Suggestion: comment nesting

i can't help but think that adopting a style more like reddit, most importantly the comment nesting, would be a huge success for this site. ATS has probably the most interesting conversations with the most intelligent people i've come across in my online travels and i would like to see it get better.

i feel the comment system on reddit and similar sites would lend themselves to much more detailed, topical, and organized discussions here. Individual and specialized discussions could exist without having to shout over All the replies to the entire thread and without spanning potentially tens of pages unlike the current BBS-style interface.

Additionally, the huge improvements in useability like being able to vote on threads and replies without reloading the entire page. Can any of you appreciate how excruciating that is on a mobile connection?

The way ATS is set up now timing is everything. If you are away from the computer for a long day you have missed the opportunity to partake in the discussion. For the most part if you are not around for the first few hours of the thread you have essentially missed the opportunity to reply to insightful comments made early in the discussion.

The best part, you ask? reddit's software platform is open-source. That is to say that it could be adopted either wholly or partially here at ATS without spending a dime.

Thoughts?

reply to post by soulshn


I dont understand fully but are you describing something where replies to an original comment would be grouped together in a drop box? So if you click on the original comment the other replies will become visible?

If so I think this is a great idea.
It would really help the flow of information that is often lacking on this site.

With one topic you can get a multitude of completely different responses and it can become a nightmare to get constructive conversation happening.

Obviously something needs to be done. I can't see the harm of at least trialing this idea and others.

That would be awesome.

reply to post by soulshn


Although reddit's code base is open source, implementing it isn't trivial (i've tried!)

It took a long a time for reddit to become as stable as it is. Not sure how long you've been on reddit but a couple of years ago (could be longer, reddits like a twilight zone for time) before reddit gold and Condé Nast taking a proper interest it was up and down all the time. The site involves several complicated systems that are very different from the way ATS works.

You'd also have the massive job of moving the all the current content which would be a huge undertaking.

I agree though, the way reddit handles threading and nested comments makes tracking replies to the threads very easy i just think to implement it on ATS would be huge and expensive.