New forum Wishlist

This topic was created by BristolBachelor .

[BristolBachelor]

New forum Wishlist

Post your wishlist items for the user forums (or article comments) here. 1 per post, so people can vote up/down as takes their fancy. I'll start the ball rolling with some things that have been mentioned so far...

[BristolBachelor]

Markup toolbar

Mentioned here

[BristolBachelor]

Edit post button

...to go back an correct your maths when 1000 people point out your schoolboy error :)

[Scorchio!!]

Re: Edit post button

For me that would be an excellent improvement; I sometimes have migraines and my spelling flies the coop at such moments. The past couple of days is evidence of this. There are 'legitimate' reasons for post editing. (I've just made 3 attempts to spell 'editing' and 2 attempts to spell 'made', 'attempts' and 'to'; I normally touch type at speeds of between 100 and 120 wpm)

[dave 93]

Doesn't that just break the thread?

If you correct some mistake after that mistake has been discussed, what do you do with all the posts about the mistake?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Doesn't that just break the thread?

This is the challenge with an edit button but there are a couple of options.

e.g. limit edit facility for x minutes to allow tidy-up

e.g. indicate that a post has been edited x times if there has been a reply or replies to that post.

[dave 93]

Meh. Just repost if you're really bothered

This isn't a collective masterpiece , it's a comment forum. Silly or factual errors are part of the life blood, plus they expose the twatdangles who don't read/check their own posts!

I could support a 5 minute 'oh shit!' window of editing opportunity, I suppose, but real life doesn't have that, does it?

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

The ability to assign a troll icon to someone that will appear no matter what icon they choose :)

Hey, you said it was a wish list :P

[Trevor_Pott]

Maybe refine this?

"Vulture/Twatdangle" list? (Where if the person is listed as a twatdangle on your list you don't see their posts?) Or at least ability to "flag" someone in your own personal view? Perhaps something wherein if enough folks flag someone as a twatdangle it is raised as an issue with whomever happens to be guarding Vulture Central?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe refine this?

Murray suggested something like this, albeit in more decorous terms.

[Trevor_Pott]

Ah, yes. Decorum.

I am theoretically capable of it - periodically people accuse me of exercising it - however it doesn't exactly seem my forte. The social niche I’ve carved out for myself seems to be somewhere in the “calls it like I sees it” range.

Great for getting across “what you mean” in a manner everyone can understand. Abominable for laywerspeak, writing contracts or other exercises in CYA or interpersonal diplomacy.

Legacy of being a redneck, I suppose. Folk ‘round here are raised with an innate distrust of anyone who exercises an abundance of decorum. It is a social hindrance I struggle daily to overcome; it requires a certain amount of cognitive dissonance to behave differently when dealing with folks online/over the phone/at a conference/etc. versus people in RL back home.

I wonder how much others experience this, or are even aware of it? Do people raised with layers of outbound filters between “what I mean to say” and “how I should be saying it” realise how they are perceived by (for example) rednecks? There is a certain amount of obvious “, my social conditioning is the ‘right’ social conditioning” evident in any society, but I wonder to what degree introspection makes its way down to the individual level in different cultures.

Here in Alberta, we actually talk about these issues a fair amount. Regardless of education, occupation, etc…I find a lot of people amenable to a discussion about the use of social filtering on speech. Why is it that Albertans – and by extension, rural Ontarians and all Newfies – have such a problem with decorums (or other related social filters?)

I think it isn’t necessarily that we perceive prevarication in such interactions, but that there is a certain perception of lack of interpersonal trust. We are a culture big on “handshake agreements,” “word is your bond’ etc. If you feel that you have to choose your words carefully – usually for CYA purposes – then you are perceived as not trusting the listener (or reader) to extract meaning (and political correctness implications) from context.

I find the entire topic fascinating, especially in the context of writing and trolling online. El Reg is a culture unto itself; rooted in British sensibilities, but with its own quirks. Ars Technica is prototypically American, with the Science, Technology and Gaming sections of the website each having sub cultures that seem to reflect a predominance from one coast or the other. (Actually, the science areas have a large international representation, so a great deal of formality enters into discussion, and rules/debate semantics become critical elements.)

Contrast this with the far more laid back – even at the upper levels of high-stakes corporate discourse – culture here at home, and it is a learning experience. “Know your audience” as it were; the vagaries and subtleties of which are apparently something that can occupy entire professions.

I’ll be interested to see what the less blunt versions of the discussed featuresets eventually get called. It also raises the question of forum rules and “unofficial” decorum expected in the new setting.

Traditional netiquette requires a certain level of “on topic-ness” to a given post. El Reg has a great list of Big Bad Don’ts as well. (Visible in the “why was my post rejected” screen.) But the ability to set your own topics – and the more “free-wheeling” culture that typically implies – might be something to address at the outset?

Perhaps then an additional “feature request” should be an “unofficial rules” post to help shape the new topicless (or free-for-all topicness) of the new forums. Something that addresses not only the overarching issues such as libel or blatant trolling. But also something that discusses some of the more subtle ones such as decorum, policy regarding linking to other sites (deep linking/image linking issues are things some sites have problems with.)

Or maybe I am just over thinking all of this. That happens a lot too.

[Sean Baggaley 1]

If memory serves, as your society becomes larger and more complex, so do its user interfaces. Etiquette is essentially social grease. The more cogs, gears and other folderol you have in close proximity, the more grease you need to keep everything moving smoothly. If you only have a simple wheel spinning all on its lonesome, you can spend a lot less on its maintenance.

In a rural village, with a low population, you don't need to worry about formal introductions as everyone knows everyone else already. It's all just one big tribe.

Once you reach a certain population level, that "one tribe" system fails: it becomes impossible to remember everyone's names, and you end up with separate groups forming within the über-tribe, each of which then has to interface with the other groups. The more groups you have, the more complex the interfaces become, until you end up with people who spend their lives analysing and codifying those very interfaces in the form of etiquette.

The rise of social media technologies in recent years has had the effect of reducing the number of interfaces required to socialise with even a very large circle of friends and acquaintances, as the computer is doing the remembering of names and faces for us. The result is a gradual erosion of what many of us older readers think of as basic politeness and social graces.

Polite society—as we know it, at least—is ending. There will be a new society, but it's unlikely anyone has a clue what it'll look like. We're in the transitional phase now.

[Trevor_Pott]

Cogent and insightful.

I can find no flaws in your reasoning.

[Sean Baggaley 1]

Neither can I.

I find that a bit worrying as there's no family history of lucidity or sanity. I'll see the doctor in the morning.

[FIA]

Aren't we always in a transitional phase though? It just takes a generation or so to really see it.

Perhaps the (relatively recent) proliferation of mass media will make this more obvious as time goes on, but it's probably just a lens on an effect that has always been; just a consequence of the wider berth of human experience modern communications offer us.

@Trevor_Pott

I really want to visit Alberta now. Sounds an interesting place. (I'm British; but from a part of the country that also likes to call a spade a spade).

[BristolBachelor]

Sort "My posts"

The ability to sort "my posts" by Topic / Thread / Date

[BristolBachelor]

Block quote

Some sort of formatting for quoting...

[Ben Tasker]

Formatting for quoting? Some of us haven't even got basic formatting yet!

I wanna be an itard, btard and atard

Bugger, just replied so that must make me a retard.

Sorry, long day, even I'm not entirely sure I'm finding myself funny at the moment

[Anonymous Coward]

Re:

Ben, you've found us! Your account is upgraded.

[Ben Tasker]

Awesome

Thank You! I can now waste my last week at work by playing with formatting!

[Jedit]

Direct links to posts

Or failing that, notifications when someone directly replies to your post or to the thread - God, even Memebase has that. As is, the forums aren't much more than a fire-and-forget comment board; holding an actual discussion is very hard.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Direct links to posts

I am unsure what you mean by "Direct links to posts". In the Forums box on the Right hand Side - which you can see when you are logged in, there is a link currently called My Forums. This lists all the forum that you have posted in and in grey how many posts there have been since you have last posted.

Does this help at all?

As for direct replies - where would you like to see that notification - in the user panel on the right hand side or as an email? Or somewhere else?

[BristolBachelor]

I don't know if this is sort of what he/she is referring to, but when you up/down vote a post, the link to go back to the forum is actually a link to the post you just voted on, like this:

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/2/2012/01/12/Minty_Welcome_to_the_latest_forum_features/#c_1295825

However, I don't know another way to get the link to the post - unless you count rooting around in the page source!; oh and for any Australian's reading this part, the other use of rooting applies here too :)

But, thumbs up to being able to tell that someone has replied to one of my posts (The replies sometimes keep me on an even kiel; if it wasn't for them maybe I'd have a white cat and fleet of space shuttles by now...

Oh, and I know I can't spell; writing is not my job, just a bit of fun I do (badly) on the side.

[Trevor_Pott]

Link to post

Click the hash (#) beside the timestamp.

[TeeCee]

Hey, you mean like this?

<Sound of universe recursing down plughole>

Now look what you've gone and done.....

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

I think it was supposed to be more Like this.

Which you can only get if you click on the post link, and then on the 'show in context' link. I think.

[Phil Mitchell]

Permalink

I think we could do with making permalink a bit more obvious

[Trevor_Pott]

Interfacing, threading, communications...oh my!

[quote="TeeCee"]<Sound of universe recursing down plughole>[/quote]

Stop recursing! These forums don't support quotes! If you recurse we'll lose all sense of conversation flow, and then we'll really be buggered.

Oh, wait...no quotes. Crap. I have to do this manually. *weeping*

TeeCee wrote:

<Sound of universe recursing down plughole>

Stop recursing! These forums don't support quotes! If you recurse we'll lose all sense of conversation flow, and then we'll really be buggered.

Much better. I wonder how many years it will take to embed that into my motor neurons such that I can do it as instinctively as bbcode? Curse you, internets, and your lack of standards! So many different forums from so many different people...virtually no standardisation between them!

Power trollus interruptus.

[dave 93]

What about ratings?

They are everywhere, but little baby vultures, not stars. Yes or no just isn't enough sometimes.

And while you're at it, not picture uploads, but maybe icon uploads?? Aw, go on then, picture uploads as well. Let's have a party!

[dave 93]

Icon uploads was my idea right?

:-)

The post is required, and must contain letters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Icon uploads was my idea right?

Yes, yes - but what kind of icons are you talking about - your very own avatars?

[dave 93]

Avatars could work

Alongside your username as part of your account, please no animated gif though!

I was thinking more of the post icon selection panel having an 'Other' button for something to go alongside the post.

[Trevor_Pott]

Avatars

They would have to be manually vetted by El Reg staff. Otherwise we'll drown in d*ngs. IF we allowed everyone an avatar, the mods would drown in d*ngs trying to prevent the masses from drowning in d*ngs.

The bar for "allowed an avatar" should probably be very high if it is seriously considered...

[Ben Tasker]

You'd also have to think about whether you wanted to store those avatars;

Another site I use allows you to just specify a URL, the image on the end of it will be vetted and then the avatar is approved/disapproved. The problem is, what's to stop me changing that image to something that would obviously have been disapproved?

The flip side of the coin is that you force people to upload, but then have to absorb storage for the many wonderful images that people will try and use. This'd be even worse if its on a per post basis rather than per comment.

Moderation levels the same either way, but one route carries higher risk of publishing willies whilst the other has a (potentially substantial) storage cost.

There's a way round it, but I'm not entirely sure what it is!

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

I think user defined avatars would be a nightmare to administer.

If you go down that road at all, why not have some pre-made ones, perhaps base them on number of posts/up-votes/down-votes or whatever.

Bronze, Silver and gold vulture profiles would be nice, with the black/red reserved for staff :)

[TeeCee]

"IF we allowed everyone an avatar, the mods would drown in d*ngs...."

Or maybe worse.

[M Gale]

Re: Avatars

Has anybody suggested a Karma-ish system yet? If posts_total - posts_reported < some_percentage then bingo_you_has_imagery(uid). Well, something like that anyway, and it could be extended to other plusses, eg if someone really can be trusted to play around in a simple scripting environment without breaking the site layout and pissing everyone off. How hard to make a little box the size of a post with a canvas area and a very simple tablettish VM in javascript, does anybody have the spare time to implement it, and more importantly could it have a checkbox so users can say "no I don't want funky Javascript running everywhere"?

Might help to have some feedback as well, if you're trying to make the forums more self-moderated (ie: users can banhammer each other). Having a flag next to the post in the Your Posts list with "X number of people have reported this post" or similar might promote a more graded response than "you posted something shit, you're lolbanned."

[Vic]

> your very own avatars?

If you do this, can we also have the option never to see avatars?

They inevitably end up as an exercise in tastelessness...

Vic.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Change to threading?

Could I request a slight alteration to the way comments are threaded.

Let me explain ... assume the thread is like this at the moment:

Comment 1

| Reply 1

| Reply 2

If I reply to "Reply 1" with a new comment, the thread becomes:

Comment 1

| Reply 1

| Reply 2

| New comment.

Rather than the expected:

Comment 1

| Reply 1

| New comment.

| Reply 2

This can lead to some ambiguity as to which comment the reply is to. Further indenting could also help, but this could open a can of worms when you get to 27 levels of indent...

<brazen cheek> Any chance of an upgrade? </brazen cheek>

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Change to threading?

You shall go to the upgrade ball, Blofield's cat.

We'll have a think about threading. But last time we thought in public - several readers were opposed to threading in any form, IIRC.

[Blofeld's Cat]

"You shall go to the upgrade ball, Blofield's cat."

Thank you!

(Now where did I put that glass slipper?)

[Vic]

> several readers were opposed to threading in any form

That's a slightly strange attitude - but nevertheless...

On various other fora with which I am associated, there's usually some option to define the threading model displayed. So those that want nested comments get them, those that don't, don't.

But that's more code for you to write :-(

Vic.

[Ben Tasker]

'Search' button on mobile version?

Yeah OK, I know the Forum search box only went live today (or I've been blind the last few days), but I noticed earlier when browsing on my phone that I can't actually use it.

If I whack in a search term and press enter the phone just moves to the next input box which is Search IT jobs.

Tis only a little thing, and I can probably live without it, but if a phone's browser is detected can you serve a little submit button? The moving to the next box is probably more to do with the crappy default browser on Android than the site, but it'd be handy for when I'm too lazy to move off the sofa

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 'Search' button on mobile version?

I am almost certain that search will be added to our next mobile upgrade - going to be two or three months though.

BTW forum search on desktop has been here long time long time.

[Ben Tasker]

*orders replacement eyes*

Awesome, not to worried about the search, will just have to remember not to use it on my phone

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

Not sure if it's already been mentioned, but one thing I would like to see is: when I look at 'myposts' it would be nice to see some indication that there has been a newer post in the 'thread*' of replies for me to look at without having to click on my post and read the thread.

*By thread, I don't mean the whole listing, just the post that has been made/replied to - damn I can't explain it, you know what I mean :)

[Ben Tasker]

To add to that

I like the "My Forums" page, but what about changing from x posts since you last posted to x posts since you last viewed or even both?

Yeah, a 'view replies' link on the My Posts page would be good

[Vic]

Page order

Ok, here's my most recent wishlist item.

When selecting a forum from the "Your Forums" link on the right-hand side, the last page in a multi-page forum is always selected.

So if I've set a forum order to "Newest", I get the oldest page of posts (which is never what I want).

Can we have the page selected being dependent on the display mode, please?

Thanks!

Vic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Page order

Seems reasonable - I'll check out feasibility

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Page order

This seems logical. Will check out feasibility.

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

You double-posted but with different words - that is illogical Captain.

[TeeCee]

Although it could be unreasonable Captain.....

[Ben Tasker]

2000 Char limit

Firstly, how's Trevor Pott to post his long missives now?

Secondly, any chance of a little JS character count at the bottom of the box? Would mean that when I (inevitably) go over the limit I can reduce down without having to continually resubmit!

[Sean Baggaley 1]

I just ran into this issue myself...

... twice.

(I love the sound of my own typing, and I don't tend to edit, or even proofread, my posts if I'm replying as a break between translation jobs.)

JS counter please! I consider not having one a "Class A" showstopper bug. It's literally impossible to tell when I've gone over and I've wasted more time copying and pasting into Word to check.

Alternatively, as someone suggested elsewhere, allow arbitrary length posts, but have a "Read More" link after a predefined limit. In fact, this would probably be more elegant.

[Trevor_Pott]

Firstly, how's Trevor Pott to post his long missives now?

Simple; I go back to “not using the forums", and leave you lot in peace once more. I only really crawled back out of my hole on the other end of the internet because they needed someone to break the thing.

Reg commenters are (on average) fans of the short, emotive, moralistic, judgemental or witty epistle. The witty one-liner. Fans of the lengthy, point-for-point debates exchanging piles of supporting evidence, with rules of logical discourse and so forth?

Not so much.

There isn’t a great deal of “I don’t understand this, can you please explain it to me?" Or even “I think that might be wrong, here is why: <evidence>, <evidence>, <evidence>." Totally different commenting culture from what I enjoy, and one that in no way requires or desires my particular internets-commenting skillset.

This comment is almost 2000 characters long. This would just be enough to list the points I would be about to rebut during a typical deep dive thread.

End of the day? It's a good thing. A 2000 character limit would really target The Register's audience well; it is how commenttards here like things to be. I have given "having a proper debate" a go in a few threads. I have given "explaining things properly" a go in a few more. It’s just not feasible with the existing forum design.

Oh well. I will give it all a try again on Reg Forums v.Next. Until then, I will go back to my regular haunts and grind my “writing about science" skills until I level up a few more times.

Pints all 'round!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "just not feasible with the existing forum design"

So - for those commenters who want to have a proper debate - how does the current design get in the way?

[Trevor_Pott]

Design for a drawn out debate.

Well, the character limit is a big thing, naturally. The other big ones are as follows:

1) Inability to do “tabs” and carriage return issues. This makes delineating lists of points or doing quick point/counterpoint difficult.

2) Lack of a “quote” feature. You can try to do formatting manually, but that gets old quick. What is way easier is proper quotes. On other forums, when I hit “reply,” I get a pre-canned bit of BBCode in my box that looks like this:

[quote="drewc"]Drew wrote all the things![/quote]

Now, this is cool when writing a reference, but critical when chopping up a comment:

[quote="drewc"]Rabbits are evil[/quote]

No they aren't. They are most certainly sent by god. The told plecostomus me so.

[quote="drewc"]As supporting evidence, I offer that they had to be killed with a holy hand grenade.[/quote]

I see your point, but obviously it was a sort of anti-holy grenade as Arthur was able to wield it. If he can't understand the bit about the sparrows, he's obviously an evil chump himself.

And so on. Nesting quotes becomes pretty important as an ability as well.

3) Lack of a "spoiler" or "hidden" feature. This is like "quote," but hides the quoted text in a little JS box that you have to click on to make visible. This allows you to take an obscenely long set of arguments and cut them down to something that doesn't occupy a whole page.

[spoiler] It also serves to hide a related - but tangential - bit of musing away from the main body of the argument.[/spoiler]

These are pretty critical when you don’t have a fully threaded forum. (They mostly go away if you do.) The semi-threaded nature of El Reg’s forums removes the necessity of this from most casual conversation, but makes longer debates in which multiple parties really get going at it a lot harder.

[Sean Timarco Baggaley]

Honestly..?

Web forums invariably attempt to replicate the USENET format of threaded posts. Unfortunately, they rarely succeed in bettering the likes of Demon Internet's venerable "Turnpike" newsreader app, circa mid-1990s.

The fact is, you're trying to represent a three-dimensional 'tree' in a 2D space. A far better (IMHO) system would be to make the 3D-ness more visual, by having replies to posts displayed as stacked replies. If I want to read that thread, the cards drop open, hiding the other threads at the same time—the latter element has the advantage of reducing the server load a bit as refreshes don't require digging out every post in a forum.

Where a thread branches, you'd have more stacks, and sub-branches would have more stacks, and so on. When I'm done reading a thread (or sub-thread), the cards for that thread re-stack, restoring the previous level.

Or, to put it another way, I'd have written the forums in <a href="http://www.unity3d.com">Unity</a> ! :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Two user names?

Sean, you appear to have two user names. I have upgraded this one too!

[Sean Timarco Baggaley]

I do? News to me.

Although I have been wondering why the site keeps "forgetting" my login status.

Is it possible to merge the two usernames?

[BristolBachelor]

Nope, there's another reason. I only have 1 user name, but seem to be constantly logging in to vote/post.

Every time that I login, I see a nice little "Remember me" box with a tick in it, but my tick seems to be broken. Oh, it also doesn't help that what used to be "the register" is now also "register", "channel register", "the register", "reghardware" and last but not least "We couldn't think of another name register", and I seem to have to log in to each one separately - ho hum.

[Vic]

Re: "just not feasible with the existing forum design"

> how does the current design get in the way?

It's often difficult to workout exactly what a poster is talking about when he doesn't quote anything from the parent.

It's possible, of course, to follow the "in reply to" stuff - but that's less than wonderful (takes too long on a slow machine, or if FF has been running too long).

Optional grouping of posts by thread and more effective quoting (like a "quote" button on the reply page) would make life much easier...

Vic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 2000 Char limit

That is sensible. I will put it on very long to do list.

[Trevor_Pott]

Very interesting conundrum.

The new style manipulation abilities bring the El Reg forums up to a far more capable standard than previously. They move from being “comments sections like I find on my local newspaper” to “within reach of forming the kind of commenter communities that Slashdot and Ars Technica maintain.”

Following exactly doesn’t set you apart, and there are design philosophies for the developer, head honchos and so forth that are different from both example sites. (As well there should be, the content is quite different, and I imagine that each site has its fair share of unique readers as well!)

One thing those sites are known for are the long, drawn out threads of ultimate doom that will spawn around any given topic. Not just the comments, but anything under the sun.

If this is the sort of community El Reg wants to attract, then maybe the “unique hook” could be the one thing I wish both those places did, but don’t. Imagine a “split this thread” button. (Or “take off the record?”) Something where a moderator, (or the original poster for a thread of comments) could push “split this thread,” and that whole chain pops out of the story comments and spears in user forums.

Now your story comments goes from 100 comments (50 of which are filled with screaming nerd rage) to 50 comments and one link that says “this thread moved here”

And/or, maybe you could “reply as user forum,” where your reply is an href to a completely separate forum where the character limits don’t apply.” Less 8-page nerd rage uber comments under the article, but still the freedom to write comments that deserve to be bound as a hardcover.

There's a few ways to play it, but it might be worth a look. It all depends on the type of nerds you are hoping to attract to the forums!

[Sean Baggaley 1]

On a separate note...

... is there a particular reason why The Register's layout still assumes very narrow, tall, screens?

Surely it'd be better to use a variable width layout and lose the ridiculously wide margins that appear on a widescreen display? You already have a separate "mobile" site for those afflicted by phones with terrible web browsers, so why try to cater for them on the main site as well?

This would also make the forum easier to work with as long posts won't end up hogging an entire screen's worth of space.

[Sean Baggaley 1]

Addendum.

A variable-width layout would also let you cram more / longer headlines and / or subheadings onto the front page. (Key articles could even have a short 'teaser' intro. Perhaps some more pictures could be used as well—like the ones you often use for stories you highlight in the sidebar.)

Not that I'm expecting the suggested changes be done right now, but fully half my MacBook Pro's 17" display is empty space when I open the browser in full-screen mode. That's a waste.

Remember, too, that "variable-width" layouts will adjust automatically to smaller screens, so users with tablets needn't worry either. Hell, it might even work well enough on mobiles that you don't even need to maintain a separate site for those.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Addendum.

Sean,

Of course screens are getting bigger and wider, so we might all have to change our ideas.

We changed over to fixed width in 2008 - to get more control over our design, IIRC (I wasn't involved in those discussion). More recently - those ads that appear outside the borders of fixed width websites - they are called "skins" - have become ubiquitous, especially on consumer sites.

Most sites are fixed width these days, rightly or wrongly. I am not aware of any sites that have changed from fixed to variable - anyone else know of any?

[Sean Timarco Baggaley]

"to get more control over our design"

And this is the problem: websites aren't <i>supposed</i> to have fixed layouts like print. Graphic designers really do need to get out of this fixation with aping print media.

An example: The Register has lots of lovely articles, but they're all presented in a very basic text medium. Where are the equivalent of box-outs and sidebars that offer background detail or tangential information? In print, you'd have to have physical objects on the page to represent these additional nuggets of data, but on a site like this, it'd be trivial to add some Javascript classes that let users click on a hyperlink to pop-up a suitable box with the information. Accordion buttons could be used to hide a "backgrounder" section that laypeople may find useful, but which users who have set the appropriate preferences can choose to have hidden by default.

There is so much more that could be done with an online news site than simply pretending to be a print site with animated adverts.

The above criticism isn't specific to The Register either: <i>every</i> online news site out there at the moment seems to believe a web-page is just a stretchable sheet of paper that can have a TV or radio player nailed onto it.

[Trevor_Pott]

@Sean Timarco Baggaley

Slightly more to it, I'm sure. Now, I'm not an editor or any other such knowledgeable person, but I suspect that there is a magical bit of math somewhere that says “make articles only this long (or only this much on the first page) etc. in order to maximize eyeball time.” Critical, especially in light of the rise of the ADD generation.

Some sites offer the ability to log in with your user and change the “skin” of the site. (Some need subscriptions for this, others don’t.) You can in various cases choose different colour themes (I like black backgrounds with orange or green text,) different layouts, the ability to have “multi-page” articles presented as a single page and so forth.

I suspect that isn’t something that is a “flick a switch and change it tomorrow” modification for El Reg; ever know anyone who could turn an entire CMS around that fast? But all/some/none of these may be valid at addressing concerns.

Maybe you could have a doohicky that “remembers your device.” Facebook seems perfectly able of leaving some wretched cookie on most of my devices that separates them one from the other. (Or rather, it did until I figured out what it was doing and killed it.)

I think it’s important that The Register maintain some control over style though. El Reg needs things that make it unique. Not just the content…but the “little things” that mean when I glance at some random guy’s screen, I know he’s a vulture.

I like The Register. There’s good people here. I want it to have a strong, unique identity that separates it from other sites. But I also see entirely where you are coming from with the design thing, and, well…I think Drew’s in a tough spot there.

I am not a coloured pencil person. I am a professional troll. All gripes aside, the forum upgrades so far are a huge step forward. A lot of work by a lot of people, and it has been well done.

[Ben Tasker]

Not just the content.... but the "little things" that mean when I glance at some random guy's screen, I know he's a vulture

I also find the use of that ingenious term 'twatdangle' is something of a giveaway! Be nice if we could have an icon for that! To keep it clean, you could always go for an obscure reference to it - maybe a pussy(cat) being held up by it's tail?

Most places do seem to use fixed width, but I'd agree it can occasionally be annoying. I'll quite often sit with my littleun in my lap and have a read, a widescreen format means more text will be visible before I have to wrestle my hands away from him to scroll down!

Not looked at how you've implemented the width, but assuming it's a fixed width div, what about a link that runs some JS to change the width to 100%. Those that want to use it can (and should expect that formatting issues may occur) whilst the others can read as is?

[BristolBachelor]

Post formatting options

Please sirs, could you put a handy list of available stuff somewhere (and update it when things change) Oh BTW, when did strikeout become available?

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

Fuckin-A COOL!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Post formatting options

I will drum something up. strikethrough was introduce this week.

[jai]

removal of up/down vote confirmation pages

when we click the thumb up/down vote buttons on a post, would it be possible to acknowledge the click right there within the thread, without taking us to another page, from which we then have to click to return from? At the least, have the confirmation page on a 3 second timer that'll automatically return us to the post we voted one.

But better, as the vote seem to take effect instantly now anyway, can't we just visually see the number increment when we click on it, so we know our vote has been counted?

[Northern Fop]

What he said

I don't need no <i>steenking</i> confirmation.

Plus - blockquote tags would be <b>super spiffy</b>, especially for users who don't display as threaded.

[Northern Fop]

One more thing

(where have I heard that before)

why doesn't the post appear after posting - i need to refresh to see my finely crafted (if HTML deficient) comments, after i press the submit button.

[GettinSadda]

A few additions

I second the no "need to confirm up/down" but it would also help if there was some indication of what you voted for this comment as I have found myself trying to figure out if I already up/down voted a comment already and doing it again just to find out!

And block quotes - yes please.

But of course I am not yet even in the upgraded club yet (sniff)

P.S. And some way to not have to log back in so often - maybe an option somewhere to select "keep me logged in for N days"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What he said

There is a preview button - you can check stuff before you hit submit. If your account is upgraded your post containng malformed will be "held" for you to fix up before publication

[Northern Fop]

Upgrading

How does it work? Why create two classes of user at all?

And thanks for the boost upgrade.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not two classes of reader?

Rewarding longstanding commenters, for one. And making sure commentards don't abuse clickable links for another.

[MJI]

My same as before

Ability to have either a whole blank line between paragraphs, or have one line straight under another for a list.

[Ben Tasker]

AC's and Icons

I liked the change to stopping AC's from choosing an icon, but is there any chance of re-allowing the Joke Alert icon? I do make the occasional joke that, whilst it appeals to my sense of humour, I don't necessarily want my name next to it!

Without the Joke Alert, some can look like trolling and invite a splurge of invective that hurts my poor little eyes (even if it is often well deserved)

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

I usually have javascript disabled so I don't see any of the icons, so I mostly just use a </joke> tag at the end. Inelegant maybe, but it does the job.

Considering Drew just announced the free-for-all on the main forums I think he might be busy for a bit :)

[Ben Tasker]

Yeah that may be the better way round it actually. Otherwise you risk hitting "well if I can use .... why can't I also use ...." from some whiney snivelly A/C (Sorry wanted to insult people test strikeout - certainly beats entering ^H^H^H unless you want to confuse someone with ^H^H^H^H)

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

"^H^H^H^H"

You know you're a techie when you find that funny :D

[Ben Tasker]

Yeah must confess to something resembling a snicker when I typed it!

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

I'm tempted to use it on the main pages to tease people, but it's your idea so I'll let you do the honours.

Only one person has asked me so far how I managed to put a proper hyperlink into my post :)

[Ben Tasker]

I've just been waiting for a suitable thread to do it in, something busy with a lot of trolling going on for maximum wind up potential. Alas it seems to quiet so far today, had thought the Assange thread might attract a few but not too many there yet!

Think I may have been going a bit crazy with b and i but then i used to use underscores a lot anyway!

[Ben Tasker]

Ah perfect

A Google related thread!

[Geoff May]

Reason for down (or up) voting

I've seen quite a few posts that were down voted but I never managed to work out why. Would it be possible to allow for down (and up) voting to have an optional comment so that the person being down (or up) voted can get some idea why?

It might be better to have that optional comment visible only to the person being down (or up) voted.

Of course, the last point wouldn't help me work out why the post is down voted but it might help the down voted person change his/her ways ...

[GettinSadda]

I just up-voted this because...

[Northern Fop]

I just downvoted this because...

...you're a clueless idiot.

Now, I don't really think this at all, but I think putting in reasons for downvotes would lead to flame-wars and feuds. This might be occasionally entertaining but on the whole i think the downsides outweigh the upsides.

The iFan/iHate wars, the browser wars, and the OS wars are painful enough as it is :)

[MJI]

Downvotes

Downvotes are easy to get, any non anti (as opposed to pro) Sony in the games area will get you downvotes from XBots (NOT XBox fans - they are normal people, but the obsessives who hate PS3 for no logical reason*).

Anything pro/anti Apple will get you UVed/DVed, both on either. Sky fans tend to get downvoted, also look at the UV DV on any thing related to sex offence threads.

I tend to downvote idiots and upvote good posts, I also defend vote as well sometimes.

However a why down vote would be usefull - small list like/

##########

1) Off topic

2) Just disagree

3) You are an idiot

4) I am an idiot

##########

* Tough poopoos Xbots, your heroes play PS3 as well, just like the heroes of the PS3 world play XBox.

########## See my post about line spacing.

[Ben Tasker]

With attempts at double downvoting not counting, but automagically registering option 4 against the voter (little tooltip that hovers by their name in the forums for 24 hours maybe?)

[BristolBachelor]

I down-voted this because I'm having a shit day and wanted to spread the missery around too.

I down-voted this because I hate you and look for all your posts and click the red hate button.

Spot the joke icon; I didn't do either of these things.

Oh and at one time I wondered if I had a stalker because ever single post I did got at least 1 like vote seemingly for no reason at all.

[Vic]

> I down-voted this because I hate you and look for all your posts and click the red hate button.

This is real.

On a couple of occasions, I've posted on a contentious topic - and my posts aren't often all that inflammatory. Suddenly, all the posts listed on the first page of my profile get downvoted...

Other fora have limits on how many times you can vote for one individual before voting for others as well. This might be a nice addition, if it doesn't mean too much coding.

Vic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re:

We only count one downvote or upvote per computer. Of course this can be gamed - but we do not think this is an issue. Not at the moment anyway.

[BristolBachelor]

Post voting

Actually, thinking about this, I like the idea a lot, bit done slightly differently.

Instead of thumbs up or down, a column of icons (maybe 4-8) next to the post, done in typically humerous Reg fashion (i.e. derogatory to at least someone), each one saying what you thought of the post, e.g.

ROFL

Fail

Too bloody right mate!

Is your brain on holiday?

Honorary knighthood for this commentard please.

Then when you view the posts, you see the count next to each icon.

Maybe if this is not possible, then could I ask that if someone keeps posting AC and getting massive downvotes, that TheReg can arrange for them to get an electric shock from their keyboard the next time they login to the site?

[I ain't Spartacus]

Colouring in

One suggestion to deal with the nested posts issue, which introduces a lot of complications, especially on a fixed width site.

Could you have some sort of colour-coding on new posts. So when I go back to a forum, all the posts newer than the last time I went there, get a yellow bar at the top? Then it's easy to just scan down and spot them. I confess, I'm not sure how hard that is to implement, so it may be a stupid idea.

As an alternative, I think I prefer full nesting of replies. Most Reg forums don't have all that many posts, and I'd be surprised if nesting goes to more than 3 or 4 levels say.

On the same subject, I think it would be nice when I check my posts, to see if someone's replied to my post - as well as seeing the upvotes (obviously I never get downvotes...)

[I ain't Spartacus]

I owe me £5

I had a bet with myself that this post would get downvoted... Hooray for the commentards!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Colouring in

Colour coding or whatever is not a stupid idea - and if done well would have good utility. However, there are lots of entry points for viewing posts and we would need to think how to do this properly.

[BristolBachelor]

I agree about a way to hide, or skip over posts that I've already read. Especially in the new user forums, where a topic may live on for days or weeks (like this one!). I'm not totally sure about colours, but that is one way to do it. Another may be to have older posts roll-up, with a clickable unroll? (possibly tidier, although more work)

Of course one problem with this is when you go to the page, but don't actually read all the way to the bottom, and the next time you go there, it hides the things that you didn't get around to reading last time.

[I ain't Spartacus]

My posts

When I click on 'my posts', I get to see a list of my posts. Obvious innit.

This shows all the upvotes, to massage my ego. However, there doesn't seem to be any way to click on the post, and go back into the forum, so I can check for replies, see if there's anything more to look at.

I actually have to click on my username, which then takes me to a list of my posts, with an extra link added, that I can click on to go to that forum. The only difference between the 2 pages seems to be that the first has a total upvote/downvote count. The second is the 'public' page, which anyone can see, if they want to follow my posts.

This also means that if I go via this route to a forum, and then press 'my posts' on the top left, it's another click on my username to get to the 'useful' list of my posts.

Am I missing something obvious here?

[Ben Tasker]

At the top of each set of posts is "IN FORUM X", you can click the name of the Forum to go there.

Or at the top of the post you have "Posted DATE --> #" if you click the hash it'll show just your post, but if you click the arrow it'll take you the containg forum

HTH

[Anonymous Coward]

Also there is a link in 'Forums" control panel - currently called "My forums". [We will change this to "My topics"]. http://forums.theregister.co.uk/my/forums/.

This might be a more useful view for some.

[I ain't Spartacus]

You're right, sorry

I had a brief look, because I thought I could remember some links, but didn't notice them.

The forum titles can be clicked on, because it does order the posts in groups. But that takes you to the beginning of the forum.

Then there's the ¬ (or is it the upside down version of this?) that takes you to the post, in it's context. I don't recall ever hovering a mouse above that to see what it was for, though I may have at some point. Please could turn that into a link, the same as it is in the 'public' version of the my posts page (the one that simply lists them in posting order).

Finally there's the # symbol, which takes you to the post.

Should have checked harder, before posting.

[I ain't Spartacus]

html links

This is my final whinge (suggestion/moan/gripe/brickbat), honest...

Your new links don't show the destination, for the paranoid surfer. Obviously you're using the standard html, where people can name the link whatever they want. But I'd expect this to show the actual link on mouse-over, or when I right click. But it doesn't, I have to copy link, and paste somewhere to see where I'm being sent to.

I prefer not to click on linkies I can't read, I should imagine I'm not unique. Especially as I suffered my first ever drive-by download exploit last month, from a decent looking site that came up on a normal search. Amazingly my virus checker actually caught it - but I still wasted an hour checking the PC was genuinely clean... Oh, and worse, I really don't want to be rickrolled.

BTW, I noticed that my post have been submitting unmoderated for a week or two now. So I guess I've not been too naughty over the years. Any chance of a play with the html? Pwease, pwetty pwease?

And is there a reason you went for 'proper' html, rather than bbcode, or whatever it's called: e.g. [b]bold[/b] seems nice and easy, and you don't have to hit shift to get any of it.

[Ben Tasker]

That's not a bad idea, perhaps Minty could extract the href value and whack a title into the anchor as well? Not a huge amount of use if people use bit.ly (if only to allow them to type more in the rest of the post), but otherwise useful.

[GettinSadda]

Which browser?

Which browser is this that doesn't show the links? All of the browsers installed on my computer show the full link in the bottom left of the screen when I hover over it.

[I ain't Spartacus]

GettinSadda

You're quite right. The link does show up in the bottom bar of the browser. I'm using Firefox 10.

I tend not to look down there. Poor eyesight, and not being in the habit, are my reasons. I have to physically move my head to be able to read that part of the screen, so I do all the work I can at the top...

I think it should be more obvious. But I'm an unusual user, so others will have to judge whether they would notice the link turn up down there. Perhaps the kind of people who check links before clicking on them, already do, and no-one else cares, so this isn't worth doing?

[Eponymous Cowherd]

My wishlist.......

Subscript <sub> and superscript <sup> for, e.g. H2SO4, E=MC2, etc.

Some way of telling who is replying to who. A "In reply to" link would do.

[Vic]

> A "In reply to" link would do.

Like the "in reply to" link at the top of each reply, perhaps?

Vic.

[GettinSadda]

>> A "In reply to" link would do.

>

>Like the "in reply to" link at the top of each reply, perhaps?

>

I don't see any "in reply to" links.

[BristolBachelor]

You mean like this:

E = MC²

:)

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Where?

All I see is:-

Posted Thursday 2nd February 2012 13:18 GMT #

With the # being the permalink.

[Vic]

Bah.

I should amend that the 'the "in reply to" link that used to be at the top of each reply.

Smeggin' code changes...

Vic.

[Vic]

> used to be at the top of each reply.

Ah it's still there.

You needed to be in a chronological mode - "newest" or "oldest".

Vic.

[ADJB]

Blofeld's cat

Now that's a good idea for a new icon to denote <insert persons / company name> attempts at world domination.

Sinclair Spectrum icon - I've been in the industry for 3 weeks now and we did it this way when I was a yoof.

Jordon icon - For Bulgarian airbag stories

Unicorn icon - For conservation / global warming etc stories

Mushroom icon - For "I call bullshit" comments

[zb]

Logging in

Why do I have to log in separately to each domain? As far as I am concerned I am visiting El Reg and do not care if it is www.reghardware.com http://www.channelregister.co.uk or whatever.

My other gripe is that every time I give the thumbs up to a post (after I have logged in again for the umpteenth time) I am dumped into a stupid page telling me how happy/unhappy you are that I liked/did not like the comment. I must then scroll to the bottom to click the "back to where I was " button. Why can it not just accept up/down vote and not take me from the page I am reading? Plenty of other sites do that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Logging in

You have to log-in because, for better or worse, they are three different domains.

We have a fix for the take-you-away page - haven't got round to pushing it live yet.

[MJI]

Commenting on Andrew Orlowski articles

Occasionally they REALLY needs comments, but we are not allowed to.

Now this would be excellent.

THe recent Nokia Symbian saga is an example.

[BristolBachelor]

Yeah, I know. That's why I created a "user" topic about the French hadoop law one. I'm an engineer; it's my job to find solutions :)

Do you think that maybe he is under some terrible license from the mafia music/film industry that means he has to submit his articles without comments so that no-one is allowed to talk about them? :p

[The BigYin]

@MJI

LOL! I didn't know you'd posted that otherwise I'd've just added a "Me too".

I think a footer explaining why Andrew does not allow comments is at least required. Although he's so pro Big Meeja that's he's probably afraid of the kicking he would get.

Dear CIA robot and Canadian police: I mean "kicking" in the figurative sense, I am not about to pop down to El Reg Towers, drag Andrew into the street and lay the boot it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Kick the ball - not the player

As some commentards are incapable of commenting on Andrew’s stories without resorting to vicious personal attacks, we will turn the switch off while we are bedding in our new moderation policy. Andrew writes about contentious issues – and he is an often provocative writer. But that does not give commentards carte blanche to insult him or - as happened a few times - to threaten him.

[The BigYin]

Hang on...

...people wanted to give Andrew a kicking in the literal sense? Jeez.

[The BigYin]

@Drewc

Meant to say - what about a boiler-plate footer?

"Due to the immature threats from a few knuckle-draggers, commenting on this author's articles is dsabled until further notice"?

[Andrew Orlowski]

Re: @Drewc

Technical glitch - fixed now.

Yes, the threats of physical violent have been real.

As for Zapping, if it isn't libellous or ad hom, I'd keep it up. The grey area we wrestle with is Straw Men.

"You clearly said in your article Mr Orlowski, that the sun is made of iron..."

[MJI]

Re: Re: @Drewc

Threats

How pathetic to make threats.

A few morons ruin it for the rest of us to make (or just read) sensible informed comments.

[The BigYin]

Andrew Orlowski

I'd like to be able to comment on his articles, but I can't. Why not?

He's the only El Regtard where one can't?

If there is some deep and meaningful reason for this, can a footer be added so we know why? It's probably been mentioned why, but I must have missed the memo.

[I ain't Spartacus]

kicking Andrew O

Some people really take this internets thing too seriously. Still, I suppose if people are willing to be insulting in a way they wouldn't dare to face-to-face, maybe it's not a huge step to issuing threats of violence.

I hope that sort of thing isn't common. I was a forum moderator on an international game with a million users. Don't think I ever saw any threats. Rudeness, spam, 2 girls 1 cup, Rick-bloody-Astley, and one link to child-porn yes, but no actual threats. Even at 2am on a Saturday.

Could I therefore make another feature request?

A button which sends 50,000 volts through a miscreant's keyboard. This wasn't available when I was a Mod, but surely HTML5 now includes it? All the Reg staff would get one I guess, and maybe us commentards could have access to one if enough people press the button. Perhaps you could have 3 buttons:

upvote

downvote

upvolt

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: kicking Andrew O

I like it!

[jake]

@Drewc

I don't like it. Back in the day (mid 1980s), I hacked the underlying code for NET's IDNX to add a command ... "fire".

The entire command string was "set fire <node> <card number>". This raised voltage on an otherwise unused trace on the backplane, which in turn set off a blasting cap[1].

I called TheBoss into my lab to tell him that I had discovered something that didn't look right ... He came down and I typed in "set fire node 3 card 1". This produced the nice ::crack:: and puff of smoke. The Boss looked startled, and quickly typed in "set fire node 1 card 5", which produced the same satisfying crack & smoke. Followed by node 4 card 2, same result.

Then he turned & grinned at me and said "jake, you BASTARD! ... he always was a quick study. Best boss I ever had :-)

Needless to say, I had the full compliment of cards on all 8 nodes on my test network wired. No, we were airgapped, and the code didn't make it out into the wild ;-)

Anyway, my point is that if you have physical access to the hardware, and to the OS's source, you can make this kind of thing happen. Don't even joke about it.

[1] I had a license for them, clearing stumps is easier with HE ;-)

[The BigYin]

I guess that was aimed at me

As I said, I didn't mean to literally give Andrew a kicking. I mean in the figurative sense, i.e. attack his arguments.

And I like the way to propose to oppose violence against the person with, err, violence against the person. :-S

[I ain't Spartacus]

Electrocuting the Commentards vs. Kicking the Authors

@The BigYin, nah, the kick wasn't aimed at you... I guess it turns out I don't oppose violence against the person, as long as it's me doing it. Is that bad? Oh dear. It is? Time to get a new moral compass, I seem to have broken this one...

However, my plan does involve giving Andrew O (and others) a nice zap button. So then the comments sections can be a lot more interesting. Welcome to Orlowski's Cattle-Prod Roulette!

---------------------------------------------------------------

@Drewc

>>>I like it!

Which do you like? Kicking Andrew Orlowski or electrocuting your readership? Either is worrying. One suggests some disturbingly unpleasant HR policies at ElReg Towers and the other is clearly a concern, as one of your loyal commentards. Please don't... KZERT!!!...

...

...

...

[The BigYin]

@I ain't Spartacus

Ok, fine. I'll sign up for that.

Right after El Reg put a Kick-bot 9000 in Andrew's office.... :)

[TeeCee]

Re: kicking Andrew O

"...but surely HTML5 now includes it?"

IIRC it was in the draft standard, but descoped............along with the kitchen sink.

[BristolBachelor]

Reg. Standard Units converter

Drew, any chance you can put this on the website map? Even the reg search didn't find it, and I had to follow a string of articles after using the Google satan search :(

For those who didn't know, it's here: The Reg online standards converter

[I ain't Spartacus]

While you're at it

Didn't you come up with a dictionary of British/English slang - with which El Reg likes to confuse our colonial cousins?

If so, you could link that, the Reg units, forum rules, and anything else that looks definitive/interesting/useful/silly in some sort of FAQ/About Register.

Oh, also on this subject, please keep using the work 'bonk' for paying by NFC. I call all tablets fondle-slabs and I'm still sad that you banned the use of lappy, by popular demand of the commentards. What do they think this is? A democracy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you mean this?

This was a mock guide, not the real thing. Were you thinking of something else?

Drew

PS I like the word ' bonk' too

[jake]

A couple years ago ...

... Sarah Bee commented that ElReg should have a left-pondian to right-pondian slang conversion page. As a yank who has spent roughly a fifth of his life in blighty, I volunteered my services. We swapped some email on the subject, but nothing ever came of it.

[TeeCee]

Re: A couple years ago ...

I think my greatest achievement in this area was while having a ciggy outside the office on a bright, sunny day with one of my yank colleagues.

Over the way was a maintenance bloke lifting the gratings off the drainage channels and working along with a drainage-channel-shaped trowel, placing the detritus into a bucket.

"What's going on over there?"

"I think he's scraping out the fag butts."

<GOLDFISH IMPERSONATION>

"I'm terribly sorry, I'll translate that into American English for you. He's removing the cigarette ends....."

[Anonymous Coward]

http://search.theregister.co.uk/?q=standards+converter -not sure what search terms you were using. if you toggle from "date" to "relevance and date" the story promoting this shifts it to the top result.

However, it is admittedly possible to search for a story and admittedly impossible to search for something that is not a story under our current set-up. I might get around to republishing this.

[TeeCee]

Topic display order.

Any chance of sorting for the topic/thread/forum/whatever lists?

I can see that Cafe Vulture / Reg Matters reports as having its most recent post by Drew on the 29th, but finding which topic that's in once in the list of topics is already getting tricky now we have so many topics and I can see it becoming unworkable in short order.

A "sort topic list by most recent posting" function would be handy. Ideally preserving stickies (or whatever the highlighted ones are) at the top.

[Anonymous Coward]

How not to do threads

New look, bit of getting used to. I must say the fancy new arrow instead of a grey sidebar is a bit of an eye searer. I know how to do threads, thank you, and I expect a full three. The grey bar only provides for one level, as does this, but this design takes a lot more brain power to parse.

Please come up with a better design and in the meantime revert to a side bar, even if it's a thinner one to match the new look.

[Jason Bloomberg]

Re: How not to do threads

I preferred the sidebar.

Another thing with the curvy arrow is it's illogical; it should be curving from the article above IMO.

That is, using my best ASCII-art capabilities ... `->

[Anonymous Coward]

"Helpfully" hiding content.

It sure looks fancy, but the fading away triggers a squint, think, click response that actually makes it harder to quickly scan and possibly ignore posts. Length doesn't phase me; but having to spend extra clicks for the sake of fancy design, does.

[Anonymous Coward]

If we're talking interesting new features...

... how about the ability to turn off certain things in the preferences?

I like spartan and no javascript a lot better than slick new design that then makes me work harder for the old commentarding.

[Anonymous Coward]

So I see you've moved el reg icons to avatar status...

... then pray tell why haven't you done the same for the guy fawkes mask and given ACs their icons back?

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't seen the announcement, was there one?

Specifically, did you manage to crank that mediocre and annoying 2000 back up to something sensible? Not really feeling up to wanting to find out by running into it at full speed again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

here/

[Santa from Exeter]

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

From the linked article

'we now presenting long posts with a gradual fade out and an option to expand'

Not on my machine you don't!

All I see is a jumbled mess of the end of the post overlaying the next one!

Corporate Firefox RHEL6u2 FF3.6.17

[E Haines]

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

It's totally broken in Safari as well. Plus the layout with the icons and so on is messed up (they appear above the post instead of to the left).

[E Haines]

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

OK, I take that back, it works now. Although I did clear my cache, don't know if that had anything to do with it. (But I have to agree that the new layout isn't great, plus it still breaks a bit if you bump up the font size, which I do because I use a higher-than-average dpi screen and want to avoid teeny-tiny text.)

[gribbler]

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

This new forum stuff looks pretty good in general, but I always use m.theregister.co.uk (mainly to avoid the annoying pagination in your longer articles) and the forums and comments sections are a bit rubbish on the mobile version. Shirley something that can be improved.

[Anonymous Coward]

Comments / Forums on mobile phones

Now that you mention it, we are doing some work on the mobile site in the next few weeks. This will include some improvements for comments.

[scarshapedstar]

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing,testing :D

[scarshapedstar]

Re: Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

Test result: 10k limit is non-inclusive. Real limit is 9,999.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

@Drewc

we welcome the the return of the long post Commentarding but did the techs get it slightly wrong

see master Trevor_Potts post as an example http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/1300274

notice how it still seems to be missing text fading out at the end even though your reading the expanded version although the full text is there if you cut and paste the last viewable line and the "Minimise Comment" part

viewable

""Unfortunately, the error bars have been steadily reduced such that all of "

not viewable but C&P and its there as i discovered as i typed this post to inform, at least using chrome 17.0.963.46

"Unfortunately, the error bars have been steadily reduced such that all of the various possible outcomes lie between "not good" and "stupidly not good" with the peak of the bell curve sitting just the other side of "it costs us less to act now than it does to just let it happen."

There’s too much politics and belief on all sides of this fight, and not enough listening to the actual science.

Minimise Comment"

[Anonymous Coward]

wishlist

oh and can we finally have an "edit" option to correct our typink errors rather than needing to delete the original and re-submit it with cor rected typing... to delete that yet again and correct the other errors after initial posting pretty please :)

a permanent reminder of the right <b><bold></b> and <i> <italics> </i> on the "post your own message" section or even a simple selection click buttons to do that on any highlighted test insode the post section would be great too.

[Haku]

A curved arrow indicating replied post?

No thanks, can we have the old grey vertical bar back please, it was a much easier way of instantly seeing that it was a reply to someone else's post.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: A curved arrow indicating replied post?

Sorry to moan, but please could we have the grey bar back, instead of the swirly arrow thingy - even though I've hit reply, so there'll be one on this post.

I find it less clear, and harder to see. I also don't thing it's any prettier - although obviously pretty design is in the eye of the beholder...

Pretty please?

We'll bribe you with beer...

[Sean Timarco Baggaley]

Re: A curved arrow indicating replied post?

I think the problem with the curved arrows is that they're pointing the wrong way: I'm replying to an existing post. The functionality of the "This is a reply to another post" symbol is to take me to the post to which I replied, so the arrow should be pointing back "up" the thread, towards that source post.

In the "Threaded" and "Oldest First" views, the arrow should therefore be pointing away from the reply posts, not at them. It's supposed to be a visual cue.

Only in the "Newest First" sort order should the arrow change to one pointing away from my post and downwards instead.

Either way, the current arrow is wrong.

[Haku]

Re: A curved arrow indicating replied post?

It's not that it's pointing in the wrong direction, it's that it exists at all, with the grey bar it was very easy to see that it was a reply to a post and not a 'starting' post.

When a 'starting' post has many replies it was very easy to scroll up and find the starting post that generated all the replies, now with the arrow it's not so obvious.

Bring back the grey bar, it was indictive of emails and usenet that adds a > to the beginning of each line of the quoted post.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A curved arrow indicating replied post?

Agreed. The arrow doesn't really work to convey the hierarchical structure visually.

[jake]

Re: A curved arrow indicating replied post?

Concur. The arrow doesn't work. Bring back the gray bar. Or better, proper threading.

And please put the "report abuse" button back with the rest of the controls on the bottom. Having it at the top makes no sense ... you have to read to the bottom of the article to see if it's abusive!

I don't really like the "expand comment" concept, either. Seems useless. I know other folks will like it ... maybe make it a user settable option?

Agree on beer ... and it's only 10:20 Pacific :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

"Accepted by moderator"

Recall there was a vague mention of looking into announcing whether you're in the moderators' naughty corner or not? The "my posts" list at least probably should not say "accepted by moderator" when in fact it was waved through, since no moderator was involved. "Accepted by default" for when no human el reg approver has looked at it?

[I ain't Spartacus]

On the subject of the above

In the 'my posts' page, all of my posts have a 'report abuse' button next to them. I'm unlikely to report one of my own posts to the El Reg moderators, lest they punish me mightily. It's probably worth removing this at some point, as it makes the place look untidy.

[TeeCee]

Re: On the subject of the above

So, in effect, you are complaining about El Reg's implementation of self abuse.....?

[Turtle]

Don't like the new look.

This new layout for the comments is poor. I don't know to whom one needs to complain about it, but please go back to the previous layout, instead of this less readable "wider-columns" one, that incorporates the currently very fashionable "let's see how homogenous we can make the disparate elements of the page seem' so that, for example, all the posts kind of run into one another instead of being instantly recognized as discrete elements.

[Anonymous Coward]

I just want to know why some commenters can post links or use bold case.

Can I have it too? You'll get a friend for life*, but could also consider a donation of small unmarked bank notes in the post.

*) terms and conditions apply

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you blessed?

There was an initial batch of a hundred or so especially blessed plus some additions that got it after commenting in the user forums (neither including me). Forgot to ask if it's generally available now. Let's <i>try</i>. AFAIK the trick has to do with inserting i, b, a tags and maybe a few more.

[Haku]

You just need to know the secret link.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

the real link to ask for an upgrade

Hiding links in posts, this could get fun :D

[jake]

The above is a prime example of why I don't like the "expand comment" concept ...

[Haku]

Sorry, couldn't resist it, won't do it again (probably)

My local bowling alley played this version last time I was there: Rick Astley vs Nirvana, and weirdly it works!

Have to agree on the hide/expand comment thing too, it isn't needed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Since you asked ...

upgraded

[Notas Badoff]

10K OK I guess; distressed suppressed less impressed

I do wish you'd done this a couple days ago. Outlining armageddon took one paragraph too much...

(twas fun watching somebody playing with CSS earlier - each refresh would rearrange the buttons...)

[jake]

/my/posts/

Just looked over there ... UGH!

First of all, lose the entire "Accepted by moderator at Friday 2nd March 2012 18:25 GMT" line, *AND* the grey dotted line under it. They are superfluous. All that is needed is the "submitted" and the "posted". Should make it obvious who is in the proverbial naughty chair.

Secondly, shouldn't that be "Submitted on Friday", not "Submitted at Friday"?

Thirdly, concur with the above, the "report abus<left third of the "e">" is hardly necessary. If I decide my post is abusive, I can retract it myself. Have done, in fact :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

"At Friday" is gone

as is "accepted by moderator".

[jake]

Re: "At Friday" is gone

Much nicer. Ta.

The right hand two thirds, or perhaps three quarters (I can't be arsed to count pixels) of the "e" in "abuse" is still clipped. If nobody else is seeing it, I can live with it. This is an older 1024x768 laptop with a Radion 9000, running Slackware & a much hacked variation of Mozilla. It's probably an error on my part :-)

[jake]

One more.

If you're going to get rid of the "thumbs" icon, shouldn't that be "approve of your post" rather than "thumbs up"?

[ph0b0s]

link to your post in a thread

Can we have back the link, used to be a little arrow next to the post tittle (->), that would take you to your post in a thread. Rather than having to go to the thread and search for your post. This was the most useful (to me) upgrade these forums have had recently....

Does not have to be an arrow again, just want the functionality back....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: link to your post in a thread

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/1334140

So go to top right and you can see "Posted in New forum Wishlist". Click on that. Was that what you were thinking off?

[Vit]

Upvotes and downvotes

Would be nice if upvoting or downvoting could be done without leaving the current page

[Neil 7]

Reply button font

I really don't like the serif font being used for the Reply button - it's a small complaint, but it's really quite unattractive - surely it should be a sanserif font?

Firefox 10.0.2/Win7

[Neil 7]

Re: Reply button font

You can add the Withdraw button - same serif font. Looking at the source code, it may be a bug as it's not inheriting the font from body.

Webkit on MeeGo (N9) shows the same serif font for the Reply button, so not just Firefox on Win7.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Reply button font

We'll have a look but it is san serif where I am sitting.

[jake]

Re: Reply button font

"Reply" is Serif here.

"Withdraw" is Sans. My "non-standard" config is above. Again, it's probably something in my configuration.

[Lghost]

new long posts and layout..idea good..implementation total fail..

As a firefox user said further up "it breaks"..the "new" longer comments and page layout etc also breaks entirely in Opera ( 11.6 on mint )..long comments are "expanded" by default with no way to close them, ( can see what I presume is the "expand" button text ..but no button ) so the "expand" is on by default.

Thus they run on down the page over the comments below them..any page with a long comment or or long comments, becomes totally illegible until the long comment(s) is / are finished..on this page, starshapedscar's post goes all the way down the page, munging in with everything until it stops halfway into the post by Sean Timarco Baggaley..except it slides behind the all buttons ..

I suspect if I looked at the source code ( Html and the CSS ) I'd be ill..

Amazed an IT tech site's web devs ( or was it done by the kid on work experience ? ) didn't test this in all browsers..major fail..

[Lghost]

btw

In case it isn't clear ..the same abominable "long comments overlay" thing happens in the "comments" attached to each of the articles on the main site..not just here in the forum..

It doesn't happen ( at least as at the time I type this ) in "hardware" ..

Suggest you get the person who codes the pages over there, to come over here to the the main elreg site and fix it for you ..

[david 12]

Fix menus. site map, flash

forums.theregister.co.uk/forum takes me to a link page that does not link to forums. Links at the top of the page do not take me to forums.

And the flash advertising is wasting my time and slowing me down even when it doesn't break. I dunno when you started with the flash advertising, but if I didn't have the option of turning it off, I wouldn't be coming back.

[Winkypop]

Needs more cowbell

Obviously.

[OsamaBinMurphy]

Forum Wishlist

1) an easy way to spam, to make it more consistent with other forums

2) a way to harvest email, use xss attacks etc. again in keeping with other forums.

3) lots of facemuck, woogle-, linkdoff etc. type buttons so that everyone can spy on me

4) having trolls as unbannable or unignorable, to make me feel more at Yahoo!home!

Finally declaring your support for the tiny fledgling nation of the Peoples Replublic of Cork by visiting their site, www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com and supporting their cause of a 25 county Dublin(sic) controlled territory and for now the 6 counties of Northern Ireland.

We the people await your edict.

[Haku]

Re: Forum Wishlist

5) Huge obnoxious avatar images, often animated gifs that have been scaled by the browser because they're actually 640x480 resolution and 5mb in size.

6) Sigs, with pictures, lots of pictures, along with text saying how awesome the person posting is, usually the pictures are flashing enough to produce epileptic fits or so big they fill half the screen of a 1080p display.

[Trevor_Pott]

Feature request

Can the forum please include a button (two, if you need to be paranoid about violating one-click patents) that dispense caffeine? As a warm caffeinated beverage is optimal, but I will accept spontaneous intravenous intervention.

Surely this is supported by HTML5? If not, there has to be a jQuery library for it…

[Tapeador]

The ability to order comments by most/least popular

Like in the majestic Daily Fail!

Signed An Englishman, England As Once Was, EUSSR

P.S. Broken Britain - Thanks ZanuLiebore

[Tapeador]

The ability to order comments by newest/oldest

As per the Daily Dacre

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The ability to order comments by newest/oldest

You can do that already - but you have to be signed in.

[Tapeador]

The ability to view one's comments in one's own private comment page, *and* view replies to self

as per Disqus

[TeeCee]

Re: The ability to view one's comments in one's own private comment page, *and* view replies to self

If "as per Disqus" is the answer, then I am afraid it must have been a godawfully stupid question.

A twelve-year-old wannabee script-kiddie who has a borrowed copy of "simple web shit for dummies" could write a better system than Disqus over a wet Thursday afternoon.

Just look at any site using it. Every other post is a rant about how shite Disqus is......

[Tapeador]

The ability to view/expand, in one's comment record page, *full* threads which one has posted on

Something which Disqus doesn't quite do - it only allows a truncated 'view context' expansion of threads

[Tapeador]

A means of accurately distinguishing

exactly *which* original post a given reply is responding to...

[Tapeador]

An icon

denigrating freetards

[DF118]

Seems fine to me. The reply arrow is odd. Goes the wrong way and requires more brain cycles than the grey bar did.

I very much like the idea of long-winded replies being faded out to silence. Can we have "I looked at my kingdom, I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air" appended to them as well?

[umacf24]

Long comments

Could you have the preview display all text after about 150 words struck through with a note: "You do realise no-one is going to read this?"

Or you could do all long comments in green, to reflect the madness...

[TRT]

My posts is screwed up. It now takes much more space and the linkback to the original comment is obeying some rule which I can't fathom regarding if it appears or not. Yuck.

[TRT]

Permalink is not a substitute for displaying a post via an inline anchor, by the way. How can I tell if anyone has replied to my post without going hunting through the dross?

[M Gale]

As amusing as it is to be able to report your own posts for abuse...

...is it needed, from a "this is space that could be used for something else" perspective?

Also I posted something as a reply way back on the first page here, not sure if it's been read underneath all the other posts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Self abuse button

Yes M Gale, and others, that needs to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

self-abuse button is gone

Replaced by "withdraw" button

[jake]

Suggestion.

Lock this "new forum wishlist", and add "new forum wishlist mkII". This one is getting a trifle unwieldy. IMO, of course. YMMV.

[Trevor_Pott]

When reporting a comment for abuse, the ability to add a small snippet of text detailing why you felt this was abusive would be good. (Followed link; was spam. Off topic ad hom attack. Potentially libellous. Etc.)

In at least some cases it might save the mods some time. (Espessially with spam links.)

[Vic]

How about a date indicator in the "Your Topics" box?

It would be nice to see at a glance which topics have been updated since last I looked...

Vic.