Abbreviate quoted text - helpful or annoying extra click? 1 1

[Architecht]

Abbreviate quoted text - helpful or annoying extra click?

I saw this plugin today that seemed like a potentially good idea.

What is does it hide anything more than X lines of quoted text under a "more" link that can be clicked to display the rest by the reader.

Most quoted text is reasonably sized, so this plugin wouldn't affect it, as we'd choose to always display several lines by default (exact number to be determined). But in cases where someone quotes 40 lines of text, some of it would be hidden.

 

 

[Sqeggs]

Also seems as if the page jumps as the software kicks in to truncate the posts. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 2017-5-17 at 3:14 PM, Marwood & I said:

On balance, I think less is more, and would prefer a less cluttered thread with less scrolling of duplication to an occasional need to expand a quote. But it's hard to know for sure without experiencing it.

 

OK,  I've experienced it for, admittedly, a short period and I hate it. It is much more irksome than I imagined it would be and I completely underestimated how many times I would need to use the expand function. It was a worthwhile test, but you can switch me to the "turn it back off please" camp too. 

[Jayman]

FWIW, I voted no. Not a fan of the extra click. Also if there are too many in a thread I might miss a cool pic I might otherwise see even scrolling quickly.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Jayman

[Architecht]

We have one negative reaction once we turned it on. Is anyone expressly liking it? Does it serve a useful purpose for some?

[Lazyboy]

22 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

I'd like to change my vote from "for it" to "against it."  I hadn't realized that scans will be covered up and have to be clicked on to be revealed.  That's not desirable, imo.

19 hours ago, Jayman said:

FWIW, I voted no. Not a fan of the extra click. Also if there are too many in a thread I might miss a cool pic I might otherwise see even scrolling quickly.

It only affects quoted content. The original pic(s) will always be fully visible in the original post, but if 5 each quote the same post with 10 pics, you don't have to see and scroll past those same 10 pics over and over again. That's the best part of this feature.

[Get Marwood & I]

4 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

The original pic(s) will always be fully visible in the original post, but if 5 each quote the same post with 10 pics, you don't have to see and scroll past those same 10 pics over and over again. That's the best part of this feature.

I said the same a few posts back and was convinced I'd like it. But now it's in, I've found that the times that it "gets in my way" irk me much more than scrolling past duplication does / ever did. So it is great in the scenario we both painted, but for me, not in others.  Maybe I'd just get used to it though, just like I have all the other changes. 

[Architecht]

I scrolled through a couple of sales threads where the giant quote + a one-liner  got much shorter / smoother and saved a bunch of scrolling. I -think- that was a good thing, but I'm also not a buyer/seller, so my perspective is not that informed.

[Sqeggs]

11 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

It only affects quoted content. The original pic(s) will always be fully visible in the original post, but if 5 each quote the same post with 10 pics, you don't have to see and scroll past those same 10 pics over and over again. That's the best part of this feature.

A post with even one pic in it (and some text) can be covered up. 

[Architecht]

Just now, Sqeggs said:

A post with even one pic in it (and some text) can be covered up. 

Yes, but not the first post, as that content wouldn't be a quote. Do you find value in seeing those pictures again multiple times as people quote them?

[Get Marwood & I]

4 minutes ago, Architecht said:

I scrolled through a couple of sales threads where the giant quote + a one-liner  got much shorter / smoother and saved a bunch of scrolling. I -think- that was a good thing, but I'm also not a buyer/seller, so my perspective is not that informed.

It definately works in scenarios like that, yes. What I've found is that when I get a notification I click on it and it takes me to someone who's responded to one of my posts. Quite a few times the bit they responded to was covered. Having the memory of a gold fish I had to expand it to see what I said! Stupid aren't I. 

Also, if you check the boards from the 'all activity' screen, which I often do, you tend to work backwards.  I know you're going to say I should use the functionality properly to avoid that,  but I bet I'm not alone in that. So I've found I have to keep expanding as I'm working backwards.  

A lot of the board software is actually defaulted to take you to the latest post. So you scroll backwards.  That's when,  for me at least, I start to see the downside of hidden quotes. 

So I'd prefer you to back it out. People seem to quote less on the new boards anyway so the scrollin scrollin scrollin, sore eyes! situation isn't as bad as it used to be. Probably. 

[Architecht]

5 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

It definately works in scenarios like that, yes. What I've found is that when I get a notification I click on it and it takes me to someone who's responded to one of my posts. Quite a few times the bit they responded to was covered. Having the memory of a gold fish I had to expand it to see what I said! Stupid aren't I. 

Also, if you check the boards from the 'all activity' screen, which I often do, you tend to work backwards.  I know you're going to say I should use the functionality properly to avoid that,  but I bet I'm not alone in that. So I've found I have to keep expanding as I'm working backwards.  

A lot of the board software is actually defaulted to take you to the latest post. So you scroll backwards.  That's when,  for me at least, I start to see the downside of hidden quotes. 

I prefer to make a custom stream, and select Content Items Only and "Takes me to first unread". This way it's alot more like the thread list in a forum - it just blends several forums together.

The default All Activity view gives you a line for every reply. The Content Items Only choice in a custom stream gives you one line for every thread.

 

 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

3 minutes ago, Architecht said:

I prefer to make a custom stream, and select Content Items Only and "Takes me to first unread". This way it's alot more like the thread list in a forum - it just blends several forums together.

The default All Activity view gives you a line for every reply. The Content Items Only choice in a custom stream gives you one line for every thread.

 

 

 

Sooper. I'll give it a try tomorrow 

[Sqeggs]

29 minutes ago, Architecht said:

Yes, but not the first post, as that content wouldn't be a quote. Do you find value in seeing those pictures again multiple times as people quote them?

Not, of course, if someone is quoting the immediately preceding post.  But sometimes -- actually pretty frequently in the GA threads -- someone will quote a post with a pic from several pages back.  If the new post is commenting on the cover (condition, art, whatever), then you want to see the whole cover.

So, the hide feature sometimes only kicks in with a lag -- am I right about that?  Seems to cause a jump/shimmy/shiver when it happens.  Or is that browser specific?

[Architecht]

27 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

So, the hide feature sometimes only kicks in with a lag -- am I right about that?  Seems to cause a jump/shimmy/shiver when it happens.  Or is that browser specific?

I see this when I look for it, but it's not noticeable to me. I think it's depends on your connection speed / computer speed. If everything is fast, it happens so fast you don't see it. If the load is slow for some reason, it probably becomes visible.

[VintageComics]

On 2017-05-18 at 4:58 PM, Architecht said:

We'll try it for a while, and see how it feels. Feel free to offer clear, polite feedback. Remember, no matter how much you like / hate it, this is a consensus thing, not an individual thing.

I like that videos are being abbreviated.

Even pics get a pass from me as I don't always want to see vids and pics (or you can tell what it is even though it's abbreviated.

But I still am not a fan of abbreviating written posts.

[bc]

First off, thanks for embracing feedback !

Didn't vote the first time, but not a fan of the change to quote truncation. Specifically in sales threads with several issues of the same title. Same reason as mentioned earlier, extra clicking and impacting the continuity of the user experience.

I am primarily a laptop/desktop user, mobile access is less than 5% of my time on the boards and that's usually to check to see if I got an invoice for a purchase.

Rather see if we can shrink the user info box from 14.75% of the width of the screen (236 pixels out of 1600) to fit more user generated content as well as shrinking all the Quote and "Like this" area. If we wanted to communicate on Facebook, we'd have moved there already. And wasn't a "+1" the same as a "Like"?

Admittedly old school  

-bc

[Sqeggs]

2 hours ago, Architecht said:

I see this when I look for it, but it's not noticeable to me. I think it's depends on your connection speed / computer speed. If everything is fast, it happens so fast you don't see it. If the load is slow for some reason, it probably becomes visible.

Another is it just me/my browser/connection speed:  Since the truncation thing started, I seem to frequently get pushed to the bottom of the page when I either click on the emoji list or post a reply. 

[Sqeggs]

Although, of course, that time it didn't happen. 

[bababooey]

I am clicking 'read more' and getting some odd views where a couple posts are overlapping each other.

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by bababooey

[lizards2]

I vote this the most irritating new feature.