Shorter references to the original entry in e-mail comment notifications

[syderia]

Title:
Shorter references to the original entry in e-mail comment notifications

Area:
e-mail comments notification

Summary:
Put only the subject and the x first characters of the entry instead of the whole text of the entry in the e-mail notification.

Description:
Right now, when someone comment on an entry (or a comment, but it's less of a problem) you wrote and you get the notification by e-mail, you see the whole text of your entry. If you had a big entry (fanfiction, pic!spam...) scrolling past it can get annoying fast.

Quoting only the subject and the 42 first characters (or another number) before quoting the comment would allow the original poster to identify their entry and get to the important information right away.

The text of the notification would go something like that :
User replied to your Dreamwidth entry titled [Title] which started with [the first 42 characters or whatever number]. Their reply was ...

Poll #1115 Shorter references to the original entry in e-mail comment notifications

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 59

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
7 (11.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
25 (42.4%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
24 (40.7%)

(I have no opinion)
2 (3.4%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.7%)

Comments

[tejas]

I'd only want to see this implemented if I'd have the option of having the entire entry included. I respond to comments via my email and I want to be able to see my entire comment/post as well as the new comment as I respond.

I don't know if it would be feasible to allow this choice on an entry by entry basis or not, but I'd be happy with a global option (since I don't have a problem with the current system).

[cesy]

Yes, a global option to turn truncation on or off for your emails would work.

[kaigou]

Like when you get/create RSS feeds, and you have the choice of "full text", "excerpt" (or limited amt of text), or "subject header only". Same general notion would be definitely awesome, especially if you tend to post either a lot of text, or a lot of images -- having those come back at you in emailed replies can get really aggravating.

[calime]

+1

[the_shoshanna]

Ditto. I usually like having the whole entry in the email, and while I have some sympathy for the scrolling problem -- do other email programs/OSes not have a key that takes you right to the end of the email? I just hit END, then it's never more than one or two page-ups to see the new material. So I absolutely want to be able to retain the whole entry, followed by the new material (not preceded by it; no top-posting!).

[tejas]

I want the old material followed by the new, as well.

[kyrielle]

I want the new material at the top, because I usually can tell what was replied to by context (plus the comments are often so short that the top of what was being replied to would still show, but the reverse is not true). I can hit end and scroll up on my computer, but I cannot do so on my iPhone, where I read a lot of my email. I can scroll down and back up on it but, frankly, I don't need to sprain a thumb going past the whole huge entry.

That said, I understand other people do want it as-is. I'd like to see it as an option, however, for those of us who don't like the current order.

[the_shoshanna]

It makes me sad that I am not in a position to be familiar with the iPhone's interface *g*

[kaigou]

If I couldn't truncate, at least having it flipped would be awfully handy. Oh, sure, you can scroll down, but I'm going to be scrolling awhile when it's a simple reply to a posted draft -- which can be in excess of 6,000 words. That's a boatload of characters to scroll past...

[existence]

Sometimes I'm on my cell phone--it's set to only download only so many KB of each email which I leave be because reading anything long on it really is a bit of a chore, but this cuts off things. If I was going to be on it extensively tracking entries, I'd turn on truncation so I could see all the comments. Most of the time, I like the context of reading everything, though.

[lassarina]

This. Especially because I have a fiction community, where people might be commenting on old entries, and I'd like to know what on earth they are talking about.

[tejas]

*Exactly*! And if someone has made comments about a story I've written, I want it right there so I can refer to it when I answer them. Also, long, drawn out debates often leave me not remembering what I'd said weeks before. I want to be able to have my words there to remind me before I refute or agree with the new comment. Then there are the posts I track and it might not even be my words I'm referring to.

[melannen]

+1

As people below said, I find it very useful for searching, backups, and context. But I also see how it could be very annoying for people who use DW differently.

[tejas]

Sure, which is why I wouldn't mind if the option was given to limit the content of emails. Just don't remove what the rest of us find not just useful, but essential.

[ancientsavvy]

+1

[afuna]

I would not want this, because sometimes it's useful to have the entire text of the entry in your email.

Especially for long entries, it would be nice to have the comment come before the entry (and you can then scroll down to the entry proper). I think I'd prefer reordering to truncation, to deal with the case you specify.

[miang]

This. I sympathize with the OP's annoyance at scrolling, but it is useful to have the text of the entry in the email -- just not at the top of it.

[cesy]

Reordering would totally confuse me, though - I want to read stuff in chronological order, not backwards.

[turlough]

Hear, hear!!

[ninetydegrees]

+1

[syderia]

Actually, I agree with you. (Multiple brains are better than one ^_^).

Offering the option for people to have the comment before the entry or the entry before the comment seems to be what would satisfy most of the people.

[triadruid]

Maybe a jump link at the top of the email? I have no idea if that would work with enough email programs to be worth it, but replicating the Reply/View/Thread links at the top of an email if the entry is over 10(?) lines long, or whatever, could be a compromise.

[msilverstar]

This is a real problem, but I don't know what the solution is.

Maybe tracking multiple emails sent within a 24 hour period?

[ratcreature]

I would hate that. I use this to have an easy copy of posted stories just by commenting without having to save cumbersome journal pages just sto have a backup of fiction I enjoy. It's extra incentive for me to give fb too. I mean not that I'd never fb otherwise, but when I don't have much to say expect "I liked this!" half my motivation to bother at all (I know, I'm a sloth) is that it'll give me a copy of the story in my email.

[zvi]

Oh my goodness! I never thought of that! And yet, it is so true.

Hmmm. I wonder how obnoxious it would be to comment on all of the parts of very long, multi-part stories I read on LJ.

But, yes, I have found it invaluable for less fanfic related ways to have a copy of what someone is responding to in my e-mail.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, both for regular posts (as well as for stories) it's also useful to be able to search through the whole text to find things again. If for some reason I forgot to bookmark something, half the time I'm able to find it through my mail folder because I commented.

And it is incentive for getting paid accounts too. I mean, getting my own comments mailed to me like this with a copy is one of the big attractions among paid features for me, I think besides the icons it's what I make use of the most.

[azurelunatic]

Indeed. :D

[sixbeforelunch]

Oh, wow, that's a great idea. I might actually start getting my comments emailed to me now, just to take advantage of this.

[syderia]

It might be possible to only implement it for comments other people made on the entries you wrote.

[slybrarian]

Ditto. I can see it as an option, and maybe moving the comment part around to the top, but I want the entire thing in the email.

[noxie]

I would love this! It really gets annoying to scroll down when you've posted a long entry. That's been bugging my for a while now. I don't reply to comments via email though but via the website, so I really don't need my entire entry in the comment notification. :)

[ldybastet]

I have to admit that I'd hate that... I like getting what the person replied to in the email as well. Especially if I'm having a long discussion with someone stretched over several days, it would be impossible to remember exactly what I said that made them comment in this or that manner. I don't want to be forced to go from the email prog to the browser and the original post just to see the context of a comment.

If this truncated message-thingie was opt-in, then sure, for those who want it, but definitely not for everyone all the time. *shudder* I'd much rather click-hold-drag the scroll bar down to the bottom of the email.

[turlough]

+1

[phoenixsong]

See, I would love this, since I do everything through the website. I actually loathe trying to even re-read what I've written in the format it comes in via e-mail. I can understand the resistance, though, so an opt-in seems reasonable.

[kyrielle]

This should be an account option. Also, it needs to be smart enough not to count characters in tags, and to do something if 42 characters in is partway thru styled text/a username/etc.

I'd love a third option that just put the text of the entry/comment being replied to after the new comment (just like most replies in email...).

[erinptah]

+1

[azurelunatic]

I rely on the full text being present. Not unless I have a way to turn it off.

[kaigou]

Why only 42 characters? That's like... well, shorter than this sentence. Why not an amount closer to what's used by, say, Wordpress and the like -- the first 500 characters, roughly, assuming there's no /more/ setting.

Although come to think of it, the 'more' setting in blogs is pretty much the same concept as the /cut setting used in LJ-clones. Why not just truncate at the LJ-cut, and then if the post is done in full, well, you get full email. If you cut the post, then you get cut email -- unless you opt for different setting, perhaps.

[syderia]

The "42" came from hanging out with a lot of geeks, I tend to say 42 whenever I think of a random number. The other number I had in mind was 140...

Basically, the 42 was there to illustrate the point.

Truncating at the cut would work too (with still having the option not to truncate if you want to).

[triadruid]

200 characters or 10 lines seems about the right amount of context to me. However, I'm more concerned about how the software would handle broken tags that result in the email (or do HTMLmail email programs not have this problem on DW?)

[rho]

I like this.

[velocitygrass]

Truncating out the cut seems like sensible idea. Additionally, I'd also prefer it to be an option not a fixed change for all.

[instantramen]

I wouldn't use this because I, like a lot of other people who've voted so far, like context for the comments I receive. Other people apparently would use it for very good reasons, though, so I'm in favor of truncating and/or putting the new comment first in the email as long as it's completely opt-in.

[bob]

It should be optional, I would actually like an option to just be sent the link to the comment. Although I would be happy enough to have the comment without context. If i need context i can look at the page or just use my memory.
Truncating would annoy me more.

[(Anonymous)]

I would really, really like this. I find the current email structure really annoying. I don't need the text I posted to be there in its entirety - and if I do, I can go to the entry to see it. I just want to see the reply quickly.

[ranunculus]

Yes = comment on top
Yes = truncated message
Yes = opt in/out.

[softpaw]

I suggest using multipart emails for this. Since multipart HTML emails allow for content to be different for plain-text and HTML messages, you can implement the best of both worlds; send the full entry or comment text in the HTML version of the email (which will most often be seen by people who don't care how long the message is), and send the truncated text in the plain-text version, which will mostly be seen by users reading the message on mobile devices and legacy email retrieval methods (ie, telnet or shell connections) where length matters more.

I personally have had this problem with reading LJ comment notifications on my cellphone (no one ever comments on my DW), and I often have to jump through hoops to get enough of the message to see the actual comment due to its download size limit.