But I still prefer to read the posts by chronological order, as if someone makes a post that is not marked as a direct answer to some other post but related to it, either using the ATS method or the reddit method, it will be missed when looking only at the posts marked as answers to that specific post.

As you said, it's mostly a personal choice.

originally posted by: calstorm
I would rather ATS not change to that format. I guess we all have our own preferences.

Over on reddit, anyone can create a sub-reddit and then be the moderator of that sub-reddit. It's a totally different political philosophy over there.

Perfect example right here. ATS user zazzafrazz has been trying to get a History Forum going since 2013!
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The Research Forum www.abovetopsecret.com... and Debate Forums are pretty dead, too.

I don't know what the answer is.