Allow permalinks to comments with added context

[sophie]

Title:
Allow permalinks to comments with added context

Area:
Commenting

Summary:
When linking to a comment, there are currently two ways of doing it - either linking directly to the comment itself, or linking to a parent or grandparent. The latter approach has problems though because it also shows other sibling comments which may not be relevant. I propose adding a new mode which shows the linked comment and several parent comments, with no siblings.

Description:
Right now, it's impossible to link to a particular comment with context without including other sibling comments in the output too, and if the comment you want to link to is further down the page, it's not easy to point attention to that comment specifically.

As well as being a Dreamwidth user, I'm also a user of Reddit, which also has threaded commenting. The way they solve this is by allowing the display of a number of levels above the linked comment, and highlighting the linked comment in particular. For example, http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/p6gza/im_dr_norman_rosenthal_psychiatrist_author_and/c3mwork?context=3 links to a comment of mine (Sophira) with two levels of parent comments, without any siblings. (The link would normally specify three levels, but as it happens there aren't three levels above mine.)

Reddit's implementation doesn't look accessible - it only distinguishes the linked comment by colour, and with a very subtle shade at that - so if we implemented this it would be necessary to make it more accessible, both by added text and by a more obvious shade of colour.

One problem with this is that I'm not sure how easy it would be to incorporate this into existing styles. It would be nice to try, though.

(Edit: In the comments, I've posted an example showing exactly what I mean.)

Poll #9489 Allow permalinks to comments with added context

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 43

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
9 (20.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
4 (9.3%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
4 (9.3%)

(I have no opinion)
26 (60.5%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[axiom_of_stripe]

I would want some way to make it clear that there are sibling comments even if they aren't shown.

As for how to indicate which comment was the linked one, if the parent comment(s) were loaded on the page but the anchor link pointed to the comment of interest, that should make it clear. (That might make it clear even if the sibling comments were showing as usual, although it would be harder to skim up to the parent that way.) The pointer to the particular comment would be lost when the reader scrolled up or down, though (unless they refresh the page again).

[yvi]

Right now, it's impossible to link to a particular comment with context without including other sibling comments in the output too, and if the comment you want to link to is further down the page, it's not easy to point attention to that comment specifically.

Half of that (including context and linkingto the specific comment) is possible if you do it by hand, like I did with this link because all comments have anchors.

[ninetydegrees]

I'd rather have the comment you linked to highlighted in some way than replies to this comment hidden and a second permalink.

[susanreads]

I'd rather see the siblings collapsed, so you know you're not looking at the first response to the parent. Thread from start + collapse everything not in the direct line + some sort of highlighting of the linked comment.

[marahmarie]

I really like the implementation you linked to on Reddit because it says "you are viewing a single comment's thread" at the top in a big colored box you can't really miss, then shows that single thread with the relevant comment highlighted quite well. I'm definitely in favor of finer-grained control like this so people don't wonder exactly which comment is being pointed out on such threads.

[montuos]

This is a feature I have wanted forever!!! Sometimes the relevant comment you want to pass along just doesn't make enough sense without its antecedents, but frequently those are simply lost in a deluge and there's no easy way to filter out the other stuff.

For those who want the rest of the comments to be available, does the

"you are viewing a single comment's thread.
view the rest of the comments →"

label in the linked reddit example satisfy your need to know there are more related comments and access them?

[cesy]

I have no objection to this existing as an option to hand-code, but I'd rather not add another link to the existing "link" "reply" "thread" "parent" which already leaves me confused trying to remember the difference between "link" and "thread".