Love to. How about Global Thermonuclear War?
āYou know what, comments suck. Letās just not have themā
Rob: This was indeed the plan at the beginningā¦
ā¦then we might still go that way.
!!!
Whaā¦? Why do comments suck? From a moderation/maintenance standpoint? Or in terms of their content and value to the site?
If itās the latterāsorry, but thatās kind of insulting to the great commenters who have participated over the years. (Not to mention the moderators.)
Not sure I like where this is goingāitās starting to feel like this isnāt meant to improve comments so much as sweep them under the rug. You initially were going to get rid of them? Really?
Thereās a disconnect somewhere. As a reader Iāve always seen comments as a huge strength that capitalizes on a smart, funny reader-base to make the site more than just the posts themselves. Do Rob, Cory, Mark, Xena, David, Maggie, etc. see them as just distractions or hecklers?
Maybe Iām in the minority, but Iām just not seeing what was so broke here that required this level of āfixingā.
9 Likes
Actually, I rather miss anonymous participation, sure, people are slightly more civil now but also less frank and more guarded with their participation, not a good thing on the whole.
4 Likes
Oooh. Was that jp2a you used for the pic? I love the coloration it puts out. One of those perfectly made Unix tools IMHO.
1 Like
OK, the posting itself is good, I like the instant preview and I just edited a post with minimal effort. I still hate navigating through the comments, and just barely found my comment to reply to it.
1 Like
Oh yeah, Iām simply not going to get an avatar, I hate āconnectingā my accounts, Thatās why I signed up for this as a different account rather than use my Facebook or other account.
@beschizza - I think itāll be an interesting experiment. Itās a totally unique approach to commenting/forum/discussion systems, and Iām glad BB went out on a limb to try something novel.
Oh, this is really bugging me, every time I reply to a post I get bumped to the bottom of the page and now I have to somehow find my way back to the point where I was reading,
2 Likes
The Who Theyāre From bit will be important. When the astroturf gang get cracking, they come in numbers. No specific examples, but Iāve wandered through BB comments thinking āhow am I missing the point hereā, until I click.
I love the comments. Without them, no-one would ever actually read my opinions. Which are important to everyone. Especially me.
4 Likes
Wholeheartedly agree. The linearity is completely gone - I liked the fact that before I would read the comments in chronological order but still being able to follow threads. Maybe it just takes some getting used to, but this system seems unnecessarily convoluted.
2 Likes
This is a really good idea, I think.
But while were at it, I read the āaboveā comment (I guess āabove comment is meaningless nowā, so is āpreviousā. Parent?, āthe comment Iām replying toā?), and I had to click on the little down arrow next to it to like it, making me lose my place in the conversation, again.
But I also noticed that I could like other comments when they were replies.
Maybe its just me, I didnāt get much sleep last night but something funny is going on here! 
The only issue I see thus far with the new BBS system is having to scroll all the way to the bottom to enter a reply. Which for a page like this, that has 232 comments thus far, requires holding āpage downā for a while.
Of course, this is assuming that I didnāt miss anything. Which, if I did, please inform me.
Otherwise, I LOVE the fact that youāve incorporated a BBS into boingboing.
It would be good to see the full text of the article rather than an excerpt at the top of threads here.
I was quite content with the rut I was in but this may be just the thing.
You donāt have to scroll all the way down to reply, the composer panel is an overlay so you can write a reply as you read, or even as you browse other topics. We also save drafts for you automatically per topic.
Ok, so now I just figured out how to get back to the comment I just replied to by clicking on the little arrow next to my reply post, Iām still in a daze though.
In a way, it feels like Iām at a party with a small group of friends and if I leave to get a drink Iāll miss some of the conversation.
1 Like
Native avatars are coming soon.
Haha Iām such a dope! Thanks for the heads up.
Not at all, itās not that comments suck ā just that if it turns out that having the same comments on both the post and in the forums sucks, our general inclination would probably now be to keep the forums but not the on-post comments. (a la Penny Arcade)
Just logged in to see if I still have my username (I do, yay!) and to see what all the fuss is about. I never had any real issues with the old system, and I donāt seem to have any with this new one. In fact Iām kind of fond of forums, so this feels like it could be a big win all round.
