comments should be listed in chronological order by default

JohnAlbin - April 17, 2008 - 01:21
Project:Drupal
Version:7.x-dev
Component:comment.module
Category:task
Priority:normal
Assigned:Unassigned
Status:duplicate
Description

The default comment settings for “Default display order” are “Date - newest first”, but this is just silly.

Every known language reads a page from top to bottom, so when reading a comment discussion, why do we show responses before the comment that generated the response?

This is a big usability error, IMO.

Here’s the patch to fix it.

AttachmentSize
default-comment-display-order.patch1.58 KB

#1

Susurrus - April 17, 2008 - 01:40
Category:bug report» task

Not really a bug...

#2

JohnAlbin - June 15, 2008 - 22:10
Category:task» feature request

Fair enough…

#3

catch - June 16, 2008 - 00:45
Category:feature request» task

Definitely a bug. More drastic approach here: http://drupal.org/node/191499 but I like this one.

#4

catch - June 16, 2008 - 00:55
Component:comment.module» usability

#5

dman - June 16, 2008 - 01:13
Component:usability» comment.module

Just to temper the hyperbole ...
Top-posted comments are totally useful in emails, mailing lists and even usenet. So there's a time-tested reason for that option to exist. There's probably even a few studies on it.

BUT I totally agree that when the primary interface is a web page (not push media) forum, it's not right.
Hm, it's probably do do with the way folk use similar but different 'forums' or BBs. In CMS's they don't quote each other nearly as much. ... which is almost certainly another factor. With the history available and threaded, there's not so much quoting going on. Maybe people just had to stop treating it like an email list.

And off the top of my head, YouTube does this, posting most recent comments at the top.
Oh yeah, OK, please please let's not be like YouTube!

I DO support the proposal, and think the default should be read down.
I'm just adding some context. Most decisions in history that look wrong now were a good idea at the time :-)

#6

Dries - June 16, 2008 - 05:15

I agree that this is a bug. I'm also happy to go with the more aggressive approach at http://drupal.org/node/191499.

#7

JohnAlbin - July 10, 2008 - 17:12
Status:patch (code needs review)» duplicate

#191499: Remove "Display order" from comment settings. was committed!

 
 

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