Edited comment text

[silverflight8]

Title:
Edited comment text

Area:
Inbox

Summary:
Thanks to the new code push, the bug here [http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3479] means that edited comments aren't repeated in the DW Inbox, but the message is unhelpful in telling you what the comment actually says.

Description:
The text says "This comment was edited", but unless you've seen edited comments before (when they didn't say that, and instead just gave the whole comment) you might not know that the notification before the edit is exactly the same as the one after the edit. The text given in the "edited comment" notification is confusing, because then you're told that the comment was edited but without the comment itself (which is in your inbox, but it's easy to assume that the notification sent before the edit is static).

I suggest that the text be changed to something like "This comment was edited. Please see the original notification for the updated text" so it's clear that there is, in fact, a notification of the new contents of the comment.

Poll #6504 Edited comment text

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
21 (45.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
6 (13.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
18 (39.1%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (2.2%)

Comments

[thorfinn]

Maybe put the updated text in the "edited" notification and replace it in the old notification with [edited]?

[fyreharper]

I like this idea. Showing the updated text in the original notification seems a bit odd to me, since that's not what the text was at the time of the notification (and I *would* expect the message to be static). Maybe even expand [edited] to [This comment has been edited.], to make things abundantly clear.

[thorfinn]

Yeah, the implementation as it stands sounds like it violates the usability principle of least surprise.

It definitely surprises me to go back to an old notification to find new text.

[elf]

Especially if the comment is older than a couple of days, or in a busy thread. The original may no longer be on the first page of the inbox, and that's a nuisance.

I'd much rather see the edited comment text in the new notification, and the original comment text changed to "this comment has been edited."

[azurelunatic]

I like this.

[ciaan]

Absolutely agree.

Also, the original notification may have been deleted already, in which case, there is no notification of the new contents of the comment.

[arethinn]

+1 (even though I never use the Inbox and rely entirely on email notifications)

[noracharles]

+1

[sally_maria]

Another agreement with this way of handling it.

[susanreads]

+1

[solitarywalker]

I must not be understanding this one correctly... How can the original notification contain the updated text? The text wasn't updated yet when the original notification went out.

If a comment is edited, the email that goes out should contain the full text of the edited comment. Just like a regular comment notification. Maybe say in the subject or the first line of the email that this is an edited comment rather than a new one.

[azurelunatic]

This is talking about inbox notifications. When the comment is edited, the original notification in the inbox is changed to reflect the new text.

[solitarywalker]

Wow, that's really cool... I didn't know that (obvs); I was thinking email. Thanks for clarifying.

[silverflight8]

Since the notifications in the inbox are taken from the comment itself, when the comment updates, so does the inbox notifications. Emailed comments don't display that behaviour, but not everyone has email notifications turned on.