Showing comment count in inbox links

[cheyinka]

Title:
Showing comment count in inbox links

Area:
entries / comments

Summary:
It would be helpful for inbox notifications of comments to include nc=xx (if the notify-ee has that turned on) when it links to the entry.

Description:
Turning nc=xx on ("Adding the comment count to entry links", in the display tab of account settings) makes the link to comments on an entry page show how many comments there are in the url itself, so that if you've viewed the page with 9 comments and 5 more are added overnight, the entry link is different (and a different color in styles/browsers that set different colors for visited/unvisited links) the next time you load a page that includes that entry (reading page, recent entries, etc.).

New comment notifications don't have this, however - going directly to the entry uses the permalink url. Even if the person receiving the notification doesn't add a comment and there weren't any comments added but not tracked (or deleted) after the notification was sent, it won't visit the link specific to that number of comments.

If &nc=xx could be added to the inbox link (and the link sent in e-mails, assuming the two kinds of notifications are generated similarly), it would be helpful.

One potential problem is comments added or deleted after the notification was sent, making the number in the link incorrect. I think this can be ignored since the number would be "comments at time of notification" and so still helpful.

Poll #1100 Showing comment count in inbox links

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 29

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
9 (31.0%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
2 (6.9%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
7 (24.1%)

(I have no opinion)
11 (37.9%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[cesy]

I prefer going to the plain entry link, without the nc=xx thing, and would rather keep it that way.

[ratcreature]

If my notifications remained the same if I have turned this nc=xx thing off, I wouldn't mind if others got different notifications. But I don't them to be like that as default.

[cheyinka]

Oh, yeah, I'd definitely want it to be the plain link if someone hadn't turned it on (it's off by default) - I thought I'd made that clearer in the suggestion, sorry :/

[cesy]

Yes, this is what I meant. In this case, I'd be happy for the suggestion to be implemented, as respecting people's options is good.

[turlough]

This, definitely.

[zvi]

I like &nc=xx on my journal, but I wouldn't want it on the inbox.

[kyrielle]

I don't use it, but maybe a secondary option as to whether it's used there?

[triadruid]

I've never found nc=xx to be all that reliable anyway, so I certainly wouldn't want it as the default. Furthermore, I'm having a hard time understanding what this would gain you in an email link, which is by definition a point-in-time snapshot of the entry.

[cheyinka]

It gains me "visiting the link for the appropriate number of comments" if I click the direct link to the entry, provided there haven't been comments deleted or screened since the notification arrived.

[triadruid]

Pretend I'm stupid please, since I don't use this option. If you click a link to this entry that ends in nc=8, you ONLY get the first 8 comments, regardless that there's now 10 (or will be when I post this)?

[cheyinka]

No, you get however many comments there are - it doesn't affect which comments are shown.

Normally - for people with nc=xx turned off - the end of the comments link to this entry is 84466.html. Once you've visited the page for the first time, that link shows up as visited in your browser (if your browser does that).
For me it might be 84466.html?nc=8 when there are 8 comments, so I go, the link shows up as visited, I read the comments, life goes on. Later, someone else comments, the link is now 84466.html?nc=9, the link is not visited, I know from looking at the link that there's been some change to the number of comments on that entry.
Yet another person comments, I get the notification, and I go there from the inbox (or my e-mail) but the link in the inbox is 84466.html without the nc=whatever at the end, so when I look at the recent-entries page for dw_suggestions, or back however many pages on my reading list, the 84466.html?nc=10 link is still unvisited, and it appears to me as if there's a new comment (even though there's not).

[triadruid]

Ah; it was the interoperability between email and browser that I was missing (one reason I don't use this is that I tend to check LJ from about 5 browsers and 3 computers over the course of a day).

Sure, as an option, it seems reasonable for DW to remember and respect this setting when emailing you.