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General discussion

Mostly for Speakeasy

Oct 2, 2004 12:23AM PDT

I am finding that many of the very discussions get to be very long and cumbersome to navigate if I find myself interested in reading or responding. This, I think, is largely due to the spawning of subtopics and discussions that are related to the original post but not necessarily a response to it as its own entity. I am wondering if it would be valuable to some to have subtopics within the thread so that folks who want to create one could do so without leaving a particular discussion. This could allow a singular point to be discussed without creating so much clutter and chaos. A person could bounce between the individual discussions without leaving the main topic. This would require another button, I suppose. Something like "Create/Join related discussion". Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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It might be helpful, but ..
Oct 2, 2004 1:08AM PDT

I cannot imagine how it could actually be implemented. Discussions tend to drift off in a variety of directions rather spontaneously, and I doubt that most users would do the work to make sure the interface and subgroups actually stayed useful.

Perhaps an alternative would be to allow the reader to collapse threads or expand threads (as in one of our older platforms).

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I agree wilth Bill,
Oct 2, 2004 2:49AM PDT

...but I thnk it would be a great help if a thead only
opened to UNREAD entries, with the capability to expand
to the entire thread.

Always showing the original or initial post.

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Re: I agree wilth Bill,
Oct 2, 2004 12:35PM PDT

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I agree with Bill & Mac. Having a thread open up showing only the unread posts would be very good. Then, having a button ( or a clickable "+" box) to open previous posts should one want to would be great! Happy

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Re: Mostly for Speakeasy
Oct 3, 2004 11:58PM PDT

The ability to collapse threads as in the old forum is a feature we all miss. It certainly addressed the problem you cited, Steve.

There was more than one discussion of it in FeedBack early on. IF I recall correctly, that option was quite low on the totem pole, if there at all. There were items considered more pressing, like "Search", and better navigation aids and icon legends.

I can see where not collapsing threads would perhaps not be an asset in the Help forums, as "on topic" is normally the mode.

Thanks for your input.

Angeline
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