new comments in the archives

December 10, 2003 11:57 PM

How hard would it be to keep the "_ new comments" feature when browsing through the archives? I've been close to asking for this feature before but never felt that threads in MT really had a long enough posting life to warrant such a change. With the addition of Ask Metafilter, however, checking the number of new comments in threads even a day old becomes a rigorous exercise in memorization. If it's not too much work, I'd certainly like to see it changed, perhaps in January when everything else is looked at.
posted by The God Complex to Feature Requests at 11:57 PM (6 comments total)

I'm actually not sure what you're talking about, but if you're asking for a drop-down like we have in the blue for (bydate/mycommented/recentlycommented) for MeTa and AxMe, then hell yeah, that's a pony I'd, er, get behind.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:39 AM on December 11, 2003

stav, do you ever use the archives? Once you get into archiveland, there's no indication of new comments, so when (like today) a bunch of new MeTa threads are added, you see "99 new comments" (or whatever) on the MeTa front page, add up the new comments visible and get only (say) 75, and have to go to the archives to try and find the remaining 24, whereupon you just have to guess which threads might have new action, because there are no new-comment totals marked. This has bothered me more than once. So: I second TGC's motion.
posted by languagehat at 8:10 AM on December 11, 2003

Third here, though if I remember correctly, the archives used to show new comments and mathowie removed them for some technical reason that I never quite grasped at the time and can't remember at all now.
posted by timeistight at 9:49 AM on December 11, 2003

Third here, though if I remember correctly, the archives used to show new comments and mathowie removed them for some technical reason that I never quite grasped at the time and can't remember at all now.

Well, if that's the case, I don't mind too much, but on Ask Metafilter, where one day's activity is upwards of 15-20 threads (and only one page is displayed), it will be harder to track conversations.

Of course, the pull-down menu that Stav mentioned would work as well.
posted by The God Complex at 12:33 PM on December 11, 2003

stav, do you ever use the archives?

Not much, in the way you mean, actually. I think I grasp what TGC was talking about now, though. Brain sometimes goes a bit wobbly on me for no good reason....
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:13 AM on December 12, 2003

I seem to remember that the new comments notice was removed to stop MeTa threads from dragging on past their use-by date (when they scroll off the main page). I am pretty sure it was an attempt to cut out the chattiness in MeTa and reduce the risk of cult threads developing.

AskMe is a different animal, though and the huge number of threads makes it hard to track a question through to the final, definitive answer. The drop-down choice would be excellent and the new comments whatsit would enhance the enjoyment of AskMe even more (if that is possible).
posted by dg at 3:42 AM on December 12, 2003