I created a whole dedicated topic for the “flat vs threaded” topics and got exactly 0 responses.
I think that is a huge flag for the UX of the new system (which at this point is a minefield of UX red flags, though hopefully it will mature). Your topic isn’t discoverable in any meaningful context. The topic of this convo. wasn’t flat vs threaded but the lack of integration of discussion with content, your example illustrates that problem well.
The reason that you are getting no replies is that with regards to flat/threaded we have been told time and time again that our opinions don’t matter and we are fools to think that threaded is ever going to happen.
So I feel like I’ve given the new system a fair shake but I much prefer the old comments under the article and wanted to hop on here to, futilely, make that point.
Looking at the forum page views, as displayed, it doesn’t look that great compared to what the actual article views would be. If that was the intention then job done I guess.
I think the real problem now is that when you have to jump through that extra hoop to make a comment then you’re going to bias towards people who REALLY want to make a point, for or against and you lose the impromptu comments from people who might have had something to add.
I’m a veteran troll in good-standing but these days even I weary of the rabid slavering between partisan views which are a razor-blade apart.
I appreciate that a lot of work has gone into the BBS, and that it is still a design in progress but might it be more appropriate to reinstate the comments under the article but close them after a couple of days even, and leave the BBS for longer term discussion?
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I’ve never found a way to tell someone i think their ego is getting too involved without them trying to turn it back on me.
Limited monkey brains, i guess.
Maybe your ego is too involved for it to work?
No offense intended, just my opinion! 
Yeah well, as long as its about me and not you, eh?
[grimace]
I’m not clear exactly what you’re proposing, but I have definitely learned to love the 5 day auto-close feature* on a lot of topics, particularly the controversial / trigger ones. There are certain topics which really just do not benefit from open ended, forever discussion.
Others might be OK, of course, but a blanket policy here probably won’t work based on what I’ve experienced so far.
To be clear, not my decision to make, just my opinion on that specific point.
* Trivia: we built the auto-close feature specifically for BBS at their request, but other potential partners had requested it in earlier discussions, as well. We try to build features that benefit multiple communities whenever possible.
It also prevents posts from accidentally rising to the top after being dead for a while. That can cause a lot of confusion. Like, for example, if someone searched on a subject and landed on an old conversation, made a comment, and suddenly everyone’s wounds are open again.
You can always start a new thread from a post if you want to extend the conversation. (Before it’s closed.)
I haven’t been by in a while, made a comment today…
Don’t think I’ll be returning. I hope this experiment was fun for those involved, but man, it just doesn’t get better does it? Threads are practically impossible to follow now, before they were broken, but at least I could follow a basic conversation, now it’s just a stream of consciousness. You get the sense that there may be conversations happening, but nobody’s quite sure who between.
A shame, because someone finally got round to deploying a mobile layout (broken in places, but better than nothing), but it’s of little use when the platform is fundamentally floored anyway.
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Well, bummer. I’ll miss your posts. I preferred the old threaded construct myself, but I applied a squirt of Marvel Mystery Oil to my long-seized Adaptability Gears, and with the help of the “in reply to” buttons for context, I make it work well enough for my purposes. Still, I understand your frustration.
I’ve been trying to vent less online anyway - maybe it’s for the best
If those buttons still exist, they don’t on mobile, unless I’ve gone blind!
I don’t know if they’re there. The very idea of trying to interact with any forum like BBS on a mobile device fills me with crawling horror. My thumbs are too clumsy, my eyesight too poor, my hipness too absent. I capitalize and fully punctuate even my text messages, so I’m very, veeerrryy slow communicating on a phone or even a small tablet. I’m kinda amazed you’d even want to try, but then, I’m very much a 20th century fella.
When I’m slouched on the sofa with only a phone to hand, only a phone will do
(I’m still here, lurking!)
My four cents: Why not put a ‘quick comment’ box on the same page? That way anyone who feels only a weak urge to speak up will have their opportunity to bypass the barrier to entry.
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So I used to comment in here daily. For a long time. Then, like an unexpected rockslide, they changed the comment system. I kept lurking, but never joined back in again.
Until today. I still can’t figure this thing out. Can we have an alternate-universe Boing Boing for dumb guys, with the other comment system back. like right now someone else is typing the exact same thing as me in the right box. I can’t compete with that guy. He’s too fast and smart and yes I hated Disqus but at least I got it. It was like instant snarkification, I’m going to stomp that dude on the right, really, stop it, you’re not being funny copying me like that…
Yeah, I agree 1000%. The cogent/funny/provocative discussions were always a significant part of what made BB such a unique and enjoyable site. The new non-threaded & techy-ingroup-only system is really irritating. I haven’t been accused of being dumb all that often in my life (curmudgeonly, yes), but I feel both deliberately excluded and kind of stupid having to work so hard just to find and follow a discussion now.
I’ve often wondered what the REAL reason behind the switch was. I used to check BB a couple of times every day, but now find that days pass before I even remember to read it. Just doesn’t seem worth the effort now – sad.
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To be fair, Disqust was horrible.
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Start another ‘meta’ thread… I tried with “Bbs = BS; Quality of discussion plummets” and it soon went way off-topic.
This unthreaded bbs option is more and more frustrating to me… the ridiculous::
“Best Of : There are 159 posts in this topic. That’s a lot! Would you like to save time by showing only the best posts?”
option is insulting; so I work my way through; scrolling up & down to follow replies or clicking ‘in reply to’ and having the whole presentation shift.
AARGH!!!
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+1. Without the threaded commenting, its no longer a discussion. Its still fun reading from some of the smartest people on the planet, but its lost so much since the transition. I gather the people building this new commenting system have some sort of ideological objection to threaded commenting, but I’m hoping they see that an ideas-based website like BoingBoing has much different requirements than a fact-based website like StackOverflow.
