Ask PG: Can we have collapsable comment threads? | Hacker News Reader

Ask PG: Can we have collapsable comment threads?

21 pointskylelibra13 comments

I think collapsable comment threads (similar to reddit) would greatly benefit the discussions. I often find myself uninterested in the top comment thread and wanting to find another main comment to read, but it is difficult to figure out where one ends and one begins.

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https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-news-collap...

Great find! I didn't know this existed. However, I still think having this as a default feature would benefit the community and the quality of discussions.

I personally use [0] since it adds on top of collapsible comments threads the highlighting of new comments.

To reply to a few of the posts below

AndrewDucker

> I don't want it often, but when the top comment is a tangent that then leads to hundreds of comments that are all about that tangent and not the link, then being able to minimise it would be nice

I prefer to bail out of these early. As was commented below, I potentially miss out on good comments made in replies, but I also save a lot of time for doings things I enjoy a lot more, like programming.

DanBC

> If a comment is bad enough to need collapsing it's likely there are going to be other lousy comments that need downvoting.

I collapse good comments just to get them off my screen when I'm done with them. The extension I linked too has a [collapse whole thread] that I can click on when reaching the last reply it will collapse everything off my screen and automatically scroll to the right place for me.

I am very grateful for the people who do downvote low quality comments and any children that are equally low quality. Everyone browsing how I do this wouldn't be ideal. If I ever get the ability to downvote, I can at least target my minor moderations to topics I particularly enjoy seeing high quality commenting in, not every thread. That would get tiring quick. Again, I much prefer to bail out of tangent or low quality comments quickly.

The point about excellent replies is valid, and I do wish individuals would considering posting them more visibly (but still on topic) instead of under troll replies, etc.

I have recently got into the habit of opening good comments by their permalink. I can continue going through the thread looking for good content, and them come back and go through the good comments and replies.

[0] http://hckrnews.com/about.html#extensions

I don't want it often, but when the top comment is a tangent that then leads to hundreds of comments that are all about that tangent and not the link, then being able to minimise it would be nice.

You're wrong. Java is a terrible operating language tech bubble 10 reason politics doesn't work! And don't get me start about health insurance.js hype train fanboy.

DId you use a generator for this?

There are firefox(hn utility suite) and probably chrome extensions doing just that.

I really like the HN simplicity, and is pretty easy to augment it with extensions.

One problem with collapsing a thread is that you then don't downvote anything in the collapsed thread.

If a comment is bad enough to need collapsing it's likely there are going to be other lousy comments that need downvoting.

Sometimes sub-optimal comments have excellent replies, and it's a shame if those good replies don't get upvotes.

I prefer scrolling, because I already have my fingers ready to scroll. Do you find it hard to see when the comments indent back to the left edge when scrolling quickly? It's something that old-school programmers have a lot of practice doing. Perhaps a slightly increased visual cue would help?

I better visual cue would be good as well. In huge threads with hundreds or even thousands of comments, it is hard for me to tell where something ends.

I don't think adding the collapsable button takes anything away, but adds a lot of value. Even with the button you can still scroll. :)

If the comment you want to collapse is a top level comment, sure. But not all tangent comments are top level. There are times when I want to collapse a mid-thread comment because it goes on a tangent. In those cases, the visual cue is lost.

I'd prefer to keep it simple.

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